Understanding The Mobile App Development Lifecycle
Nowadays, mobile devices and applications are used by every up-and-coming business. Irrespective of the fact, whether it is a small or large business, family owned or a conglomerate, mobile apps have significantly contributed to the growth of business. According to statistics, mobile app use has significantly increased in the past decade, and it is only set to increase.
Today, smartphones are not just used for communication but for various other purposes such as work, entertainment, information, navigation, photography, banking, shopping, etc. But smartphones cannot be useful until powered by good mobile applications. If you have ever used a good mobile app, you know the importance of a mobile app in maintaining the online presence of businesses. A good mobile application can be the difference between the success and failure of a business.
The whole world is online today, people prefer to sit in the comfort of their homes and perform their daily work like banking, shopping, work, etc. Mobile apps help to strengthen and support business operations, marketing strategies, and customer influencing and retention.
Businesses across industries can have different needs with their mobile app, which affects mobile app development. Other factors that can affect app development include specific requirements from the app, the size of the project, the scope for future changes, and the vision and needs of the clients and customers.
There are a variety of mobile apps available on the market, but they might not fully meet the demands of the clients. This brings us to custom mobile app development or custom mobile solutions, which refers to tailor-made apps or customised apps designed and developed to meet the specific needs and requirements of a particular organisation.
Here, we will thoroughly discuss the steps involved in mobile app development, the advantages of custom-made mobile apps, and their life cycle.
What is mobile app development?
Mobile app development is the process of making software for Android or iOS operating systems to perform specific tasks or, in some cases, to provide features and functions as demanded by the client, business, or organisation. Mobile apps are commonly designed for smartphones and tablets to provide easy accessibility.
This software may come preinstalled on the device or can be downloaded from the app stores or browser and installed on the device. The commonly used programming languages to build a mobile app are Java, C programming languages, Swift, and HTML.
Phases or steps of mobile app development:
If you are a business owner, you must have considered developing an app for your business. Planning and envisioning an app that can provide the necessary exchange between you and your customers can be amazing. There is an entire process of development associated with it. Below, we have discussed the process involved in building a software
Research or ideation phase:
Research and brainstorming ideas are the very first steps in any development process. Here, experts would dive deep into the market and similar existing apps to list all the features available and needed by the client. Other factors that are considered are platform preference, target audience, programming language, and framework. Other statistics, such as time frame, costs, and ROI (Returns on Investments), are also considered to help you calculate the investment, which will eventually decide the cost of operating and maintaining the app and create an appropriate budget.
Wireframing:
This stage is also referred to as the planning phase, where experts sit with you to understand your ideas and vision for the app. Here, considerations are also made for the end-users and their expectations of the app. Once all the requirements are collected, they are classified into levels from high to low.
This essentially includes:
• Defining the scope of the project and acknowledging boundaries according to clients and the users.
• Calculating the budget of the project.
• Creating an efficient workforce structure.
• Setting deadlines for the project
• Estimating costs.
Design phase
In this phase, the future app is discussed by sketching its concepts and essentially making a design that could showcase the app’s look and feel. Design incorporates the app’s interface, features, development platform, architecture and its interaction with other systems. This allows for potential suggestions and feedback that helps make changes and incorporate new features to improve the product.
Back-end assessment and development:
Once a clear picture of the design is developed, it is determined whether the back-end systems can properly support the app. This includes APIs, data diagram and integration, push notifications, etc. Development is also affected by the choice of platform, and assessment gives a clear idea of the functionalities and limitations of the app. This helps to finally review and reconsider the app’s features.
Prototyping/testing phase:
Now that you have determined all the required features and examined the app’s functionality, it is time to develop a prototype of the app to use and understand its working and feel. This allows us to get users’ honest feedback and remove any issues found or improve the functions.
Design and development:
Once prototyping is complete, it is time to develop the actual app with all the refinements needed in its functions and features. According to the app’s complexities, the deployment can be manual or automated. It allows time for the developers to construct a deployment workforce to work on different modules of the app with multiple quality checks before reaching the end user. This phase is done by the UI/UX designers who design the final interface of the app. All the bugs are fixed, and the app is put together for release or deployment.
Deployment phase:
Deployment is the end stage of mobile app development but not the end of the process. The app is launched on various platforms to allow the user to experience the app and give feedback. This feedback is crucial in finding and resolving problems in the app. Feedback helps to integrate necessary changes in the future version of the app for its smooth running.
Now that we have discussed the stages involved in mobile app development, it is understandable that the app development lifecycle is not a simple process. As the app development market has evolved, competition in the market has also increased. However, having custom mobile solutions can be a good move for your business as it provides advantages over the generic mobile apps.
Major advantages of custom mobile app development:
The growing competition among companies has led them to shift their interest toward custom mobile apps that are custom-made to meet their specific needs and preferences. These are not available to everyone and can only be used by subscribers and organisations. A Customised app allows the automation of business processes and maintenance of customer relations.
The advantages of custom mobile development are:
• Efficiency of the app.
• Scalability of the app in the future.
• Ease of potential customisation according to future needs.
• Integration of improved features and functions compared to other available apps.
• Little to no security threat.
• Cost efficiency.
Conclusion:
The market for mobile apps has rapidly evolved in the past few years. It is used across industries from retail to e-commerce, telecommunication to insurance entities, healthcare, and the government sector. Today, mobile apps have played a vital role in keeping businesses and people relevant and successful. The market for mobile apps has also increased substantially with the introduction of customised mobile app development.
An important factor that determines the development of such apps is the operating platform. Whether you want a mobile app for the Android system or the iOS system or a mobile app that is hybrid and can be run on both platforms. All of this is made possible with custom mobile solutions.
