The world has been living in a less physically interactive mode for more than two years now. If not anything, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced humans to depend more on the technology of today. One of the technologies used by people to connect during this time includes mobile applications. Be it work, grocery, education, medication, or just any niche you name, the mobile app proved to be very beneficial in having humans connected all day.
Growth in the usage of mobile apps has increased human dependency on them hence, uplifting the demand for more applications. It has opened the doors of a lot of opportunities for various companies to launch apps based on the customers’ demands. While some firms like to hand over app development projects to mobile app development companies, others like to experiment themselves. If you belong to the latter group, we have some easiest ways to help you develop an app in 2022.
Getting Started with Your Next Android App
Research done to study the usage of mobile apps showed that around 88% of the time a person is using his phone, he is either using an app or switching between apps. This study showed the importance and impact of mobile apps in our life. According to most market leaders, there is an era of everything where it receives good hype and then the trend dies out. However, things seem to be turning out differently in the case of Android applications.
Some of the industrial statistics show that Google Play Store is offering around 2.87 million apps at the moment, which is a huge number compared to a few years back. Not just that, around 70% of the USA’s digital media is accessed through Android mobile applications. If you have chosen to build and launch an Android app today, we are happy to tell you that there could never be a better time to enter the market. However, one needs to perform certain steps in a strict sequence to achieve a perfect result. We have made a list of a few steps you might like to follow to develop an Android app for your firm.
Learning Major steps of Android Development
An app development company manages to launch various successful app projects with a secret process they follow. For years, developers have been working on projects using different methodologies. Some of these methods failed, while others outperformed and gave fabulous results. We recommend you closely follow the steps mentioned below to receive good results.
Come Up With An Idea
The first thing one needs to develop an app is an idea. If you have an idea, it is perfect else, you must start thinking about one. The majority of the ideas are formed either due to one’s limitations, reasons, or experiences or by observing others’ problems.
For example, if you face problems finding clothes of your perfect size, you can develop an app that allows people to upload a picture of the dress design they want, and their measurements, and have a tailor sew a customized dress. Now, that is just one example, but you can come up with dozens. Write down all these ideas and we will take you to the next step.
Study the Market
You need to realize that rather than developing just an app, you are going to develop a business plan as well. At times, people find it difficult to come up with just one idea but sometimes, they come up with a whole list of ideas. Whatever the case is, you need to finalize an idea based on the niche and the potential it has in the market.
Think about various factors your app will need to succeed. Perform a survey to understand the need for the app in the market. See for similar business ideas already working in the field, if any. Calculate the budget you will have to spend to develop it and the revenue it can generate in a few months or a year. These steps should be enough to give you a holistic view of how bumpy your business road will be with this idea.
Draft the Revenue Stream
Now that you have an app idea finalized, it is time to see the streams you are going to earn from using this app. Some of the apps like Uber provide just a platform to connect service providers, and drivers, with the service users, and riders and earn some revenue. There are also apps like Netflix that provide service itself and make money out of it.
You should look into various ways your app will generate revenue. You can also take ideas from the various similar apps working in the market already or just go out of the box with your ideas and set a trend.
Put in Some Features
Nobody likes a simple and monotonous app these days. Yes, people love their apps to be straightforward to use, but they want them to have different features and options as well. Some companies get too excited with the features ideas and tend to roll out a lot of features in one go. While they aim to make customers happy, it backfires and customers become overwhelmed.
We suggest you make a list of all the features you would love to provide but go slow. Develop one or a maximum of two features and collect feedback from your customers. Improvise the features according to the feedback and roll out another feature. This way your customers would not be surprised unnecessarily and you would not lose them.
Imitate Your Users
The next step you should be taking is imitating your customers. When they say, to put yourself in the shoes of others to understand, they are not wrong. You are developing an app for your users and what is the point of it if they end up disliking it?
You should make a user journey and imitate your user. Think from their perspective by starting from the first step, downloading an app, to the last step you have decided. See for the points a user can get stuck on and the issues he might think to quit. Those are the weak points you must work on.
Design its Look
It is time to jump on to make your app look pleasing to the eyes. Design the user interface for your app with the decided color theme, designs, graphics, and overall brand experience. The result can also be called a mockup that is meant to give you a look and feel of the way your app would be. This mockup can also be used to see where your idea is lacking and needs revision. With this step done right, it is rare for you to return to this step and re-do all the work.
Some of the tools you can use for this purpose are Adobe XD, Place It, and Mock It. If you are looking for one in all solution for UI, we suggest you try Dribble. It provides you with tons of themes based on your preference of industry. You can find various designs as well. To start your project, you need to select a theme, mix and match different designs and add as many UI elements as needed. The best feature is that you can find thousands of blogs on their website helping you every step of the way.
Be Cautious When Developing
If you are bored with the steps and want to get into the development, your wait is over. At this point, you can start writing the code for your app development. There are hundreds of technology stacks you can use based on the sort of app you want to develop and the target market you want to reach. In case you want to develop an Android app, we suggest you try Android Studio as it has all the tools you will need on the way. Moreover, it is continuously updated with new features and bug fixes so you never have to worry about your app development.
