Lets break app development process into different steps to make it easier:
1. Refining the idea and strategies
Before starting any app development, we must first have a good and refined idea. Here are some question that we should keep in mind before starting any app development.
- What do you want your mobile app to achieve?
- What are the goals and objectives of your app?
- What problem will your app will solve?
- What features does the app will provide?
- How much investment are you willing to invest?
- How will you develop the app?
- Are you gonna make money from the app or make it free?
2. Market Research
Once you finalized your idea, then look for if there any app similar to your app already available in the market since it's rare to have a completely new concept with zero competition. In case if there are already similar apps then below are the things to keep in mind.
- Who are your competitors?
- What's your differentiation strategy to stand out from the competition?
- What's the best platform to launch your app on?
- How will you market and promote your app
- Find the market gaps and how will you fill the market gaps?
Market research is one of the main step of mobile app development which you can't skip. Since nobody wants to spend their money and time developing an app just to realize there's market need for it.
3. Build Your UX Design
The design of the mobile app is another important step of app development. Think of the design of the app and how it will look. Create wireframes and draw some sketches to see how the app will work.
We must focus on the user experience. Since user interface must be seamless and easy to use so that user won't feel dizzy to use the app.
We need to build some design of the app based on wireframes before we start to develop a fully-functional app. Then fix the design which fits in. From here, we can create an MVP (minimum viable product). Design of the app is the main part or also we can say the backbone of the app as user will experience the designing part they have nothing to do how the backend part is developed. Thus the UX of the app must be simple and clear to understand and use for user.
4. App Development
Finally now we can actually develop the app. This includes all of the process such as back-end, APIs and front-end development.
- Choosing the development method
- Assembling development team
- Appointing project manager
- Creating timeline with milestones and goals.
- Be agile, and prepare for changes along the way.
Depending the development method, Incase if it is native we might develop two different version of the app i.e IOS and Android. If it the development method is cross-platform then single version of the app will work on both OS.
Some apps can be built within a month with fewer human resources while some can take six months or a year with many developer. The timeline and budget of the app development might be different according to their features. A simple app with limited features will be quick and affordable to develop. However a complex app with many features such as authentication servers, GPS, Real-time communication and other similar features will take a bit longer and costly to develop.
5. Testing
After the completion of app development, before the app goes live, we must make sure that it works without any error. App testing is when we'll find bugs, glitches and anything else that needs to be fixed before it goes live.
- Hiring QA to test the App while the development process is going on.
- The app must be test on both platforms i.e. IOS and Android.
- The app must be tested on different devices (Smartphones, Tablets etc.)
- Testing with real users to gather feedback and work on it.
Nothing is perfect, nor is the app. The main goal of the testing is to release the app that works without crashing or any error ensuring seamless user experience.
We can also make updates later on to fix if any bugs found after going live. However attempting to make the app perfectly bug free during the testing phase may result in app never being released. Thus, try to produce useful and good products rather than making it 100% perfect.
