In the digitally transforming world, innovations in smartphones and mobile app development have evolved the way of interaction globally. The growth rate of mobile users is directly proportional to the rise in the number of apps uploaded in a year. On average, a smartphone user has over 30 apps installed on their device.
According to the study conducted by eMarketer, the average user time spent on the app is comparatively quite higher than the time spent on the web browser. Such an upsurge in app demand among users, is no surprise that a huge number of SMEs and startups reach out to mobile app development companies that can help them to create apps to reach potential customers.
According to Statista, the total global revenue of mobile apps in 2020 was $581.9 billion, whereas it is expected to hit a new record figure of $808.7 billion in 2022. There is no doubt that the mobile app industry is going to face any fall-back, as there are over 3.5 billion mobile phone users globally.
These figures will only rise in the upcoming days, so the entrepreneurs can avail such opportunities to build a competitive mobile application. So, if you like to explore such an attractive landscape, or are planning to introduce a competitive mobile application – but don’t have such an extensive experience of market and app development, then this detailed guide is curated to fulfil your curious queries.
Regardless of the project size and scope, go through this mobile app development process to carve out a successful mobile application catering to your unique business idea.
What is Mobile App Development?
Designing and developing software that is supposed to run on mobile devices only and is optimized to define the company’s offerings through proposed features and functionalities is mobile app development. During the app development process for startups, the app is united with an immersive user interface, user experience, and hardware to display a tray of actions that can be performed intuitively to achieve a desired goal.
For a majority of businesses, mobile apps have become a vital tool for their success and gain a wider market presence. The mushrooming industry of mobile apps is gaining traction from every nook and corner of the marketplace, as the user doesn’t have to be pinned to the desktop but rather can turn to their mobile devices. The top two operating system are the iOS and Android platforms. The mobile apps can connect your existing and prospective consumers with your brand.
The Android OS is the most common mobile operating system in the current market with a market cover of about 72% of total mobile phone users, followed by the iOS operating system with 27.47% of users. The advantages of mobile app development include:
- Enhanced Customer Experience
- Brand Recognition
- Customer Loyalty
- Direct-to-Customer Marketing Channel
- Better Conversion Rate
- Increases ROI
- Saves Time
Different Development Approaches to Develop Mobile Apps
Multiple app development platforms exist in the market, so one should choose the platform wisely after considering the key factors such as;
- Development Cost
- Target Audience
- Business Model
- Development Time
- Latest and Preferred Technologies, and many more.
Types of Mobile Applications
1. Native Mobile Apps
Native mobile apps are device-specific that are equipped to extract the maximum potential of the app and device. However, these apps are a bit costly and require a lot of effort to maintain the app quality. The native apps can access APIs directly to deliver quality performance on different devices. Despite that, it requires a lot of code writing to make it device-friendly i.e. it doesn’t work on multiple devices with a single codebase. They are built using tools and SDKs offered by their respective platform owners i.e. Google for Android App and Apple for iOS app development.
2. Cross-Platform Mobile App
In contrast to Native mobile apps, the Cross-platforms apps are device compatible and quite convenient to develop. In simple words, the cross-platform apps run on Android and iOS platforms both with a single codebase. As a result, cross-platform mobile app development is quite cheaper and requires less development time at the same time. The cross-platform app’s performance is limited as compared to native apps.
3. Hybrid Mobile App
The Hybrid app is a combination of native mobile apps and web applications. Such apps are divided into two parts, i.e. backend codes and a native viewer, which is downloaded by the user to present the backend in a web view. Such apps are built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The hybrid app shares a single codebase between Android/iOS, and web apps. The performance of hybrid apps is not as high as Native mobile apps.
4. Progressive Web App
A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a web app that delivers a native app-like user experience. The PWA works offline, provides push notifications, GPS access, and other features for android app development, whereas there are a few limitations with iOS app development, such as no default launch of the image, camera access, no API installation, and other issues. The major benefit of PWAs are: they use less data, increases user engagement, and delivers better performance.
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Why Build A Mobile App?
If you are a budding entrepreneur and still think that on-demand mobile app development is only for big brands like Uber and Walmart, then it’s entirely your misconception. Well, a great number of small and medium-sized businesses are inclining towards customized mobile app development and reaching customers instantly. Now businesses are realizing the importance of the digital presence of their business. But, if you are still looking for reasons, then here are the top reasons, why you should build a mobile app to take your business online.
