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Mobile App Development Guide For Beginners in 2023

What is the most important question that business owners should ask themselves? Does my business need a mobile app? As per a statistic by BuildFire, a user’s 88% of their time is spent on native mobile applications. Hence, you can imagine that hybrid mobile applications in mobile devices for businesses can do wonders. That’s why we are here with a mobile development guide for you in 2023.

As per a survey done by Statista, by the end of 2023, the download of mobile apps will reach 299 billion USD. Surely, this is piece of good news for a mobile app development company.

It has been our observation that there is a lot of misinformation when it comes to developing native apps for businesses. And so we decided to construct a detailed blog on the same. In this read, you will learn quite a few things about how you can go about creating a mobile app for your business.

Let’s start by observing some basic stats about our subject.

Mobile Apps: Statistics

• In 2023, developing mobile applications would generate 935 billion USD
• The global app retention rate stood at 32% after 10 sessions in 2019.
• As per the most recent measurement, 32% of users returned to an application 11 times or more.

Why Does Your Business Need a Mobile App?

As per the stats we observed above, you can understand how important a mobile device has become in a consumer’s life. We, at Technource, have designed apps for startups, and small, and big-scale companies for almost a decade now. And from our experience, we can say that developing mobile apps play a vital role in your business strategy.

Therefore, you can rest assured that building mobile apps is one of the smartest ways to stay in constant touch with your target audience on multiple platforms. Yet, it would be foolish to create one in a hurry and not get your investment’s worth. Below are the 5 prominent reasons by mobile developers why a business does need native apps in the first place.

Your eCommerce Business

Mobile users account for a large chunk of online shoppers. Your business will hugely benefit if you create native apps and form a loyal user base. Mobile applications in mobile devices make use of many interesting features such as push notifications, analytics, AR, and more to enhance your business’s engagement, growth, and reach. Also, build a web app that works on multiple platforms. Some businesses use cross platform apps.

Major Consumer Base Is the Young

Research carried out by ComScore states that more than half of millennials at least have one shopping app on their mobile phones. And most mobile app users are found between the age group 18 to 24. To make the most of this opportunity and satisfy your young consumers it would be wise to invest in native apps on a mobile device with visual studio.

Competitors Have Mobile Apps

Every business industry has competition and you need to keep a track of them. So, if your competitors are offering mobile applications then sooner or later you would’ve to invest in cross platform development. You would have to brainstorm creative solutions to create an app that is unique from your competitors. This is the only way consumers will make the effort to choose your app as opposed to theirs.

Mobile Devices Account for a Large Chunk of your Website Traffic

You can analyze where your website’s traffic is coming from. If a mobile device forms a huge part of your website’s traffic then it’s a clear indication that you should develop a dedicated service for the same by using a programming language. Native apps would offer a better UX to your users as they will be specifically designed for mobile platforms and multiple platforms.

Mobile App Adds More Value than Your Website

In 2023, a website for your business has become mandatory. This is because it is the go-to place for any new user. It adds a lot of value to your business and services by acting as a forefront for the same. Yet at times a mobile is sufficient and an efficient way to cater to your consumer’s needs. If this is the case you should surely think about creating one as soon as possible for mobile and web apps.

Overview

Mobile application development for native apps can also prove to be a cumbersome process. Hence, we stick to the divide-and-rule discipline. So, we’ve divided the mobile application development process for beginners into 3 steps.

• Stage 1: The Brainstorming Phase or Pre-App Development Phase
• Stage 2: The Development Phase
• Stage 3: The Post-Launch Phase

Let’s learn about each of the preceding phases in brief.

Stage 1: The Pre-App Development Phase

Everything indeed starts with an idea. But an idea you don’t invest in can prove to be worthless. It can be considered the starting point of an unprecedented journey. Once you start investing more into your idea you will understand that no matter how unique it feels.

Someone around the world has already tried to implement it in some way in native apps. If you don’t consider these things it will seriously affect your latter processes and might end up demotivating you. Here’s how you can go about exploring the brainstorming phase. Also, read about some programming languages.

