How to Create a Mobile App?

Apps or Mobile Apps are essential for your company as a business extension or a start from scratch. In this blog, this guide will show you — first-time developers, business decision makers or non-technical people some important definitions and development steps to build your own app.

A mobile app, most commonly referred to as an app, is a software application run on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. The technical design of these mobile apps provides users with those accessed on personal computers. 

However, mobile apps are a more lightweight software with limited functionality as it takes PC-based features and ports them to a smaller device. The more robust an app becomes, the more sophisticated development method needs to be to approach the mobile environment. 

For more detailed information, apps can be separated into two broad categories, which are Native App (Mobile App) and Web App. 

• Native Apps are specially designed for mobile operating systems, such as iOS and Android. These apps are built with greater performance in online or offline mode with highly tuned user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Therefore, to make an app in this category, your business needs to strictly evaluate the product quality before they are released.
   
• Web Apps use HTML5 code including HTML, CSS and Javascript. There is no need to get apps from the app stores as they are run through a browser like Chrome, Safari or Firefox on different kinds of devices supported by responsive design methods. Moreover, all the information is maintained on a server-based database, so web apps require minimum device memory and stable connection.

To develop Mobile Apps, we list down 11 steps which can help you create your own app with utility. 

Whatever the concept, you need to make sure your software is genuinely resolving an issue. Following that, you must confirm that no one else is already carrying out your request. If they are, you will need to develop differentiators that set your concept apart from the competitors.

It's also important to remember that not every thought needs to result in an invention or novel idea. Numerous apps are simply an expansion of an already-existing business. You can design an app that enhances the way your clients shop from mobile devices if you have an online retailer. You can make an app for your food restaurant that improves client bookings, appointment administration, and deposits.

Set attainable objectives to make sure you're always aiming at them and use this as your north star. Otherwise, you won't be making the best use of your time and resources. It could be alluring to include features, bells, and whistles that aren't essential to achieving your goal because there are practically no limitations to app development. Both goals connected to your business and goals relating to the end user can be established.

Make sure you have pre-determined success metrics in place. KPIs function best when they are quantified. Break those objectives down into the “SMART” method to measure success.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timely

Without conducting market research, developing an app could be a costly waste of your time, money, and resources. Once your objectives are clear, you must confirm that the market has a demand for your software. In principle, every app idea is great, but before moving further, you must confirm your hypothesis.

Your present clients can serve as a resource for this research if your app is an expansion of your current company. You must establish connections with potential users who fall within your target demographic if the app is for a brand-new concept.

There are some steps to get the product insights:

• Create surveys
• Conduct interviews
• Run a focus group
• Research your competition
• Figure out how to create an app that improves the customer experience

Many people are tempted to include supplemental and superfluous functionality in an app. However, certain functionalities detract from the main objective of your software. Each additional feature raises the price and length of the development process. Therefore, think about the main features of your app which effectively assists user experiences.

Examples of popular app features include:

• Push notifications
• Community wall
• GPS capabilities
• Surveys and questionnaires
• Video, image, and audio hubs
• Booking capabilities
• Calendar integrations
• E-commerce carts
• Menu ordering system
• Customer loyalty
• User directory 

The wireframe's sole function is to visually depict the app's functionality and layout. In essence, a wireframe is a basic layout of your mobile application. You don't have to worry about the graphic style of your app just now, and it doesn't have to be very formal either. 

This tool is not intended to be an exact representation of what the finished app will look like. Your wireframe should instead emphasize structure and flow.

Generally speaking, there are 4 different ways to build a mobile app. It's important to choose the approach that works best for your particular situation before you begin to develop an app. The best technique to choose depends on a number of variables, including your budget, technical proficiency level, app kind, and time to market.

When it comes to mobile app development, these are the 4 most popular approaches:

• Native Mobile Applications: Native mobile apps are written in the platform owner’s programming languages and frameworks. It is able to natively run on the mobile device's operating system, such as iOS or Android.
   
• Cross-Platform Mobile Applications: Cross-platform mobile apps can run on different operating platforms with numerous programming languages and frameworks. This cross-platform approach assists in delivering apps across different platforms, but depends on native applications run on the operating system of the device.
   
• Hybrid Mobile Applications: Hybrid Mobile Apps are developed by standard web technologies and tools, such as Javascript, CSSn and HTML5. Hybrid development approach takes advantage from the speed of a web browser and the user experience of native mobile applications.
   