1. Increase Brand Awareness
To take your business online can be a great benefit to build your brand awareness. The presence of the app on the App Store depicts that now your business/services are in easy reach to a wider audience. It becomes convenient for customers to access your business from their handy devices. Hence, it results in easy and frequent customer engagement with the app which ultimately turns a visitor into a buyer. Likewise, the app can also engage users with push notification functionality and this increases the likelihood of raising your brand awareness.
2. High Customer Engagement
No matter what services you are providing, being a businessman having a digital mode of reaching out to your customers will ease business access and minimize customer hassle. A mobile app acts as a bridge to connecting both the parties with zero resistance at any time without any geographical boundaries. The mobile apps also allow your customer to access any service or make any order directly from their device. It doesn’t require any kind of human interaction which sometimes causes miscommunication in traditional mode.
3. Quality Customer Service
Mobile app development can be a great support for your business to provide quality customer service. The apps are like a channel between your brand and customer support. The customer queries can be resolved in real-time or in a minimum time frame with an automated assistance or chatbot services. The apps are not only effective for troubleshooting but also can provide customized shopping and service delivery experience by analyzing users’ real-time behavior.
4. Deeper Customer Insights
In this tech-prone world, it is a far reach to build a profitable business without customer insights. Mobile apps are a much better option to gain reliable and valuable customer insights than web platforms to understand customer behavior and formulate competitive business strategies. The analysis of customer data and feedback will help to improve the app quality, widen customer reach with accurate advertising, and understand customers’ requirements precisely.
Mobile App Development Process
1. Build an App Development Strategy
If you are an established brand or an entrepreneur, who is planning to take their business venture on digital mode – without a doubt there would be a lot of uncertainty when you plan to enter into the mobile app industry for the first time. Thus, to minimize such doubts the first and firm step should be to answer the following question;
- What is the objective of your on-demand mobile app development?
- Do you know who will be your target group?
- How will your on-demand mobile app development solve the industry problem?
- What should be your business model?
- Do you know who your digital business competitors are?
- How much you are prepared to invest in developing this mobile app solution?
- Which type of Revenue Model you are going to adopt?
- How will you market your mobile app, and to whom?
These were some basic questions that a business owner must look for most suitable and accurate answers. This will also help in building a competitive business and a top-quality end-product. In addition to that, to build an effective strategy, you have to brainstorm and validate your idea as well.
Brainstorm and Confirm Your App Idea
There are about 1.85 million iOS apps and 2.56 million Android apps present in the App Store and Google Play Store respectively that are ready for download and the number is growing continuously. Therefore, while considering such a whooping number of apps, introducing an idea for mobile app development must be a thoughtful process. As the idea is unique, the more the chances of being a leading market competitor.
To reach such a stage requires an extensive amount of brainstorming and a dedicated team effort. After ideation, a lot of research work is required to deduce the list of quality features that you can offer to your customers. The features list can be categorized under basic and advanced features, which let you define the project phases. The basic features can be introduced in the app post-deployment and the advanced features can be introduced in multiple phases post-deployment.
All such decisions need to be made during this phase, which eases the further development process. So, come along with your team and look at what unique ideas or suggestions they are having.
2. Market Research and SWOT Analysis
Market Research- It is the most crucial part of the mobile app development journey. In this phase, you can understand the exact demand and interest of the market. Based on that learning, you can modify your business idea, project requirement, and can accurately prioritize the work. Here, is the step-by-step process to conduct market research in the right manner.
Step 1- Define your objective and customer persona
Step 2- Prepare your research survey questions
Step 3- Identify USP that can engage prospects
Step 4- Speak to people under your target customer’s business
Step 5- Keep the survey very informative
Step 6- List your market competitors and conduct a desk survey as well
SWOT Analysis- It is a strategically planned process that can help any company or entrepreneur to identify any type of Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat associated with your business idea. In short, you need to perform SWOT analysis to uncover the unexpected things associated with the project in advance which helps you to avoid investing time and money in the upcoming phase.
Strength- By evaluating your project strength, you can define your USP, figure out the benefits you can deliver to your customer with the app, analyze how your business solution is better than your competitors, and other similar questions.
Weakness- Identify your weak points, so you can formulate strategies in advance to tackle such a situation. Once, you anticipate your failure and work over it to avoid such situations then you can be a market leader without a doubt.