Define Goals

You might’ve more than one idea and that is natural. But you must list each idea and define a specific goal that you want to achieve with each of these ideas. Separate goals for separate ideas would allow you to filter them better and help you learn which one you want to commit to. Be clear about what you want before using visual studio as well.
Your goals need not be the same. For instance, for idea ‘A’ you can learn how you can go about creating apps for different platforms, while for idea ‘B’ it can be to design a basic layout of how your app can be and so forth.

Market Analysis

You can achieve the following two feats by conducting an efficient market research process. Firstly you can learn folds about the market you’re about to enter and secondly, you can learn the difference between what you want to offer to your users and what they expect from native apps. The user’s verdict is the final one, no matter what app you’re building.

Every app is trying to earn revenue while adding value to a user’s life. But what it’s fighting for is a user’s time and attention. Also, find out about programming language. Extensive market research can help you figure out what a user exactly needs and deliver more
than they’ve expected.

Wireframing

Wireframing is an essential part of app development to understand the future functionalities of your app. You can map the user flow and usability issues of your app by designing sketches. The wireframing process will also help refine your ideas by arranging the design components in the right manner. The right programming languages also help in the same.

In this phase, you can create a roadmap to help imagine how you want your users to navigate in your app. You can focus on creating an intuitive and engaging user experience. But keep in mind the difference between how one uses a mobile app and a mobile website.

Choose A Development Method

Mobile application development can prove to be a cumbersome process if not planned well. Hence, the whole development cycle follows a method using which we can build an app on a disciplined timeline while offering utmost transparency.

To achieve this feat we follow the Agile-Scrum methodology for creating all our native apps. You have to use visual studio, It is a development environment. It offers us a dignified process that helps us provide regular updates to our clients while delivering timely results. Here are the most essential terms associated with Agile-Scrum app development methodology.

• The sprint period
• Sprint goal
• The scrum master
• The sprint review
• Sprint retrospective.

The above-mentioned cycle continues till the desired goal is achieved by the mobile application development team.

Research Existing Solutions

Thorough research of existing solutions can offer you valuable insights into your competitor’s strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Using this knowledge you can incorporate better solutions for your target audience. Research for cross platform development also.

It doesn’t matter if you offer fewer solutions but what you offer should be 100% efficient. Efficient doesn’t always hold for seamless UI/UX design but also data-efficient apps. Consumers don’t prefer using apps that chew up all their data.

The only thing that can engage your consumers is a unique app that offers new functionalities from time to time. With in-depth market research, you can plan how you can roll on updates for years to come.

Stage 2: The Development Phase

Once you’ve done enough brainstorming, you’re now sure which idea you want to put your heart and soul into. This brings us to our development phase where you have to use a programming language. To help you understand this process we’ve divided the app development phase per its actual necessities. Let’s understand them briefly.

Technical Specification

There are many different mobile application development techs that you can choose from to create your mobile app. All methods have their pros and cons, but you can choose the same as per your budget, time availability, and necessity.

Using this method you can have independent platform-specific applications i.e. for iOS, Android, Web Apps, and a programming language. But depending on which platform you target you might need to hire Android app developers or hire iPhone app developers.

Which Mobile App Development Framework should you Choose for your App?

Android

In 2022 more than 3.48 million Android apps were in the Google play store. Android is the most used platform for mobile applications all over the world. The sole reason behind the same is the flexibility it offers. You can use Java or Kotlin programming language to make Android apps and include native device features.

Though developing a niche app for Android development isn’t an easy task, you would’ve to seek the expertise of an Android app development service to design exactly what you want. In addition to that, understand the software development kits. It helps to create a better user interface.

iOS

iOS app operating systems are also not too far in numbers from Android apps. swift programming language is used for it. There are more than 2.2 Million iOS apps that are available on the Apple app store. iOS app development for iPhones and iPad is a crucial process. You can create iOS apps using platforms such as Swift or Objective C.

