Are you willing to launch an app that sets yourself apart in the market? Want to make your presence felt whilst establishing a strong connection with your customers? Well, creating impressive applications is no big deal if you know the right way to begin with.
Today, thanks to the smartphones that we now have an app for almost every other job. From communication to travelling and even personal fitness, there exists an application for guidance. Owing to the increasing dependency of people on apps, the idea of earning popularity and profitability through this media fascinates everyone. If you also plan to launch an app, you’re no exception.
In this comprehensive guide, you will learn how to make an app that is genuinely profiting and popularizing for you.
How To Make An App
Considering the huge number of applications available in the market, it is not easy for newcomers to stabilize themselves in there. To achieve this goal, you should have to consider different factors before starting to create an app.
The following section guides you about the basic steps to make an impressive application.
General Steps To Make An App
- Draft Your Idea:
List out the basic idea of your planned app. What you actually want your app to do? Which features should it offer? How should it function? Write down everything on a paper to have your requirements ready at hand.
- Perform Market Research:
Before you start creating apps, a thorough market survey is necessary to know the competition. See what your rival apps are, what features they offer to the users, and where do they lack. Your app should ideally surpass the rivals to attract users, for which, it must have a catchy look and should offer attractive features, preferably, more than the competing applications.
- Design Your App:
This step marks the beginning of the technical creation of your app. If you want your product to be prominent in the market, you should make an app that is visually appealing and user-friendly. At this stage, you should proceed very carefully to pick the colors, fonts, styles, and overall design of your application.
You can either choose to design your app yourself, or you can use external resources. We’ll talk about it in detail in the following section.
- Build Your App:
If you are using an online resource to build an app, then you may simultaneously get it developed through the app builder. However, if you choose a dedicated design resource, or prefer to design it yourself, then the next step is to bring those app sketches to life with codes.
This stage includes all the front-end and back-end development of the application. You will find more details about it in the later sections.
- App Review And QA Testing:
At the end of the development process, you have to test your app for quality and performance. In this phase, you test your app internally for addressing any performance issues, fixing bugs, and making modifications in the features.
Besides, you can also release your app to a limited number of users and collect feedback on the design, features and overall app performance. This allows you to know the general opinion of the users regarding your product, and to make improvements before its formal launch.
Most businesses tend to launch a beta-testing program for this purpose.
- App Launch And Maintenance:
After you have tested your application, you are all set to launch your app in the market. While this step completes the process to make an app, you then enter an endless phase of app maintenance where, depending upon the requirements, you would frequently have to update your app.
How To Create An App From Scratch
When you have your application’s prerequisites listed with you, and you know your target audience as well your rival applications, it’s now time to start creating your own app.
Usually, most app owners tend to create app either for iOS or Android operating system. While there also exist numerous other mobile platforms, Android and iOS are the most used ones. Therefore, your application should also necessarily target either one or both of these platforms.
Nonetheless, regardless of whichever platform you choose, the basic steps to developing your application remain the same. Here’s how to create a mobile app from scratch.
Steps To Create An App
When it comes to building mobile applications, the process begins with creating an app design. Once you finalize the visual appearance, you can then bring your app to life by adding codes to it.
The goal here is to create mobile application that is visually pleasing, offers incredible features, is easy to use for all targeted users, and is flexible to handle updates. Your app will only bypass the rivals when it has everything best to offer without making the users feel bored.
Create A Wireframe:
The first step to materialize your idea is to create a wireframe for your app. It lets you decide how your app will look on the basis of the draft you prepared earlier.
Think of wireframing as the ‘blueprint’ that draws the foundation of your application. It is a rough sketch of every page you wish to have in your app. You do not have to be conscious of color schemes or logos at this point. Rather, with wireframe, you make decisions regarding the placement of icons, logos, features and options to appear on various screens. Creating detailed wireframes eventually helps you design your app well in the later stages.
You can find plenty of tools online that create amazing wireframes, such as Axure, iPlotz, and Pidoco.
Develop Mockups:
After completing the wireframing, review what you have sketched for any changes. Once you finalize the wireframe, the next step is to make an app mockup.
Think of mockups as screenshots of a working app. In this phase, you have to finalize the color schemes, icons, logos, and all other design features contributing to the actual look of your app. Thus, mockups constitute a crucial part of designing.
Develop App Prototype:
Following the mockups, you will move on to create a working prototype of the application. Prototypes let you develop the user interface and check the entire app design in real-time. Although, this stage is not suitable for making major design changes. Yet, you can still decide about any updates needed in app design and performance.
Finalize The Visual Design
When you successfully create an app prototype, you are now set to finalize the visual design for the actual application. This is the last step of designing an application where the designer makes use of all skills to build an impressive application from both technical as well as a user’s perspective.
Frontend And Backend Development
Once you complete the design phase, the next step is to build an app around that design, that is, the frontend and backend development.
Frontend development means you have to create the components and app interface to which a user will interact. It includes adding navigation, scrolling, icon appearance, clicks, the addition of plugins, graphics and animation, and the overall data processing features to the app design.
Whereas, with backend development, you work on all those features that drive the core of your app but never directly interact with the users. Things demanding your attention at this point include database setup, data storage, security, networking and user management.
