Many businesses, big and small, decide to launch their mobile applications to increase their brand awareness and profit.
It is true that there’s an app for almost anything. More and more people join the world of mobile applications, and they lay the foundations for the process by choosing quality hosting for their apps.
Based on our experience, apps with the best performance had their hosting servers close to their target audience: for example, if you want to engage with people in Texas, you can choose Dallas VPS.
Now, with the variety of beginner-friendly app development platforms, delivering the products become much easier than it was, for example, ten years ago.
But if you’re not sure how to approach development, but you have an idea for a mobile app, but don’t know where to start with it, this guide is for you.
Step-by-step Guide to Creating A Mobile App
Once you have the idea for the app, the actionable steps are where people get stuck. We offer you an 8-step guide on how you can take your idea and transform it into a ready-to-use application.
Step 1: Describe Your Idea
Describing your idea is the starting point in any app development journey.
Here, you need to create a clear vision of what an app will represent and how you can make it stand out among thousands of existing applications. For this, consider answering the following questions:
- What value will your app deliver to users? What will be its unique proposition? What problem will it solve?
- Who is your target audience?
- What features do you want your app to have?
Here, it’s essential to focus on specific issues your app will be a solution to, who will benefit from using the app, and the core functions you want your app to perform.
Step 2: Research the Market
Before going deeper into shaping your mobile application in more detail, you should research the market and find the leaders in your niche, which will be your direct competitors.
Define their strengths, weaknesses, and reasons behind them being popular.
This step is also done to determine whether there’s a demand for your potential app in the market and whether your idea is worth pursuing.
Weaknesses of your competitors will also help you identify what features, functionality, or concerns don’t have enough representation in the market.
If you find that your app idea will have real-world application, continue with the next step.
Step 3: Decide on the Application Type
Now, going into more specifics. We recommend determining what type of application you want to develop: the decision about it will directly correlate with your vision for the app and the functions you expect it to perform.
There are three main application types, each of which has its pros and cons.
- Native Apps: Native apps refer to applications that are built for the specific platform i.e., Android or iOS, using platform-specific tools. This type of app is great when you have a specific target audience or want to deliver a specific user experience; however, if you decide to expand your app to other platforms, you’ll need a separate development for an additional cost.
- Cross-platform Apps: This type of app implies that you develop an app that will be supported across multiple platforms. Cross-platform apps are developed using frameworks like React Native. Such an approach is great since it saves you time and money, but it may hinder app performance.
- Web-based Apps: Web-based apps look like a website optimized for mobile phones, and can be accessed from any device. Such apps are the most affordable in development, but there’s often not enough room for elaborate features and robust performance.
Step 4: Choose The Development Method
Once you’ve settled on the app type, you need to choose the development method. You can:
- Hire a team of professionals (an agency, freelancers, etc.): This is a great option for those, who don’t want to risk facing a lack of knowledge, disappointments, and starting over; undoubtedly, this one is the most expensive option out of three.
- Use a builder: There are websites and applications that allow you to develop apps even if you don’t know how to code. They will save you time and money but may be limited in terms of what kind of functionality they provide for your app.
- Develop an app yourself: This option is only viable if you know how to code and are willing to develop an app from scratch.
Step 5: Decide On The App Design And Contents
For an application, a thought-out design constitutes half of the success. A mobile app should be intuitive, beginner-friendly, easy to use, and clean-looking. Design is what directs the user experience to be either positive or negative.
On this step, we recommend hiring a professional designer for your mobile app, if don’t have the skills necessary, of course.
What a designer will need from you is a sketch or a concept of the app’s look and style, navigation, and possible icon ideas, so that they have something to go from.
Next, you should decide on the app’s content, including how the information will be presented in the app; it can be in the form of articles or visuals (videos or photos).
Think about the core features you envision your app to have, and add more features to them if you like.
Step 6: Develop the App
Now, it’s the stage of app development. For this, you need to:
- Set up the development environment: Install or provide the software for your chosen framework or app type.
- Write code: Here, you need to integrate the features and design you’ve defined in your app through coding.
After the first version of the app is ready, you need to start with testing.
Step 7: Test the App
Before releasing your app, you need to test it first.
Testing involves checking for crashes, bugs, visibility of all app elements and sections, overall functionality, speed, and performance.
Testing should be performed on multiple devices and operating systems.
Step 8: Launch
Once the testing is showing solid performance, you are ready for app launch. But how do you do it? First, you need to register as a developer with Google or Apple, on Google Play and App Store accordingly.
If you’ve decided to go with a web app, make sure to choose a reliable hosting provider for your application and domain registration.
You can find more details about the app launch on each platform individually.