Apple users are prone to using apps with intuitive design, an engaging user interface, and native device features, so we would suggest you opt for a custom iOS app development service.

Web Apps

A web app is a web portal that is created using front-end web technologies such as CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, while their back end can be created using programming stacks such as MEAN or MERN web technologies. Web apps don’t need a specific SDK like hybrid mobile apps. There are many other existing apps. Also, desktop apps are in the market with push notifications and other features.

Cross-Platform Techs

Cross-platform techs such as React Native, Flutter, Ionic, and Phonegap are changing the mobile application development game by offering a native feel and functionality with a single code base. The apps made using the preceding techs can be developed on a smaller budget which offers a faster time to market. Native device features require such type of research.

So, you get two applications i.e. Android and iOS, using a single code base, and well within your budget. You can best understand how cross-platform techs work by getting in touch with a Flutter app development company.

Set Measurable Milestones

The app development process can seem too long and unproductive if not done following the right practices. Hence it’s important that your mobile application development process is well-directed and follows a path with measurable milestones.
To achieve this you can divide a large project into smaller chunks. You can then add a specific timeline to these small projects. And depending on the complexity of the task, each project can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to get completed.
Following this process, at every stage, you will exactly be able to map how much of your app development is complete and how far are you from your desired goal.

Create an MVP

Developing an MVP for your project is one of the best ways for you to validate your business idea. App of particular operating systems for entrepreneurs might be their lifelong dream. And so at times one can get overwhelmed and invest all their budget and create a fully functional app from the go.

One thing you should understand about mobile application development is the fact that users don’t necessarily want every feature that you want to include. An MVP will offer minimum but core features of your app. You can analyze the feedback from your users and add other features that are necessary for your application.

Quality Assurance

Not much emphasis is laid on the same but Quality Assurance is an essential part of your app development process. Bugs, potential risks, and mistakes in your app must be addressed at an early stage before launch. Your app should perform uniformly on Android devices, iPhones, iPads, tablets, and more.
As you explore testing on different platforms you will learn the bugs found with different screen sizes or software versions can’t be corrected elsewhere. Web technologies are also responsible for different types of bugs. This will help you save money, solve problems promptly, diminish the negative experience for your users and save the impact it can have on your brand’s reputation.

Deployment

Deploying your app is the final stage of your development process. To do the same you must have your application and in-app content ready. Check the user interface again. Once you think you’re ready with this you can create an account on the app store you want to launch your app on, make payment and launch your application. But the most important thing for you to remember is that deployment is not the end but the beginning of the real challenge.

Stage 3: The Post-Launch Phase

Your mobile app development process isn’t concluded with its deployment. You have to be on your toes once you launch your app to offer your clients the best services and stay ahead of your competition. You should make sure that you don’t utilize your entire budget in the development phase. Here’s a list of things you should concentrate on during your post-launch phase.

Marketing your App

Do you think that your users would learn about your app without any promotion? It’s one thing to create an intelligent app and another to market it well. You will need a unique marketing strategy to grab your user’s attention and make them switch from whichever service they’re currently using to your app. A simple game plan to gain a loyal user base is by driving visitors to your mobile and web app. Visitors can then become users and users can turn out to be paid members.

You should target all the platforms that help you connect to your consumers. The best way to reach your users is by promoting your app on social media channels such as Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. If your target audience is millennials and younger generations you can even try TikTok and Snapchat for your marketing.

You can also try making promotional or industry-related videos that impart knowledge and upload the same on YouTube. The sole aim behind your marketing should be to get your app noticed by as many users as possible. Hence, you can try inbound and outbound marketing strategies to achieve this feat.

Track KPIs

• How many people are downloading the app daily?
• Do users keep your app or uninstall it?
• How often are users reusing your app?
• What is the average duration of time they spent on your app?
• Which features and functionalities of your app are generating the best results?

You must have a system in place that keeps a track of such metrics for you. Without using such detailed analytics, you won’t be able to track your app’s progress. If you want to run a successful business you should only trust numbers as they speak volumes about what you need to work on.

