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Internet of Things
Mobile App Development for Personalized Sound Experience
With the help of RUBICON, the True Wireless Stereo Company offers personalized sound to their users
Client quote
“A great team that quickly can assess, plan, and execute complex projects with many unknowns. Our industry is reliant on technology with many black boxes, something the team at RUBICON navigates with confidence and calm.”
Head of Product & Design, True Wireless Stereo Company
Overview
In recent years, the market has seen a significant increase in True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earphones. To stand out in this competitive landscape, the client, a premium audio device company founded in 2012, sought to offer personalized sound experiences to their users. They designed earphones with the idea of allowing users to personalize the sound according to their preferences. RUBICON was tasked with creating a cross-platform mobile application that would enable users to control their earphones, including a personal sound test to generate a custom equalizer and a customizable equalizer for fine-grained control. The application also needed to support Over-the-air (OTA) updates for the earphones
Challenges
Testing incoming chipset firmware for needed functionalities, with issues such as regression loss of functionality, reporting bugs back to the firmware vendor for fixes, and incomplete documentation from the firmware vendor
Designing a user-friendly interface with a simplistic feel, while ensuring that the app is compatible with both iOS and Android platforms
Creating an easy-to-use flow for the earphone connection process, including a personal sound test to generate a custom equalizer
Allowing users to change the sound on their earphones through an easy-to-use equalizer interface, while also providing a customizable equalizer for fine-grained control
Creating a way for the user to personalize the sound based on their hearing abilities, and ensuring that the app supports Over-the-air (OTA) updates for the earphones
Developing a cross-platform mobile application within a tight timeframe of two months, ensuring that the app is fully functional and meets the client's requirements
Solutions
The solution entailed developing an app that enables users to manipulate the sound on the earphones while making the process easy and enjoyable. The app featured an easy-to-follow onboarding process and allowed users to select one of six predefined sound profiles or create their own custom sound profile. One of the app's main features was a personal sound profile test to determine the best sound profile for the user's hearing.
The software development process began with a de-risking phase to ensure that the Airoha and Bestechnic chips could support the required functionalities. The project's duration was about two months, split into five two-week sprints, with the team working in Scrum. The development focused on creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing UX/UI design, and the team examined sample mobile applications provided by hardware manufacturers to understand the communication with the earphones. Communication was achieved using Bluetooth Low Energy, and the team relied on sniffing the BLE traffic due to a lack of documentation. The app was successfully developed, tested, and launched on Google Play Store and the App Store.
Results
The collaboration between RUBICON and the True Wireless Stereo Company culminated in a unique solution that allowed users to personalize their sound experience through a user-friendly mobile application. Key outcomes of this collaboration include:
The development team delivered a fully functional application for controlling the equalizer of the client’s earphones, offering a practical and useful tool for users wanting more control over their earphones
The final product allowed users to create personalized sound profiles, enhancing their listening experience
The app's user-friendly design and innovative features provided a unique value proposition in the competitive TWS market, positioning the client as an innovator in the audio industry
By providing users with the ability to tailor their sound preferences, the client enhanced customer satisfaction and engagement, strengthening their brand image
The successful collaboration with RUBICON contributed to the client's growth and success, showcasing their commitment to quality, design, and technological innovation
Technology stack
Flutter, Swift, Java, Xcode/Android Studio, Packet Logger/Wireshark, Clean architecture
Flutter
- An open-source UI software development kit used for creating the UI and implementing the functionalities of the mobile applicationSwift
- Used for developing the iOS part of the Flutter BLE pluginJava
- Used for developing the Android part of the Flutter BLE pluginXcode/Android Studio
- IDEs used for developmentPacket Logger/Wireshark
- Tools used for sniffing BLE traffic between iOS and Android devices and the earphonesClean architecture
- Coding principles that separate different layers of the application and enable fast and testable development
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