Mobile app development process: Things to consider (updates 2022)

Guides for the mobile app development process are essential for software development teams to consider. Read the article below to learn more.

In a tech-savvy world, mobile apps have become a game-changer. The mobile app can bring down well-established brands. Even shoot new players to the lead with a crucial technology to transform your business sector. The mobile app development process has been more or less an essential part of every business these days. Since it helps build brand identity, increase awareness, and promote revenue growth.

While many firms are trying to create a mobile app, many have no ideas successfully. We have provided a closer look at each step in-depth. Regarding the size and scope of each project, following this process makes your enterprise mobile app development initiative a success.

An Overview of the Mobile app development process

Mobile application development has been one of the most common software development. It has been evolving with an increasing number of smartphones and mobile devices. In 2020, mobile apps generated about $188.9 billion through app stores and in-app advertising. People are estimating it to grow up to $510.39 billion by 2022.

Since the mobile app development process is not a simple task, it involves a step-by-step approach to get desired advantages. Having a mobile app has brought many opportunities for business growth. Success in a competitive market can be a reality for many companies if supported by a custom mobile app development process. An effective mobile app development process spans six key steps.

Mobile app development process steps: Completed Guides

1, Mobile app development strategy

The first step of the mobile app development process is building a feasible strategy for delivering ideas into a successful mobile app. You can create a more significant part of the overall enterprise mobility strategy. As app objectives may be different, there is an app-specific impact on the mobile app development strategy. For this stage, you need to define some mobile app development strategies

• Identify app users

• Research and analyze competitors

• Develop the goals and objectives

• Choose a mobile app platform for the user interface.

Mobile apps cost about $150,000 – $200,000 within four to six months to develop. Thus, your mobile app development strategy helps define the vision of a specific app idea. With this in mind, planners go deeper into the next stage of the mobile app development process.

2, Mobile app development plan 

The ideas start shaping and turn into an actual software development project. People define use cases and capture functional requirements. After identifying the requirement, you prepare a product roadmap regarding mobile app requirements and delivering milestones. You might be concerned about time, resources, and costs for the early launch.

The mobile app development plan stage helps define the skills necessary for the mobile app development process. If you develop iOS apps, they use different development technology stacks and platforms.

3, Mobile app design development: UX/UI

The mobile app design development stage helps deliver smooth user experiences with a stunning look. The success of a mobile app is on how well end-users are accepting and benefiting from various features. An effective mobile app design development helps build user experiences by making your app interactive and user-friendly.

Information Architecture & Workflows: mobile app development process

The first step of mobile app design development determines data that will show to end-users through the user interactions of mobile apps. It is essential to decide on technology architecture and stack before creating design details.

Mobile app development wireframes

Mobile app designers start app design with sketches on paper. Thus, people choose sketches, which give visual structure to the functional requirements. Mobile app development wireframes allow designers to emphasize aesthetics and user experience rather than colors, patterns, and styles. It is a cost-effective method for mobile app design development layouts. This stage provides intuitive and device-specific user experiences.

Style Guide

Style guidelines contribute essential parts of the mobile app design development strategy. It helps establish a style guide for the mobile app development process, which expands the productivity of mobile apps. Besides, following style guidelines keeps apps stable. The style guide delivers various app functions, which builds a high-quality app.

Mockups

Mockups will be the final version of the visual design. People apply style guides to the app wireframes through mockups. When people finalize the design, there will be further modifications to its information architecture, workflow, and aesthetics.

Prototype

Mockups show functionality through their designs; however, these might turn into click-thru prototypes such as Invision and Figma. Prototypes benefit from simulating the user experience and workflows from a completed product. Designers from software outsourcing services prefer prototypes at a wireframe stage, especially when the requirements are not well.

4, Enterprise mobile app development 

Planning allows you to define the technical requirements, technology stacks, and software development milestones. A mobile app development process includes three parts such as server technology, API, and the mobile app front-end.

Back-end/Server Technology

It consists of a database and server-side being essential to support various functions of the mobile app development products. Using an existing platform is necessary to adjust the desired mobile functionality.

API

API is a process between the mobile app and a server.

Mobile app front-end

The mobile front-end is what end-users interact. Thus, mobile apps include interactive user experiences that use APIs and a back-end server to manage the data. Users use the app without internet access, so mobile apps use local data storage. Developers can use web programming languages and databases for the mobile app front-end. For instance, people use Java or Kotlin when developing Android apps.

People use various mobile app development frameworks and technology stacks to build mobile apps. Selecting a technology stack suits best for the mobile app.

5, Mobile app development process: testing & QA

Implementing quality assurance (QA) testing in mobile app development makes website applications stable, functional, and secure. You prepare test cases that resolve all features of mobile app development testing.

People use test cases for implementing mobile app development testing. It helps record testing results for software quality assurance and track fixes for retesting. Understanding the functional requirements and purposes helps testers produce suitable test cases.

User Experience testing

Mobile app development testing ensures that the final implementation fits user experiences. Visuals and interactivity of mobile apps will provide end-users with a first-hand impression of the apps. It is essential to ensure that the app fits the design guidelines.

Functional testing

The mobile app functionality is important to its success. Testers should test app functionalities since many users cover testing conditions. Functional testing helps users use your features and functionality without problems.

Performance testing

• People use some measurable criteria to evaluate their performances.

• How well is the mobile app reacting to requirements?

• How fast is the mobile app loading?

• Is the custom app draining the phone battery or producing memory leaks?

• Is the size bigger than what it should be?

Security testing

Security testing is a concern for enterprise mobile app development. Any possible vulnerability leads to a hack. The QA and software development teams take simple procedures to make mobile apps secure.

Device and platform testing

If users want to log into mobile apps, people can track the login sessions on the device. The system terminates user sessions when a user stays idle for a long time.

6, Deployment and Support 

People release mobile apps in the app store requiring preparing metadata such as title, description, category, keywords, launch icon, and app store screenshots. For example, once submitted in the app store, iOS apps will be through some procedures which can take several weeks. Those procedures depend on the quality and iOS development guidelines.

After the apps are available in the app stores, it is essential to monitor their usage through analytics platforms and track KPIs to ensure success. Software development teams might collect regular feedback and suggestions from the company. Unlike website applications, mobile apps go through the submission and review process. With native mobile apps, you will constantly stay on top of technology advancements and updated new mobile devices and platforms.

Conclusion

The mobile app development process might be tedious and complicated. However, it can be a tremendously rewarding process if done right. The mobile app development process is an ongoing practice. It will continue after an initial launch since you collect and build additional functionalities.

If you are planning to develop a mobile app for your business operator, hiring software outsourcing services firms is a great option. We have provided guidelines for the mobile app development process (2022 updates). Hopefully, this article will be beneficial for your business.