Gather Feedback

You would’ve gathered opinions on how your app from your friends and family before you launched the app. Yet, if you observe the same in hindsight, you might’ve based most of your decisions on your intuition. Search about different web technologies as well.

But once you launch your app, it’s a different scenario altogether. Now, your app is in the hands of your target audience and so what they say is the final judgment. You should ask them about their experience with the app, their likes and dislikes, and more. While doing so you must always keep in mind that what matters least is your opinion of the app. All that matters is what your consumers think about it.

In every industry, you can observe that a consumer always feels special when you ask for an opinion on their product. As they’re investing time and money into your app their opinions must be valued. Yet a few genuine users can help you map some prominent changes in your app that you might not have imagined.

The most important thing is the way you ask for feedback, it should make a user comfortable and give them the opportunity, to be honest.

Make Improvements

After you gather feedback you must research well on the same and implement the ones that you feel are necessary for your growth. At times entrepreneurs tend to gather feedback but not implement changes. Remember, the aim of gathering feedback is to enhance the user experience. Hence, you must implement the same as soon as possible.

Maintenance & Support

No app can be perfect from its launch. There will always be something or the other that needs fixing. Hence, it becomes extremely important that you seek post-project consultation from your development environment.

It’s natural for your app to fix bugs and offer updates as time passes but it’s a fact the platforms you’re offering updates for, do introduce changes in their platform. So, you have to make sure that the updates that you inculcate are compatible with the platforms you’re offering them for. It should be suitable for hybrid apps as well.

There are other measures that one has to take with security to safeguard essential data. For instance, there are data laws that your app needs to comply with, like CCPA in California, and GDPR in Europe, your app should be PCI complacent if you’re using credit cards, HIPAA compliance for healthcare apps, and more.

You can try and think of your app as a car. Your job doesn’t end when you buy one. You still have to pay for gas, insurance, tire rotations, oil change, general services, and other expenses. And as you scale up your app would have additional needs such as customer support, returns, exchanges, and more. So, many elements can add to your app once you launch it, hence you should stay prepared for the same.

10-Step Guide to Make an App in 2023

App development can prove to be a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Especially if one is unaware of the road that lies ahead of the challenge they’ve taken up. However, it’s not an impossible task, it just requires knowledge and the willingness to update your current knowledge regularly. Let’s gain an understanding of the app development process with this step-by-step guide.

How to make an app for beginners in 10 steps?

Any beginner can follow these 10 steps to create a decent app for their business.

Step 1: Generate and choose an app idea and name

This is the ABC of app creation. You should have an app idea that adds value to a user’s life or is a solution to their pain. Build apps that have the maximum chance of surviving. You’re game if you already have a potential idea. Now you just need to connect the same with user requirements and how you can pitch the same into their lives.
Another aspect that comes with choosing your app idea is selecting your app name. Something that helps your client intuitively understand what your hybrid apps are all about without having to search for the same. For example, Zomato. When you hear this word your mind relates it to the word ‘Tomato’ and you automatically learn that it’s about food-related services.

Step 2: Conduct competitive market research

As you enter the actual market you will learn that there may be many budding app creators who’ve tried to implement the idea that you want to create an app for. Understanding why they didn’t succeed can prove to be the most important learning curve for your hybrid apps. It helps to build apps without mistakes.
With in-depth market research, you can learn how much your users need the service you want to provide, whether has anyone tried it before or not, how you can generate revenue from it, and much more. Yet the biggest realization that you might come across is the answer to a question i.e. whether you should invest in this idea or not.

Step 3: Write out the features, make design mockups and create a graphic design.

An app can only be of assistance to its users with its features. The downside to selecting features is that creators rely on their idea of what users need and fail miserably. Remember it’s not important to offer a ton of features, only the necessary ones. Therefore, you should only choose the features that best define the services you’re trying to offer. List out the features that are in congruence with your business products or services.
Once you lock in your core features, it’s time to initiate your design part. No app can be made until you have a design in mind. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just how it looks like & feels like. Design is how it works”. There are many online platforms that you can use to design sketches and mockups of how you want your users to navigate between different pages of your app. You can also try different graphics that will help you create a more engaging app.

