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Sosyal Şehir
tren

Guide

What is a city app?

A city app is a city platform that brings a province's news, services, local businesses and residents together in one mobile app. It gathers everyday needs, from the pharmacy on duty to bus lines and from events to food ordering, and with its social features it becomes the city's own social network.

What does a city app include?

The city app on the Sosyal Şehir platform is made of 32 modules, and each one can be switched on or off from the city management panel. The modules fall into six groups:

  • City guide: City Assistant, map, news, events, places to visit, blog, public institutions, lodging and private dormitories.
  • Public service and participation: pharmacies on duty, urgent blood donation, obituaries, lost and found notices, polls.
  • Transport: bus lines, taxi and traffic / road conditions.
  • Social: feed, communities, Write to the City and Gala.
  • Commerce and businesses: business directory, deals, food ordering (Sofra), Çiçek, second-hand listings (Pazar), jobs, Usta and Influencer.
  • Fun and games: Venues, Arena and Sahne.

Above the modules sit social features such as a short video feed, stories, messaging, following and a digital loyalty card. The app is published on iOS and Android, and the city's own website comes with it.

What does social city app mean?

A classic city guide lists information; a social city app connects the city's residents and businesses. People post, follow each other, message and join communities; businesses reach their followers with deals, stories and posts. So the app is not just a guide you open to look something up, but a city network people come back to every day.

How is it different from a city guide app?

  • A guide lists places; in a city app people also order food and flowers and use coupons and loyalty cards.
  • Businesses have a web business panel and an in-app business panel: profile, menu, orders, deals and statistics.
  • The city has a management panel: modules are switched on and off, and content and moderation are run from one place.
  • The app belongs to one city: it is published under the city's own name, logo and domain, with its own store listing.

Who can set up a city app?

Municipalities and public bodies, entrepreneurs, local media companies and agencies. On the Sosyal Şehir platform each province gets only one installation, and a district installation takes its province's place too. So once a province is reserved, no second app opens there, and whoever reserves first takes it.

Three ways to get a city app

  • Custom development: an agency or software company writes the app from scratch. Every detail is designed for you; in return the timeline and budget grow, and maintenance and updates need to be planned separately.
  • Municipal software companies: they offer ready packages focused on municipal services. Scope and ownership vary from company to company; when you ask for an offer, ask about the modules, whose name the store listing will be in, and where the data will be kept.
  • A ready city platform: on a platform like Sosyal Şehir no new code is written; a new installation is opened. 32 modules are ready from day one; the app launches under your name, your logo and your domain from your own store account, and new features come from one code base.

How do you get a city app made?

No new code is written; a new installation is opened. The process has six steps:

  1. Identity: app name, icon, colour, bundle id and the data controller's details.
  2. Accounts: Apple, Google Play, Firebase and a maps key.
  3. Setup: server, domain and DNS; the province, its districts, 32 modules and categories.
  4. Content: news, events, places to visit, institutions, bus lines and the pharmacy roster.
  5. Businesses: inviting the first businesses, packages and deals.
  6. Launch: store builds, review and a staged opening.

What you bring: domain and DNS access, Apple and Google developer accounts, the app name, icon and logo, KVKK texts, local content and a moderation team.

How does a city app earn money?

Revenue comes from two groups of customers: the city's businesses and its residents. The business listing package, boosts, home screen stories and banners and push notifications, plus the Blue Tick and the Gala Star for residents, are ready-made products. They are sold through in-app purchases on the App Store and Google Play or by card in the web business panel, and the city sets the prices. No commission is taken on food or flower orders or taxi rides.

Live example: Antalya Connect

Antalya Connect is a city app built on the Sosyal Şehir platform and live on the App Store and Google Play. You can browse the city's website at antalyaconnect.com.