Blog > Kii Cloud

KanjiQuiz: An Apple Watch ready iOS 8 Quiz Application (Part 1)

Apple Watch is coming !!! Many developers around the world has already prepared for their awesome Watch Applications. Perhaps you are one of those, if not, this tech blog series will explore a minimalistic yet fully functioned iOS 8 applications with... Read more »

Add A/B Testing to Your App in Minutes Using Kii

What is A/B testing? In a nutshell, A/B testing allows you to deploy multiple scenarios to your app's users in order to determine the optimal combinations around app experience, features, usability etc. This is a great way to test your hypotheses ab... Read more »

Introducing Pseudo-Users

Today we've rolled out Pseudo-Users, making it easy to use Kii services right away without user authentication. When we created Pseudo-Users we were not only thinking about saving you time but also ... Read more »

CliMate + Kii: A tale of two clouds

More startups and large enterprises are working on Internet of Things (IoT) projects. In fact, according to a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit, 96% of business leaders expect their companies to use the IoT in some respect within the next thr... Read more »

KiiReferral brings referrals and tracking to your app [beta]

We are excited to announce a new beta feature, KiiReferral, which has just been publicly launched. This tool is an addition to Kii's cloud functionality and allows you to quickly add social sharing and referral tracking to your app in a matter of min... Read more »

[Free ebook] Rapid Mobile Game Development

We're incredibly excited about our partnership with Unity, the game engine for cross-platform builds.... Read more »

Unleash the Power of Kii Cloud with the New Data Browser

We heard your feedback and a new refined data browser with redesigned UI is available now on the Kii Developer Portal. Log in to check it out (click your application, the Objects icon and then Data Browser). With Kii Data Browser, view all objects... Read more »

Build a WhatsApp Clone in a Day

The market for messaging apps is exploding. People are looking for alternatives to standard text messaging. Since the opportunity huge, why not create a messaging app? In this post, we'll walk you through a bare bones WhatsApp clone (we'll call it Ki... Read more »

Introducing Kii User Browser

We are happy to announce a new addition to Kii's developer portal - user browser! What is it? A perfect complementary tool to our existing Data Browser, User Browser allows you to log into the developer portal to view and edit the registered users ... Read more »

Kii Introduces A/B Testing and Server Hooks, Makes Javascript SDK PhoneGap and Titanium Compatible

Here at Kii, we're constantly working on new functionality to improve the experience for our mobile developers. Several exciting new features just rolled out, giving you more power to accelerate development and optimize your apps. Without further ado... Read more »

Automate Kii Server Extensions with Server Hooks

Suppose you created this great Kii Sever Extension but, instead of programmatically executing it from your client, you want it to run when something meaningful happens on the backend (e.g. a user is created). Wait no more!... Read more »

Mobile expected to drive game revenue to $100B by 2017

Asia fuels industry growth with nine of the top 10 game M&As of 2013 Consoles and handhelds may be heading into their eighth generation, but they’re no longer leading the charge with gamers. A <a href="http://www.digi-capital.com/... Read more »

iOS 7’s SpriteKit is Quietly Changing the Future of Mobile Gaming — Here’s How to Develop Games On It

Introduction: Why Game Mobile Developers Need to Know About SpriteKit iOS 7 has several powerful new features for mobile game developers which were missed amidst the fanfare of the OS launch, but every game developer needs to know about them now. Th... Read more »

Kii Unity 3D (.NET) SDK now supports async calls!

Rejoice Unity 3D developers! Async calls are here :) ... Read more »

Unity and Kii Cloud team up for love of the game

Game developers get a fast and scalable backend, powerful analytics and game distribution services, so they can focus on the stuff that matters — the game experience.   ... Read more »

Another MBaaS Acquisition and Why Vendor Viability Matters

You've spent months building your app. Cultivating your idea, perfecting your design and of course, writing the code. You're a savvy developer so you use all the tools available to make your app more stable and get to market faster. An MBaaS (Mobile ... Read more »

3 Reasons App Developers Need to Think Multiscreen

There’s one big important answer to that question – customers. The people who download and use your app aren’t restricted to one type of device, and they don’t want to be.... Read more »

5 tips to revitalize your stalled mobile app project

You've made big headway with your app, but development issues have you stuck in limbo. You're not alone. ... Read more »

Roll out the welcome mat for guest users

Traveling home for the holidays, you put up with a lot. An uncomfortable pullout couch. Visions of maniacal sugar plum fairies manifested by too much eggnog and mom’s jello surprise. Uncle Jimmy's incessant yammering about gout and his latest root ... Read more »

Kii Sponsors 2013 Chupamobile App Developer Competition

Listen up, mobile app developers: We've got an exciting chance for you to win up to $45,000 in prizes in the 2013 Chupamobile App Developer Competition.... Read more »

How to handle the tribulations of free mobile app trials

Free trials in the tech world are nothing new. They’ve long been used to get a critical mass of potential customers in the door quickly. The idea is to hook users on your app during a trial period so they won’t be able to live without it when it... Read more »

Kii Cloud is now in China ! ! !

