Step-by-Step Guide For Developing A SpotHero Clone App

Ankit Patel
June 23, 2021
7 min read

A massive rise can be seen in the count of cars. In comparison to the cars on the road, the parking lots are limited. As a driver, you will have to spend a lot of time searching for a parking spot.

Fortunately, we all live in a digital world, where digitalization has a solution to all our problems. SpotHero clone app like parking apps emerges as a time saviour solution. Such types of apps help you in finding as well as booking (if required) available parking spots nearby. Other than this, these apps also offer GPS, cashless payment options, and many more.

Are you planning to hire on demand parking app development services to develop a parking app like SpotHero? If yes, then this write-up will act as a guide for you. You can get to know how you can create a flawless parking app, what are the essential features, what to do before hiring car parking app development services and how much would it cost to develop a parking app?

What is a Parking App?

A parking app is that that allows you to find the nearest vacant parking lots while sitting in the car or even while on the go. The app uses your mobile’s GPS location and delivers relevant results. In places, where there is paid parking, you can book the parking area in advance and make cashless payments via the parking apps.

Workflow of SpotHero Clone App Like Parking Apps

Prior to hiring on demand parking app development services, you must know about the workflow of a parking app. As a parking app user, you need to follow a few simple steps, like:

Search – Enter location details of your vehicle either manually or by using GPS. On deriving the location, the app will find the available nearest parking spot for your vehicle.
Compare – The app will give you plenty of parking lot options. You can compare all the options on the basis of the parking lot’s distance and price charged.
Book the Parking Spot – On the basis of the above comparison, you can book the best suitable parking lot. After booking, you get a booking number or a passcode.
Payment – You get the option to make instant payment using the integrated online payment modes. If you wish, you can also pay in cash after reaching the parking area.
Driveaway – The app permits you to use its navigational assistance and drive away quickly to the spot.
Park the Vehicle – On reaching the parking area, you can park your car in the parking slot that has been allotted to you.

The workflow of a parking app can be better understood via this embedded video. In this video, you can see that the parking app user is searching for a vacant parking lot. He is using the in-built camera of the app to scan the parking area. On scanning, the app finds the available parking lot which is marked with a big red pointer on his mobile screen. The app provides the user the direction to the available parking area and makes the search easy for him.

Benefits of Parking App Solutions

Optimized parking areas: With digitalization the parking areas can be organized properly. This implies that space can be used efficiently. Also, the parking owners are benefitted the most, as the parking lots are automatically managed and allotted without demanding much effort from the parking owners.
Reduced traffic offenses: On the optimization of the space in parking areas, you can see very few cars parked on the road. This means that two-wheelers and three-wheelers get more free parking spots. This results in reduced traffic offenses.
Reduced time to find parking: You can easily determine the nearest vacant parking space and if you want you can book it immediately.
Environmental friendliness: Though it may sound odd to you, it is true that this technology helps in reducing air pollution.

Fundamental Structure of The Parking Apps

All the parking information is stored on the clouds in the respective server with a comprehensive database. The parking system’s owners as well as the maintenance personnel have complete access to that information via the admin panel (this will be discussed below).

The below-mentioned features are provided by the server:

The ability to administer the parking area system
Recording and then processing the essential parking data
Payment control made by the drivers
Managing various user’s access to the parking system
Archiving and storing information

How Can SpotHero Clone App Like Parking App Generate Money?

Hiring the best on demand parking app development company and creating a seamless parking app is not enough. You must know how on demand app can generate money for you. You can seek the advice of car parking app development services offering professionals for better understanding.

Some of the monetization opportunities have been discussed hereunder:

Paid Services – Mostly, people look for simplified and easy search processes and they don’t mind paying extra for this. You can charge the users a certain amount if they prefer to find the parking spots in a simplified manner. Integrating a monthly subscription option into your app is a good idea.
Premium Features – You can create an app with Freemium features and add a few advanced premium features. To access those premium features, the user will have to pay a certain amount and you can make money.
Commission from parking area owners – You can charge a commission from the owners of the parking area. It is going to be a win-win opportunity for both of you. You can generate money through commission and the parking owners can enhance their service quality and earn more without much effort.
In-app purchases – Other than offering parking solutions, you can offer related virtual or real products to your users.
In-app advertising – This is another best monetization strategy, in which you get paid by those brands whose advertisement you publish on your parking app.