• Progressive Web Applications: Progressive Web Apps is built with the engagement of HTML. PWAs are web apps developed with an adaptable and user-friendly interface for mobile devices, where app store and app installations are unnecessary.

Each of these methods for developing mobile applications has both advantages and disadvantages. When considering mobile app development approaches, you need to look at the desired user experience, the computing resources and native features required by the app, the budget, timeline, time constraints, and resources available to maintain the app.

It's usually a good idea to see whether that solution is already on the market before wasting time and money figuring out how to construct an app and other components from scratch.

There are services for standard functionality that every app requires in terms of app development. I'm talking about solutions for infrastructure, hosting, design, analytics, and push alerts among other things.

Buying something already constructed is always more affordable than creating it from scratch. Most of the time, you can also make minor unique adjustments to these already-available services. You'll save time, money, and market your software more quickly as a result. Additionally, it will make your life a lot simpler.

Pre-development work must be finished before you can begin to really construct an app. By this point, your app concepts have already been thoroughly researched, vetted, and you have a fundamental notion of how the app should operate.

The process of technical specification is the essential part of development, removing unnecessary costs and time to make the app development more efficient. Take the wireframes created in the pre-development stage and get some more information to weigh your options. Since, creating tech spec could help logistically and potentially find alternatives to achieve your goals in a faster way.

Setting milestones will help keep you and your team on track during the app making process. Without benchmarks, you’ll have no way to track your progress. It is much simpler to deal with small scale tasks than to look at one big plan.

On the journey of achieving your own app, setting target milestones to break down your percentage of completion into smaller pillars. Accordingly, you have benchmarks to track your progress. 

Building a minimum viable product (MVP), as basically considered as a test app, requires selecting crucial features for a successful mobile app. 

You need to list down core functions to build the fundamental experiences and use cases first. In the long run of the project, it is easier to add in further features to complete your app without getting distracted and losing sight of your goals.

Consider the case of creating a messaging app. Your MVP would be an app that enables two people to communicate with one another. You wouldn't begin developing a video chat function or setting up the app's settings to alter the typeface, add photographs, or modify the backdrop color of your app.

Testing & deploying is the final step before announcing your product. The quality assurance is generated on different types of mobile platforms and devices in online and offline approaches to ensure that the app works correctly. 

It is not inevitable that your mobile app development is perfect when you launch it. However, bugs and errors are in need of being eliminated, while user experience and user interface can be configured later.

The next step to get your app into the hands of users is to submit it to app stores. To meet the requirements of Google Play Store or Apple App Store quickly, your business must have a clear understanding of regulations.

The price to develop a mobile app depends on a number of variables. The factors that will have the most impact on the cost are the kind of app you're making, the features you're included, and the development process.

Compared to simple coding, an app development platform is less expensive. As you continue to enhance the app's features, functionality, and complexity, the price will increase. 

The answer is that you should build an app suitable for both platforms, with iOS and Android owning 97 percent of the global mobile market share.

However, you might be unable to simultaneously develop for both OSs due to limitations in time, money, and resources. Instead, you might want to think about starting with one platform and then adding another later.

On the other hand, choosing between iOs or Android is based on the features in your app. For example, Android users do not need the login with apple account function, is it right?

There are various factors which determine the time of delivering projects. The answer depends mostly on the human resources and the complexity of a mobile app. Generally, a team of developers can build an app in approximately 10 weeks. In contrast, it may take 6 months if the developers are not qualified enough.

Moreover, in the development process, there are additional demands or unexpected errors which expand the time to wrap up the project.

We have just gone through some basic steps and estimation for time delivery, as well as costs spent to develop your own mobile application. There are more angels centering around the application development to make it more effective to assist your business with a good user connection. 

Are you looking for an IT outsourcing company? You may have concerns about IT outsourcing services when finding a solution for your business. We are here to answer the most common questions in this industry. Read our latest blog about FAQs about IT Outsourcing Services: https://spiritlabs.co/blog/fa-qs-common-questions-about-it-outsourcing-services

Every project has different requirements needed to be tailored to reach your business goals, contact us now for free consultation to transform your idea: https://spiritlabs.co/contact-us

REFERENCES:

• Blog: Mobile Application Development: A Comprehensive Guide
• Blog: 5 Key Mobile Development Approaches
• Blog: Mobile App Development Process: Step-by-Step Guide for 2022
• Blog: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE: How to Make an App
• Blog: Mobile Application (Mobile App)
• Blog: HTML5 vs native apps: Which one’s better?