Come and see us at TechCrunch if you are in Shanghai. Learn how to build world class mobile app in weeks with Kii Cloud ! ... Read more »

Kii Cloud @ Taiwan

Kii Cloud booth @ AppWorks Demo Day ... Read more »

Meet us at Shanghai TechCrunch; Nov 19 – 20 ! !

... Read more »

Kii Cloud @ Beijing

Meet us at Mobile Developer Conference China 2013 in Beijing. ... Read more »

Integrate in-app ads without annoying users

In-app advertising is a favorite way for U.S. developers to monetize mobile apps, especially free apps. Still, many struggle to integrate ads in a way that drives clicks without undermining the user experience. Maximize revenue while keeping users ha... Read more »

How to Drive Revenue With In-App Purchases

Most iOS app revenue comes from in-app purchases. In fact, a recent survey co-produced by Kii portfolio partner App Annie projects IAP will take 51% of the $12 billion mobile game revenue projected for this year. That’s a lot of cash, but nobody... Read more »

Think big before you think small—5 secrets to mobile app scalability

Scaling an app is like replacing all the components of a car while driving it at 100mph. And you don’t get to choose when scaling challenges come up. - Mike Krieger, Instagram ... Read more »

Mobile app analytics: Are users doing things your way?

Your dev team painstakingly maps user journeys through your app. What you expect users to do. Where you expect them to go. What you want them to tap or swipe on each screen. But are they actually following the path you carefully laid out or blazing t... Read more »

Mobile App Analytics: 6 Ways to Measure User Engagement

To make a mobile app as sticky as possible, developers need to understand what keeps users engaged. Six areas to track with your mobile app analytics solution: 1. Are users coming back? People who download your app and only use it once aren’t e... Read more »

Mobile App Analytics: How to Evaluate User Behavior

Track user behavior to find out if your mobile app’s user experience and interface live up to expectations. When you spot patterns, you can predict future behaviors and tweak your app to the greatest advantage. Map out the user journey Take a ... Read more »

Localize Your Mobile App to Reach New Markets

In eight of the 10 largest iPhone and Android markets, the predominant language isn’t English. Additionally, industry forecasts predict explosive mobile app growth in China, India, Japan and Brazil over the next few years. App localization helps yo... Read more »

Introducing Unity SDK for Kii Cloud

We are happy to announce that Kii Cloud is bringing powerful backend functionality to Unity developers everywhere! What is Unity? Unity is one of the most powerful and popular 3D game development engines available for mobile developers. Its strong... Read more »

Tips and tricks for Android Kii developers

Here's a few tricks that you can do with Kii Cloud when using the Android SDK. Even if they are unrelated, they prove to be quite useful during daily development.... Read more »

What Apple iPhone 5s & iPhone 5c mean for mobile app developers

Today Apple CEO Tim Cook took center stage at company headquarters in Cupertino, CA, unveiling the much-anticipated iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. What do the new smartphones mean for mobile app developers? A lot. There’s huge potential to piggyback on d... Read more »

The world of mobile design is flat

With Apple famously moving toward flat design with iOS7, a lot of mobile app designers wonder if they should do the same. We’re not going to tell you to ditch gradients, effects, or skeuomorphism—the practice of mimicking a real object’s look a... Read more »

Introducing Kii Cloud Server Extension

We are happy to announce a powerful new feature on Kii Cloud that brings custom server code to your app - Kii Server Extension! What is Kii Server Extension? With many MBaaS solutions, sometimes having client SDKs alone isn't enough. Maybe your app... Read more »

Introducing Kii Cloud Data Browser

One of our most-requested features is now available in the Kii Developer Portal! The Kii Data Browser allows you to view objects that are being created and stored within your app. Built with an awesome UI, the browser allows you to easily drill in... Read more »

Kii Cloud Launches Unity SDK, Data Browser and Server Extension!

