What do you know about modern hunting? Spending several days searching for prey is so past tense. The latest technologies and apps radically change our lives and smart hunters actively use them. Today we will tell you about Call Master — an application that will pump your skills of calling animals and help you choose the best time for hunting. In the first month, users downloaded it more than 10,000 times from the AppStore.
So, work on an app always begins with market research. There are many apps for hunters in the stores, but none of them solves the real problems of users. They are not functional, animal voices are provided in low quality, and the design isn’t so good. No application has collected all the necessary sounds in one place. We also didn’t forget to talk with real hunters to find out their wishes and pains by conducting interviews with 6 professionals.
So we at MDM identified the main goals: the correct UI, only useful functions, high-quality sound recordings, user training, and our main advantage — the weather calculator. Let’s take a closer look at it.
Opportunities
Lure animals
Let’s start with the main function of Call Master — luring animals. You might think that the application simply mimics the voices of animals, but this is untrue. In fact, in most US states electronic devices for luring are prohibited. However, don’t be discouraged and treat this as a challenge and opportunity to improve hunting skills. After all, a professional doesn’t need many gadgets to show their skills.
In our app, you will find the voices of various animals in excellent quality so that you can learn to imitate them. Here the question arose: how will the system recognize the user’s voice and determine its success? We studied the work of the well-known Shazam, and, initially, decided that machine learning would be an ideal option. However, having tested the Fourier conversion system, we do not doubt that this is what we need.
What does it do? It helps determine how well a user mimics sound. Simply, the Fourier transform translates your voice into frequencies with a certain amplitude, and when it matches the amplitude of the animal’s sound, your imitation is perfect!
This solution also helped us save the customer’s money because the development of machine learning would come out at a considerable amount.
Weather
Preparation for the hunt takes a lot of time, plus you need to get to the place. It’s annoying when you arrive, determined to leave with catch, and the rain spoils you all weekend, isn’t it? These are the sad stories that the hunters shared with us. Therefore, we decided that Call Master couldn’t do without a weather forecast. There is no such function in any applications.
However, this is not just a meteorological forecast. This is a calculator that will help you choose the best time to hunt. Your ideal hunt will be predicted based on 10 weather factors like pressure, temperature, the moon, sunset, and sunrise, etc. So, nothing will stop you from enjoying your favorite sport.
Training
Now let’s talk about the learning process. Not every hunter will immediately manage to learn the new sound of the animal, and that’s OK. Our hunters said it could take a week or several months. Therefore, in Call Master, training takes place in stages and in a game form to achieve the best result and motivate the user.
You can follow learning outcomes using a grading system and progress graph. The app character Bill is our funny mustachioed hunter who accompanies you at every stage, giving advice. But that is not all! We made tutorials with detailed descriptions of how to reproduce a particular sound. With this approach to training, the deer themselves will not be able to distinguish where their relative is and where the hunter is.
Conclusion
So, thanks to the research and teamwork, we were able to create a product that people really use. Seeing many downloads and positive user feedback is our best reward since release.
