In today’s world that revolves around technology, the number of mobile devices has surpassed the number of people. Mobile applications have become an essential part of our daily life. Whether it’s communication or entertainment or shopping, mobile apps are catering to almost every segment and in every possible way. They have revolutionized our interaction with the digital landscape. If you are planning to set foot in this domain, you must go through this article that thoroughly explains the mobile app development process.
7 Stages of Mobile App Development Process
Although, the process of mobile app development depends on individual preference, here are 7 stages that are most likely to take their course.
- Strategy Development
For any app development, strategy is what you should begin with. This is where you start considering your future application’s goals, functionalities, and business plan.
- Understand objectives
Whether it’s a consumer app or an enterprise app that you’re building, you start by defining the goal of the app. Answer the questions mentioned below and you’ll have half of your plan there.
- What issue will my app address?
- What is the target audience?
- What are my objectives with the app?
- Study competitors
The next step should include research about the competitors. See which already exists and which holds potential. Judge the existing apps on the market and how they are performing along with their number of installations and reviews. This will help you avoid the mistakes which they might have made. It will also provide you with an idea of areas where you can differentiate your app from that of the competitors’.
- Choose platform
One critical decision is to choose the most appropriate platform for the app you want to develop. Is it a custom Android solution or an iPhone App Development Company app Or a cross-platform app that you want to create?
- Select monetization method
Selecting the correct monetization method is only for those supplying a consumer application. The monetization method varies with your specific goals and the kind of application you want to build.
- Analysis and Planning
At this stage, you have a clear picture in your mind of what you want. All you need to do is put all in practical before starting with design and development.
- Functional and non-functional requirements
List down the tasks that you want your app to perform. Your functional requirements will be the tasks that the software is meant to carry out. Non-functional tasks of the app include its performance etc.
- Product roadmap
Mark the end goals that you have set with your app. List them down in the order of priority and which features can be added at a later stage.
- Technology stack
Here you need the analysis of the skills that are needed for the app. As iOS app requires an experienced iOS developer. While for a cross-platform app, you need someone with expertise in frameworks like Titanium, Xamarin, etc.
- UI/UX Design
App design is something that demands a lot of attention as this is what attracts a user. Therefore, your UI/UX design should be easy to use, engaging, and user-friendly.
- information Architecture and Workflows
The design process requires developing the information architecture guidelines for your program. You need to list the data that will be included in your app, the way it will be presented, and how you want the users to interact with it.
- Wireframes
Wireframes are digital sketches created by business analysts. These are basically conceptual designs that summarize the functionality of the app visually.
Wireframes focus on aesthetics and the user experience so that the final application is intuitive and easy to use.
- Style guides
Style guides are to assist you in finding your company’s branding all in one place. They play a vital role in the design strategy of the app. A few components of the app’s design generally included in the records are:
- Fonts
- Color scheme
- Spacing and positioning instructions
- Buttons
- Widgets
- Other relevant design elements
- Mockups
These are basically the finished visual representations of your program, and they are produced by incorporating the style guide into the wireframes.
- Prototypes
Prototypes imitate the user experience and the complete workflow of the app. Providing you with an idea of how things will work in the end product. Even though this process is time-consuming, you must never skip it as it allows you to make alterations and correct errors.
- App Development
Coming to the most important stage of the mobile app development process comprising two major parts, backend, and frontend.
- Backend
The backend includes the creation of databases and server-side objects which reflects your app’s performance. Here, the developers select the most suitable programming language and start the coding. The hosting environment and database engines are also chosen at this stage
.
- Frontend
Frontend of a mobile app is where users will engage with it the most. Three primary approaches to this are as follows:
- Platform-specific: These apps are developed specifically for particular mobile platforms. This means that the code consumed in a specific platform cant be used in another.
- Cross-platform: In this, a single codebase can be used for different platforms. These mobile app development frameworks are compatible with different operating systems.
- Hybrid: This solution includes characteristics of both platform-specific as well as web apps. They prove to be good if you want to run your programs on different platforms without designing a cross-platform solution.
- Application Testing & Quality Assurance
With the completion of the app development stage, you should begin the testing part. You want to ensure that the solution created by you is reliable, secure, and bug-free.
For your app to deliver high quality, it should go through testing of these five aspects:
- Functionality
- Performance
- Security
- Platform and device
- Extended review
- App Deployment
Based on the platform for which you were developing the app, you must go through various distribution models. The strategy for the deployment of these mobile applications is straightforward. You either have to submit your program to Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, or opt for private distribution.
- Support and Performance Monitoring
Once your app is up and users start downloading it, it’s time to start your analytics and monitor its performance. Don’t undermine this phase.
Some important elements that you should look for at this stage are:
- App downloads
- Active users
- Average visit time
- Conversions
- Ratings
- Reviews and more.
Wrapping Up
Mobile app development is not an easy journey. By pursuing this comprehensive guide, you can carry out the whole process with even more confidence. The success of any app greatly relies on the mobile app development company that you choose. Their sense of creativity, priority for user-centric design, robust development, and continuous improvement make all the difference.
