Mobile apps are here to stay. They’ve turned into a necessity and people use them for different purposes. And if you want to create a successful app, you need to pay special attention to specific factors.
In this article, we’ll talk about the most important things you should understand when creating a mobile app. First, we’ll discuss how a mobile app is different from other kinds of applications.
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How Mobile App Development is Unique
Developing a mobile app is a different kind of work from web applications and application software. In general, web apps use different languages for layout, styling, frontend elements, and backend coding.
Meanwhile, mobile apps are developed using platforms (Android and iOS), and each platform has its own process. As a result, each platform also has its own native programming language i.e. Java for Android and Objective-C for iOS.
We’ll get into more details about native vs. hybrid mobile apps below. For now, let’s start with the most important things to consider when developing a mobile app.
Research
The first step is also the most important one: researching. In this step, you discover what makes your app different or unique.
The unique value can be a new service or a unique algorithm — anything that makes it stand out.
Then, find similar apps and check their popularity. Understand how your potential competitors work to develop and market the product in order to acquire valuable insights even before you start the development process.
Target Audience
Researching about the mobile app market also means you’ll research about your target audience.
In this step, you determine t who might want to use your app. Who are your audience? What pain points are they trying to solve? Will your app add value to their lives?
Answering these questions isn’t only extremely important at the start of a robust mobile app development process, it’s also a guideline for when you expand and add more features to the app.
Native vs. Hybrid
As we’ve discussed, mobile apps can be developed on the native programming language for a device’s operating system.
When you develop the app using its native language, that’s a native app. A native app for Android is developed using Java, while an iOS native app is developed using Objective-C. Native apps run much more smoothly than hybrid apps because they can better integrate the device’s functions and features.
On the other hand, hybrid apps try to combine the two. They run on a combo of technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript while still utilizing the device’s operating system.
A hybrid app doesn’t work very differently from a native app, and you really only want to ensure the app works properly on your users’ devices. With hybrid development, you can target all platforms at once.
UI/UX
Make UI/UX design a priority before developing a mobile app. UI refers to “user interface” while UX refers to “user experience.”
The UI/UX design defines how your target users feel and experience your app — and your business and services. Make it valuable and flawless. Ensure that both UI and UX work well because a poor UI won’t work with a good UX, and vice versa.
Mobile Analytics
Implement mobile analytics to help you know what’s going on with the app and how your users are using it.
You can capture, store, and use mobile app analytics and use the info to improve app interaction and engagement.
And remember to be clear on what data you want to track and store. Having so much data of the wrong kind won’t help you move forward.
