Ever thought of creating your own app? It’s not easy, but a stroke of genius on your part can make it work. They can do wonders for your business, giving customers a streamlined way of interacting with your services or products.
That said, how are apps made? What are the stages of app development to follow?
Don’t fret, we’ve got a streamlined process for you to check out. It all begins by summing up your app’s purpose and capabilities into a simple idea that you can build upon.
1. Identify the Idea Behind It
The app development process properly begins with recognizing your goal. The moment you figure out your goal, the easier it is going to be for you. Break your goals down into several objectives to get a progress checklist.
First, get to know what your app ultimately is. What is your end goal with it? How do you want it to help people?
You may already have something in mind for what your app is going to be. If you do, that’s great. Get on to the second stage.
If you don’t, look for a problem. Your app should be the solution to it. It’s also possible for you to take an older idea and enhance upon it.
Have a quick look at 2017’s top mobile internet usage for reference.
Better yet, take inspiration from something you love or know much about. The more invested you are, the better the results will be.
2. Research… a Lot
Building an app from scratch is no easy task. Beginners will feel the gravity of this the most. The best way to prepare yourself for what’s to come is research.
The first important tip: read on common jargons in app building and development. It will help you work through your research.
Gather information on your competitors. Figure out their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Look at their customers’ reviews.
If you analyze your competition, you can develop your app to succeed in a similar way. Improve their strategies with your own big ideas. At the same time, avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that they’ve fallen into.
How big is the demand for your app? Check for validation with the Google Keyword Planner tool. It will give you information on user interest.
You should also do research your target audience and appropriate marketing strategies. In future steps, you will have to look up app builders, app types, and discovery methods. With the proper search habits, your search for information shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.
3. Define the Key Function
Your app can’t be a jack of all trades. All-in-one apps are too laborious and risky. They take up too much time and effort that they’re abandoned before they are even published.
That is not to say that you cannot equip your app with multiple features. All we’re saying is that you should choose a key function for your app. Be reminded that if this is your first app, you will want to start simple.
First, list down all the features you want in your app. After, take a look back at your goal and objectives. Remove the features that do not follow the core value of your idea.
Remember that this is only the first version. You’ll have time to build more features into your app in the future. For now, stick to your idea and keep it simple.
4. Choose How Your UX Flows
UX, short for user experience, is like a map. It shows where the customer goes when they click on a button, picture, or word. Your UX design priorities should be functionality, usability, and user adaptability.
It goes hand-in-hand with your user-interface (UI). You can think of UI as the physical representation of UX.
Research the best UX for your app before anything. As you sketch your UX design, keep your key features in mind as your priority.
Note also that your customers prefer tapping on target spaces rather than typing. Lessen the need for users to type. Try to create a seamless design for user experience.
If you have an app builder, chances are they already have UX designs ready.
It is possible to make your UI design before the UX design. We recommend you start with your UX flow.
5. Integrate Your UI Design
You’ll find that a user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not any good.
It is very important that your design for the UI be intuitive.
Users like an app with a UI they can naturally understand. In mobile apps development, creating good UI design is a bit more challenging. This is especially true if your app requires videos, filling forms, or a large amount of data to load.
Remember, something that looks great but is hard to navigate through means you’ve got great UI and poor UX. Something that looks terrible but is very useful means you have poor UI and great UX. Always strive to balance your UI and UX designs.
6. Improve Through Feedback
With as many as 2.5 million apps already available in the Google Play Store, there is always a competition over which app will improve better than the others. Customer feedback is a key component in making those improvements.
Keep in mind that developing any app requires constant upgrading.
The first set of customers is usually your best critiques. Collect your users’ comments. Improve upon what they like and correct what they don’t.
7. Add Features and Improvise
Let’s say you have built the first version of your app. It was great, but your customers felt it was rather limited. This is where you introduce new features.
Go back to your old version. Are your initial features still relevant? If not, you may need to remake them or put them away for good.
This is also where you get to practice more creativity from the user feedbacks. Improvise upon old features. Keep your new features if they work, and take them out if they don’t.
Of course, you should still return to your core idea and follow that.
Additional Stages of App Development
Incorporate analytics. They track user downloads and user engagement. Use tools like Flurry and Localystics for this purpose.
Add security measures. If your app will collect sensitive information from its users, you should include a privacy policy that informs them of this. You should integrate your app’s security in its development stages.
Ready to Get App-Lauded?
Those are the beginner’s 7 stages of app development and then some.
Always keep in mind that you will want to begin with a simple concept, and build up from there as you gain experience. Also, note that you should always stay true to your core idea.
Do you use more than one device to go online? Do you feel your online security is at risk? Come read other guides on our blog, like this one listing how you can ensure your online security and privacy.