Effective Development Phases of Mobile Applications

Regardless of its purpose, if you bet on this type of project, it is convenient to know the mobile app development process.

Small and medium-sized businesses are embracing technology, and with the rise of mobile devices and their applications, this sector can be greatly tapped into.

91% of time spent on mobile is dedicated to applications, compared to 9% of the use of browsers. 

~ Research Sources

Before We Start thinking about any idea or hiring or Mobile app development, we should consider the following things

Finalise the budget:

Creating a budget It’s important to analyze the project’s resources before deciding what type of application you want. It is possible to develop a larger mobile application with multiple functionalities or a simpler one, based on the budget available to you. Once this is done, it’s time to decide what you want to do. The concept: What will the app do? In the second phase of a mobile application’s development, the app’s exact size is determined. The needs of the users or the problems to be solved must be taken into account. Based on these characteristics, a specific concept and the added value it can provide will be defined.

Choose the development provider:

When selecting the provider and the technology of the app, we always recommend working with a company that transmits trust from the first moment, with whom you feel comfortable and that has experience in technological developments. As an added bonus, if you deliver the app in parts or provide the source code at the end of development, you’ll reap additional benefits from the arrangement.

Requirements analysis:

After an investigation of the sector and the competition, it is time to define the scope of the project. In teamwork together with the developers, each functionality of the app is specified and all use cases are analyzed. Moves from the general to the specific, so what is to be offered in each of the screens. There will be a realistic delivery schedule and no surprises if the functionalities are well-defined.

The six phases of the mobile app development process :

Phase#1: Planning

In order to plan any project, guidelines must be established.. There’s a list of tasks that must be completed before the project is complete: the development time, the campaigns to promote it, uploading to stores, or even launching the app. Notifying the developer of your desired launch date allows you to coordinate the date of uploading to the stores in a timely fashion.

Phase#2: UX and graphic design of the application

Users’ experience will be taken into account when developing the app’s content and interactions. In order to provide users with the best possible experience, the visual proposal for the screens is developed in accordance with the brand image and current trends in app design. Wireframes and prototypes will be used to create these designs, which will serve as the basis for the developer.

Phase#3: Mobile Software development and creation of the final app

Native applications, hybrid or web apps? The code developer begins to build the mobile application with the programming language and technology indicated in the analysis phase. Our recommendation is that partial and periodic deliveries be made in order to monitor the product’s progress.. As a result, any flaws that arise can be corrected in due course.

Phase#4: Details need to be refined: Tests and evaluations of the app At this point in time,

At this stage, a series of tests are carried out to ensure the quality of the platform. A process of evolution and continuous improvement, QA (Quality Assurance) verifies that all the actions that a user can perform within the system are correct. the app works correctly on all devices.

Phase#5: Launch phase in the mobile app development process

Once the app’s quality has been established, it’s time to make it available to users. It can be uploaded in application stores such as App Store and Google Play, so it is recommended to take into account the publication and approval time of both for the launch date of the app. Marketing actions, such as landing pages, banners, and advertising, as well as improving the ASO positioning in the stores, can also be used to promote it.

Phase#6: Long term maintenance

Our software is updated, for example, new operating systems are published, store policies change, or higher versions of smartphone models are sold. Therefore, it is necessary to have a provider that after its launch continues to optimize and maintain the mobile application in the long term.

To carry out any project, having a good team that advises and recommends you in all phases of the development of a mobile application is vital to guarantee its quality and success. In addition, it is convenient to carry out an analytical follow-up of the results and the reception of the users to make subsequent improvements or optimize the platform with Users will benefit from updates or even new versions.

Stages of mobile application development :

If you are a company that needs to offer a new digital product to its customers, or if you are an entrepreneur with a business idea that wants to have a presence on mobile devices, you are about to enter the world of mobile development.

Many are unaware of the work behind the creation of a mobile application, the stages that this type of project has, and the human team necessary to make it happen.

Unless we are actively engaged in these phases, we will not be able to determine if the application is progressing or not. This means that in order to launch a high-quality application, a series of steps must be taken.

The phases of a mobile application’s development range from budgeting and idea conception to app maintenance.

We will discuss the following stages of Mobile Application development:

• Definition of scope
• Planning
• Requirements analysis
• Application design
• Software development
• Testing
• Publication of the application
• Maintenance

Definition of the scope:

Before venturing out to search for specialized companies and request quotes, it is advisable to have a clear idea of ​​what is needed. From now on, we will call it requirements. The requirements come to be a textual description of the characteristics that you want your mobile application to have.

