A Comparative Study on Android and iOS App Maturity for Child Safety

This research report conducts a comparative study on the maturity rates of Android and iOS applications, focusing on their implications for child safety. The study begins with an abstract, rationale, aims, objectives, and research questions, followed by a comprehensive background and significance section highlighting the growing importance of mobile technologies and apps. A literature review explores existing research on app maturity ratings, the concepts of Android and iOS apps, and their impact on children. The methodology is outlined, and the report concludes with a timeline, facilities, budget, and references. The research aims to analyze maturity rates, compare app features, and provide recommendations to protect children from potential risks associated with mobile app usage. The report covers various aspects including app development, user ratings, and the influence of different platforms on children's habits and safety.

Research Principles

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title.........................................................................................................................................2
Research abstract....................................................................................................................2
Rational of the study:..............................................................................................................2
Aim.........................................................................................................................................2
Objectives...............................................................................................................................2
Research questions.................................................................................................................2
Research Background and Significance.................................................................................3
Research methodology...........................................................................................................8
Time-line, Facilities, Budget................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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Title
To conduct a comparative study on the maturity rates of Android and iOS apps to identify
its safety for children.
Research abstract
Mobile apps play an important role in technical innovations. These apps are introduced
by developers, business organisation, government bodies etc. to help people in providing their
information and services. The developers use different domain to develop these apps and they
face various difficulties as they have to keep knowledge of different domain to meet the
expectations of different customers. The iOS apps are iPhone operating system which are
developed and created by Apple Inc. (Ali and Mesbah, 2016). It has secured second position
after android application. A hybrid or multi-platform application is a type of application where
the code is written once in a language, like web development languages. When it is completed, it
can be implemented in any market by creating application for that platform which help in
reducing the developer time and effort.
Rational of the study:
The rationale behind selecting this topic is to explain the importance of growing mobile
technologies and apps in today's technical innovations and its impact on children and their habits.
Results and findings of the study will help the app developers to focus more on making easy and
design standards of the apps so that users do not find it difficult to understand and operate them.
Research Aims: Objectives and Questions
Aim
To analyse the maturity rates of Android and iOS apps for ascertaining its safety for children.
Objectives
 To determine the maturity rates of Android and iOS apps.
 To understand the concept of Android and iOS apps for comparing their recognized
maturity rates.
 To analyse the impact of both these apps on the safety prospective of children.
 To recommend ways in which the children can be protected from any of their vulnerable
consequences.
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Research questions
 How maturity rates of Android and iOS apps can be determined?
 Explain the concept of Android and iOS apps for comparing their recognized maturity
rates.
 What is the impact of both these apps on the safety prospective of children?
 What are the different ways through which the children can be protected from any of
their vulnerable consequences?
Research Background and Significance
Innovation in mobile apps has and technologies has made it possible to always remain in
connectivity with different experts, learners and other people. It has helped in reducing the time
and effort of the people to gain knowledge of whatever things they want to know and learn.
Mobile technologies are growing and gaining popularity rapidly specially in the field of
communication and other areas of research (Andrus and et.al., 2014). Many mobile applications
like e-banking, paytm etc. has made all the work very easy. People do not have to waste their
time in performing activities like billing manually, premium payment etc. Further, iPhone
operating system and android apps have raised the interest of educators, tutors and students also
to learn, share new concepts and other plan to increase their knowledge. All the apps are not
appropriate and available on time, so it is very necessary for them to hire developers which can
help them to develop different apps which can provide relevant information to their students and
other faculty members about the subject (Chen, Xu, Zhou and Zhu, 2013). Further, apps have
helped the common people to access all the services of government as well as private
organisations. They can update their knowledge and know more about the services and new
offerings of the businessman with the help of their apps and websites.
Further, m-commerce apps also play an important role in mobile world. Due to increased
use of smartphone, tablets, laptops sales, the focus of customers has shifted to digital services.
They are focusing more on accessing services of different apps which are provided by various
people. Adoption of e-wallets, online shopping and ease of use are some reasons which has
increased the demand of high tech facilities and mobile apps (Choi, H., Au and Liu, 2014). The
data of these apps are stored on cloud and helps mobile framework's supporter to access these
data directly from the cloud. This has helped in broadening the scope of developing mobile
applications to use concepts of cloud computing.
