Introduction
Creating a mobile app is not as hard as you might think. It takes time, yes. But it also takes creativity, determination and some money. This guide will help you navigate the process from start to finish with tips on how to create a mobile app that will meet your needs and match your budget.
Create a mobile strategy
A sound mobile strategy starts with defining your business goals, creating a cohesive marketing plan and choosing the right platform for your app.
- Choose the right platform: Native or web?
- Decide on a development framework: Do you want to build it yourself or use one of the many available frameworks?
- Determine what features you need and what features you want: How much time do you have to create this app?
Define your business goals.
You should have a clear understanding of your business goals. If you don’t, it’s vital that you do so before moving forward with your app development project. This will help you determine how much time and money to invest in the app, as well as what features to include.
Your target audience is another aspect of your business goal that is important for developing a mobile app in this stage. Knowing who you want your product or service to reach out to can help guide how many times per day users are receiving push notifications from your company’s servers (if applicable). It also helps when determining what kind of interface design would be most appropriate for whatever features are included in the application itself.
It’s important that businesses consider their value proposition before creating an app because this will help drive home why people should use their new product or service compared against others on the market right now too!
Create a cohesive marketing plan.
The first step to creating a mobile app is to create a cohesive marketing plan. A marketing plan should be a part of your overall business strategy and will help you reach your goals by providing direction for how you will reach the target audience. The first thing to do is to define the product, including what it does, who will use it and why people should care about it. Next, describe how you’ll spread the word about this product—this is where marketing comes in! Then discuss how success will be measured.
Choose the right platform.
The first step to creating a mobile app is choosing the right platform. Choosing between Android and iOS can be confusing, but there are some important things to keep in mind. Native apps are created using the language of each specific platform (Java for Android and Objective-C/Swift for iOS), which means they need to be rewritten every time you want to launch another version of your app. Web apps also require that you rewrite your code in every language, but they don’t have many of the limitations that come with native development. There are pros and cons to both options:
- Native apps offer better performance on their native platforms due to lower latency and faster response times than web apps do. This makes them ideal for games or other applications where speed matters more than anything else (such as Uber).
- Web apps give you more freedom when it comes to design choices because they’re not limited by what each device manufacturer has decided will look good—you can customize everything from colors, fonts, images and animations right down into how buttons work! However, this comes at a cost; if people already have an existing account with another service then switching between services may feel like too much work – especially if there isn’t any obvious benefit from doing so (for example: switching from Facebook Messenger)
Choose a development framework.
Choosing the right development framework is an important step in the mobile application creation process. If you’re just starting out, it might be tempting to go with what you know or with the most popular framework. However, for more experienced developers and companies that want to build a long-term relationship with their users and clients, choosing a framework that fits their needs is essential.
In this section we’ll briefly discuss:
- What makes up a development framework?
- The pros and cons of different frameworks
- The most popular frameworks used by mobile app developers today
Decide between native and web app.
There are two types of mobile apps: native and web. Native apps are created for specific platforms, such as iOS, Android or Windows Phone. Web apps can be accessed from any device via the internet. While native apps are faster and more stable than web-based apps, they can only run on one platform at a time (e.g., you can’t use an iOS app on Android). On the other hand, web-based applications can be easily accessed from any device with Internet access and are easier to scale than their native counterparts.
Determine what features you need and what features you want.
Before you start building an app, you need to know what features the app will have. You also need to know who is going to use the app and what features are available in other apps.
In this step, we’ll focus on what features belong in your mobile application.
First, let’s look at some of the main parts of a mobile application:
- User interface (UI)
- User experience (UX)
- Functionality (features)
Start your own testing lab.
You have to make sure that your app works in as many situations as possible. The most obvious place to start is testing on various devices. You need to know whether your app runs smoothly on the latest smartphones and tablets, but also on slightly older devices (if you’re targeting an older demographic). Ideally, you’ll want to test all of these things in different locations with different network speeds and types, or even using different network providers.
If possible, do a live test at the actual location where customers will use the mobile app (for example, if it’s a restaurant reservation system). If that’s not an option for some reason (or there are too many variables involved), consider setting up a testing lab at home where you can try out all sorts of configurations for your mobile application without having to leave home or hire additional help:
- Set up multiple computers running Windows 7/8/10 and macOS 10.12 Sierra
- Use simulator apps like iEmulator or Genymotion to run Android OS 5 Lollipop-based virtual machines
- Connect these virtual machines through Wi-Fi networks of differing bandwidths
Hire an agency or partner with experts.
If you want to get a professional-looking app, but don’t have the time or resources to build it yourself, hiring an agency is usually the way to go. You can hire an agency directly or partner with one and share costs (this is often referred to as “co-branding”). Hiring an agency isn’t cheap—you’ll be paying top dollar for their expertise and experience—but it will be worth it if you can find someone who understands your vision and can deliver exactly what you need.
It is possible for anyone to create their own mobile app
In order to create a mobile app, you have to have a problem to solve. The first step is defining the problem and then setting goals around solving it.
Let’s say you want to lose weight, but all your friends are telling you that they don’t think it’s possible for anyone who eats like they do (e.g., pizza and nachos) to achieve their fitness goals in 3-6 months.
What does that mean for your app? It means that instead of focusing on what other people’s goals might be or even how much money they could make if they get fit quickly, focus on yourself and what motivates YOU!
If someone tells me that something is impossible or not worth my time/effort/money…I won’t listen! When I’m constantly surrounded by negativity from others who don’t care about ME…it makes me want more than ever before.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has helped you understand the mobile app development process better. If you are planning to build a mobile app, now is the time to start. The market is growing rapidly and it can be difficult to keep up with all of the latest trends and technologies. However, if you follow these guidelines and plan ahead for success, then anything is possible!
