trnql is a platform for Developers featuring a suite of SDKs for iOS & Android designed to easily integrate “contextual awareness" derived from sensors, local data on the phone, and cloud services, into smarter & more engaging applications.
With the trnql SDK, what used to take Developers weeks or months to do, can now be done in minutes or hours. We can reduce the complexity you face in building amazing apps, by taking out between 20-50 APIs and 100s of classes and methods if you use our SDK in your mobile apps.
So here’s the challenge - trnql is challenging Developers to build a powerful contextual app that is truly social, local and completely environmentally aware using the trnql SDK.
We have just introduced Smart People for mobile Developers a.k.a. "who’s nearby?" and "who’s doing what nearby?” Add this to the already existing “smart features" of the trnql SDK (user-activity, user location, user environmental conditions and what’s near the user) and now Developers have all the powerful ingredients needed to build a powerful contextual app that is truly social, local and completely environmentally aware!
What To Build?
Your app MUST use Smart People and at least two other of the following context signals below (more is better). These can be added to an existing app or incorporated into a new app:
- Smart People - This newly launched trnql feature enables apps to integrate who’s nearby? who’s doing what nearby? & who is doing “_____” nearby? “_____” means users can be alerted to a specific “state” of other user(s) nearby.
- Smart Places - Also known as “what’s nearby” or points of interest (POI) near the user.
- Smart Location - Include some or all of the following in your app: address, zip code, county, latitude, longitude, altitude, bearing, speed, time, country and country code.
- Smart Activity - Make your applications aware and respond to any or all of the following user-context : in vehicle, on bicycle, walking, running, on foot or still.
- Smart Weather - Choose from any or all of the available environmental conditions i.e. current condition, high/low, feels like, 10 day forecast, UV index, humidity levels, sunrise and sunset.
Feel free to choose from any of the following application categories to help you get started, though you are welcome to add your own additional categories.
Fashion, Music, Food, Maps+Navigation, Social, Online Dating, Shopping, Transportation, Travel, Weather, Fitness, Calendar, Messaging, Business Productivity, Help/Safety/Security
Inspiration and Ideas
Smart People is an easy and powerful way to enable your app to become more social and local. Imagine being able to understand which of your friends, family, or colleagues are near you doing an activity, at a restaurant, in a meeting or any experience where your (or their) awareness and interaction is now possible (and beneficial).
For Location (and Places), think about how your app and the user-experience could be enhanced by knowing the user's location (user recommendations, geo-targeting, sharing things and places with friends nearby, locating a loved one).
For Activity... how you could improve your app's content delivery if you know that your user was driving (remove the keyboard and show a voice prompt? ) or running, then show certain functions, bigger buttons....something that improves the app experience based on the user's current activity.
Weather is a fun, flexible and useful signal to add to a lot of app categories. If your app understands the weather during your users activity, what recommendations could the app make to you and those around you? You’re hiking tomorrow and it's going to be raining (send a warning, a suggestion to reschedule, dress warmer?). The possibilities are almost endless.
And remember, you have multiple apps using the trnql SDK, enter as many apps as you like for more chances to win!
Need even more inspiration? Check out the "Designing for Context" lesson here, or the entire course here on Udacity.
Additional Tools:
If you are in the Bay Area, please join our meetups (http://www.meetup.com/UX-Design-for-Developers/) where you can come to interact with fellow Designers & Developers to get design inspiration to build your next amazing contextual app. Here is a medium post that will give you some insights as to how to get started with some imagination exercises - https://medium.com/p/385a01314943.
Ready to start?
All necessary resources, documentation, and tutorials, including sample apps are available to you at Getting started with Android SDK. The iOS SDK is available at - Getting started w/ iOS SDK. We provide source code to get you started on iOS & Android:
Eligibility
This challenge is open to:
- Individuals who are 18+ years old or the age majority where they reside.
- A team can have between 1 and 5 members.
- Teams can participate independently or on behalf of organizations or companies.
- Anyone involved in running this contest is not eligible. This includes employees of trnql, DevPost, affiliates or immediate family of those employees.
Requirements
- Your app needs to have basic functionality. Your app(s) must be published in the Google Play Store in order to be eligible for submission to this challenge. For iOS apps (and considering that Apple has a longer approval process) you must verify that you have submitted your app to the Apple Itunes App Store for approval.
- Your app can be an Android mobile app, iOS mobile app, Android wearable app, iOS wearable app, or anything as long as it uses the trnql SDK
- If you are submitting an Android application, please submit the APK file.
- If you are submitting an iOS application, please submit the .IPA file. Also, please email us at trusted-testers@trnql.com so that we can provide you with our UDIDs for our iOS devices. This will enable you to create a provisional profile for our device, allowing us to run and review the app.
- Include your name and your app’s Bundle ID so we can identify whose app is whose.
- If you want to help judges understand your idea, you can support your submission with a 5 slide deck, or 2 mins video. The decks and the videos are all optional and may not affect your score.
Prizes
$7,500 in prizes
Grand Prize
The winning app gets the following:
- $4,000 cash
- Featured in the G+ UX Design for Developers Community (7,000+ members)
- Honorable mention in trnql blog
2nd Prize
The 2nd place app gets the following:
- $2,000 cash
- Featured in the G+ UX Design for Developers Community (7,000+ members)
- Honorable mention in trnql blog
3rd Prize (3 winners will be chosen for this)
(3)
The 3rd place apps get the following:
- $500 cash each
- Featured in the G+ UX Design for Developers Community (7,000+ members)
- Honorable mention in trnql blog
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
How to enter
- Download the trnql SDK here for iOS and/or Android.
- Follow the Getting Started Sections for iOS and/or Android.
- Build something truly amazing! If you have questions or problems using the SDK, let us know and we will be happy to help you! You can reach out to us at trusted-testers@trnql.com.
- Submit your app before Dec 31, 2015. The Submission Guidelines below will explain how to submit your Android or iOS app.
You can build an app for iOS or Android or both. Remember, you can use the trnql SDK to augment an existing app, or create a new one from scratch. You can submit more than one app and each app counts as its own submission.
Judges

Naz Idris
trnql CEO

Jonathan Sahoo
iOS Judge

Dustin Howell
Android Judge
Judging Criteria
-
Originality (10 pts)
We are really excited to see what you will build with trnql. As usually, we are anticipating really awesome ideas. Therefore, our judges will be carefully looking at the originality of your idea. -
Problem (10 pts)
We believe the trnql SDK will inspire you to solve some real problems, fix things and make the world better. Therefore, our judges will be scoring your app based on the scale of the problem that you are solving. -
Implementation (10 pts)
The reason we built trnql is to help you implement complex apps in literally minutes. So our judges will be paying attention to implementation. Best implementation of the trnql SDK will receive 10 pts. -
Voting (10 pts)
We will have the trnql developer community look at your awesome ideas too and vote. The 3 most voted submissions will earn 10 points each.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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