Step 4: Select a color scheme & customize your app design.

Whenever you think about Facebook, the blue color automatically pops up in your head. This is the power of choosing a color scheme. It helps form a relationship between a user’s mind and your app. This is the sole reason companies hire the best designers to create designs with eye-catchy color schemes for many hybrid apps.
Another important aspect of your app would be its customization. Customization is related to the ease of accessibility you provide in your app by offering exactly what a user is looking for. The primary focus of app customization lies in offering a seamless user experience and not in offering cool features.

Step 5: Build an app with one of these options.

It’s not always the case that everyone is inclined on dealing with technical jargon. It comes when you build mobile apps quickly. Hence, we discuss the 3 most preferred ways in which you can choose to create your application.

Hire IT Company

This is a viable option that many entrepreneurs choose to create their progressive web applications. One of the prominent reasons for choosing an IT company is that you don’t have to deal with any of the technical aspects of app creation. You can utilize that time in planning for other important things that would come in handy once your app is released.
It should be noted that app development companies can charge you heavily depending on the region they’re offering their services from. For instance, the hourly app development rate in the US can be anywhere between 250 USD – 300 USD while the same in India can be 25 USD – 60 USD. So, if you have budget constraints you should choose your app development company wisely.

Hire Freelancer

You can also hire a freelancer to create your application. A freelancer will offer you all of their time and attention as unlike an IT service provider you only have to deal with a single person over here. If a freelancer is new in the market, they would put in extra effort just to make a name for themselves.
Yet there is a drawback with this process as freelancers can tend to overcommit and underdeliver. This would waste your time and resources. And remember this, if you hire an IT service provider after you hire a freelancer, they will start developing your app from scratch.

Do It Yourself

This is the last option available to you in case you don’t want to opt for the preceding two. This process will require you to invest a lot of your time and brainstorm the logic behind each feature that you wish to include.The process can prove to be an extraordinary learning curve on a personal level. But you can also get stuck with some challenging problems and not complete your project on a decided timeline.

Step 6: Add the features you want

No matter which of the preceding ways you choose, by this time you should’ve narrowed in the features that you want to include. Features are the most essential part of any app. It’s the features that provide the services or products you want to offer as a service.
It’s a fact that many times users just don’t use many of the extra features that you have offered. A user’s eye is always skimming for the service they’re seeking on your app. If you just offer them that they will be more than satisfied and won’t even bother to look for anything else. Hence, you must choose them wisely.

Step 7: Test Before Launch

If you hire an IT service company this step would be carried out by the quality assurance engineers. Any app that you create is prone to bugs and fixes. And the funny thing about bugs is that they’re not visible to the mobile app developers themselves. Hence, a quality assurance engineer is required for hybrid apps as well.
You need to test your app across various android devices and mobile platforms to make sure they don’t falter. The different screen resolutions and OS versions can cause problems for your application. Apart from this, there can also be server and other technical issues
that might need rework.

Step 8: Submit your App to the App Store

Rolling out your app on the app store is like releasing your dream baby to the world. It requires immense confidence and planning. You must make sure that all the bugs and improvisations are done before you make your final launch. This is because once you launch the judgment related to your app begins. And this would directly affect the impression and likeability of your app.
Once you’re confident enough, release your apps on its app stores following its respective guidelines.

Step 9: Promote your App for Maximum Exposure

You may create one of the best apps in the industry yet it doesn’t receive the engagement you expected. The simple reason behind the same is that it wasn’t promoted well. Users don’t follow the tech industry and its innovations daily.

You have to promote your app well to catch their attention first, make them your users, and then turn them into loyal customers. Promotions related to anything can prove to be a costly affair. Yet, thanks to so many digital platforms today you have myriad options to

choose from rather than just opting for the annoying ads.

