Due to the exploding popularity of smartphones and tablets, mobile application development is an increasingly popular medium of software creation. This prolific and growing industry has attracted businesses from every corner of the marketplace as consumers detach themselves from desktop computing and turn to their mobile devices. Mobile games are money-making, fun to use, and a success element for any business.
What is Mobile App Development?
Mobile app development is a process for building mobile applications that run on mobile devices. These applications can either be pre-installed or downloaded and installed by the user later. They use the network capabilities of the device to work computing resources remotely.
Hence, the mobile app development process requires creating software that can be installed on the device, and enabling backend services for data access through APIs, and testing the application on target devices. To develop scalable mobile apps, you also need to consider screen sizes, hardware requirements, and many other aspects of the app development process.
Mobile App Development Platforms
The two most important mobile app platforms are iOS from Apple Inc. and Android from Google. iOS is Apple’s proprietary mobile operating system built specifically for iPhones. Android, however, runs on mobile devices manufactured by various OEMs, including Google.
While there are many similarities between the two, however different software development kits (SDKs) are used for different platforms. Apple uses iOS exclusively for their own devices, while Google has made Android available for other companies that meet specific requirements.
Alternatives for Developing Mobile Apps
There are advantages and disadvantages to building an application, no matter which approach you choose. By choosing an approach that matches your strategy, you can achieve the desired user experience, avail computing resources, and build native features required for your application.
Native Apps
Native applications are built using the tools and SDKs offered by platform owners like Apple and Google. These apps run natively on the platform of your choice.
Cross-Platform Apps
Cross-platform mobile applications can be written on various programming languages and then compiled for each platform separately.
Hybrid Apps
Hybrid Applications are built using the latest web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and then bundled as mobile applications for the required platforms. Hybrid Apps are different from Cross-Platform Apps in the sense that they work using web containers using browser runtime.
Progressive web Apps
Progressive Web Apps don’t require native or cross-platform development. They skip the app store installations and also traditional app delivery channels. They work inside the browser, whether it be mobile or desktop. A link is added to the mobile in the form of an app icon. These are basically web applications that also run on mobile.
Mobile App Development Process
To build an application, you need a step-by-step process that can help you build mobile apps quickly. There are three important steps:
1. Understand the requirement 2. Develop the Product 3. Test the product.
Build an App Development Strategy
You can start by defining the user persona. For example, suppose you are planning to build an eCommerce app. In that case, you will define your user persona by understanding your user’s age, their mobile usage habits, their preference, and specifically answering why and how they will find your mobile app users.
Analyse and Plan your App Development
The strategy is the starting point of all project development. Now, once you have a strategy in hand, start turning those visions into achievable goals. Start the analysis and planning by clearly defining how you can use the functionalities to build use cases and meanwhile, create a list of functional requirements.
This will help you build a product roadmap. You will be able to convert that strategy into a step by step process that you can turn into priorities, and then group them into delivery milestones. You must also have your minimum viable product defined, which will help you cut down on costs, and prepare for the initial launch.
Different operating systems require different technology stacks. Choose your tech stack based on your requirements. Many app developers also go with obvious names for the mobile applications, and sometimes they differ by trying to connect with consumers’ opinions. You should also keep in mind the process of App Store Optimization, which is important if you want to be found by users searching for apps similar to yours.
Build UX/UI Design
How your mobile application looks and feels makes a great deal of impression on the minds of your users. Whether it be a full-fledged application of an MVP, you have to make sure that the design is top-notch and that it offers the highest level of user experience. Designing mobile apps requires the understanding of the two important concepts of design: User experience and user interface.
User Experience
User experience is what customers feel when they use your products. In our case, the design should be such that it creates a specific emotional response from the customer after using the app. User experiences include factors like design, accessibility, marketing, usability, system performance, ergonomics, HCI, and also utility.
User Interface
Designers make sure that the mobile application looks crips and pleasurable. User Interface Design is the process of making your app look perfect, following the latest design trends, so that it complements the user experience. Designers often use principles like the structure principle, the simplicity principle, the visibility principle, the feedback principle, the tolerance principle, the reuse principle, and more.
App Development
Most of mobile app development projects have three integral parts; Mobile Backend server technologies, Application Programming Interface (APIs), and Frontend development.
Backend Development
Mobile app backends are used to store, secure, and process data. It refers to the activities that will happen behind the scenes when a user is interacting with your mobile application. Developing a backend for your mobile is used for sending information for processing on the server. Signups, logins, messaging, storing data on the cloud, answering user queries, and such other things happen in the backend.
Application Programming Interface (APIs) Development
Mobile apps have evolved into a state where they are constantly communicating with servers. Very few applications operate without connectivity, which means they use the backend, web service, or APIs. These APIs could be provided by companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, or others, or developed internally by the mobile app development teams.
Most of the mobile API Development is done using RestAPI, which is also one of the simplest choices for anyone building mobile apps. It helps users quickly interact and connect with a remote cloud data server. However, making requests through the network can create major problems if not done right.
Mobile App Frontend Development
Mobile App Frontend is what your users will see. Mobile frontend development includes a mixed bag of technologies. Some applications require APIs and backends, while others only need to work only with local databases offered by the platform.
Almost all web programming languages can be used to build the backend of your mobile application. If you are building native applications, you can use technology-specific offerings. For example, iOS applications can be developed using Objective-C, Swift Programming Language, Flutter, or React Native. Android Applications can be developed using Java, Kotlin, Flutter, or React Native.
Every programming language offers its own unique capabilities with your desired platform. You should be able to choose a team that understands which necessary technologies can be leveraged the most by choosing the perfect programming language.
Testing
Quality assurance is a crucial phase in the mobile application development process as it determines the reliability, stability, and usability of the developed application. In order to ensure an all-inclusive testing process, there are a number of aspects that need to be addressed by following a complete testing cycle subjective to each application.
Testing can be broadly classified into two categories, manual testing, and automated testing. It depends on the type of application whether it needs manual testing or automated testing can give accurate results.
Any application must pass through a myriad of testing methods to come up with a perfect application. Some of the major testing methods that are a must-do for all the mobile applications are:
1. Functional Testing 2. Performance Testing 3. User Experience & Interface Testing 4. Documentation Testing 5. Security Testing 6. Configuration Testing 7. Platform Testing 8. Recovery Testing 9. Beta Testing 10. Certification TestingDeployment and Maintenance
Mobile app deployment is also known as mobile app launch. Deploying mobile applications can be a tiring task, especially if the application is multifaceted, and required lots of testing.
This is how a mobile application is developed, and in order to achieve an app that is of great quality, all the steps above must be followed without leaving anything out.
Feel free to contact us if you are interested in developing your very own Mobile Application.