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The Clue to Humanizing Mobile Apps: Natural Language Processing

Let’s try to imagine a modern person without a smartphone, computer or internet. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? And this is not surprising because devices become “smarter”, and their functionality is expanding widely every day. Over the past 10 years, smartphones have evolved from devices for business people or geeks to real personal assistants and are used almost universally. That, undoubtedly, is a big plus, since the popularity of mobile devices leads software developers along the way of creating new applications and expanding the capabilities of such devices.

Nevertheless, despite the level of technical development and the popularity of visual content (for example, images or video), most of the information has a textual representation. We read the text in instant messengers, news bulletins, letters, documents and so on.

And if even the children know about smartphones, then the other technology, which will be discussed in this article, maybe not so popular and widespread. First of all, it should be noted that natural language processing technologies (NLP) are aimed at improving human-computer interaction (within the framework of this article, of course). NLP can help in analyzing content and its meaning in order to take the necessary actions based on this. Exactly in such a way, how would a particular person do it.

But if such technologies allow to expand the capabilities of the smartphone and save the user from routine, why they are not used far and wide? The answer is simple – at this stage, the integration of NLP is quite complex, and there are not so many developers with such experience. So, as you’ve guessed, in this article we’ll talk about natural language processing in mobile apps.

Natural language processing in mobile apps

NLP in mobile app

To make the topic of “natural language processing in mobile apps” clearer, let’s find out what is meant under the “humanizing mobile app” topic. Most often people know how to interact and communicate with each other, they learn this from birth, and it is a built-in function in the human nature. Socialization laid the foundation for the development and evolution of both the individual and society as a whole. Perhaps that’s why we are trying to add human “features” to different subjects of our environment. This phenomenon is highlighted by psychologists and is called anthropomorphism. Advertising, movies and even more, cartoons – everywhere you can see how people try to “humanize” animals or objects.

This also applies to other aspects of our lives, such as mobile applications. Over the past few years, large companies as Amazon, Facebook, and Google have advanced in the study of artificial intelligence and its introduction into their products. Moreover, the goods are being developed and manufactured, capable of understanding and interpreting human speech and carry out certain actions on the basis of the received data. It can be a virtual assistant in a smartphone, like Siri on iOS, and a device that integrates into a smart home system, like Alexa from Amazon. These products are able to perform specified actions based on voice commands – whether it’s laying a path on the map or controlling the light in your home. Moreover, many companies integrate more and more “sociable” bots into support chats, which can react to the context of the message and deliver the text with the desired emotional tone. Thus, an illusion of communication with a real person is created, which facilitates many processes of communication of users both with their devices and with companies providing various services. And these are few examples of using natural language processing in mobile apps.

Read also: How to Integrate Siri in Your iOS App

Healthcare

This area is clearly expressed in its dependence on the processing of the natural language. Both from patients and from doctors, so the use of technology in this industry is demonstrative. If this issue is considered by the patient, then the use of NLP could simplify the process of using medical equipment, taking medications and recording procedures or indications that are aimed at healing. Using verbal text input speeds up the process of accepting and remembering important details, which the doctor drew attention to.

Read also: Health and Fitness App Development

On the other hand, doctors, as well as general medical personnel, would also benefit from such technologies. Often in the process of communicating with the patient, doctors give advice on care, the necessary procedures and indications for taking medication. Some of this data can be missed or forgotten by the patient (for example, the name of the disease or diagnosis). Using voice input or virtual assistants would simplify these actions develop new processes. The application can take notes with the words of a specialist and mark the necessary data on the calendar, setting reminders of taking pills or subsequent designated visits. Also, do not underestimate the importance of such technologies for medical personnel as a whole. With the help of speech recognition and NLP technology, you can keep whole medical records and make this process automated, eliminating the need to keep records manually. This approach can shorten the time needed for paperwork and free up time for direct contact with people. Alternatively, surgeons could take notes or necessary clarifications during the operation to analyze the data after. This is the second example of using NLP in apps.

Data and analysis

If now bots or voice assistants are capable of analyzing relatively simple searches or performing automated actions, in the near future the situation may change. Having huge potential, these technologies can be used in the collection, processing, and data forecasting as well.

Read also: E-commerce App Development

This can be useful for product companies (or, for example, startup) that sell their goods on many Internet sites and platforms. New technologies can help in choosing the right product, analyzing the characteristics of each client and also such parameters as their location, biometric data, and personal preferences. On the other hand, using information engines or frameworks, you can develop an interface for searching, analyzing and ordering data. As an example, an automated Wikipedia analog, which would collect news, information about recent incidents, as well as websites, video files and so on. Such an approach would be able to radically change our perception of the use and consumption of information.

On the other hand, NLP can be used for security purposes by analyzing information obtained from open sources and social networks. For example, through predicting the behavior of people on various events, making research of people’s records on certain parameters.

Using natural language processing in app development

We want to note that Natural Language Processing has a huge potential both in mobile development and in the provision of digital services. If you want to build a business based on this technology, remember that the scope of such decision is extensive and with the right approach it is possible to design a modern and successful solution. Especially this is important if your business is tied up with people. If you want to know more about using natural language processing in app or how to integrate natural language processing, do not hesitate to contact us, we will try to answer all question of your interest!

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