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Literature review
To determine the maturity rates of Android and iOS apps
According to the view of Dahlke and et.al., (2015) Maturity rates of android and iOS
apps have increased among the youngsters and children. Android has four level of rating policy
like low, medium, high level and everyone maturity. ? These ratings faced problems majorly
from the parents which view the app description page on iOS store . They mislead through it and
choose the app which does not contain information about horror content, offensive language and
sexual content. But they are unaware that this information content is already in these apps which
they cannot omit it. These undesirable contents adversely affect the children habits and they lose
their focus from their main objectives and studies. The maturity ratings for iOS and android
apps are quiet difficult to compare. To use iOS actual maturity rating as a baseline for measuring
the reliability of self-reported maturity ratings on the Android platform, it is necessary to omit
cases in which maturity ratings contain the above schemes reflecting the discrepancies between
iOS and Android’s rating policies (Eagle, Dahl, Low and Mahoney, 2014).
The rating criteria for Android apps and iOS will be determined when developers use
different ways to analyse their popularity and attributes of the apps. The installation and rating
criteria of mobile application changes rapidly. They use different domain to design them so that
it can be more easy and comfortable for the people to use it. It is critically analysed that people
rate the apps according to its easiness and relevant content. They download the apps only when
they were encouraged by developers and professionals by explaining its benefits (Gabrielli and
et.al., 2017). The influence of apps and developer’s ratings vary from different platforms like
cross platform and Android apps.
In modern era, use of mobile phones and apps are increased. People are more relying
more on apps and websites for completing their daily life activities. They are using online
services to save their time and efforts. Android applications and iOS apps has increased their
functionality and capabilities of doing work fast (Ghose and Han, 2014). They have rated these
apps according to their daily use and functionality. People are using these apps for purchasing
products, paying and withdrawing their payments and gaining knowledge and completing their
higher studies.
The maturity people like parents, experts, teachers have given rating according to the
performance and usability of apps. They have preferred iOS apps as they are supportive and runs
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easily on the device. Further, the structure of these apps is so easy and understandable. On the
other hand, many of the people have given more ratings to android apps as they do not crash.
Though these apps are not supportive to every platform but they did not crash and hanged. These
forces the people to use more android apps than iOS applications (Giachetti and Marchi, 2017).
The cash and hang out problems occur when the developer does not test these apps properly.
They do not test them for large database and just check them at small level. Another, important
factor which affect the apps performance is its use by the people. People generally use short
passwords and shortcut methods to login it which increases chances of duplication of data and
creates error.
To understand the concept of Android and iOS apps for comparing their recognized
maturity rates.
The android apps and iOS are the main techniques through which the people can be
helped in different ways. The applications found on different phones and laptops help not only
the business professionals but it has also assisted teachers, students to raise their skills and
knowledge. The apps must be developed to help the people which needs frequent knowledge and
learning for their future help (Grist, Porter and Stallard, 2017). Use of native apps are faster and
reliable. It is developed for mobile operating system like think Objective-C or Swift for iOS vs.
Java for Android. It is user friendly app and helps the organisation and business people to speed
up their marketing. The main advantage of native apps is that they can easily access and use the
capabilities of user device (10 Benefits of Custom Mobile Application Development for Your
Business, 2017). Native apps are mainly found in pictures, alarms, GPS system and address
books. The ratings for these apps increases when large people will make use of it for their
benefits.
On the other hand, hybrid apps are designed with the help of HTML5 and Java script.
They looked similar to native apps but they are actually restricted to navigational elements. It
displays the important information on the user page when it navigates through the app. It is
found mostly in Facebook, Instagram, banking and Twitter apps (Harvey, 2017). Maturity rating
is done according to its performance and use. Duration in which android apps can be launched is
six months as it cannot be built only in one language. It needs to be implemented in various other
platforms like Java etc. They must be launched in this period to minimize efforts and time of
developers. These will help them to increase their productivity and ratings.
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Google is developing apps for both android and iOS, but it is good in making iOS apps as
compared to android apps. Apple does not have allowed the apps developed by Google to set
default on its browsers like calendars, emails etc. Apple has made tools which do not completely
isolate the application made by Google (Helton, 2015). It has developed tools like widgets,
advance share sheets so that third party like Google can launch their apps. The maturity ratings
for android apps are increasing as they are giving the best services to users in supporting them on
their device. This has also increased the awareness among people about how to use these apps
and involve their children to make use of it in their studies (Hu and et.al., 2015). Further, it has
also helped them to raise the popularity of mobile applications and techniques in advanced
education system.