Opportunity- After analyzing your strength and weakness, take it as a challenge to transform your weakness into an opportunity. Apart from that, you can also exploit your competitor’s weakness, and market it as a privilege in your niche market.
Threat- No business is immune to market threats, therefore SWOT analysis is considered important for any business. You can identify potential threats in the form of market competitors, transforming market trends, change in consumer behavior, shift to new technologies, etc.
Hence, you must invest an ample amount of time, resources, and a part of your budget as well in performing market research. Detailed market research will not only educate you about the market but also highlight the hidden opportunities that the competitors might have missed.
3. Define MVP
After finalizing the features and functionalities that you can introduce at different phases, and evaluating functionalities your users will like to access from the start, it’s time to define your MVP (Minimum Viable Product). An MVP is the basic and initial version of your app that comes up with minimum features and functionalities while adding value for the user.
The basic purpose of building an MVP is as follows;
- Testing the viability of the product at a low cost
- Gaining investors’ attention
- Developing a firm understanding of the domain
- Willing to spend less money on product development
- Quick product delivery that solves user’s problems
- Staging a place for low-risk experiments
- Looking for a building block to enhance or develop the product
The MVP can also be an interactive prototype that looks like a final functional product and can be used by genuine users. There are a number of tools and technologies that enable the cheap and quick development of interactive prototypes of your MVP. Later, based on the user’s feedback you can introduce updates periodically to enhance the functionality of the working product.
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4. UI/UX Development
The sole aim of mobile app designing is to deliver an effortless and seamless user experience with an engaging platform. Regardless of the mobile app size, i.e. no matter if it is an MVP or a full-fledged app, the design should have to be top-notch in delivering an intuitive, interactive, and user-friendly user experience. The designing of a mobile app development includes User Interface and User Experience. Let’s understand both terms in detail.
What is UI Design?
User Interface (UI) design is the graphical layout of an app. It comprises user-clickable buttons, readable texts, images, page scrolling, text entry fields, and other elements that the user can interact with. It also includes screen templates/layouts, transitions, an animation interface, and every tiny bit of interaction.
The UI designers are responsible for developing an innovative and interactive mobile app design. They finalize the look and feel of the mobile app’s user interface. The UI design ensures to build of an attractive, well-followed theme, and visually stimulating design that complements the purpose of the app.
Basically, a UI design depicts the stylistic choice of the designer which compliments the domain theme. The UI design of a product comprises images, buttons, menu bar, and other details. All these elements introduce the interactive features of the app, so the designers have to design it accordingly.
What is UX Design?
User Experience (UX) is how a user or person has the experience and feels while interacting with the system. Here, the system could be a website, mobile app, or software; in the modern context it is generally denoted by some form of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The UX designer is responsible for creating this valuable and relevant experience while considering different perspectives of multiple users.
Down the line, the major difference between UI and UX designers lies here. The UI Designer is assigned to build the look of the user interface, whereas the UX designers take care of how the user interface operates.
The UX designers also create wireframes rendering the interaction with the interface and subsequently take user feedback. Later the feedback is designed to integrate into their UX design. Therefore, the UX designer must possess a holistic knowledge of how users would like to interact with their mobile app.
Read Also: User Experience Design Process
Build Your Apps Wireframe
In mobile app development, the wireframes are a 2-dimensional illustration of the screen interface, which depicts the sequential app flow and usage of the product by its users. Wireframes are the blueprint of an app which consists of a schematic version of the upcoming product. However, they are also touted as the finalized version of digital sketches which can also be sketched on paper to visualize the actual prototype look. You can also consider wireframes as concepts which help to understand the visual flow of the app’s functionality by using low-fidelity mock ups.
Steps for Wireframing A Mobile App Development
- Begin with planning the details of a target user flow
- Sketch out the core structure of the user flow
- Now, start wireframing by adding a mobile frame
- Define layout by using boxes
- Use design patterns
- Put in actual copy
- Ensure your content is managed accurately
- Create a page flow by connecting it with one another
- Test your final design produced
Read Also: The difference between low fidelity and high fidelity prototypes
Style Guides
A UI Style Guide is a set of rules for graphic elements to design the web or mobile app. It is a master reference for developing an accurate user interface. Style Guide is also known as style tiles, pattern libraries, and interface inventories.
A Style Guide depicts the design base and implementation style that affect the app development, not only in UI but also in UX. A style guide provides well-organized detailed information while considering the platform’s specifications. It also considers a futuristic approach that makes it easier to update elements while eliminating any confusion in releasing.
