WWDC 2022: Meet Indian iOS developers making apps for the world

Since the start of the Apple App Accelerator in Bengaluru in late 2017, several indigenous app developers have made good use of the interactions with experts and technology to refine their app's user interface and gain global recognition.

With WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) 2022 just around the corner, DH had the opportunity to interact with a new crop of Indian app developers who are fast gaining worldwide recognition.

In this segment, we are highlighting two developer companies and one Unscripted Life Pvt. Ltd and Rythm Pad

MysticLand World Discovery
Abhinaya Chandrashekar is the co-founder of Unscripted Life Pvt. Ltd, the makers of MysticLand World Discovery. She heads all things product at the company including ideation, design, and content. Besides Abhinaya, the team of 10 is backed by co-founder Venkat Mandalam. The duo says they built this app "with a singular vision - to help children become smarter by learning about the world."

As the name suggests, MysticLand World Discovery is a fantasy universe-inspired infotainment app and the interesting thing is that it leverages AR (Augmented Reality) to help kids (7-13 years) learn new things as they play.

MysticLand app (screen-grab)

The game has four protagonists-- Verum, Scorch, Felix, and Orak. Each has unique personal attributes such as caring for a better world in terms of environment, another is vocal for equal human rights, and another is into science. The fourth character is interested in current affairs and politics. Based on the preference, the child can take up any one character to play the MysticLand World Discovery.

In the app, the players have to find the Mysticbeasts captured by a villain Bruha. To progress to the next level, the child has to solve puzzles. In each level, Bruha hides Mysticbeasts in different countries and players have to learn things about that particular country in terms of geography, landmarks, history, culture, and famous people to free the mystic beast.

With AR integration, the child has to literaly walk with iPhone/iPad around the house as they travel the country answering quiz questions and solving puzzles to unlock the mystic beast.

The game is designed to match the character's interests. For instance, if he/she chooses Felix, they have to solve a science-related questionnaire to move ahead. There are physical gifts to be won as well. The company will send graphical MysticaLand character-inspired toys and articles during special quizzes. This way the child will be more motivated to learn new things as they play.

Besides the gamified education, the app offers news daily called 'Mysticpost' containing six segments covering world news, science and technology, business, animals and environment, sports and entertainment, and world culture. They are written in a compelling story format that can keep the child attentive throughout the reading session.

Abhinaya added that the content and games on MysticLand are developed in consultation and input from credible child development specialists, psychologists, and a team of educators.

MysticLand app on Apple App Store (screen-grab)

Also, the Mumbai-based company also received help from Apple experts at App Accelerator to improve the user experience in terms of AR integration and other accepts of the application.

It should be noted that MysticLand is accredited with five stars by Educational App Store (United Kingdom).

MysticLand app is subscribed to by schools around the world including India. It was able to register 70,000 app users within the first year of its launch.

This year, it began offering paid app subscription options with subscription options. And, more than 70% of MysticLand's paid users come from the USA, Canada, UK, and the Middle East.

In India, around 800 schools have adopted MysticLand as part of their daily learning. The company has plans to reach 1,500 institutions in near future.

Also, Abhinaya added that the company plans to work closely with more Indian educational institutions with a project called 'MysticLands in Schools.

Abhinaya Chandrashekar, co-founder, Unscripted Life Pvt. Ltd. Credit: Apple

"The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 requires schools to include more General Knowledge-related study material for children and with MysticLands in Schools, the company plans to offer not just access to vast caches of GK online but also physical book kits. We also plan to break up the app for multiple age groups with appropriate universally accepted reading level content for up to Grade 8 students," Abhinaya told DH.

For global educational institutions, the company has plans to incorporate Apple’s Classkit.

Premium MysticLands subscription costs Rs 129 per month and Rs 999 annually in India. In the global market, it is priced at $60 (approx. Rs 4,662) a year.

Rhythm Pad
It is developed by J Splash Apps, a one-man team helmed by Bijoy Thangaraj. He is a multi-talented musician capable of playing piano and guitar and equally brilliant at software coding. Bengaluru-based Thangaraj has been developing music-based iOS apps since 2011.

Thangaraj's Rhythm Pad is a drum app, which promises low-latency and accurate sound bytes, for professional musicians to create music.

Rhythm Pad app. Credit: Apple

So far, Rhythm Pad has registered more than 12 million downloads around the world and Thangaraj added that participants in a Yetenek Sizsiniz Türkiye (Turkey Got Talent), used his app to play background music for a song.

Bijoy Thangaraj, CEO, JSplash Studios. Credit: Apple

In 2019, Neil Moxham, the principal guitar technician for the internationally renowned rock band Godsmack, contacted Thangaraj to tell them his team is using Tuner T1 to create and offered valuable feedback.

Neil Moxham, the principal guitar technician of Godsmack band using Tuner T1 app. Credit: Bijoy Thangaraj

Since his company is a one-man team, Thangaraj thanked Apple's developer relations team at App Accelerator for valuable feedback and tools to improve the capabilities and user interface of his music apps.

Last year, Thangaraj launched a Rhymelo, which helps users create songs on the go. It offers a lot of templates and also with machine learning technology, the app is capable of recommending words and completing a song.

The Rhymelo is also one of the first Indian apps to support Shareplay feature, which allows users to collaborate with friends and colleagues to write songs on the FaceTime video chatting app.

Besides Rhythm Pad and Rhymelo, Thangaraj has developed Music Tutor Plus, Rhythm Pad Pro, Tuner T1 Pro, Metronome M1 Pro, Aural Wiz Plus, GtrLib Chords Pro, and UkeLib Chords Pro. He has plans to bring more features to all his apps in the coming months.

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