This innovation in technical world has helped the children, parents and other people to
solve their problems by their own by taking help from it. IOS has increased the reliability and
easiness of operating various tools on the user device (Hu, Liu, Gong, Kong and Jin, 2015). They
can make use of calendars, timers, reminders etc. to keep alarms and remind the important dates
of their meetings and other special activities. The usage of android apps has developed the
framework which can be accessed by anyone and has also extended software development life
cycle. On the other hand, the ratings of children and young generation for the android and iOS
apps are increasing as they are more involved in it for fulfilling their needs and objectives.
To analyse the impact of both these apps on the safety prospective of children.
Children are benefited a lot from these apps as they do not have to take small help of their
problem from their tutors or parents. They are able to perform their work by their own. They can
do their homework and other tasks very efficiently and successfully without taking help from
their seniors. With the help of android and iOS apps, students are able to do the things which
they are very much interested (Hull and et.al., 2017). They are able to devote time on the
activities on which helps them to grow their mental health. These apps make their studies more
interesting and helps them to achieve good marks in their exams. It makes their lessons into
games which increases their interest and they do not feel bore whole solving their sums and other
questions. These apps help students to make their schedules without the help of their parents and
teachers and follow it strictly. Another major advantage of lunching apps in education sector is
that it preserves earth (Judge, Floyd and Jeffs, 2015). This is because many trees are cut for
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making papers, pencils and pens while apps require just one download which helps in placing the
earth greener and safer.
Some apps do not only provide better learning but also update children about their
campus events, timetables and other important details. These apps help parents to track the
progress of their children. They can also observe how these apps helps in developing skills and
talents of their wards. These has lowered their tension levels as they give whole information of
their children's activities and habits (Kelly, 2016). They can release from the tension of how they
can develop good manners and skills in their children. The parents have to provide the
smartphones to their children only when they are capable of understanding the importance of
their studies (Hsuand and Ching, 2013). They must not be over encouraged to use mobile apps
for their studies as these will distract them from their main goals. The children's must be guided
and given proper instructions before providing mobile phones.
The parents do not have to provide all they facilities at their early age which forces them
to full depend on these apps and technologies. Nowadays, children are not using these apps for
studies but they are misusing it. They are using it only for their entertainment. They are
distracted from the additional things like advertisements and other attractive video which
distracts them from their main goals. Further, attractive things on these apps have distracted
them and forced them to engage more into them. Due to excessive use of these smartphones and
laptops have poorly affected the eyes and mental capability of them (Krutz, Munaiah, Meneely,
and Malachowsky, 2016). They are losing their sightedness at very early age. They are facing
problems of headache, migraine, less vision, stress and low confidence. These has directly
affected their health and effective performance.
These has affected their mental health as they are not able to take effective decisions and are
facing many problems. Increased use of smartphones has led to disappearance of the outdoor
games. Due to this, physical development of children is not going properly. They are becoming
fattier and facing problems of overweight.
Due to more dependence on apps and mobile phones, children are losing the capability of
doing fast calculations, taking effective decisions etc. Furthermore, children are focusing more
on apps which provide them wrong information and attractive videos due to which suicide and
criminal cases are increasing (NovemberLeón Bravo and Fernández, 2017). They are losing their
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self-control and involve more in games, cartoons and monies which are not beneficial for their
education and mental development.
Further, safety of children through these apps is increased as it is very easy for the
parents to track the location of their children. They are also helped from these apps as they give
performance results of their kids. On the other hand, the threats of children from distractions are
increased. They are forcing their parents to provide them smartphones, laptops and tablets so that
they can easily perform their tasks but they do no focus on their main objectives (Li, Goh and
Cavusoglu, 2014) Children and teenagers are connecting more with their colleagues and
unknown friends with the help of Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites which
sometimes invites terrorists’ attacks. These has also affected their studies, health and safety.
Maturity ratings for different apps will be more in number when it is easily accessible,
understandable, effective in design and updated regularly. This will increase its popularity and its
long-term existence in the market. Parents and other tutor will give their ratings if the app
increases the skills and knowledge of children. Furthermore, maturity ratings for android and
iOS apps will be effective when they provide better results to people.