During the app development process, style guides support to plan the evolution of the product. The mobile app design style guide considers the following elements;
- Colors
- Fonts- Style, Size
- Graphics- Icons, Charts, Animations
- Components- Button, Slider, Switch, Stepper, Dropdown, Calendar, etc.
- Layouts- Distributions, Bars, Columns, and Space Management
- Menus and Bars- Navigation Bars, Hamburger Menus, etc.
- Alerts and Dialogs
Mockups Designing
Mockups are the early draft or mid to high-fidelity conceptual draft of static images of the mobile app or the website. Basically, mockups transform ideas and concepts into a firm design. It comprises finalized navigation and detailed designing of elements, which often depicts the final design of the product. The major purpose of designing mockups is to finalize the content layouts, color schemes, navigations, fonts, icons, images, and the overall user flow of the final product including the top class user experience delivery.
Mockups are usually sent for prototyping which requires further modifications in the structure, workflow, and aesthetic look and feel on all platforms as the client requires. Some of the popular mockup tools for designing mobile apps and web solutions are;
- Balsamiq
- Figma
- FrameBox
- Sketch
- Adobe XD
- Photoshop
Prototype Building
A Prototype is the working model of the final product. It eases to test the app flow and user experience before spending valuable development time and resources to develop the full-fledged mobile app. With prototyping, you get the opportunity to test the working model in the initial phase before you actually start the development process of the app. In this process, you can easily address the issues at the initial phase and resolve it quickly before the situation get worsen.
Some companies prefer early-stage prototyping while designing the wireframes, especially when the app’s functionality is not well thought off. There are a number of prototyping tools available in the market and many of them are easy and free to use. These tools support to introduce easy, cheap, and quick prototypes.
In the prototype building phase, user testing can take place to ensure bug-free code writing which enables minimum delay, less frustration, and eliminates last-minute changes. However, it also requires that mobile app developers accurately understand and precisely incorporate the workflow in the prototype.
5. App Development
Planning is an integral part of the mobile app development process. Before, initiating the actual development phase, you need to;
- Choose Technology Stack
- Pick Development Methodology
- Define Development Milestones
The milestones of a mobile app development project are broadly made up of three stages: Front-end development, APIs, and Back-end Development.
Choosing Technology
With evolving tech world, still Java and Kotlin are the most preferred Android mobile app development languages. However, there are other popular and most preferred Android app development programming languages, such as Python and C/C++ as well.
- Java- Java is the well-known programming language for writing Android mobile apps codes. Though, Java is not a perfect tool, yet is one of the most preferred languages. It is an object-oriented programming language and runs on a virtual machine. It also have the access to extensive libraries, ranging from logging to unit testing. However, many Java developers find the repetitive syntax of Java a bit problematic.
- Kotlin- Kotlin is a new entrant in Android mobile app development, yet it shares quite a fair amount of popularity and is termed as an alternate language of Java. All the libraries of Java can be accessed on Kotlin as well, and it runs on Java Virtual Machine. Java compiles with java Bytecodes and is considered a cleaner and neater version of Java.
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iOS App Development Programming Languages
The demand for iOS-based devices is rising, ranging from smartphones to smart watches all requiring well-developed apps to operate over devices. Therefore, for iOS app development, the developers require Xcodes toolkit, which is available with a code editor, simulators, debugger, and SDKs. There are two native programming languages to develop an iOS mobile app i.e. Objective-C and Swift.
- Objective-C- Objective-C is an Object Oriented Programming Language and the first language that supports iOS mobile app development. It uses Object-Oriented and C-language syntax. It is compatible with C and C++ libraries. It is primarily used for developing Apple Operating System, such as iOS, OS X, and APIs- Cocoa and Cocoa Touch. It is quite a user-friendly language even for those who are new to object-oriented development.
- Swift- Swift is considered one of the top and most preferred iOS app development programming languages. Swift was introduced as the successor of Objective-C. Hence, it is much faster and enhances the safety features of iOS products. It was designed as a type-safe and memory-safe language, thus the language itself depletes type-errors that occur frequently in development, but are difficult to debug.