When it comes to app development, most developers remain confused about whether to build the frontend first or the backend. While working on frontend seems easy, building the backend first is generally beneficial. It allows you to lay down the core of your application that will eventually guide you about how to create a mobile app efficiently.
Although, it may sound a bit limiting for the overall UI. However, if you have thoroughly worked in creating wireframes and mockups, you can easily envisage the UI even when developing the back-end first.
However, if you work on the frontend first, though you can succeed in developing a nice design, you will face problems if you intend to add any extra functionality in the backend later.
Numerous services exist online offering tremendous backend support, such as Firebase, Parse, and Kinvey. Therefore, developing backend no more remains a problem.
How To Build An App Without Having Programming Knowledge
Earlier, developing mobile applications used to be a skill limited to programmers only. However, with time, businesses started realizing the importance of having an application for their brands. Hence, this field witnessed an influx of numerous non-programmers willing to launch their own apps.
Fortunately, there now exists plenty of options for everyone to build an app of their own. If you have a nice app idea, you can easily materialize it as a viable mobile application that not only earns you fame but also ensures sufficient ROI.
Let’s take a look at what options you can choose.
Create Your Own Team Of App Makers
One of the easiest ways to get your app designed in a short time is to make your own team. This is particularly useful for those who plan for a one-time investment in app development. It allows you to choose the designers and developers having your preferred skillset, from your desired location, and matching your budget limitations. Besides, if you ensure smooth communication, you can also get your work done in a relatively much shorter time.
However, working with freelancers can become a problem due to language barriers and time-zone differences. Also, most new freelancers are too naïve to understand how to make apps in view of your requirements. Hence, make sure you choose only those freelancers who have a proven portfolio, good reviews, and can manage smooth communication.
Hire An Application Development Agency
If you are planning to create an application as part of your business and wish to maintain it for long, perhaps, it is better to go for a professional app development agency. Although, it is the costliest of all options and may take longer to create an app for you. Nonetheless, since these companies specialize in software and application development, you can certainly expect a quality product to receive from them.
Use Online App Builder Tools
Owing to the increase in the number of mobile applications, and the growing interest of people in creating their own apps, there now exists several robust online app builder tools as a convenient alternative. Similar to website builders, app builders are online software that allow you to make an app from scratch.
These tools can manage the entire app building process right from the wireframing to the delivery of a developed application. They offer various design templates and DIY automated processes to generate an app without codes.
Online application builders work wonders even if you have no technical knowledge about how to build a mobile app. To use these tools, you just have to have a creative mind and the passion to make something on your own.
Certainly, for small businesses, individuals and those wanting to develop an information-based application, these DIY app builder tools, such as MobileRoadie, are a perfect choice.
Average Cost To Make An App
Now that you know the various options to develop an application, you must also estimate an approximate cost for it before beginning. Otherwise, you may have to bear with a major increase in the budget kept aside for app building.
In general, the average cost to build mobile applications is quite variable based on the following factors.
Choice Of App Developer
As explained above, making an app through a DIY app builder tool is quite budget-friendly. Whereas, hiring professional application development agencies may cost you a fortune.
Likewise, the cost of app development also varies with the location of the designer. If you are hiring a freelancer team from developing regions such as Pakistan, India, or Bangladesh, you may get your work done against charges of $10-$50/hour. Whereas, those based in advanced countries such as the USA, UK, or Australia, you will have to pay around $50-$300/hour.
App Features And Complexity
The average cost to create mobile app also depends on the features and complexity of your app. Simple applications that offer limited features, have a simple design, and target one platform only (either iOS or Android) cost fewer bucks. For instance, building a calculator app may cost you around $50,000.
Whereas the applications targeting a broader audience, supporting more than one platform (such as both iOS and Android) and involving lots of graphics, animations, and transitions cost more.
For example, if you want to create an app that ensures greater user engagement with push notifications invitations and data syncing, you may have to spend about $100,000 to $300,000.
Similarly, developing complex social applications like Facebook and Instagram that offer much more functionalities and require robust security usually cost around $150,000 to $500,000. Whereas the cost for building e-commerce apps starts from $200,000 up to $1,000,000 or even more.
What Is The Best Way To Create An App?
Perhaps, after the entire discussion, you may be looking for a straightforward recommendation regarding the best method for app creation. However, it is a question that has no finite answer!
It is because designating a certain way as ‘best’ for app development entirely depends on your requirements and budget limitations. If you are a growing entrepreneur, want to have an app as a promotion for your main business, or are looking for a mediocre level app-building facility within a constrained budget, you can go for DIY app builders. These tools are also suitable for hobbyist app owners who merely want to monetize their apps as a side business.
However, for larger businesses looking for creating applications for every brand they own, want to build a robust connection with the customers, would need to frequently collaborate with app designers and developers in future, and can afford to spare a large amount for this purpose, hiring a professional agency is more suitable.
Conclusion
There is no right time to make an app. If you have a nice idea, then now is the time to start your venture.
Don’t worry about the growing competition or the saturation in the app market. If you develop your application in the right way, offer great features, target the right audience and abide by the guidelines of App Store or Play Store, you will surely attract more users and gain more popularity then your rivals.
All it takes to create a thriving app is the passion to make something useful, the selection of the right way to develop your app, and thorough market research.
Good luck!
You also might be interested in “Best Wedding Apps” or just start building your own app now :)