My Experience in Developing WatchOverMe – Location iOS Mobile App

In this post, I am going to share my Experience in Developing WatchOverMe (WOM). WatchOverMe is a mobile app developed and owned by Secq Me Sdn. Bhd. It is a Location based security Mobile App. You and your loved ones can use the app. You can share your location with your loved ones all the time. In case of an emergency, you can shake you phone and your loved ones will get notified by SMS/email. They will know your exact location and able to take some action in order to help you.

Watch Over Me Mobile App has many different “internal versions“. We call it “internal version” because it is different from the release version. The version for the release version is slightly messed up due to the lack of proper version control in the early stage of development (I haven’t join this company yet).

After I joined the company, I was involved in 3 different version (WOM 2.0, WOM 2.5, WOM 3.0). I involved in improving some features in WOM 2.0 by optimising it to support iOS 7 and also support a new language (Spanish).

I developed WOM 2.5 from scratch for about 2-3 weeks of time and the project has been completed about 70%. But, a decision has been made to cancel this project to push forward for WOM 3.0.

I am also the only iOS developer (Currently based in Singapore) who developed WOM 3.0. Some of the functions in WOM 3.0 are the same with Maxis Circle Watch. But, there are some new functions that are added to enhance the user experience and also user friendliness. WOM 3.0 has a total remade on the user Interface. It is so much polished compare with WOM 2.0.

Here are my experience and thoughts on each of the WOM internal versions.

Watch Over Me Version 2.0 (WOM 2.0)

WOM 2.0 has been there for about 3 years when James (my boss) developed it on his own. This project has at least 2 other programmers before I took over. I only involved in some slight improvements such as adding promotion screen during the year end and also add additional language support – Spanish.

Here are some user interfaces of WOM 2.0.

Watch Over Me Version 2.5 (WOM 2.5)

WOM 2.5 is an improved version of WOM 2.0. There is a total User Interface remade for this app. In terms of functions wise, it shares a lot of similarities with WOM 2.0. But, the base of this app is based on Calendar framework. You can schedule an event using your local calendar on your mobile phone. If there is any event that you will do daily or weekly, you can put that on your calendar. The calendar reminder will prompt the message asking if you want to be watched over about 5 minutes before the event.

From our internal research, we found out that the existing users (including paid users) do not use WatchOverMe as often as they should. So, the calendar reminder is actually very helpful to remind people to use WOM more often.

A decision has been made to cancel this project, so this project never goes live.

Watch Over Me Version 3.0 (WOM 3.0)

WOM is another complex project that I developed from scratch. I did utilise some existing codes from Circle Watch and Existing WOM 2.0. But, due to the the differences in navigation design and others, I still have to make some changes in order to properly place inside the app.

Additional functions for WOM 3.0 are:-

Watch Over Me Event with Photo and Note
When you are running an WOM event, you can take photo and write note on your journey.

Share Journey
When you are running any event, you can share your journey to friends and family members.

Crime Zone (Region Monitoring)
If you have this app installed on your mobile phone and you are driving/walking past a crime zone area, the app will notify you to let you know that you are near a crime zone and ask you if you want to be monitored using the app.

Watch Over Me Event Demo
We have added a polished watch Over Me event demo that teaches the users on how to use the app more effectively.

Event history
You are able to look back all the historical events that you have launched so far.

Report Crime
You may report crime area with photo and information. The information will be kept in the server database and shared with other users of the app.

Map with Route
When you are running a Watch Over Me event, you will know your exact location on the map every minute. You see the path that you have been driving/walking.

As of 18 March 2014, this project has been completed about 85-90%. We will deploy the app to the beta testers in a few days. The estimated date to launch this app is on late March.