According to statistics, mobile apps have become an integral part of most businesses, with revenues expected to reach nearly $600 billion.
Indeed, you’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for all the steps involved in developing an app, from ideation to marketing.
This guide will walk you through the mobile application development process so that you can create a well-thought-out, well-designed, and well-built mobile app that your future users will love.
What Is A Mobile Application?
As the name suggests, it is a software application developed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or smartwatch.
Mobile apps were initially available for general productivity and information retrievals, such as email, calendar, contacts, stock market, and weather information. However, on-demand and the availability of developer tools ignited rapid growth into other categories, leading to millions of apps now available.
The mobile application development process is unique from desktop applications intended to run on desktop computers and web applications designed to run in mobile web browsers rather than directly on the mobile device.
Importance Of Mobile Application Development
Many businesses are developing their mobile apps, and there are numerous reasons why you should do the same. We live in a digital era, and if your company does not have an end-to-end mobile app development, you are falling behind your competitors.
You may be passing up a huge opportunity to attract potential clients, regardless of how far they are. Having a website alone will not give you an advantage over your competitors.
Having a mobile app development workflow for your business is probably the most rewarding way to gain a competitive advantage. The world has made a shift from desktops to smartphones, and the ROI is enormous.
Mobile apps are an excellent way to reach out to prospective customers. You can improve your customers’ experiences by developing the best mobile app. If you want to establish a mobile presence for your company, you should first learn about the benefits of mobile apps.
Benefits Of Mobile Application Development
- Increase Sales
Mobile apps provide a more convenient way for customers to browse and shop, allowing them to make purchases from anywhere. In addition, businesses can also choose to notify their customers about new deals, products, events, etc.
- Channel Of Direct Marketing
One of the most significant advantages of having a mobile app is that all the information you want to provide to your customers, including special sales and promotions, is at their fingertips.
Push notifications bring you even closer to direct customer interaction. It empowers you to remind your customers about the products and services you offer at the right time.
- Aids Promotion & Customer Support
You can provide great offers and deals via your mobile apps to attract many potential customers to your business. Make sure to create an irresistible offer and notify people about it via an app. You should have a mobile app if you want to promote your business and reap the benefits quickly.
Customer service is another crucial element that connects potential customers with the company. Responding to customer inquiries and resolving issues will be much easier if you have a mobile app development cycle. In addition, customers will undoubtedly accept the mobile app that provides instructions and assists in resolving issues on their own.
- Increases Brand Visibility
Mobile apps are the best tools for increasing brand visibility in today’s competitive world. With a mobile app, your brand’s awareness will skyrocket. It functions similarly to a billboard sign. Nothing can stop a mobile app with great looks and features from increasing brand awareness.
Mobile apps can perform various tasks, including gameplay, audio and video playback, news feeds, instant messaging, and much more. In a nutshell, it functions as a direct channel that provides the user with all the information they require.
- Best Social Media Platform Is Mobile Apps
People spend a lot of their time navigating through social media, and mobile apps are the way of the future. Mobile apps have made it easier to sell than ever before. It is redefining the way people evaluate, purchase, and sell products. As a result, it is critical to provide your customer with a dedicated mobile app design and development.
- It Allows You To Stand Out From The Crowd
The value of a mobile app in differentiating your company from the competition cannot be overstated. Apps are still rare at this point, and having one for your business allows you to capture the attention of potential customers and a large portion of the market share. By the time your competitors figure it out, you should have effectively managed customer engagement and built strong customer loyalty.
Mobile Application Development Process
A systematic approach is required to create a successful mobile application. Here are the steps to build a mobile app.
- Start With An Idea
The first thing you should keep in mind in the mobile application development process is:
- What issue does this app address?
- Who is the intended audience?
And make sure the app provides customers with tangible benefits such as cost savings, productivity enhancements, new revenue, or improved customer experience.
- Design
Next, you’ll create a user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) to guide the user through the app and make it simple to understand.
Keep in mind that good UI-UX design means good discoverability. Therefore, an app developer should focus on UI design, multi-touch gestures for touch-enabled devices, and platform design standards.
Designing an app is becoming increasingly popular because apps UI design makes an immediate impression on the user’s mind while also ensuring app usability.
- Identify The Approach To Develop – Native, Web, Hybrid
It is essential to choose the best approach for developing an app. Ideally, the app’s back-end development should be as per the client’s time and budget constraints. Many app developers prefer to use the agile methodology.
- Native App
Any app that is tailored to a specific mobile platform is a Native app. As a result, an app designed for an Apple device will not run on an Android device. So, most businesses create apps for multiple platforms.