Step 10: Improve your App with User Feedback

Getting to the market and gaining recognition for your app is one part. But offering a seamless experience and present that continually is a battle by itself. One has to analyze each important feedback with a pinch of salt and extract the best out of it. You will have to roll out updates that technology introduces us to in the coming years.

You would need to fix bugs that arise due to technical difficulties i.e. problems related to servers, devices, code malfunction, and more. Working on feedback from your app’s most avid users is a tried and tested method to improve your app from a user’s perspective.

How Technource Builds Your App?

Technource acquainted itself with the world of mobile development long back. In the 9+ years that we’ve been in the industry, we’ve managed to bag many challenging projects across the globe. And with our experience in the business, we have implemented the Agile-Scrum methodology for all our projects.

Our motto is to offer quality and tangible tech solutions inviting complete transparency in our development process. Agile-Scrum serves as an ally to help us achieve our goal. To avoid data/idea theft we sign an NDA with all our clients from a project’s inception.

We are an iPad app development company that also offers proficient services working with other native and cross-platform technologies. So if our clients want to hire React Native developers, we can also offer our services in that domain. We have a strong base for creating web apps using the PHP language and other modern-day tech stacks such as MERN and MEAN. To learn more about our most prominent projects you can refer to the case studies we post on our website.

Mobile App Development FAQs

As mobile app development is such a tedious process we’ve observed our clients have many similar inquiries. Hence we decided to include a FAQ section in this read. We hope it helps clear any of the doubts that you have related to the subject.

How long does it take to build a mobile app?

The total development time i.e. from inception to launch is dependent on the tech web developers choose for a web app. If you opt for native app development you will have to create apps with 2 code bases but for different cross platforms. So it can take a longer time to complete as compared to doing the same using a cross-platform tech.

How much does it cost to make an app?

Costing of mobile development as per different platforms is as follows:

• Native App Development (Android/iOS): 20,000 USD – 70,000 USD
• Cross-platform App Development (Flutter/React Native/ Ionic/Phonegap): 15,000 USD – 60,000 USD
• Progressive Web Apps: 15,000 USD – 50,000 USD

The preceding prices are tentative predictions. The cost may vary with differences observed in the scope of the project and the experience of web developers.  

For which native platform should I build my app, Android or iOS?

As we learned above that there are more than 3.48 million Android apps and 2.2 million iOS apps in their respective app stores today. Hence, it’s extremely difficult to decide which platform would be the best for your business visual studio or others. But if you calculate the numbers there are more Android users than iOS users. So the chance of reaching a higher audience is more with android development. Moreover, you can go for cross-platform app development to avoid platform dependence. Cross platform development will eliminate your doubt about platforms.

Flutter vs React Native?: Which is better?

React Native is the oldest and most renowned cross-platform tech in the market for cross platform apps while Flutter has developed its following among mobile app developers in a short period. We’re a React Native app development company that is also proficient with creating applications using Flutter. But we can surely narrow down on one of the two by studying your requirements and budget.

How to monetize your app?

Several methods can be used to monetize your application. Depending on which industry you’re serving you can try different models such as

• Subscription Plans (Monthly/ Quarterly/ Half-yearly/ Yearly)
• Yearly Only Plans
• In-app Purchases
• Ad Based Revenue
• Sponsorships & Partnerships

To get the best results, we recommend you try multiple strategies.

How do you make money with your app?

We’ve answered the same in the preceding question. In addition to this, you can earn money from

• Collaborating with other apps
• Crowdfunding
• Freemium Upsell
• Transaction Fees
• Sponsorships & Partnerships

What’s the best way to build an app?

We’ve discussed the best of all services in our blog but here’s a quick recap of the same.

• Finalize a potential idea.
• Work on its features, monetization strategies, design, and navigation.
• Decide the tech stack you want to build it with.
• Code the features and functionalities using visual studio and other free tools
• Perform thorough testing and launch your application.
• Work on marketing, and implement relevant feedback.