
Discover how to create a mobile application from the ground up. Gain insight into the mobile app development process and determine who will develop your app.
Investments in mobile apps are now a key focus for businesses aiming to enhance customer experiences. If you’re brimming with ideas for a new digital product, you might be contemplating how to develop a mobile app that can draw in thousands of users.
You’ve landed in the perfect spot. This article covers all the necessary steps for app development, starting from refining your idea and grasping the fundamentals of app development, to selecting the right team for its creation.
Excited to begin the development of your distinctive mobile application? Let’s jump right in!
Table of Contents.
- Understand the process of building an app
Phase 1: Initial Planning and Investigation
Phase 2: Development
Phase 3: Sustaining, supporting, and advancing the application.
- Develop a mobile app strategy
- Determine who will develop your app
In-house app development
- Positives of in-house development
- Negatives of in-house development
Mobile development outsourcing
- Advantages of outsourcing mobile development
Conclusion
- Let’s explore the entire process of creating a mobile app.
Prior to embarking on the journey with fellow business owners to transform your idea into a mobile app, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with the standard industry practices in mobile app development.
The timeline for starting a project and launching an app in an app store can vary based on the team you hire and the complexity of your app. Nonetheless, each project typically follows a similar trajectory.
Before joining the mobile app trend, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the key phases of mobile app development.
Phase 1: Initial Planning and Investigation.
In this phase, it’s crucial to strategize and outline the user experience your app will offer. A key outcome of this phase is a well-defined product roadmap. Proceeding with app development without establishing these fundamentals from the outset can be highly risky.
Read Also : What does Product Discovery entail in mobile app development?
Create A Strategy
The initial step involves comprehending your business’s requirements:
- What are the goals for your business?
- Who is your target audience?
- What features will your app prioritize?
Specifying this information before app development is crucial. It will help you better understand your product-market fit and mitigate the risks of developing a mobile app that lacks demand or appeal.
Focus on user experience
Now, consider the specific experience you aim to provide to your app users:
- What problem will the app address?
- What are the typical challenges faced by your target audience?
- What objectives will the app assist users in accomplishing?
The primary output of this phase is a robust architecture, encompassing a clearly outlined user journey and detailed screen-by-screen representations of the user experience. Additionally, investing in high-fidelity mockups and prototypes for testing before the development phase is advisable.
Important: Legal matters should be taken into account at this stage. Learn more about this in our article: 5 critical legal issues in your mobile application development.
Create a product roadmap.
After gaining a clearer understanding of your app’s objectives, it’s time to create a comprehensive technical requirements document, which should include a UX specification.
Such a product roadmap should encompass all the necessary elements for app creation. This approach will assist you in estimating the project’s workload and defining the direction for both short- and long-term development.
“By partnering with a software development agency such as Jcentrix, you can be confident that the planning and execution process will be handled by a diverse team. Together, they will work to refine your idea and ensure your app aligns with market needs”
Yogesh Vaishnav
Phase 2: Development
After completing the planning phase and having a clear product roadmap, along with initial designs (mockups or prototypes), it’s time to start developing your solution.
Let’s begin with the app development kick-off and project setup. While these are primarily the responsibilities of your software development team, but as a Product Leader, you play an important role in the project kick-off. (Read more: Product Owner Guide: Drive Your Product to Success).
During this stage, the development team will write the code to bring your app idea to life. The duration of this stage varies based on the number of features and the complexity of each feature
For example, if your mobile app focuses on availing the users with information and limited interactions, the team may be able to complete it in under a month. In contrast, apps with more complex features such as geolocation, social logins, dynamic content, or user databases may require significantly more time to develop.
Please keep in mind that testing will occur concurrently with the development phase.
It’s crucial for the team to test the app at the earliest opportunity. Involving Quality Assurance professionals from the outset is wise, as it allows for the early identification and resolution of bugs or errors, preventing them from becoming major issues later on.
Additionally, making final design adjustments at this stage is advisable. This helps prevent the development of an app that does not meet the intended user experience.
Phase 3: Sustaining, supporting, and advancing the application.
After your app has been developed and approved by the app store, it’s time to launch.
You might believe that no further action is necessary at this point. However, that is not the case.
After your app is downloaded and used by real users, it’s wise to carefully listen to their feedback. This feedback will guide you in deciding which features to prioritize next or what changes to make to enhance the user experience.
Additionally, it’s crucial to conduct continuous testing to ensure the app functions properly.
Many updates will align with the product roadmap you created in Phase 1, providing a strong foundation for further development. Consult with your users to determine if additional features would enhance their experience. Perhaps it’s time to consider a different direction?
