The Ultimate Mobile App Development Guide for Beginners

Mobile Application is an easy way that lets you connect with customers via the medium of smartphones. This guide elucidates the importance of integrating it into your business and the step-by-step process of building one.

The mobile industry is burgeoning which attracts business from every marketplace. According to an estimate, income from mobile apps is expected to reach about $600 billion by 2020. People find it feasible to get any information in a click. Thus, business owners look at it as a lucrative opportunity to invest in mobile app development.  

Facts: 

1. In the United States, the average mobile app user has over 100 apps installed on their smartphone. (According to the source)
2. A typical smartphone user checks their phone 63 times a day. (According to the source)
3. At least one hour before going to bed, 87 per cent of users check their phones. 69 per cent of those surveyed will check their phone at least five minutes before going to bed. (According to the source)
4. After only one day of use, 9% of users will forsake a digital product. (According to the source)
5. More than 57 per cent of all digital media usage is now accounted for by mobile apps. (According to the source)

Pro Tip: 

Keep in mind that building the code is only the beginning of a successful mobile app development plan. No, it entails rigorous processes such as requirement analysis, front-end design, ongoing usability testing, and ultimately deployment. Investing time and resources in your app development process is a crucial step in ensuring your mobile app vision’s success. Now, you must be wondering what difference Mobile app development will make to your business? Or what does one mean by Mobile App? You don’t need to fret if you don’t know much about it as this guide will keep you covered. 

Understanding Mobile Application

A mobile application (also known as a mobile app) is a kind of application that runs on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer. Despite being little software units with limited capabilities, apps manage to provide high-quality services and experiences to users.

Mobile apps, in contrast to desktop apps, are less reliant on integrated software systems. Instead, each mobile app has a distinct and limited set of features. It could be a game, a calculator, or a mobile web browser, for example.

Mobile apps avoided multi-functionality due to the restricted hardware resources of early mobile devices. Even though today’s smartphones are significantly more advanced, mobile apps remain limited in their functionality. This is how mobile app developers allow users to choose the features they want on their devices.

Crucial Mobile App Development Technologies

Here’s a closer look at all the key technology considerations business owners must make before designing an app to assist you to understand the process of constructing one.

• Native apps

What are native apps, and what do they do? This type of app is made for a single mobile operating system. They’re called native since they’re tailored to a specific platform or device. The bulk of mobile apps now are created for Android or iOS operating systems. Simply said, an Android app cannot be installed and used on an iPhone, and vice versa.

Native apps are best known for their great performance and excellent user experience. After all, the developers who create them employ native device user interfaces. Access to a large number of APIs also helps to speed up development and expand the app’s capabilities. One can download and install Native programs directly into devices via app stores.

• Web apps

Web apps are software applications that function on mobile devices and function similarly to native mobile apps. Native apps and web apps, on the other hand, have substantial distinctions. To begin, web apps run in browsers and are typically developed in CSS, HTML5, or JavaScript. The user is redirected to the URL and then given the choice to install the app.

Users can only use the application if they have an internet connection because all of their databases will be saved on the server. The biggest disadvantage of online apps is that they always demand a strong internet connection. Otherwise, you run the risk of providing a poor user experience.

• Hybrid apps

Web technologies including JavaScript, CSS, and HTML 5 are used to create these apps. What is the meaning of the term “hybrid”? Hybrid apps are essentially online apps wrapped in a native wrapper.

Hybrid apps are simple and quick to create, which is a definite advantage. You’ll also get a single codebase for all platforms. This reduces maintenance costs and simplifies the update process. Many APIs for features like gyroscope and geolocation is also available to developers.

Hybrid applications, on the other hand, may be slow and ineffective. Also, because the program may not look the same on two or more platforms, you may encounter some design flaws.

Kinds of mobile applications

Mobile apps come in a variety of sizes and designs. To assist you to grasp the current trends in the mobile market, here are the most popular types of mobile apps.

Business or Productivity App

People are more prone to using their smartphones and tablets to conduct numerous difficult jobs on the go, which has given these apps a significant share of the market. Apps can assist users in booking tickets, sending emails, and keeping track of their work progress, for example:

• Gaming Apps 

This is the most popular mobile app category. You’d be astonished at how many people have games installed on their phones. Because it’s such a lucrative market, companies are devoting more time and resources to developing games and mobile versions of well-known stationary games.

• Education Apps 

Mobile apps in this category assist users in learning new skills and knowledge. Language learning programs like Duolingo, for example, have grown extremely popular because they provide users with the freedom they want in learning.

• Lifestyle apps 

Shopping, fashion, virtual fitting rooms, gym, dating, and diet apps are all part of this vast category of applications.

If you want to create a mobile application, you have three options:

• Create an internal development team.
• Engage the services of a skilled software development firm.
• Make use of freelancers’ knowledge.

Putting together an in-house team

If you opt to form an in-house development team for your project, you will have complete control over the development path your app takes. This, however, will come at a great price.

After all, you’ll have to cover not only the developers’ wages but also a variety of other expenses including office space, benefits and perks, gear, software licenses, and so on. This is especially tough if you live in an area where hiring mobile developers is prohibitively expensive.

Getting a freelancer to work for you

This is the cheapest of the three choices. You may simplify the development process by employing a single freelancer to construct your mobile app. Because only one person will be responsible for building your app, communication will be easy, and collaboration will not be an issue.

Selecting a software development company

Today, there are a plethora of software development firms that specialize in mobile development. By partnering with such firms, you will be entrusting the development of your app to a group of experts who can supply you with a wide range of services, including:

1. UX/UI design
2. product development
3. backend and frontend development
4. testing,
5. quality assurance (QA)
6. and project management

The key advantage of this choice is that you can benefit from the team’s cumulative expertise and experience gained from completing projects comparable to yours. You can verify their experience and talents by looking at their portfolio, and you can also ask for client recommendations.

This approach provides an outstanding cost-quality balance, especially if you choose to outsource your project to a team in an area with cheaper development rates than your own. You can estimate your project with other software firms to compare their bids and figure out how much it will cost to construct a mobile app in 2021.

Final Thoughts 

We hope this guide has given you a better understanding of the current state of mobile app development. Even more inventive mobile applications will emerge in the future, taking advantage of cutting-edge technology such as the Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and others.

GlobalHunt Technologies provides top Mobile App Development services. We can help you design functional and exquisite mobile apps with the help of state-of-the-art technologies. Our in-house experts have a pool of knowledge in creating mobile apps for various niches. 

When working with clients, our primary goal is to assist them in conceptualizing their ideas. We collaborate with our clients to develop their mobile app idea from concept to finished product. Contact us today!