Must-Have Features of A Parking App

When you develop a SpotHero like parking app, it means that you will have to create three separate panels, each integrated with a different feature set. The three panels are:

Driver Panel
Parking Inspector Panel
Admin panel

Let’s discuss each panel and its features in brief:

Driver Panel

You create a parking app, especially for the drivers. The main goal of your app is to find for them the cheapest parking lot as quickly as possible. The essential features that should be in the driver panel are:

Registration
Authorization
Type of vehicles
Map
Parking search
Parking lot details
Parking lot booking
In-app navigation
Favourite parking spots
Payment
Parking history
Immediate parking extension
Offline mode
Push notifications
Settings
Reviews & Ratings

Parking Inspector Panel

Another panel that is required to create is the functional panel for the parking inspector so that he can manage the parking area seamlessly. This panel must include these features:

Registration
Authorization
Viewing parking lots
Notifications

Admin Panel

This is the panel through which you can keep an eagle’s eye on all the in-app activities. The features that should be integrated to this panel are:

Powerful dashboard
Manage parking spots
Manage users
Manage bookings
Manage payments
Manage commissions
Push notifications
Mange ratings & reviews

Steps to Develop A Parking App Like SpotHero

On hiring the on demand parking app development services, you need not have to worry much regarding how to develop the app. Still, there are a few steps that you must follow so that you can develop a wonderful SpotHero clone app. All the steps have been very nicely and easily explained. The steps are:

Choose Your Objective

Identify the reason behind developing a parking app. What pain points are you going to solve via your app? Will your app be free to use or it will be a partially paid app? Jot down every single point before approaching any app development company for its car parking app development services.

Conduct A Thorough Market Study

Never make the mistake of ignoring your competitors. Make a note of the success and failure of their parking apps. How can you make your parking app different? Ponder over the point whether you want to launch your market within the boundaries or overseas.

Find The Best App Development Team

The app development process becomes easy when you hire the best and highly experienced on demand parking app development services offering company. Once you hire their services, all you have to do is mention your requirements to them and keep a check on their progress.

Decide On The Features

Integrate the essential and the most useful features to your app. Ensure that you integrate user-friendly and easy-to-understand features. Features like registration, search, booking, locating, payment, etc. must be there in your app with a tutorial.

Select Great Design

Once you have decided on all tech patterns, you should move ahead to further app development procedures like development, design, and testing. Select the best and the most intuitive design for your app. The design should be clear so that the features can be easily understood. The driver is going to navigate through your app; hence create a simple and user-friendly design.

Technology Stack

Technology stack is that step that cannot be ignored. The Tech stack is the backbone of any app. Your app’s stability and scalability rely on the tech stack you choose. You can create your app as a native, hybrid or cross-platform. But, this has to be decided in advance prior to starting with the project.

Below is a complete technology stack list that you will need for developing your SpotHero like parking app:

For iOS – Swift
For Android – Kotlin or Java
Twilio for SMS Gateway
Node.JS for Backend & API
React.JS for Frontend
MongoDB for Database
AWS or Google Cloud for Server
PayPal or Stripe for Payment Gateway (Depends on Availability as per your Country)

App Development & Testing

Now, it’s time for your team to develop both back-end and front-end, set up servers, work on databases, settle on APIs, storage solutions, etc. After development, you will have to test your app against bugs and errors.

Launch Your App

For launching any app, there are certain policies that need to be fulfilled. Hence, it is advisable that you start preparing for this ASAP.

App Maintenance

Keep updating and testing your app for its seamless functioning. This will enhance the user experience.

What Is The Cost To Develop A Parking App?

Certainly, it is a bit difficult to state the exact development cost of a parking app. The parking app development requirements vary from client to client. The development cost greatly depends upon the features integrated, the platform is chosen, the tech stack picked, the size of the development team, geographical location, project urgency, etc.

The cost to develop parking app also depends upon the total development process hours. Again, the hourly rates vary from country to country. For example, it is around $25-$35 in India and in the USA it is somewhere around $100-$115. However, the total cost’s rough estimation comes around $35,000-$45,000.

Why Choose PeppyOcean As Your Parking App Development Partner?

PeppyOcean, located in India, is an award-winning App Development Company offering matchless car parking app development services. We hold great experience in creating unique and useful parking apps just like the SpotHero clone app. Using the best mapping technologies and framework, we develop robust apps. Considering the need for time, our certified developers infuse all the essential features to make your parking app stand out from the crowd.

About: Ankit Patel

Ankit Patel is a Sales/Marketing Manager at XongoLab Technologies LLP and PeppyOcean, A leading mobile app development companies. As a hobby, He loves to write articles about technology, marketing, business, web, and mobile. His articles featured on Datafloq, JaxEnter, TechTarget, eLearninggAdobe, DesignWebKit, InstantShift and many more.

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