Mobile apps have been a personal favorite of many individuals for some time now. It has been due to the fact that mobile devices are portable and most of the apps produced do help a person in real problematic situations. For a person who is willing to build a new mobile app he or she should follow a certain set of guidelines before, during and after the building of software. If not it will ultimately lead to a development of a useless app or a faulty app. So now we will go through the guidelines in more detailed manner.
1. Identify the Need and Validate the Need Through Public Opinion
Do you really have an idea what you are going to build? Are there similar apps in the market that provide the same exact function you provide? These are some of the questions you will need to sort out before even thinking of building an app. As a first time developer, it is better if you can create an app that would help yourself. So identify what your need is.
Every app is built on a specific need. The app which doesn’t fulfill a need is useless. So if you identified your problem then validate that many people have the same problem you encounter. You can do this by using online reviews and you may even use Google keyword planner to identify people with the same app need as you. You can even follow them and get their needs. This will allow you to identify what special features may be included in your app in addition to the basic function. But saying this it is better to keep the functions basic as possible, for which the reason will be discussed in the second step.
2. Sketch Your Ideas and Build Flowcharts
Now that you have validated your app features you can design or get a general idea how the app navigates. Put into a flow chart how that specific function is carried out. Don’t try to add features just because they are nice to be working with. This because they can always be given as an update so try to keep your cost to a minimum. When you detail your product you can use a wireframing tool which will help to get a basic design effectively. The flow charts that you construct should be detailed.
3. Design the App to Be Attractive Rather Than to Have a Basic Look
Many developers give less priority to the looks. They say that looks are not the important but rather an added attribute. It is true that all we want is to get our work done, but in a competitive market looks should be given prominence. All of us want to engage in an app that works attractively rather than an app that looks like it is from 80s.
So best thing you can do is hire a designer because user experience is one of the best criteria that rates an app. Mostly there are designer companies in the market, so you can go through their previous app designs and get an idea. When you choose the designer make sure you get it in an affordable plan or a package. When you go through the previous designs make sure you get notice of any design that would suit your app. If your budget is limited you can try to contact with a designer for helping you.
4. Make Use of a Developer Account
You will need a market to distribute your app. So make use of an app store which is helpful for that. In fact for most of them you will have to spend your money. For example android store would charge $25 per year while Apple charges $99. Stay connected with account and track your progress with number of downloads and user engagement and have it analyzed. Make use of tools like Localytics and Flurry.
5. Get Feedback and Introduce New Features
Always stay connected with the users through your account. They will be helpful in critics as well in praises. Make use of them to develop and improvise. Give updates to the users with amendments and added features. Now you can make sure you include some of the features that you discarded from the initial development chart due to the cost reduction. As a result, if you want to be success you need to know mobile app development process.
These are just easy and very simple guidelines to help you to develop the app but the difficulty of the job is to find a client base and to retain them.