The more detail you have of what you want, the more precision you will have in the quotes you can receive. It is very valuable that you have supplementary information such as reference applications and some sketches of how you would like your application to look.

Tip # 1:

Do not request a quote with the following message: “I would like to know how much it would cost to develop an application. ” It is a recurring error in some people who only limit themselves to asking for quotes indicating the reference application. This just shows that you are not taking the project seriously or have no idea what you want.

In these cases, the quotes you will receive will have a very high cost or be far from reality because the applications that exist in the market have too many features, which have been developed over long periods in different iterations and based on user behavior metrics.

 Planning:

With the scope, you can now request quotes and evaluate these proposals to start the development of the project. Once you have decided which company you are going to work with, the initial step will be planning the project.

In this phase, the list of activities to be carried out until the closing of the project is generally reflected in a work schedule. This schedule will have important milestones such as the delivery of advances in a certain period that allow you to visualize the progress of the development and in turn give feedback to the team that has been developing it. It is also important to define the deliverables that the project will have, such as the documentation generated, the design file, the source code, among others.

The Mobile App Development Company that you are hiring should provide the project with a team with certain roles to cover all stages of development. In the same way, you as a client company or project leader must assume a monitoring and control role, which is summarized in approving the deliverables and giving timely feedback at each stage of the project.

Tip # 2:

At the beginning of the project, designate the people who will have the function of approving the proposed design, deliverables, and others. Do not try to involve many people in decision-making because it will negatively impact the duration of the project. For example, leaving app design approval to 5 people will cause the design stage to take another 7-15 days.

Requirements analysis:

As the first activity, we have the analysis of the requirements at a super detailed level, to define the requirements in detail and be clear about the main and secondary flows of the application. Similarly, the particular rules of the application associated with the business or the differential value of the application must be clear.

At this stage, it is necessary to arrange meetings as many times as necessary so that the development team and you as the client or owner of the product are aligned. We use user stories as a tool. That is, the characteristics of the application are detailed, and as a result of them, the activities that will be carried out by the team are broken down.

Application design:

Once the scope is defined and the requirements detailed, the UI / UX design team proceeds to make a visual proposal of the main screens of the application and create a flow with them. This is to present it to the owner of the product and receive their approval or feedback to apply the necessary improvements.

Once approval is received, the secondary flows and complementary screens are designed. In the end, you will have a complete design of all the flows that the application will have; This will be a main input for the software development team.

Software development:

The requirements defined in the scope of the project and the graphic flow of the entire application will serve to define a set of tasks that the programming team will develop.

The project management team together with the programming team will define the deliverables to have progressive advances. These will be shown to the client as the application is built until having the final version.

Testing:

Once the programming stage is completed, a series of functional tests will be carried out to review the correct operation of the application and detect possible issues that will be reviewed before publishing.

Then, a demonstration of the application is carried out to the client. In addition, joint tests are carried out by the QA Team to have your final feedback before publishing the application.

Publication of the application:

At this stage, the application is configured for its launch, the required information sheets are filled out and the applications are digitally signed to upload them to the store.

In the case of Google Play, the time it takes from when the application is sent until it appears in the store is on average 24 hours, if it is the first time; future updates usually take an average of 3 hours. In the case of the Apple Store, the average is 3 days.

We will complete the development process for your mobile application so that you can publicize it in Google Play and App Stores, many platforms request the company’s product information to validate and register it.

Maintenance:

An application, like all software, needs maintenance because the software industry is constantly changing. Specifically, in the mobile market, new models of smartphones or new versions of operating systems are usually launched. In both cases, it is necessary to expand the support of our application for these new versions.

On the other hand, the policies and conditions of the app stores are usually updated. So our applications must be aligned to prevent them from being withdrawn from stores. In some cases, the conditions of third-party services used in the application may vary and it will also be necessary to update these components.

At kotai Electronics, we recommend carrying out biannual maintenance of your application to review the newly available updates and keep your application current.

Summary:

We Kotai Electronics Pvt. Ltd. is one of the leading IT Development Agencies from Kolkata, India, provide Mobile apps development services across the globe with many applications that are already used by millions of users in the world. If you are looking for mobile app development services, please leave a message in our contact page or drop an Email at sales@kotaielectronics.com with your requirement, our team will guide you with a free a quote.