Hybrid App Development Programming Languages
The hybrid programming language developed apps work on both Android and iOS platforms with a single codebase. While developing the hybrid app, generally you are dealing in one way or other with JavaScript-based language, toolkit, or framework. Some of the most preferred Hybrid mobile app development programming languages are;
- React Native- It is one of the most popular open-source cross-platform tools. It uses JavaScript to build the app and allows the reuse of both UI components and the logic layer between the iOS and Android platforms.
- Ionic- It uses HTML and CSS to build the hybrid Android, iOS, and web apps. It can be used to build elegant mobile UIs and apps rendered using Web Views, and a well-powered web browser.
- Xamarin- It is an open-source, Microsoft acquired framework to develop Android, iOS, and Windows applications. Xamarin uses C# complemented with .Net framework to create apps for any mobile platform.
PWA Programming Languages
Some of the top programming languages used for PWA app development are;
- Ruby- Ruby is preferred among developers as it delivers simplicity and makes code shipping easier.
- Python- It is an object-oriented programming language that gives developers the flexibility to build small and large-scale app deployment. Python is a bit more complicated than Java to learn.
- PHP- It is a general scripting language used to assist PWA. The backend of the app can be developed with PHP and for frontend development you can explore HTML, CSS, and JavaScript- all complement PHP very well.
Choosing The App Development Methodology
There are different types of iOS and Android app development methodologies that development companies adopt. However, the most common, trendy, tried, and tested methods that most companies prefer to adopt for mobile app development are Waterfall and Agile methodologies.
Waterfall Methodology
The Waterfall app development method is divided into multiple steps, and once you are done with a step and move forward, then you can’t go back. It simply follows a process of planning and sequencing. Hence, every detail of the project is planned and mapped in the planning and analysis step of the waterfall app development lifecycle. You cannot introduce any last-time changes in the app post-deployment, as you need to go through the entire process again, extract all the details and research work including the issue that arises, and then implement the changes.
It is the most suitable app development method for building large-scale projects, which require a unifying goal. It is also suitable for projects that have a high risk to human safety. On the other hand, it is a great risk to introduce any last-minute changes in the project, as it can hamper the project timeline and budget.
Agile Methodology
In contrast to the Waterfall method, the development team and client can work in close association with each other and regularly evaluate and monitor the progress, and also introduce new changes instantly while following agile methodology. In this process, the complex software can be divided into small and manageable chunks. Such a development approach is mostly suitable for large-size projects.
The agile method follows a well-organized development and testing process of features at a time. The client can be fully involved in the daily project progress reports, which include daily standups, backlog grooming, estimating features, and many more. Agile follows a small development cycle in terms of the time period, which is called sprints. In each sprint, features are designed, developed, tested, and deployed. The combination of these multiple sprints turns into the entire life cycle while considering the given deadline of project development.
Back-End Development
Back-end refers to the inner layer of a mobile app that store, secures, and process the data. In simple words, the backend is to implement the process that takes place when the user is performing any action or interacting with the UI. Back-end also communicates with the app’s APIs to establish the transfer of data. The back-end stores data in the remote database to make the sorting of data possible in the defined database architecture. The apps don’t work on any network connectivity, doesn’t require any backend because it doesn’t involve storing any type of data or retrieving it from the remote server.
APIs Development
Application Programming Interface- APIs are a set of protocols, practices, and tools for mobile app development. It ensures the mode of interaction of software/app with the database/back-end server. The APIs are usually pre-built and are provided by Google and Amazon, and even have a dedicated team of developers to build a variety of APIs to fulfil distinct demands of users and their businesses.
There are a variety of tools that developers and mobile app development companies prefer to build customized APIs for their respective business requirements, which are as follows;
- Apigee
- Dredd
- API Spec Converter
- APIMatic
- Sandbox
- Postman
- SoapUI
- Swagger, etc.
Front-End Development
The front-end of an app is what the end-users see like links, buttons, animations, bars, etc. These are all designed by front-end developers. The front-end developers usually transform the back-end developers’ coding into the graphical interface – keeping in mind that the data presentation should be in an easy-to-understand and readable form.
Without front-end designing the user will only have to go through the codes which is quite a complicated task to crack for people with no coding background. But the front-end developers make all this possible and easier for users to deal with any such type of platforms. Additionally, the front-end developer makes sure to design such a platform that looks well organized and appealing for the users on all devices and screen sizes.