Another thing you must make sure of is that in the initial stages, your code is written in a test environment. Doing so will aid you to test the code as many times as needed, identify the bugs that can crash the app, and fix them before launching. Hence, your app will reach the clients with zero bugs.
You must also finalize the front-end design and start working on it the front-end side by side. Since the design was finalized in the last step, it would be a smooth and easy road from here on. Don’t forget to keep saving your code after a few steps to make sure you don’t lose anything.
Assemble the App
With the front-end and back-end perfectly ready, it is time for you to assemble both parts to form an app. Merging the front end with the back end can be tricky at times but remember to do it in small increments. This will ensure that you don’t mess up either of the developments and end up with beautiful results.
Time for Quality Assurance
It is always advisable to test the app as many times as you can before presenting it to your customers. The best way to do so in the ending phases is to have a quality assurance team on onboard. This group of people is highly skilled at pinpointing the minor issues that can easily escape the eyes of a developer.
The quality assurance team writes different scenarios that can be performed in the app. These scenarios are then run multiple times to see if the app stocks or gives different results. In case an error is found, the steps to reproduce it are shared along with the proofs of the app not performing well. This will help you to ensure the quality of the app.
Test with A Group
Most companies like to skip this step, but we will encourage you to perform it as well. Send a call for volunteers for your app’s testing. Have these individuals sit in front of you and install your app on their phones. Give them some time to use your app and write their feedback. If you feel like working on a few things and making your app even better, you should not miss the chance, or else you are ready for the launch.
Time to Go Live
Whether you decide to skip the last step or not, it is time for you to go live. Make your app available on the Google Play Store and wait for people to download it. You can also upload it on Apple App. Now, sit back and relax for some days while users figure out their journey through your app.
In the meanwhile, you can start working on the feedback you got from the volunteers in the last step. See if your users drop reviews or ratings on your app. Note down all the reviews and get ready for the next phase.
Improvise and Surprise
With all the feedback from the customers, you should start working on improving your app and developing new features. Don’t forget to test those features as well to make sure their quality is up to the mark. Once done, send an update to your users with a new version for them to download and use.
Do You Need to Learn to Code?
Just like you can’t expect to make pancakes without having any knowledge of cooking, you can’t develop an application all by yourself with 0 knowledge of coding. On the other hand, if you are reluctant to learn to code, you can use an app builder to make an app for you according to a selected template.
Keep in mind that an app produced using an app builder would not be unique in terms of its features and look. Here are two of the famous coding languages you should consider learning for developing an Android app.
What Is Java?
Java is the top-most programming language used to develop Android mobile applications. Learning this language would help you develop your Android app and some other platforms including web applications, apps for Windows desktop, Linux apps, and apps for Macbook. We encourage you to sign up for a course either on Coursera or Treehouse to start learning to build an app in Java from the very basics. These courses might take a few weeks or a month to complete and you would get a skill for a lifetime.
What about Kotlin?
If you think there is nothing better than Java, think again. Kotlin has emerged as a powerful language for Android app development in the last 5 years. The power of this language even convinced Google to change the official development language of Android applications to Kotlin from Java. Probably, in the future, it would be the only language surviving while Java dies. You can find some courses on Kotlin on Coursera and Treehouse as well. If you are looking towards learning a language of the future, we suggest you go for learning Kotlin.
Get an App without Learning to Code
As discussed before, you can develop an Android app yourself without going to an app-developing company or learning to code. All you need to do so is to find an excellent developing platform. These platforms are designed to help you select a template of your choice and start building on top of it. Some platforms even allow you to add features apart from the basic features present in the template. Here are some good platforms for you to consider:
Mobile Roadie
Mobile Roadie is an application builder that let’s do develop an Android app within a few days rather than spending months. It allows you to select the template and add more features. On the way of developing the app, you can see the way it will look on a side window. It supports various media files, social media platforms like Facebook, and much more. You can check the pricing for the app and decide the one you would like to go for.
The App Builder
The App Builder is an app-building platform used by hundreds of companies all over the world. It provides you with an online toolkit with multiple tools to help you build from the start to the end. You add multiple features to your app and have a beautiful app ready to be launched in the market. Moreover, updating an app after being launched is also not difficult with the App Builder.
Appy Pie
If you don’t want to have app-building software consume space on your hard drive, Appy Pie is your answer. It is used and recommended by a lot of its users. It is a cloud-based platform that allows you to build an Android app within a few days. It requires to you only drag-and-drop the features and pages you want in your app and you are done. Later on, you can even make revisions in real time with no delay for your users.
Summary
During the era when people prefer to have an application development company build an app, it is very brave of you to want to do it yourself. You must decide if you want to develop your application from the scratch or use a platform to help you in the process. Developing an app yourself will cost you a lot of time, money, and effort and the chances of it crashing into the market are huge as well. However, if you decide to use a platform, it will make your work easier, reduce errors and ensure you have a better quality app.
In case you go with the former option, don’t forget to follow the steps we have shared above. These steps are used by some of the famous app development teams like Origami Studio’s teams. To develop an app using a platform, you can either select one builder from the list above or do a Google search for some more options.
It is never an easy process if you are doing it for the first time. If you are still unsure about your next step, we suggest you have a meeting with the well-established team of Origami Studios and let them help you out. We guarantee that you would not regret your decision and would benefit immensely from it.