In 2021, the world is filled with 7 billion mobile users globally. Now, on average 49% of mobile users open an app 11 times on a day. As per statistics by build fire, it says that one mobile user uses at least 30 apps on their phone. This shows how the mobile app gains its popularity between its audience. 

A mobile app is a popular and perfect platform to drive organic traffic to your business. Mobile app or simply an app is a software application that is designed specially to be accessed in mobile devices, whether it may be Android or iOS. 

Types of a Mobile App 

Nowadays, mobile app development is the most wanted service all over the world. There are different types of apps, which are given below.  

1. Progressive Web Apps (PWA): PWA app will behave like a native app in any device. E.g.: Pinterest 

2. Native Apps: Native app is an application that is designed to be used in a particular platform or device. E.g.: Twitter 

3. Hybrid Apps: The combination of PWA and native apps should be shown in hybrid applications. E.g.: Apple App Store itself is designed on hybrid app technology. 

Mobile Applications Based on Industry

All the mobile apps are developed for a particular purpose. These purposes are classified into different categories. Let’s look into the various industry verticals of a mobile app: 

1. Social Media Apps like Facebook, Instagram 

2. Entertaining Apps like Games or Music 

3. Education Apps like Udemy, Byju’s 

4. Business Apps like Trello, Mailchimp 

5. Finance Apps like Mint 

6. News Apps like BBC news 

7. Shopping Apps like Amazon, Flipkart 

8. Software Apps like the word document, pdf converter 

9. Lifestyle Apps for travel, productivity, etc., 

When you develop a mobile app, it should be based on your niche (industry), and also you have to decide whether your app should be PWA or native or Hybrid. 

10 Important Things You Need to Know Before Developing a Mobile App 

Mobile app development becomes an easy process when scheduling proper planning.  Before developing an app, you have to remember the following three phases  

Phase 1: Pre-Development Process 

Before developing the app, you have to follow some points which will be helpful while developing the apps. 

1. Research 

First of all, research is an important task to do any successful projects. Researching helps you to understand different marketing strategies and also you can know the current scenario of the app development technologies. This will help you to develop the app according to the latest techniques. 

During the research, you can find wide strategies for developing the app and you have to choose the right developing strategy that suits your niche.  

Thus, research helps you to mold yourself according to the app development process. You can also understand your competitor strategies by researching a lot. 

2. Understanding your customers 

Customers are the key to any business. Customer satisfaction is the way to improve your business and to increase sales revenue to the next level. You are creating an app only for customers. Hence you have to bring the app which will meet customer expectations. 

For example, Facebook is meant for chatting to a person and sharing information all over the world. Tik Tok app is used for uploading our acting videos.  

Similarly, your app should have some purpose to be used by the customers or end users. 

Your app should be the solution to some issues and questions for end users. So, you have to develop the app by understanding your customer needs. Every business has competitions. In your niche, analyze your competitor apps’ review. 

By reading those reviews and feedbacks from your competitor, you can get an idea about, ‘What are the features expected by the customers?’. Take those suggestions and apply them to your app that will help to improve your traffic growth. 

Reviews are the more powerful factor that will help you to modify your business development. 

3. Pricing 

Price is the foremost thing that hits everyone’s brain when decided on new projects or businesses; same as the mobile app development process. 

App development is very successful when you invest good money in it. But the profit you are going to get is awesome. 

The cost of mobile app development will vary due to the following parameters. You can check it and you can decide which parameters you want in your app based on your budget. The parameters are: 

Design: Design architecture is the welcomed feature in mobile app development. UI/UX is included in the design architecture. This could be text font, style, color, size and also other customizations. 

Process of the app: You have to decide whether your app is free to access by everyone or it needs the required login process to access. If you want to add the login process to your app, or if you want to integrate your website with your app, then API (Application Program Interface) is needed to be made. 

Technology: The price may vary with the technologies and programming languages that you use in your apps. 

Platform: The cost also decides what type of platform will you use in the development process. 

Hire Developers: Finally, when hiring mobile app developers, you need money. Some of the reputed and reliable companies like Infinijith are offering services at an affordable price, so you can hire mobile app developers to develop your app. 

Here you can read this article to choose your best developers: How to hire the best mobile app developer? These are the factors you have to decide according to your budget. 

4. Choose a platform 

Here the platform is all about two operating systems, (i.e.,) Android and iOS. 

       * Android apps: 

Android apps are more popular among users because android devices are cheaper and easier to use. Stats says that there are 2.3 million android apps are found on the Google play store. So, you can understand how popular android apps are. 

Programming languages: Java, Kotlin, C++, C# are the most popularly used programming languages for android app development. 

Frameworks: Corona SDK, PhoneGap, Xamarin are the most used frameworks for developing Android applications. 

Benefits: Easy Integration, open-source, easy adoption are the major reasons and benefits of using Android applications. 

Also, you can read this article: Why android app development is best for your project? 

       * iOS apps: 

iOS apps are taking less time to develop when compared to android applications. Even it is expensive to develop, it is a more secure app than android. 

