The pandemic of COVID-19 continues to spread fears as the global death toll has climbed up to 82,161 as recorded on April 8, with the most affected countries being the USA, Spain, and Italy.
Source: Worldometer
In order to deal with the surge in deaths caused by the deadly virus, states and regions have restricted orders for people to stay at home for coronavirus quarantine as an effort to stop the disease from spreading. But being in shelter-in-place or lockdown in our home doesn’t mean we have to isolate ourselves from socializing with our friends and colleagues, stop working, or bored to no end.
Thanks to the internet, businesses can resume their operation online, and people now have many ways to continue daily life without going out of their house. We will recommend to you a list of the best coronavirus quarantine apps range from working remotely, update information about the pandemic, check your health to cater to your whims of entertainment.
If you’re business owners who worry about your online website budget during the coronavirus quarantine period, we’ve got you covered!
DON’T MISS BSS Commerce’s Support Package For Ecommerce Owners In COVID-19 Outbreak
We offer a 20% discount code off all Magento extensions, until APR 30th. And If you purchase with the code we provide, we will offer you a 50% OFF Speed-up Consulting Package and FREE 3-hour consulting for website code management strategy from certified developers.
Table of Contents
On top of the coronavirus quarantine app checklist, are apps that support online video chat and meetings, as well as apps that provide opportunities for people to work remotely. This is the solution for many companies to continue their operations in this difficult time.
In the US alone, the number of unemployment claims had rocketed up to over 6.65 million, which could be described as an ‘unemployment apocalypse,’ mostly from retail, restaurants, travel, hotels, and leisure industries. Oil, gas businesses, and engineering firms are also cutting down on human resources when there is a declining demand for traveling.
With the coronavirus quarantine app, not only employees can still stay in touch to work during shelter-in-place order, but firms can also work out a way to keep the documents and workflow going in an online system and ensure their survival.
Not limited to only the workplace, but the quarantine app is used for educational purposes as well. Schools and classes are engaging students in studying online while they’re confined indoors.
Source: Statista
Above are the rankings of the most downloaded mobile apps in the Apple app store after the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in France between as of April 3, 2020, by the number of downloads (by thousands). We will also discuss some apps that are useful in collaborative documents and transfer files to see how they will aid our job during the self-isolation at home period.
Plato
Information: Plato is a chat app that includes chat rooms and games to play in a group. It doesn’t require sign-ups, email, or a phone number. It was built in 12 languages and is a suitable option for online bonding time between your team or your company. The app is only available on Apple’s App Store.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Experiences: The experience of using the app is rather pleasant. The chat app is family-friendly, the game interface is great, and the app supports a pretty large amount of games. One problem is the app censoring system is too sensitive, censoring even the not bad words.
Zoom Cloud Meeting
Information: Zoom offers connections to our co-worker, provides a zoom meeting just like in the office through 3G, 4G, or LTE networks with multiple user share screens. The app allows up to 100 people in a zoom meeting, and 500 if you pay the expansion version. Zoom are downloadable on mobile devices, Ipad, Mac, and Window operating systems.
Price: Free for one-on-one calls, and up to 40 minutes for a group call.
Experience:
People who have used a zoom call or conduct a zoom meeting generally pleased with the service. The video is clear, and audio quality is quite good in a zoom call, even though there are still some minor connectivity issues and missing details, as well as record problems, depending on the condition of the internet connection in different areas. The app is also useful for teachers to keep up students’ education online through video call lectures.
However, recently, as Zoom gained many users due to the lockdown, the FBI and the Federal Government had both warned people about Zoom privacy and security issues, including ‘Zoom bombing’ when hackers hijacked a zoom call to post hate speech and offensive images such as pornography. Zoom CEO stated that the team is ‘taking a step back to look at privacy and security issues’ and hoping to fix its problems as soon as they can.
Skype
Information: Microsoft Skype is well-known to all of us, even when we don’t use the app. Skype also supports video calls and chat, but lean more on business-focus.
Price: Here is the list of Skype pricing plans:
Experience: The experiences are positive in the well-polished interface, good quality video, calls and could hold up to 250 people in a meeting room (with Business plans). In terms of business support tools, this is the best option but also branded as quite expensive for users.
Google Drive
Information: Google Drive is a cloud storage service, which has now become essential to every person, especially during the quarantine. The cloud storage benefits from a large library of Google, with many functions, like Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc. You can transfer your files and data to your co-workers without leaving home,
Price: Free for 15 GB cloud storage, $ 1.99/ month for 100GB, $ 2.99/ month for 200GB. If you need more than that, the app offers 2TB up to 30TB. See the plans HERE.
Experience: Google Drive is highly recommended for its strength in file sharing and syncing, speed, and customer services. The interface is also clear and easy to access from any device, or on any web browser. The weak points of Google Drive are security and privacy for customers.
Dropbox
Information: Dropbox was first to the playfield in cloud storage back in 2007. It allows users to share files and folders, and also sync the file and folders to any operating system, provided that they have the same tree structure. Dropbox supports Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android, and is also available for any computer with a compliant browser.
Price: Dropbox has two variations: Basic Dropbox and Dropbox Business. For Basic Dropbox, there are four levels, Plus, Professional, Standard, and Advanced, which offer 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, and ‘As much space as needed’ respectively. The paid options for Dropbox Basic range from $9 (£6.58) to 19.60 (£15) per month based on yearly billing.
With Dropbox Business, there are three paid plans, which are Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise, and the price plan is as shown below.
Experience: Dropbox has the advantage of being fast and has great OS support, but when compared to other Clouds, it is a little expensive; therefore, users should consider their options carefully.
Trendy eCommerce apps for quarantine time
When people remain indoors in the state of shelter-in-place restriction, the relly on online deliveries is apparent. Consumptions online increase in big volume, and while consumers adapt to a new way of buying products, businesses also shift to online channels in order to survive.
