Geo-security app Secura and delivery app Droppa are two South African mobile apps that recently received honourable mentions at the regional level in the Huawei Apps UP competition, where developers across Middle East and Africa competed for coveted prizes.

Apps UP is designed to inspire talented developers around the world to create seamless, smart and innovative digital experiences. By signing up for the contest, using HMS Core Kits and onboarding their apps onto AppGallery, entrants gained access to over 730 million global Huawei smartphone users, increasing access to potential partners and investors.

Here’s what the developers of Secura and Droppa had to say about their apps and their participation in Apps UP.

Shayne Katz from Secura

What makes Secura so unique?
Secura is a geo-security mobile platform that gives users access to private emergency services. In an emergency, the user taps the panic button in the app that links to the Aura on-demand emergency services platform in South Africa. This effectively gives the person access to a nationwide network of leading private armed response, medical emergency and armed stand-by roadside assistance services.

What did the process entail of integrating Secura with HMS Core?
Initially, we only catered for the Google Maps service. But when Aura restructured its dependency on Google Maps, it could be swapped out during runtime to cater for HMS Core. Aura built the HMS Core side, which encompassed the location and map service.

Why is integrating an app with HMS Core such a good idea?
Huawei has established itself as one of the world’s leading technology corporations. Considering the immense growth of its service offerings, app developers can ensure maximum market penetration through HMS Core integration. Using HMS Core as a part of Aura’s development is critical to Secura’s desire to be at the forefront of mobile app innovation in Africa.

What makes HMS a good ecosystem for developers?
HMS Core is built with developers in mind. A significant amount of work has been put into the ecosystem, documentation is well defined, and our team didn’t experience any issues with the integration.

How will the Apps UP prize help you grow as a developer?
Winning the US$3 000 prize unlocks several opportunities for Secura within the South African private security sector. It facilitates further collaboration with Aura’s on-demand response network and can help create awareness that there are affordable, efficient and effective app solutions in the private security sector in the country.

Bennette Molepo from Droppa

Tell us a bit more about the Droppa app.
Think of Droppa as an easy way to get goods and parcels of virtually any size collected and delivered. The app also features a Bucket service where drivers can be booked for multiple pickups and drop offs within one booking. It is fast becoming the ultimate on-demand app for house and furniture removals.

What other apps have you developed that you have integrated with HMS Core?
I have developed the Droppa Driver app, where drivers get notifications of new jobs and can attend to bookings. Drivers can either choose to accept or reject a job based on their availability. Integration with HMS Core is easy to do. The environment has all the technical examples and code snippets we can refer to and see how certain services work, meaning we can really go wild with our imaginations.

What will you do with your Apps UP prize money?
The $3 000 prize money will help me purchase more equipment essential for product development, like additional screens.

Why are competitions like Apps UP so important for developers?
They help to encourage developers to do more development and learn as much as possible. It also allows developers to learn and understand what the HMS services can provide and help they can help their app grow.

What plans do you have for app development?
I want to ensure that the Droppa apps use as much of the HMS functionality as possible.

To learn more about developer events and initiatives by Huawei, and to stay tuned to the latest updates, please visit developer.huawei.com/consumer/en.