Are you looking to get involved in a Mobile App Development Project? Do you know or want to know the steps involved? Before taking on a mobile app development project it is vital that you understand the development process. Along with how the app you are considering will fit your target audience and development goals.

The popularity of smartphones and mobile apps has really taken off. Nowadays consumers have an average of around thirty mobile apps installed on their mobile device. There are many compelling statistics regarding the excellent benefits of owning a mobile app.

Let’s take a look at the various steps along the development process for a mobile application:

Initial Market Insight

Do you have a great idea for a mobile app? Do you know how to get started? Well, the first step is market research and how the app will fulfill the wants and needs of your target audience. You will also need to identify how many competitors there are within your market and how your app will fit into this market.

Some of the questions you will need to consider the answers for are:

  • What is the aim of your mobile app?
  • Where and who is your target audience?
  • What app platforms are you going to utilize?
  • What are the features of your competitor’s apps? How will yours be better?
  • What is your budget to complete the development of your mobile app?
  • When do you plan to release your app?
  • How are you going to promote your app?

Identify the Objectives of Your Mobile App

Identifying the objectives of your mobile app is a vital part of the planning process. Once you have identified the objectives of your app you will need to work out how you are going to achieve them.

  • A few questions to help you with this process:
  • What is the appeal of your app?
  • What are the features included?
  • How will your app solve problems for your audience?

The capabilities of a development team and the size of the budget will determine the benefits and features included in an app.

Wireframe Your Idea

In this step you will need to begin sketching out the vision you have for your app and put together a storyboard. There are many tools that you can utilize online to wireframe your app. You will also need to put together a storyboard to show how each screen connects together along with how users can navigate around the app.

The Backend Structure or Your App

The wireframing process acts as the guideline to the structure of the backend of your app. This will include servers, data diagrams, push notifications and data integration services. Many businesses benefit from utilizing a mobile backend as a service platform which helps to solve potential issues such as, scalability.

Develop Your Prototype

As soon as you have finalized the wireframes it’s time to move onto creating the prototype of your app. A prototype helps you to evaluate various design concepts, collect feedback and locate any issues with the usability and flow of the app.
The aim here is to put together the design of your app and develop a high-quality prototype that will help you progress along the mobile application development process.

Creating Your Mobile App

There are a number of steps involved in the development process. If you utilize an app development platform or mobile backend as a service solution you will save the need to set up storage solutions, servers, APIs and databases for the backend of your mobile app.

You will need to establish developer accounts with the app stores you are planning to distribute your app on. These accounts may take a few days to complete so plan ahead and also review the store terms to ensure your app does not infringe them.

Now you are ready to begin the programming phase. At this stage your designer will develop the app screens or skins utilized in your mobile application. These screens or skins will be part of the interface your audience will utilize to interact with your app. Due to this you need to make sure that your design includes all the ideas gained from the testing phase.

Test to Identify and Eliminate Any Flaws

Once you have the completed app concept it’s time to start testing to identify and eliminate any flaws. As soon as you are confident that your app is working exactly as it should be its time to begin preparing for the launch of your app.

Getting Ready for the Launch of Your Mobile App

The steps you take while getting ready to launch your mobile app will have a big effect on its actual success. Marketing that this stage is very important and the sooner you begin your marketing the better.

Part of the marketing process will identify the best keywords to utilize which are vital for optimizing your app in the app stores and search engines. To help with the promotion of your app you will need a website.

Official Launch

Now it’s time to let everyone know about your new app. You can get some influential bloggers to advertise your new app, issue a series of press releases and notify everyone that showed an interest in your app during the development phase.
Post details of your app on all of your social media profiles and if you have an email list let them know as well. The aim here is to build momentum and generate installs and positive reviews.

Now that you are aware of the process of how to plan a mobile app development project you are more prepared to develop your app on budget and within the timeframe you set.