We are happy to announce some exciting new features that will make building your app even easier! Kii Cloud is an MBaaS (Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service) that gives you the tools to add backend and cloud services to your mobile app without ever writing ... Read more »

Driving Mobile App Performance: It’s a Numbers Game

Having the right data is vital for making decisions to improve and market your app. But not all stats are created equal. This is the first post in a series looking at the... Read more »

Guide to Pricing Mobile Apps

“We already paid out more money to Android developers this year than in the whole of 2012,” revealed CEO Larry Page during Google’s Q2 2013 earnings call on July 18. In April, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer painted a ... Read more »

A fresh look at using files on Kii Cloud

Objects vs. Files Kii Cloud is born from a powerful mobile sync engine where files have always been a preferred type. For our SDKs, you will recognize these as KiiFile objects. These KiiFile types are geared specifically for our sync infrastructu... Read more »

The Art of Getting (and Using) Customer Feedback

As a mobile app designer and developer, your job is to put yourself in your user’s shoes. You probably think a lot about personas and mental models for your end users,... Read more »

Geolocation with Kii Cloud on iOS

Kii Cloud has recently released geolocation for its iOS SDK (if you're an android dev, this is also available - see our post here). One of the most useful features of any smartphone is the fact that the device is location-aware. This gives develop... Read more »

iOS Sample App for Kii Cloud: MyPix

MyPix is a bare-bones sample application that shows you how to create a user account then upload and browse pictures within that account. Pictures are available across devices, and this sample can easily be extended with social layers, sharing, and b... Read more »

New feature: E-mail Template Configuration

Our developer portal has just been updated with a great new feature: Email Template Configuration. Kii Cloud has long supported user registration with email verification. When verification is enabled in your app, users receive an email with a link... Read more »

Using an MBaaS in your Mobile Game (Part 2): High score tracker on the Cloud

Game developers are relying on services like Kii Cloud to get everything they need to have a robust, scalable gaming back-end that works across all the platforms that their game supports. This removes the complexity of back-end implementation, offers... Read more »

How to Kill Your App in 3 Seconds or Less

“Every second counts” has never been truer than with mobile app: you literally have two or three seconds to win, engage and keep a user. ... Read more »

KiiToolkit: Get your app a 5-star rating with KTAppRater

Our team has just released a new feature for KiiToolkit on iOS called KTAppRater. Don't know what KiiToolkit is? Check out our post on the topic What is KTAppRater? KTAppRater is a utility that prompts your user for a rating in the app store after... Read more »

Compete Against the Big Guys (Even When You’re One of Them)

hether you’re an independent developer, a fledgling startup or part of a corporate dev team, the emphasis on mobile app development within enterprises is a trend to watch. The same big corporations that were fighting BYOD (bring your own device)... Read more »

iOS Tutorial: KTTableViewController

Our team has just released a new iOS tutorial (complete with downloadable sample code) for KTTableViewController, one of the new features of KiiToolkit. Don't know what KiiToolkit is? Check out our post on the topic... Read more »

Launch Your Mobile App Behind China’s ‘Great Firewall’

We’ve seen a big uptake in China mobile app distribution requests since China breezed by the United States to become the world’s largest smartphone market. Explosive user growth is just one part of the story. With an expected 500 million smart... Read more »

New Feature: Team Collaboration

Kii Cloud now supports team collaboration! Simply log into http://developer.kii.com and view your application. From there, you can select Collaborators and add teammates to your project. This allows multiple team members to manage the app, view an... Read more »

Geolocation with Kii Cloud on Android

Having smart devices that are constantly aware of geographic positioning introduces many advantages but also new challenges for mobile application developers. Not only do developers find that data often needs to be efficiently stored with associated ... Read more »

Why DIY Is DOA

OK, here’s a quick quiz for you. Did you start developing mobile apps because you: A. Love the thrill of developing an addictive game or useful tool so well designed it can change people’s behavior — and even their lives? B. Really like wra... Read more »

App Store Success – Part 3: Open Source Demo

Previously we discussed tips and tricks for app store success, including a tool called In-App Analytics. This is a very powerful tool which can help you better analyze your app and users at a deeper level than traditional analytics. If you missed the... Read more »

App Store Success – Part 2: In-App Analytics

As an app developer trying to turn your app into a business, it is necessary to utilize the right tools for success. One of the most important tools is your application's analytics. In this video, learn more about how a new breed of analytics, in-... Read more »