Research methodology
Research methodology is the process through which all the tools and techniques used in
the study is described. The current research is based on qualitative aspect and data is collected by
applying different types of techniques and methods. The main aim of this research is to analyse
the maturity rates for android and iOS apps and its impact on children security (Meshram and
et.al., 2017). The reason behind choosing native and hybrid apps is to understand their
significance in mobile performance and its influence on user.
Research approach:
There are three types of research approaches that are deductive, inductive and adductive.
In inductive approach, the conclusion is made from the findings and data is generalised from
specific findings to general results (Why Mobile Apps are important? 7 Benefits of Mobile Apps
for Customers, 2017). Further, it starts with research questions, aims and objectives which are
successfully achieved through the study.
Another approach is deductive in which hypothesis are generated which is confirmed
during research process. In this, hypothesis is created from the theory then observation tests are
performed and finally confirmation and rejection is done. In adductive research approach,
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incomplete observations, puzzles and surprising facts are explained (Migliaccio and et.al., 2016).
Further, qualitative and quantitative methods are used to explain the concept.
The research approach used here is inductive which helps in developing new theories.
This approach will help the researcher to analyse the results on the basis of its findings. In this
approach, data collection is used to explore the main concept of maturity ratings (Neil, 2014). It
has identified themes and patterns and developed conceptual framework.
Research philosophy:
It can be defined as the systematic study of the researcher's thinking and mentality.
Ontology and Epistemology are the common areas among research methodology, epistemology
and ontology. In this research, interpretivism philosophy is used to interpret different elements
of the study. It has helped the researcher to group the diverse approaches of the research. It
conducts different interviews and observation process from data collection (Puvvala, Dutta, Roy
and Seetharaman, 2016). It also assists the scholar understand the weak prediction and generate
results according to it. Further, this approach has helped to understand the ethical issues,
leadership factors and differences in culture difference of the people.
Ontology:
It is the overall analysis of the fact which is explained in the research. There are mainly
two approaches which are substituted with ontology that is objectivism and subjectivism. The
best approach for ontology is objectivist for the research methodology. The main reason behind
selecting this approach is that the data collected is numeric and objective. Data like execution
time, battery usage, memory usage etc. are purely numeric and objective (Sunyaev, and et.al.,
2014). The result data of this research has no possibility of providing any subjective data of any
type.
Epistemology:
It mainly handles source from which information is collected. This approach focusses on
limitations, possibilities and opportunities of the experience which is achieved from the research.
Knowledge is divide into four types as per the perspective of epistemology. It can be termed as
empirical, institutive, logical and authoritarian. Epistemology is relied on empirical knowledge.
It is because, the data which is used to analyse the performance is purely numerical. This
approach is mainly based on ontological approach (Williams and Greene, 2015). Ontological
approach is based on objectivism while epistemology approach is based on positivism. Data
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collection in this research is purely objective and independent of social factors. This has guided
the researcher to go with positivist approach for their study.
Research design:
The quantitative approach is used to collect the data. Ontology philosophy is used to
develop to understand the data in numerical manner. Experimental research design is used to
collect the data. It has helped the researcher to test the theory by developing valid conclusions
related to dependent and independent variables. This design is chosen to find appropriate results
from the data collected from the research. Different steps involved in the study is to launch the
ways through which performance can be improved at greater level (Zapata, Fernández-Alemán,
Idri and Toval, 2015). This study does not pose any ethical issue. The chances for ethical issues
are very less because the applications are developed to help the people and not for the particular
person.
Time-line, Facilities, Budget
Timeline, budget and facilities are the main component of the following research. Data
which is collated, collected and analysed has taken nearly 6 months to complete the research.
The data is prepared within one month. In this time period, various applications are tested to
increase its productivity. The native and hybrid application shall be tested and completed in next
one month. Further, in this time, the apps are tested in different situations like their memory
usage, battery consumption, execution time etc. The data is collected in another two months and
its analysis and interpretation is done in next two months.
Overall budget which is estimated for the research is 18000 AUD. The data which is
collected was sampled, analysed and tested. Testing of the application is done without involving
environment factors. This has taken 6 months to complete the research. Different tools, statistical
packages are the facilities which are required to perform data analysis.
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Activities 1st
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2nd
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3rd
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4th
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5th
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10th
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Formation of
the research
proposal
Making the
objectives
and aim
Developing
research
questions
Identifying
and selecting
method of
data
collection
Literature
review
Designing
Research
Methodology
Collecting
primary
data
Data
analysis
Finding of
collected data
Recommenda
tions and
conclusion
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