What buyers ask us before building an app
Custom mobile apps and Salesforce
It depends on scope more than anything else. The main cost drivers are the number of user roles and screens, integration with existing systems, offline sync, hardware connections, regulatory requirements and whether you need iOS, Android or both. Ongoing care matters too, because Apple and Google release major updates every year. A short discovery phase is the most reliable way to get a real estimate.
How much does a custom mobile app cost in New Zealand?
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Choose native when the app relies on device features: on-device AI, Bluetooth hardware, offline storage, cameras or sensors. Native code reaches Apple’s and Google’s frameworks directly and gets new capabilities first. Cross-platform can suit simpler apps built mainly from forms and lists. For field, medical and AI-heavy apps, we build native.
Should a custom mobile app be native or cross-platform?
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Yes. Apps can connect to wearables, sensors, scanners and other devices, then pass the data to a cloud server or back-office system. For Alimetry’s medical wearable, we built a hardware simulator so the app could be developed and tested before the device was finished. Plan for dropouts, so data is stored on the phone and synced when the connection returns.
Can a custom mobile app connect to our own hardware?
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Can a custom mobile app work offline?
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Yes. UiRev is a Salesforce partner based in Auckland, New Zealand. We’ve designed and developed more than 20 apps on Fulton Hogan’s Salesforce platform, work that won the Tech Innovation, Homegrown Independent Software Vendors category at the 2022 Reseller News Innovation Awards.
Is UiRev a Salesforce partner?
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Yes, if it’s designed that way from the start. An offline-first app saves everything on the device and syncs when a connection returns, so work isn’t lost in basements, paddocks or on rural roads. Fulton Hogan’s daily job report app, which we built, has worked this way since 2013. Adding offline support to an app built for constant connection is much harder than starting with it.
Can a custom mobile app connect to Salesforce?
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Yes. A custom app can read from and write to Salesforce, so the record a crew fills in on site is the one the office sees. Built offline-first, it saves each entry on the device and syncs to Salesforce when a connection returns. Fulton Hogan’s field apps work this way: daily job reports fill in timesheets automatically, so nobody types the same data twice.
Why build a custom app on Salesforce instead of using the standard mobile app?
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The standard app suits office users who work across many records. Field crews usually need something narrower: screens built around one job, data capture with no signal and connections to devices on site. A custom app gives them that while keeping Salesforce as the system of record. As our CEO, Srinivasa Rao Munagala, puts it, “you’ll pay just as much attention to the app’s integration with existing systems as you do to its design.”
On-device AI
On-device AI runs on the phone or tablet itself, so it works offline and keeps data on the device. Cloud AI sends each request to a provider’s servers, which needs a connection but gives access to much larger models. On-device suits narrow tasks in the field. Cloud suits open-ended work at a desk. On device AI doesn’t just refer to running on Mobile. Small AI models can run on any device.
What is the difference between on-device AI and cloud AI?
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Yes. Apple’s on-device foundation model runs entirely on supported iPhones, iPads and Macs, so it answers questions with no internet connection. Apps reach it through Apple’s Foundation Models framework, available from iOS 26. It handles focused tasks such as understanding a request, extracting details or summarizing text. Check that your devices support Apple Intelligence before planning a rollout.
Can AI run on an iPhone without internet?
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Usually, yes. With on-device AI, the question, the data and the answer stay on the device, so nothing is sent to a provider that has to be secured or monitored. Cloud AI can also be used responsibly, but it adds a transfer you need to manage. On-device AI removes that step by design.
Is on-device AI more private than cloud AI?
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Medical device software
Three standards come up most. ISO 13485 sets the quality management system, IEC 62304 sets the software development life cycle and ISO 14971 covers risk management. Which ones apply, and how strictly, depends on the device’s risk class and the markets it’s sold in. A development partner should be able to work inside the client’s quality system and produce evidence auditors can review.
What standards apply to medical device software?
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UiRev, an Auckland software company, built the iOS app for Alimetry’s gastric diagnostic wearable, connecting custom hardware to a cloud server. Alimetry earned the CE mark in March 2021 and holds ISO 13485 certification. The app captures readings online or offline, so patient data is never lost. We’ve built software for New Zealand organizations since 2011.
Who builds medical device apps in New Zealand?
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Collect only what the app needs, keep it on the device where you can and encrypt it wherever it’s stored or sent. Design for no signal, so readings queue safely instead of failing. In New Zealand, health information falls under the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. On-device processing reduces the data that ever leaves the phone, which reduces what has to be protected.
How do you keep patient data safe in a mobile app?
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Working with UiRev
Auckland, New Zealand. UiRev (UiRevolution Limited) was founded in 2011, has a development team in India and works with organizations across Australasia, including Fulton Hogan, Fonterra and Alimetry.
Where is UiRev based?
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We do, for as long as you need. Apple and Google change their platforms every year, and both app stores now reject updates built with outdated tools, so an app nobody maintains slowly stops being shippable. Fulton Hogan has worked with us since 2013, and we still look after the apps we built for them.
Who maintains the app after it launches?
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We design security into the app, not on top of it. On Fulton Hogan’s Atlas platform, sign-in checks every token against Microsoft’s published keys, with no session store to steal, and search only shows each person what they’re allowed to see. After we migrated Sanderson Weir’s system, it passed Bank level penetration testing. Our processes also stood up to the audits behind Alimetry’s CE mark and ISO 13485 certification.