Technologies that the development team of a mobile app development company must possess to design a user-friendly front-end environment are:
- HTML
- CSS- Bootstrap, Semantic UI, Tailwind CSS, Materialize, and Bulma
- JavaScript- React, Angular, and Vue.JS
Testing & Debugging the Developed App
Testing- Testing is the process to analyze the functioning of the developed app, according to the expected requirement. It is basically the process to find the shortcomings in the project. The testing process is done by a well-equipped and expert team of Quality Analysts or testers. The QAs perform various types of testing to find the errors and assign the issues back to the development team to debug.
There are multiple types of testing (below, we’ll learn about it in detail) carried out by the QAs to ensure the project quality, however, it can be broadly defined under two different categories i.e. Positive Testing and Negative Testing.
Positive Testing confirms the project is working well as per expectations.
Negative Testingensures that the project doesn’t fail in non-favorable situations or in incorrect inputs of commands.
Debugging- Debugging is the process of issue resolution or resolving the bugs found in the testing phase by the QAs. The developers’ are responsible for debugging the project before deployment. The tester helps developers to understand the process and the error that arises and based on that analyzes the loopholes in the codes and correct them to eliminate repetition of such issues in the future.
To ensure the updated codes doesn’t have any flaw, Regression Testing is implemented to retest the functionality. It is a common process, yet a vital part of the app development cycle.
Types of Mobile Application Testing
a. Functional Testing
The mobile app development companies perform functional testing to check the working of the end-product and ensure if it is working exactly as it is supposed to. This type of testing only focuses on the output and figures out whether it is matching the par excellence as per the project demands or not. QA ensures the project is taking commands accurately and functioning properly, such as banking or payment system, placing orders, launching 3rd party apps, etc.
b. User Experience Testing
User Experience Testing is like traditional Usability Testing, the project flow or navigation is tested while considering the user is novice for the platform. That said, the app navigation should be easy, and if not then a guide should be documented if the user gets stuck at any point. The app should leave a good and interactive user experience, with aesthetic fonts and color, and consistent design throughout the project.
c. Performance Testing
As the name depicts, Performance Testing is carried out by QAs of the mobile app development companies to test the product performance in terms of its speed, reliability, scalability, stability, and usage of resources under the assigned workload. The mobile app should also perform effectively well when multiple users are logged in at a time, have quick load time, and deliver consistent performance in all these scenarios.
d. Security Testing
Security Testing is performed by a special type of testers, which is performed to expose the system’s vulnerabilities and ensure that the end-product is free from any outside threat or risk, it includes viruses, malicious programs, b authorization, and authentication processes. The testing process also includes the product’s performance to maintain data security when any hacker attack or introduces any malicious program.
e. Compatibility Testing
In this testing, the device compatibility is checked. With the introduction of new devices every now and then, it becomes crucial to test the device and OS compatibility to mark the success of the project. The QAs ensures that the software or the mobile app runs smoothly on a variety of OS, configurations, database, hardware, networking, and the webserver. For mobile apps, it is very crucial to test over a variety of devices and ensure the product’s compatibility with different devices and platforms.
f. Recovery Testing
Recovery Testing is how well and instantly your app responds after facing any power failure, crash, or disaster. These types of issues usually arise in mobile devices, but what matters the most is the response time within which the app re-launches itself.
g. Beta Testing
Beta testing is performed by app development companies in a closed group with a limited number of end-users. It is often termed as a soft launch, which helps to take feedback from real users who are not at all exposed to your app or its functionality or idea. This testing process helps to get genuine and unbiased user feedback, perhaps can identify critical unknown bugs before releasing it on a global platform.
h. Certification Testing
The Certification Testing process guarantees that the app meets the industry standards, Android/iOS/Windows platform guidelines, license agreements, terms of use, and meet other relevant standards, so there is no disparity in the vision of mobile app developers and the devices.
Popular Mobile App Testing Tools
- For Functionality Testing: Appium, Ranorex, Robotium, Selendroid
- For Usability Testing: Loop, User Zoom, Reflector
- For Interface Testing: Jubula, Load UI, Coded UI, iMacros, FitNesse
- For Compatibility Testing: Browsera, BrowserStack, Litmus, Ghostlab, CrossBrowserTesting, Rational ClearCase
- For Performance Testing: Apteligent, New Relic, NeoLoad
- For Security Testing: SQL Map, Google Nogotofail, Retina CS Community, Veracode, OWASP Zed Attack Proxy
Process of Implementing Mobile App Testing
Testing is the crucial phase involved in ensuring the quality of the mobile app development process. The testing phase comprises different steps to maintain the quality of the end product. The app testing process is a combination of multiple steps which are as follows;
Step 1- Testing Scope
Testing Scope is the initial step, yet is the most important step to define the flow of process and important parameters that require special consideration. In this step, the QA define features, functionalities, and parameters that need to be tested.
