Mobile Applications (apps) have become an integral part of our lives in this ultra-modern world that is filled with technology. Mobile applications come with diverse functionalities that increase productivity and connectedness, from social networking to online shopping, banking, and the list goes on. Mobile app development offers brands a chance to connect with customers in a more personalized and easier way. From a business tool to eCommerce and gaming application, building a mobile app has become one of the most essential methods to reach maximized audience at a time along with user engagement.
Mobile app development is a special practice that is the design, creation, testing and maintenance for mobile devices — in most cases smartphones or tablets. This includes several phases which comprise of idea ideation, platform selection, sp wireframe designing, coding and finally debugging. In this article, we will delve into the basics of mobile app development as well as some of the technologies used to build an application and best practices you need to keep in mind while building an app.
Essential Phases of App Development for Mobile:
Stage-wise smartphone App Development Process The specifics differ depending on the complexity of the work, but overall, the principle steps stay nearly identical.
Getting an Idea and Initial Conceptualization: Every successful app starts with a solid idea. During this stage you decide what the app will be about, who it is aimed at and what problem it solves. It usually encompasses phases like brainstorming, market research, and feature definements of the app. For example, is the application designed for entertainment, productivity, socialization or business?
UI/UX Design: After finalising the concept, it is time to design (UI) and user experience(UX). While UI design deals with the look of the app — layout, aesthetics, colors, fonts and icons; UX design revolves around interaction with these elements and the navigation across various app functionalities. Focus on developing an experience that is intuitive, continuous and addictive at a level of user expectation.
App Development: This phase is where the code writing comes into play which will make your app functional. At this layer is where developers write in the functionality of the app. When the application is being developed for a particular platform (iOS or Android), native code is written in the platform language (Swift on iOS, Kotlin on Android ).
Testing and QA: The app needs to be tested with a fine-toothed comb, and its functionality has to be ensured not just on multiple devices but also across various OS platforms – Android and iOS. In this stage, different levels of testing are executed such as: Functional Testing, Performance Testing, Security Testing and User Acceptance Testing (UAT). This ensures the app works as supposed, is secure and provides a good user experience.
Deployment: After fully testing the app, we can deploy it. After the app is developed, it comes to the submission process on required app stores i.e. Google Play for Android apps and Apple App Store for iOS apps. Every platform has a specific submission process, guidelines, and review system. At this stage, you might be creating listings for app stores, writing descriptions and preparing marketing materials.