Professionals use best-in-class user interface modules when developing native apps. This accounts for improved performance, consistency, and a positive user experience.
- Web App
A web-based app is built using standard web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Compared to offline usage, internet access is usually required for proper behavior or to use all features.
These apps perform similarly to a web application running in a browser, which can be noticeably slower than an equivalent native app. It may also lack some features found in the native app.
- Hybrid App
The hybrid app concept is a combination of native and web-based apps. These are designed to support web and native technologies on various platforms. Furthermore, these apps are simpler and faster to create.
It entails the use of a single codebase that works across multiple mobile operating systems. Despite these benefits, hybrid apps perform poorly. Apps frequently fail to have the same look and feel across different mobile operating systems.
- Make A Prototype
The next stage is the mobile app prototype development. It is the process of taking your concept and transforming it into an application with basic functionality.
A prototype makes it much easier to sell your idea to potential buyers because they can now see the tangible benefits rather than just visualizing or reading product descriptions.
It is highly beneficial in attracting investors, collaborating with manufacturers, and finding license holders. You can also share the prototype app with the testing team for functional testing to see what needs to be changed to make it a successful mobile application.
- Integration With An Analytics Tool
There is also a need to incorporate appropriate analytics, which will provide you with a detailed picture of how many visitors use your website, how they arrived at your site, and how they can return.
Some mobile analytics tools that can help with this process include Google Analytics and Firebase.
With data sciences, including predictive analytics, becoming more prevalent in mobile apps, your apps may become more marketable.
- Testing
The first opportunity to get feedback from your target customers is through testing. By testing your app, you can determine its quality, flaws, and areas for improvement.
Testing is important because it boosts your app’s visibility in the app store. It also lowers product risk, also gets you that first push in the app store. So identifying beta testers is also another critical task for a successful mobile app.
- Launch
Once your app is bug-free and ready to go, you can distribute it through marketplaces such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Once your app is live on the app store, the first set of customer usage and behavior will provide you with information on improving and enhancing your app. Because improvements and changes are ongoing, keep an eye on user feedback and keep building.
- Marketing
While this does not fall under the category of “making” an app, it is crucial to the success of your app, especially for small businesses.
If you do not adequately market your app after it is released, it will likely be lost among the plethora of apps available on the various Android and Apple app stores. So make sure you market your app effectively.
Social media can be an effective tool in this situation. This is an optional step in the booming mobile application development process, but it is strongly advised that you use it for your benefit. Now, let see the cost of developing mobile apps.
The Cost For Mobile Application Development Process
The mobile application development cycle is constantly evolving. Every six months, a new version of an operating system is released with unique features that mobile apps can use.
Developing a specific operating system version, or even for a native operating system, typically necessitates developers testing multiple solutions to find the one that best meets their development requirements.
So, consider the costs of developing an app, which can range from $5,000 to $15,000, to begin with, plus ongoing development and maintenance costs.
Designing an app is only worthwhile if it is a fantastic app. Customers will leave if they have a terrible user experience. Be aware of the user experience and budgetary constraints.
And, When it comes to the mobile application development process, the features only separate the wheat from the chaff. But, these features are required for creating a mobile app that is well-received by users.
Let’s look at some must-have features in mobile applications:
Must-Have Features Of Mobile Application Development
- Social Networking Capabilities
Social networks are used to communicate and collaborate among geographically separated friends and family. So, make it simple and seamless by integrating social sharing directly into your app.
- Responsive Design For A Wide Range Of Screen Sizes
App developers must consider the difference in screen sizes between small ‘compact’ and mini phones and larger tablets. Some smartphones have screens that are nearly the size of a small tablet. Make sure to include responsive design in your app development steps so that all of these users have a great experience.
- Various Versions For Various Devices
Similarly, you can’t afford to ignore any of the popular platforms. So, create an app for each of these platforms to avoid alienating a large portion of your users right away.
- User Feedback
Sometimes the user simply needs to express themselves. Giving users the ability to provide immediate feedback is rewarding, and it reduces the number of calls to the tech support department.
- Ability To Work Offline
This feature should be balanced against the issue of data security. And this will help to know what and how much data and functionality are stored on the device is determined by the app.
As you can see, there is a lot that goes into creating a fantastic mobile app design that users adore.
So, What’s Next?
The mobile app development process is quite overwhelming. However, if done correctly, it can be a rewarding process.
This is all we have for you right now. We hope our mobile application development guide has helped you understand all the aspects.