Apart from all these specifications, there are other parameters as well that need to be considered while defining the testing scope, they are:
- Type of Application (Hybrid or Native)
- 3rd party tool integration testing
- Network Compatibility Testing
- Front-end and Back-end Testing
- Check Device Compatibility, OS, and Updates
- Types of User Testing (on-site and off-site)
Step 2- Planning
After defining the project scope, now it’s time to plan things to take forward the testing process. Strategize the process by dividing it into small chunks. Define what can be done under manual testing and automated testing. Finalize the number of devices, screen sizes, different OS versions, browser versions, etc. on which you like to carry out testing.
Formulate QA Strategies, Testing Strategies, and Test Cases, along with a checklist to document the testing process in a well-organized manner.
Step 3- Execution
Once all the strategies and planning are carried out, now it’s time to execute strategies in a guided manner to achieve the desired goal. You can start by preparing test cases and setting deadlines, so that all the aspects have been covered while carrying out the testing process. The QA specialists take care of finding, recording, and tracking the errors to build the report which helps developers to understand the issue and resolve it effectively.
Step 4- Tracking
Now, it’s time to track and document the analyzed error in a sequential manner. Usually, the QA specialist logs bugs in a Project Management System, such as Jira, Trello, etc. The PMS system makes it easier for developers and QA to track the updates in real-time and work simultaneously on debugging and error finding. The bugs can be prioritized and corrected on time, and can track status updates on the PMS tools.
Step 5- Review
When the entire project has been tested and the debugging is done, it’s time for its review. In the review process, the report needed to be summarized and get a clear understanding of the errors and working of the app after debugging is done. The documentation includes all the high and low priority details of errors, status, and debugging status.
Mobile App Deployment
The native mobile app deployment requires app submission on the respective app store. After the mobile app development, to submit the app you require the developer’s account along with brief product details, such as app title, description, keywords, category, and some screenshots of the app. The app deployment process is a combination of multiple steps which are as follows:
Process of Android App Deployment on Google Play Store
Step 1- On Google Play Store create a Developer Account
Step 2- Add a Merchant Account to facilitate in-app purchases or sell paid apps
Step 3- Prepare the documents for the End User License Agreement (EULA) and Privacy Policy
Step 4- Study Android Developer Policies
Step 5- Analyze Technical Requirements of the app, including Unique Bundle ID, App Release signing certificate, app size, and file format.
Step 6- Upload the app in the Google Console
Step 7- Prepare Store Listing with useful information for App Store Optimization (ASO)
Step 8- Add Rating and Questionnaire to fetch user ratings and feedbacks
Step 9- App Pricing details, such as free/paid app, app availability location, device compatibility, contains ads or not, suitable for under 13 children or not
Step 10- Lastly, Upload APK and send it for Review
Process of iOS App Deployment on App Store
Step 1- Create an iOS App Distribution Profile and Distribution Certificate
Step 2- Create an App Store Connect record for your app to manage payments (if services or app is paid, if not, skip the step)
Step 3- Archive and Upload your App using Xcode
Step 4- Configure App’s Metadata, pricing details, keywords, category, app screenshot, and other details in the App Store Connect
Step 5- Submit your App for Review
Maintenance and Customer Support
App development is a life-long process till the app exists, so simply building and launching the app is not enough. The maintenance and updates in the app is a periodic process that needs to be introduced periodically while following the latest trends and making the app suitable for existing and new users.
In addition to that, with new updates, testing is also important to maintain the quality of the application. So, identifying and bug fixing, integrating new features and functionalities and other activities should be performed after analyzing the latest trends of mobile app development.
The benefits of regular updates and maintenance are;
- Helps you in maintaining a competitive edge
- Keeps users engaged with new features or services
- Allows you to experiment with the latest trends and new technologies
- Keeps you updated and be relevant with market changes
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How to Choose the Right Tech Partner for Your On-Demand Mobile App Development?
To choose the right mobile app development company, the businesses should pay heed to the following steps;
- Go through the popular listing and review platforms for top mobile app development companies, such as Clutch, Goodfirms, The Manifest, etc. You can also look for references from reliable resources, if you have any.