Before taking your first steps, it’s crucial to grasp the process of mobile app development and learn from the best practices of successful mobile development teams.
We trust that this section provides you with an understanding of the prevalent and widely adopted practices in mobile app development.
Develop a mobile app strategy
What does this entail? Essentially, you’ll be devising a strategy for your app development endeavor.
Why is it valuable to invest your time in this? By doing so at this stage (prior to commencing development), you’ll ensure that no crucial steps are overlooked, helping you avoid costly mistakes.
A mobile app strategy offers two advantages:
- You will be aware of the questions that need addressing before you start building your app.
- You will define the outcomes you aim to achieve by the end of the development process.
Below are the key questions to consider when formulating your mobile strategy:
a.What are the competitors in your market?
Are there existing apps in the market similar to yours? Who are you competing with directly, and what unique selling propositions do they offer? It’s important to note that your competition may not always be another mobile app; it could be a different type of online digital product or even a spreadsheet.
b.What is the estimated cost of developing my app?
What is the cost of a mobile application in 2024? The answer to this question largely hinges on the choice of development team. It’s important to consider not only the build cost but also additional expenses such as support and maintenance.
Once you have this information, compare your expenses to the estimated revenue you can generate through subscriptions, in-app advertising, registration fees, and other sources.
This is also the ideal time to reconsider your app’s monetization strategy.
C. What is the objective of my app?
What are you aiming to achieve with your app? It’s crucial to clearly define your goal. Defining your objective will form the cornerstone of your strategy. Without a clear objective, you’ll be developing aimlessly. Instead, it’s advisable to have a clear vision of your desired outcomes. Each step you take will move you closer to realizing that vision.
“Your initial goal doesn’t need to be ‘creating an app to rival Instagram.’ Instead, concentrate on this: You’re developing a digital product for a specific purpose—to solve a particular problem your users face. Your goals should be firmly grounded in what you intend to provide to them, rather than in a competitor app you aim to surpass.
Yogesh Vaishnav.
For further insights, check out this article: Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Minimum Viable Product.
d. What are your critical metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)?
It’s wise to think about the metrics and Key Performance Indicators you intend to measure. Selecting them carefully will reduce the effort required to measure and track all possible metrics. By closely monitoring your key metrics, you will consistently have an accurate understanding of your app’s performance.
What metrics should you consider tracking?
- The total download statistics, demonstrating the interest and willingness of users to install your app.
- The number of monthly active users – this measures how many users log in and engage with your app each month.
- Churn rate – the monthly percentage of users who delete or cancel your app.
- Daily active users – the count of users who engage with your app on a daily basis.
- The number of sessions – how often do your users engage with your app?
- Daily or monthly sessions – the amount of time users spend engaging with your app.
e. How will you motivate users to engage with your app?
This is a crucial element to determine before beginning the development of your app. How will you activate users after they download your app? You need to motivate them to start using your app.Users often download a new app, open it once, and then either delete it or place it in a folder, where it remains unused. You need to persuade them to stay. Concentrate on creating an initial sign-up and onboarding experience that achieves this
3.Determine who will develop your app
This decision depends on various factors, including your timeline, budget, technical requirements for your app, and whether you intend to develop for iOS, Android, or both platforms.
At this juncture, many aspiring business owners ponder the following question:
Should I delegate the development work to an external party or handle the app development internally?
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s crucial to understand them and select the option that aligns best with your specific circumstances.
In-house app development
Opting for in-house app development entails utilizing an internal team to bring your idea to life. You’ll need to start by recruiting and acquiring the necessary skills, then oversee the app development process.
This approach offers distinct advantages but also comes with some drawbacks you should be aware of.
Positives of in-house development
Internal knowledge
An internal team will have a deeper understanding of your organization compared to a mobile app agency. They will be familiar with your brand voice, target audience, goals, competitors and vision. These insights are ingrained in your organization’s DNA. While it’s possible to transfer this knowledge to an agency, it typically requires a long-term collaboration.
Simplified process
Approvals typically occur more quickly when all team members are in the same location. This allows for easy synchronization of schedules and facilitates timely reviews. There is no need for continuous back-and-forth to find a suitable time for everyone. Additionally, quick discussions about mobile app design decisions can be easily held with team members.
Ease of making revisions
This situation has its pros and cons. While developing a mobile app internally provides ample flexibility for revisions, the downside is the risk of spending excessive time adjusting and modifying app features without significant progress.
