7 Essentials Mobile App Development

7 Ultimate Must-Haves of App Development

Whenever someone is seeking a solution to a specific problem, we all know what the first response will be: “There’s an app for that”. Whether for personal or business use, apps play a major role in our daily lives.

We wake up with an app, we schedule our meetings with an app, we communicate with our target audience through an app, we learn languages using an app, we even remember to drink water with an app... Whatever issue we need to solve, organise or automate, there is always a specific app that solves our problem.

Today, there are nearly three million apps in the Google Play Store  and two million in Apple’s App Store. And nearly 4,000 apps continue to be added to the Google Play Store every day.

So if you’re planning to bring a new app to market, you have to know that the competition is becoming tougher with each day. Here’s what you can do to build and launch a successful app.

The ultimate guide for creating successful apps

There is an excellent explanation about the app development process from Todd DiPaola , the president of inMarket:

"Building an app is like building a house. You need to put time into thinking about what the rooms are going to look like before you start building."

It’s important to focus on the foundations of your app. Here is our 7-step method to develop a solid foundation and build a successful app:

  1. 1. Discovery Phase

    Know your audience: If you have an app idea that has a unique solution to a specific problem, you have to first know and identify your target audience to fully understand their pain points.

    Know the competition: After understanding your target users and their pain points, it’s important to analyse the solutions provided by competitors. This will help you understand how to differentiate your app and create a unique position in the marketplace.

  2. 2. Idea Finalisation Phase

    As you get to know your target users and competitors, you can re-check and finalise your idea by asking yourself:

    • What is the most important feature of this app?
    • Why would people want to use this app?

    This will help to build the basis of your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that we’ll discuss later on in the designing phase.

  3. 3. Prototyping Phase

    Once you’re clear about your app idea and its features, it’s now time to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This process will help you quickly test how your app works with real users and confirm whether you’re building things in the right direction. In this phase, you should focus on the core feature of your app and keep the MVP simple. Be aware of the fact that you will always be reshaping and improving the MVP according to users’ comments and needs.

  4. 4. Designing Phase

    Build the User Experience (UX): After you have decided on the features, you need to build the Information Architecture (IA) for your app. This will help you develop the most relevant UX, which includes deciding on the User Journey and how to structure the content for ease of access.

    User Interface (UI) Design: Designing UI means deciding on how your app looks and behaves visually. You can create style guides with icons, fonts, colours and other elements.

    Technical Design (Tech Stack): There are numerous technologies you can use when designing your app. For front-end design, you can use either a platform-specific native, cross-platform native or hybrid approach. For back-end design, you should decide on the language, database and hosting environment before the development phase. The main point here is to use the newest and most reliable technology that will fulfil your app’s needs. This is where it’s important to leverage the expertise of a professional development team.

  5. 5.Development Phase

    Technically, the development stage starts from the very beginning of the app development process and runs in parallel to each phase in our 7-step method. There are two main stages that continue as the app and its features are improved:

    The Initial Stage: At this point, non-core functionalities don’t exist and although the core functionality is confirmed, it has not yet been tested.

    The Last and Never-Ending Stage: In this phase, nearly every functionality becomes integrated into the app. The app then undergoes bug fixing and light testing. This is the phase where the MVP is released to a certain group of users for testing. After the bugs are fixed, the app is ready to launch.

  6. 6. Testing Phase

    The earlier you start testing your app, the faster and stronger your app will become. Testing should be performed by non-developers to achieve the best results. Here are some testing examples:

    Functional Testing: This testing is done to make sure all promised features work properly.

    Usability Testing: This testing ensures all the features are user-friendly. To obtain the most objective results, this test should be conducted with new users.

    Performance Testing: Everything is a race against time – including your app. Your app needs to display content fast, otherwise, no one will use it. This is why it’s critical to test the performance and responsiveness of your app.

  7. 7.Deployment Phase

    The deployment phase has two main components:

    Web API (Server): The web server makes apps functional by transferring data to and from the app. If the server is deployed to a scalable environment like the cloud, it works even better. This is important for app developers to understand because how your app works will depend on the server.

    App Stores: Submit the app to the app stores with screenshots and descriptions. Please note that the Apple and Google Play stores may request changes according to their regulations at any point.

Building the best app possible requires an experienced development team. Even if you have development skills, you need to work with an expert team that will lead the app to succ

If you have further issues that you would like guidance on or if you wish to launch a strong app with a solutions-oriented team, contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help.