- Evaluate the projects and portfolio of chosen companies, and study the effectiveness of their delivered work. If possible, reach out to some previous clients and seek the feedback from them.
- Ensure a detailed communication with the company and analyze whether they understand your business requirements or not, could they provide a feasible solution suitable for your business needs, and also learn about their working and communication methodologies.
- Select the partner who can offer continued support and with whom you’re more likely to build a long-term relationship. Additionally, you can also hire a skilled and cooperative developer to achieve your business goals.
Always keep in mind the mobile app development company follows a data security protocol and also follows standard industry protocols. You can ask them for signing a legal agreement or Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to ensure your app idea doesn’t leak if it is unexplored in the market. Such moves establishes a confidential relationship between both the parties.
Factors Influencing the Mobile App Development Cost
1. App Discovery
Market Research- To validate any app idea a thorough market research is mandatory. To perform it precisely, the development company generally follows these basic steps:
- Defining the Target Audience
- Performing Competitor Analysis
- SWOT Analysis
- Building a Business Plan
User Personas- To sustain the competitive pressure of the market, it is crucial to know what the users think about the app idea. The entire idea is to get honest feedback from your ideal customers, like what motivates them to take any action, what are the aspects that influence their decisions, and so on. A few benefits of constructing a user persona are:
- It helps in gaining a deep understanding of customer behavior and needs
- It acts as a conduit to discover your target users
- It validates your customer demands
- It helps in better decision making –focused on user needs and goals
Related Reading: Why App Discovery Is An Important Stage in App Development?
2. Project Analysis and Scope Statement
In this step, the project manager defines and outlines all the resources, features, deliverables, and technology architecture covering your project which is called a project scope document. The parameters determined in creating a scope of work are:
App Complexity- The complexity of the app i.e. the features and functions determines the cost of developing the app idea. Generally, additional features demand higher investments.
- Deployment Architectural Model
- 3rd Party Software Integration
- Admin Panel Development
- In-App Purchases
App Category- Google’s App store identifies 33 types of app categories, whereas Apple’s app store identifies 24 types. Broadly, we can define it under 4 categories i.e.
- Social Networking Apps; e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp
- On-Demand Apps e.g. Uber, Swiggy, Grofers, Postmates
- E-Commerce Apps; e.g. Amazon, Etsy, eBay
- Enterprise Mobile Apps; e.g. Team Management Apps, CRM apps, SCM apps
3. UI/UX Development
The UI/UX development or say app designing and animation improves the overall experience of the users and customer satisfaction when they interact with the app. A standard UI takes around 100 hours while a customized standard UI takes somewhere around 280 hours. The cost to develop an app design varies on all the below factors.
- Information Architecture
- Wireframing
- App Prototyping and Strategy
- User Interface Design
4. App Platform
The factor that affects your mobile app development cost is the type of app platform you choose for your app i.e. Native (Android/iOS), Hybrid, and Web Apps.
5. App Deployment
There are two main components to deploy the mobile app. First, deploy your API into a scalable production environment. Second, is deploying your app to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The Play Store and Apple App Store have certain protocols and screeners. Call it an eligibility test for apps in the process of launch.
6. App Maintenance
Once an investment is made it requires maintenance, and for sure it costs time, effort, and money. The app updates, bug fixes, and design changes influence the overall budget.
7. App Security
Applications need to be secured from external threats like malware, hackers, and other digital frauds. A breach in an app’s security can risk losing personal data, payments and banking information, real-time location, and more. The cost of protecting your app against such vulnerabilities increases the overall cost of the app.
Conclusion
Mobile app development is a very tedious and quite an overwhelming experience not only for clients but also sometimes for development companies. Despite all the hustle, in the end, it is a rewarding process as well, if carried out in the right manner.
Being industry pioneers in web and app development, we understand such struggles of clients and with our decades-long expertise on the same, our team has earned a trust badge from our clients from varied industries in tackling their changing market requirements.
During all these years, Codiant has worked with companies across multiple domains, such as e-commerce, healthcare, on-demand, logistics, real estate, e-learning, travel & hospitality, finance, gaming, and many others and established its name as the best mobile app development company overseas. We follow a well-planned app development process on agile methodology to cater to our client’s customized business demands. For more details and further assistance, you can connect with our experts to build a world-class end product.
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