“Collaborating with a mobile development agency often involves working within a budget. This limitation encourages thorough planning and careful consideration of each revision’s advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, a development team delivers features in each sprint, allowing you to decide whether to proceed to the next feature rather than spending excessive time perfecting the previous one. “
Yogesh Vaishnav.
Negatives of in-house development
Expensive
This challenge is prevalent regardless of your business’s location. Finding skilled candidates is increasingly difficult in almost every region globally. Furthermore, the process of recruiting new hires is time-consuming and costly.
The expenses associated with hiring an individual comprise job advertisements, interviews, staff training, and background checks.
Then there’s the salary to consider. In February 2023, the average salary for a mobile app developer in the United States was $127,000 and In India it is 7 Lacs INR. And this is just one position within a development team.
An optimal app team typically consists of frontend and backend developers, a UX designer, a product manager, and a QA engineer. This team size corresponds to a substantial payroll. Additionally, factor in other expenses such as unemployment insurance, healthcare, and taxes, along with overhead costs like hardware, software, and office space.
Locating skilled individuals is challenging.
The demand for IT specialists is currently very high, making it increasingly difficult to find and recruit the right professionals in nearly every part of the world.
As a recruiter, it’s crucial to accurately assess technical skills. Often, you’ll need to hire someone to do this for you, which incurs an additional cost.
“When hiring staff for your project, anticipate the process to take approximately 2-3 months. Therefore, if your goal is to begin working on your app promptly, developing it in-house may not be the most practical option.After all, it will require some time for a new employee to integrate effectively into the team.
Opting to collaborate with a software development company ensures that the team is well-versed in efficient collaboration methods and can commence work immediately. Additionally, you won’t need to invest your time, money, and resources in recruiting, training, or onboarding.
Yogesh Vaishnav
Mobile development outsourcing
If you choose to entrust the construction of your app to a development agency, you can expect numerous benefits. Nevertheless, outsourcing mobile development comes with its own set of risks. Prepare for these by referring to our guide on the benefits and risks of outsourcing software development.
Advantages of outsourcing mobile development
Ready Team
Many mobile app development agencies provide teams comprising of all the developers needed who have collaborated on numerous projects in the past.
The primary benefit of hiring such a team is that its members can start working much more quickly. They won’t need to integrate into a new team or undergo the onboarding process. An internal team will invest time in understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This process is likely to occur during your project, potentially exposing it to unforeseen risks. An agency team, on the other hand, is already well-acquainted with these factors.
Expertise
A mobile development agency specializing in your project type will likely have a deeper understanding of your goals compared to a general app developer.
These companies have refined processes that they’ve tested on numerous app development projects. The most effective agencies employ various strategies to thoroughly grasp app requirements, business objectives, and key features.
These development teams utilize their industry expertise and stay updated with the latest trends to provide a valuable perspective gained from years of working on projects similar to yours.
Reduced cost
Hiring a mobile app agency helps you avoid the expenses associated with sourcing, attracting, recruiting, and onboarding developers.
All of these processes are costly and time-consuming. By working with a mobile app agency, you can avoid overhead costs, taxes, and other expenses associated with maintaining full-time employees in your company.
Flexibility and expansion
A software development agency can quickly expand your team to meet your project’s evolving needs.
If a new business requirement arises, additional team members can be onboarded almost immediately. After the project concludes, the team can be downsized to provide necessary support and maintenance services.
Achieving comparable flexibility and scalability with an in-house team is extremely challenging. Hiring new members is time-consuming, and letting them go could damage your reputation in the market.
Speedy launch
Upon finalizing your app concept and opting to assemble a development team, you can expect a delay of 2 to 3 months before your idea comes to fruition.
Outsourcing development allows you to start almost immediately. There’s no need to onboard a team or establish processes.
How to Develop a Mobile App? – conclusion.
Developing a mobile app involves numerous challenges. Each step of the process offers opportunities to learn, refine your strategy, and clarify your goals.
Nevertheless, it’s a highly rewarding journey, often bringing immense satisfaction to app owners. Follow the steps outlined in this blog to ensure that you’re developing a product that meets market demands.
Why outsource app development to Jcentrix?
For over five years, Jcentrix has been providing mobile app development services to companies in various industries. We have developed over 40 mobile and web applications for clients worldwide, including the India, USA, UK, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia.
We adhere to a six-step Quality Assurance process to deliver top-quality development services to our partners. Our team follows the Scrum framework and other industry standards to ensure the delivery of maximum business value.
If you’re seeking an experienced mobile development team, contact us. We possess the talent and experience you need.