Stats says that there are 2 million iOS apps are found on the Apple App Store. Hence, iOS apps are also as popular as android applications. 

Programming Languages: Objective C and Swift are the commonly used programming languages for iOS app development. 

Cross Frameworks: React Native, Flutter, Xamarin are the popular cross frameworks for developing iOS applications. 

Benefits: Security, all business apps, high quality are the general benefits that one should go for iOS app development. 

5. Network Details

There are two questions want to be concentrated like: 

1. Will your app work in online mode or offline mode? 

If your app contains the payment process like a shopping app, then it needs a good network. Or if your app is just containing information to read, it may or may not be having a network to access it.  

Offline apps are highly appreciated by the users in rural areas but if your app is accessed by the network, then you may not worry. But you have to decide first before developing it. 

2. Is your app downloaded freely or paid? 

Most of the apps are available for free to download which has more traffic to use it. Some of the apps need to be paid to download and use. It will also have traffic but less than free apps. 

Once you answer these questions, you are sure about the network of your applications. These are the things to be decided before going into app development. Now it’s time to jump into the development process. 

Phase 2:  During the Development Process

6. Design and Development

Every design and development start with planning. Well-organized planning will make you achieve your development process goals. After you decided how your app should be (based on your customer needs), you can do a proper plan.  

You can follow the following design plan same or modify it according to your comfort during the development phase. 

       * Plan 

       * Wireframe 

       * Design 

       * Preview 

       * Development 

       * Testing 

       * Beta 

       * Deployment 

       * Delivery 

This well-prepared plan will help you to finish the mobile app development on time and Infinijith is delivering the project on time to its clients using this organized plan process.  

You can read the effective strategic plan in detail here: An effective strategy for developing an app Hence the mobile app development process should be done on time with effective languages, frameworks, platforms, and technologies. 

7. Testing 

As discussed above, testing is one of the major processes involved in development planning, it should be handled well. 

Testing allows you to know whether the outcome will match the expected output or not. Manual and Automated testing can be done to make sure the quality of the apps. You can check the loading speed, performance, quality, security of the app. 

Beta testing is done to look at the overall performance and usability test is done to analyze all the functions of the app before publishing it to your targeted customers. 

Testing is done to examine whether the app drives customer attention and also it can solve your client queries. After testing the app, now it’s ready to use by the users. 

8. Protecting User Details 

The users who use your mobile app are your customers. So, gain their loyalty towards your business.  

Your app should not get more user details because if you ask your customers for more personal information during signup or when using your app, the user can easily distract and it becomes the reason for leaving away from the app. 

Hence try to set up the details form in short. 

Also, flexibility, reliability, and security are the key factors that every customer will love. Hence you want to earn the reliability of your targeted customers to increase your business sales. High security wants to be used in protecting the customer database. 

Phase 3: Post- Development Process

9. Promoting The App 

Once you finished developing and testing the mobile app, you can publish it. After publishing, you have to promote the app in various ways to draw the attention of the targeted users. Advertisements help you to convert the viewers into customers. 

You can use all possible ways for the app to reach your customers.  

Social Media: Social media is the best sharing platform to reach millions of customers easily all over the world. Hence post an attractive image or publish fun and useful video about your app on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc., Social media opens the path to get more customers. 

E-mail Marketing: e-Mail is another way to promote your app. Use the platform with a catchy template and explain your application uses. 

Offers and Deals: Providing offers and deals to your existing customers will help you to retain the old clients. Also, word of mouth marketing is the practical way where if your old customers are satisfied with your app, they will recommend it to their friends. Hence you will have other new customers. Hence treat the existing customers properly by giving full customer support. 

Search Engine Optimization: Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is one of the organic and unpaid ways for promoting your app to the first place or helps your app to rank higher in the search engines. For that, you can concentrate on the right keywords. 

Search Engine Marketing(SEM): SEM is the paid way of marketing, where you can make an ad about your app and its uses and by pinning proper keyword, you can get customers. 

10. Analytics to improve your business

The last task is to analyze your above-mentioned process. Your mobile app’s performance after publishing and promoting should be checked. The analysis will help you to know which type of marketing method is useful and whether your business gains traffic or not. 

Hence a proper analysis should be done. For this you can use the Google Analytics tool to know the audience base like their location, their device to access the app, their app usage time, etc., Also read all customers’ feedback and suggestions. 

By this, you can have an idea to upgrade your app to the next level and also it is a way to increase your business sales. These are the three phases to be followed. 

Note: You have to update your application with the latest information and technology to encourage the users to use your application more. 

Conclusion 

Mobile App development is not as big as you think. It is an easy process but it requires a proper development plan as mentioned in the article. 

I hope this article gives you some tips to consider before building your app; hence you can develop user-friendly applications to your customer. 

Hiring app developers from a reputed mobile app development company like Infinijith will help you to build a mobile app based on customer expectations and requirements. Let’s keep in touch to discuss your business project ideas.