Mobile app development for Yami Yami — a product that is as mouth-watering as their sushi

In April 2016, the owners of Yami Yami came to us and asked to make the best delivery application ever with a lot of functions and complete the project by September, 1st.

We could not leave existing customers and honestly said that we could finish only in mid-September. For Yami Yami, the difference of 2 weeks was critical, and they found another contractor.

All summer long, the owners of the service told us about the development process, shared the problems, and asked for advice. We talked, consulted, and brainstormed together on what can be improved.

As a result, the developers released the application not in September, but in December, and there were still many shortcomings in it. It wasn’t possible to make an order in the version for iOS, and it was hard to even start in the version for Android. Then the client turned to us again, but the task was different.

We understood that when the application does not work, the client loses money. Users get negative associations with the brand. They cannot place the order and go to competitors. It was necessary to save the situation urgently and develop a new app. We had three months and a limited budget.

For three months the old application was in the app stores, but a few could order through it. Even the director of Yami Yami couldn’t do it. To solve this problem quickly, we developed a wrapper application in 1 week.

«Wrapper» is a mobile version of the website with several native elements added to be published on the App Store or Google Play. They are used when you need to release the application quickly and cheaply. The «wrappers» have a non-native interface, and they work slowly. Users complained but could order. It was a necessity. Usually, we do not recommend this decision.

After «extinguishing the fire» with the help of a «wrapper» we started developing a new application.

The customer had already spent a lot of money and time on development in another studio. Therefore, we could not implement all the functionality at once. It was necessary to make a quality MVP as soon as possible. To avoid major modifications, we involved the client in the process to the maximum. We approved all the documentation and layouts, included the client in all tasks, and gave access to the bug tracker. The Mobile Up team immediately showed each new realized function. Such transparency at all stages helped us save time on the approval process and meet deadlines with an error of only two days.

To manage logistics, production, and sales, Yami Yami uses a ready-made automation system for delivery services -Tillypad. The complex API of this system has become a problem for previous application developers.

Tillypad was created in 1997, and its architecture is not optimized for modern applications. This limited us in development and required additional resources. To speed up the work, we took on the role of consultants: analyzed the API, prepared the specification, agreed on improvements with Tillypad and monitored backend development.

Yami Yami already had a design ready. And it was pretty (even our connoisseur art director liked it), but not user-friendly. To open the application, you had to fill out a registration form with six fields. Also, the menu had long drop-down lists. This is suitable for web content, but not for mobile applications. To simplify the logic of interaction and reduce the cost of development, we completely redesigned UX. The main drawback of the old design was that it didn’t give you a desire to immediately order food. Photos of dishes were hidden in categories. We decided to focus on dishes to encourage users to order.

Food is why users come to Yami Yami. It should be appetizing, attracting attention, it should be wanted. Therefore, we focused on large cards with photos of dishes. And thanks to the gorgeous photos of Yami Yami, now only a person with a full stomach does not salivate when they see the menu

"Where’s my food? Why is it taking so long? "— Yami Yami users do not have these questions. They in real time track the status of the order and know when it is being cooked, and when the courier is already on his way. This is one of the most caring functions of the service, which has been implemented by the Breadhead studio on the website, and we did it in the application.

The application automatically determines the location. When the user chooses the dish and puts it in the cart, all the fields are filled in. You only need to confirm the order. You do not need to register separately, just enter the code from the SMS and that’s it — the order is accepted! It takes less than a minute.

The application not only works properly but is also popular — 10-13% of the total number of orders began to go from the application in the first months after the launch. We continue to improve the product further with great pleasure.