Did you know that most people use up to 10 apps per day and a total of 30 different apps every month? Smartphone owners probably have three times more apps on their mobile devices, but they use some of them more often than the others.
If you’re an IT expert and want to start a profitable business, developing a mobile app is the right thing to do. Not only that you can help people solve their problems easier, but you can also make money with your app, and become a famous mobile app developer.
Keep reading to learn more about mobile app development, what it entails, and how to do it.
Make Sure That You Come up With a Good Idea
Your idea doesn’t have to be absolutely brilliant and unique, just above average. Run a few app ideas by your programmer friends and see what they think. Decide if you want to create a game or a utility app. Try to come up with a unique solution or improve an existing one.
Finding the right app idea might take some time, but once you know you’re on solid ground, you have a strong foundation. As long as your app solves a problem thousands of people have, it should be successful in the long run.
Research the Market and See Where You’d Fit
Once you have decided upon the purpose of your app, it’s time to get some context into the picture. Research the market and see who your competitors are. Is there room for improvement? Is your idea marketable? Can you do better than your competition?
This is when you should also settle the demographics of your app. Who is the target audience? Do you want to go for a free app, paid app, or both? Can you see people using your app in five years? Can you make it work on multiple operating systems such as iOS and Android?
Once you have answers to these questions, you’ll know how to create your app and when to position yourself once it’s ready. Remember that some of the most brilliant mobile apps started between two smart people in a garage or coffee shop, so don’t get intimidated by your competitors or an overcrowded market.
Create Mockups and a Preliminary User Interface
The next step is to create the mobile app design. This means coming up with a few design ideas and envisioning how your app is going to look like. Now it’s the right time to decide upon a color scheme, come up with a few buttons, and put together a few app mockups.
This is one of the most interesting and entertaining parts of building an app. You get to create drawings of how your app will look like on different display sizes for mobile devices and tablets. This is also when you create a logical sequence of menus and functions displayed within your app.
Design the App Yourself or Work With a Graphics Designer
Now that you have the initial drawings, it’s time to put them into practice. You can use different programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to create buttons, graphics, and other visual elements. You can also buy unity assets & templates and use the buttons and graphics created by others.
If you’d like for your application to really stand out from the crowd, it’s recommended to work with a professional graphics designer. An experienced designer can create unique animations and graphics for your app, according to your preferences and needs.
If you are going to create a complex game, you might need to work with a team of designers to finish this project quicker. Games involve a lot of visual elements that need to be drawn perfectly. These elements also need to be scalable, so your game looks great on multiple platforms.
Code Your App Using Different Programming Languages
You shouldn’t consider creating an app from scratch if you don’t know how to code yet. Learning one or more programming languages such as Python and/or Java will help you build your own app from scratch. The good news is that there are plenty of programming courses and tutorials you can take online to learn the skills to code an app.
When you’re coding the app, this means making the connection between the buttons shown on the screen and the function they are supposed to perform. It’s a slightly complex task, but very rewarding once you realize that you can make something happen just by typing a few pieces of code.
Test Your App and Adjust It Accordingly
If you reach this step, the hard work is over. Now it’s time to just test the app over and over again to make sure that everything works perfectly. The testing process can take a while and it involves discovering bugs and fixing them before releasing the app to customers.
To make the testing process more effective, make sure that you explore all the functions of your app. You can also give it to someone to test it rigorously for you. This will make finding bugs easier.
Release the App and Stay in Touch With Your Customers
At some point, the big day of launching your app will come. Promote the first version of your app on social media platforms and blogs. Leave a valid email address for mobile users to use in case they encounter a problem with your app.
If you want your audience to trust you, make sure that you respond to any feedback emails you receive. This helps you build lasting relationships with your customers and they’ll eventually switch to the paid version if they consider that their questions are answered.
Now You Know More About Developing a Mobile App
Although developing a mobile app takes some time, skill, and knowledge, it can be a very rewarding project. Building the first app is just the beginning. Later on, you can release new versions of your app or create brand new ones to surprise your audience.
For more useful pieces of advice on how to create mobile apps from scratch and optimize them for various platforms, make sure that you check out the other articles on our website.