Source: ContentSquare
Based on the impact of coronavirus on online traffic by industry, there are much increase in supermarket supplies expenses up to 161%, also in tech retail, bank, and insurance. A list of eCommerce coronavirus quarantine apps should help the consumers in getting the supplies they need for their lockdown.
If you are a business owner who wants to manage your own quarantine app or an eCommerce website for your business to meet the enormous demand during this period, or simply wants some tips to overcome coronavirus quarantine time, then:
CHECK OUT: Best Way To Win Coronavirus: Turn Your Business Challenge Into Opportunity
Amazon & eBay
Amazon offers you online order and home delivery service, which would lessen the contact in person, and helps you avoid the chances of being infected. Amazon also offers you variable sources of goods in different categories, and for the workers who work at Amazon: the company says it’s protecting its workers by separating workstation and sanitizing warehouses. This means the customers will also be protected with a healthy delivery team.
eBay and Amazon have some differences, while Amazon is a service that allows consumers to buy directly from third-party, eBay marketplaces mostly auction on its items. On eBay, you will be able to find a sale product – both new and used.
However, both Amazon and eBay are reported to struggle with profit sellers. Customers from both services have encountered ‘overpricing’ in hand sanitizer, thermometers, and baby formula. These products have been high in demand since coronavirus quarantine began, but are short from supermarkets and pharmacies.
If you’re to choose the two platforms, you should expect this over-priced beforehand so you can have alternative shopping choices for these products.
Walmart
Walmart online is a perfect alternate option instead of your trip to Walmart supermarket nearby. The retail giant has a wide range of products, from groceries to electronics gears. Their shop distribution is huge, so they would have an advantage over being fast in delivery. One disadvantage that needs to be considered, however, is the grocery purchase online on any platform will still be inconvenient compared to going shopping at the store. The goods will still take a long time to arrive, and food, which is quite sensitive to temperature, is not meant to sit inside a package for too long.
Walmart also has issues with employees’ safety in the pandemic, despite its effort to ensure employees are sanitized before and after work and keep a proper distance between each other. But, it is trying to overcome the issues and provide the environment for both their workers and consumers as safely as they can.
With the number of deaths keeps rising in the US, it would be better to choose to deliver Walmart to our house than going to the store.
The online shopping services don’t completely eliminate the possibility of us being infected by COVID-19, but it does contribute to lessening infected cases. The eCommerce coronavirus quarantine app is the best solution we have to deal with self-isolation at home situations, not just as sources of supply for consumers, but also as a surviving method for businesses who shift their products online as well.
During this time of coronavirus quarantine, when one has shut down the normal face-to-face conversation with friends and acquaintances, the sources of information would mainly come from television, online newspapers, or health information apps.
It is important to stay alert of your health and the coronavirus situation in the world, in order to plan your steps accordingly. We listed a number of coronavirus quarantine apps that help in alerting people about their health and update information about the coronavirus outbreak at any time.
Global information ports
WHO
The official app of the World Health Organization is providing the latest information, advice, and news on the virus, and is available on Apple’s App Store for iMac and iOS devices. Its interfaces are easy to use and clean, while the news on them is useful and up-to-date.
Visit the app in Apple’s App Store HERE.
United Nations
The UN News Reader is the quarantine app that gives breaking news in many global problems, such as peace, security, sustainable development, climate change, etc. It provides information updates on the pandemic, and videos about how COVID-19 is affecting people’s daily lives. You can Watch the Security Council and General Assembly meetings live on the app.
UN News Reader is both available for Android and iOS devices, through Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
WorldoMeter
WorldoMeter can be accessed as an app or as a website on your web browser. Its coronavirus page provides information on the number of COVID-19 patients worldwide, the number of deaths recovered and gives detailed information about the pandemic in each country.
You can visit the Worldometer website HERE.
Available regionally
Different regions also provide apps to check medical records and update information in the country.
NHS(UK)
The app from the NHS in England (National Health Service) allows you to check your own records, and book an appointment with the local doctor if you suspect something is wrong about your health. The apps are very helpful because they give you advice and medical aid on the spot if you think you have COVID-19 symptoms. Users must register with a general practitioner surgery in England to enable the app and then create an NHS login account.
(USA) CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention)
The app offers advice, information update, and the latest news on COVID-19 and users can set specific US states to hear the health news from that location.
Apps for your health
(UK) COVID Symptoms Tracker
The app was developed by King College London, which operates to ask users to report their health status on a daily basis, in order to capture any sign associated with COVID-19. This research app will help scientists improve on the battle against coronavirus by understanding high-risk areas in the UK, who is most likely to be at risk, understanding the symptoms linked to COVID-19, and how fast the virus can spread.
The app can be found and download HERE.
Apple’s COVID-19 Screening Tool
Apple, in collaboration with the CDC, jumped to create a screening tool to list the patient symptoms of COVID-19, risk factor, and the exposure level to COVID-19 patients. It then gives direction for the user, such as ‘self-isolate” or “contact your work’s occupational health provider.”
You can access the screening tool HERE.
The world is joining hands to support in the battle against COVID-19, and we are, too!
LEARN NOW: Other discounts and hot deals BSS Commerce offers!
Wrap up
With the coronavirus quarantine app listed above, you are equipped with essential tools for your shelter-in-place restriction. If you wish to thrive your business during the pandemic, or wanting to shift to online business, don’t hesitate to reach out for more information!
BSS Commerce is one of the leading Magento extension providers and web development services in the world. With experienced and certified Magento developers, we commit to bring high-quality products and services to optimize your business effectively.
CONTACT NOW to let us know your problems. We are willing to support you every time.