Using an MBaaS in your Mobile Game (Part 1): Preferences Manager on the Cloud

If you don't want your game to be isolated from the outside world, a back-end server is a must-have. A server provides a way to manage users, share game data (high scores, achievements, etc) and enable social interactions (among others). However, cre... Read more »

Using Arbitrary Events in your Android app to do Analytics with Kii

If you read our previous blog post about Kii Analytics on Android you got a taste of how powerful and flexible it can be to analyze back-end data. In this post I'm going to show you an extra capability in Kii Analytics where you can trigger arbitrary... Read more »

App Store Success – Part 1: Best practices and tools

The app store is a crowded place. For app developers who are trying to compete - especially those trying to build a business - how can you stand out above the crowd? Check out the first part in the three-part series for building better apps using ... Read more »

Advanced Android app Analytics with Kii

There are many aspects to take into consideration when defining your app analytics strategy but one of the top ones is to make sure you pick a provider you can grow with. If you have an iOS app and are looking to create an Android version for example... Read more »

Win over $40k in prizes in the Kii Cloud App Challenge

Are you an app developer? Do you have an existing project or working on a new one? If so, submit your app into the Kii Cloud App Challenge for your chance to win cash and prizes valued at over $40,000! ... Read more »

Multiple ad networks on Android

As an Android developer you know that including ads in your apps is one of the major sources of monetization (when combined with in-app purchases, these methods account for more revenue than paid apps). But there's a myriad of ad networks out there m... Read more »

Migrate your mobile backend to Kii Cloud

As a developer you must ask a number of questions when planning the backend for your app or service. This goes beyond uptime, scalability and cost (which are also very important!) but also should include questions like "Where is my data? Who owns it?... Read more »

Adding Facebook authentication to your Android application

Social login is a game changer and there's a strong trend of adoption across all mobile applications. But adding social login to your app is not for the faint of heart! Fortunately with the Kii Cloud SDK it's easy to allow your users to signup/log... Read more »

iOS Tutorial: KTImageView

Our team has just released a new iOS tutorial (complete with downloadable sample code) for KTImageView, one of the new features of KiiToolkit.... Read more »

iOS Tutorial: KTLoginViewController

Our team has just released a new iOS tutorial (complete with downloadable sample code) for KTLoginViewController, one of the new features of KiiToolkit. ... Read more »

Introducing Kii Toolkit: An iOS library for better app development

Today we are happy to announce a new set of tools that help iOS developers build better apps more efficiently, both on and off Kii Cloud. KiiToolkit is an open-source library of utilities, UI elements and other helper classes that is being released a... Read more »

PaaS vs MBaaS for Mobile Developers

So you want to create an app... You read through, learned and practiced how to code an iOS, Android, or HTML5 app. Awesome! Unfortunately, you've only scratched the surface of the development that lies ahead. ... Read more »

Video Tutorial: Getting Started with Kii Cloud

This week's video tutorial covers the first steps for getting your app up and running on Kii Cloud. From registration to launching your code, you'll have your first cloud-connected app running in less than 5 minutes! ... Read more »

Part 5: Success Stories

By the final post in the 5-part series (see part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4),... Read more »

Part 4: Grow Your Business

There will hopefully come a point where your app takes off! While gaining users and increasing popularity, you'll be even busier cranking out updates and fixing bugs to keep the hockey stick moving in a positive direction. ... Read more »

Kii is at AppsWorld SF!

Kii is happy to be a contributor to this year's AppsWorld conference being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco! The event runs Thursday and Friday this week (Feb 7-8), so come check us out! We'll have a ... Read more »

Part 3: App Analytics

This post is exciting, as we just publicly launched this new feature to Kii Cloud! If you haven't heard, today Kii Analytics became available to the public and is the most innovative analytics engine on the market. ... Read more »

Part 2: Powering Your App

The second post in the "What can Kii do for me?" series will highlight some of the core functionality that makes Kii Cloud an excellent solution for a fast, easy-to-implement and reliable mobile backend. If you missed part 1 (a general overview of Ki... Read more »

What can Kii do for Me? Part 1

This is the first post in a week-long series introducing Kii Cloud; learn how Kii can help turn your mobile app into a global business - from the first designs to worldwide distribution.... Read more »

Kii Cloud Debuts at the CEA MoDev Hackathon!

Kii traveled to Las Vegas last week to the Consumer Electronics Show for the CEA MoDev Hackathon on January 9th. It was our first appearance (more on the way) with Kii Cloud, and we had an awesome time working with so many great developers! Kii was t... Read more »