How to Make a Smartphone App: Your Development Guide

For more than eight years, the Magora team has been providing customers with powerful and sophisticated applications for smartphones and tablets. Today we’re ready to explain the key points of how to make a smartphone app successful.

Case Studies

Three Ways to Make a Smartphone App

Our team wishes to present a simple development, presenting the tools, techniques and programming languages necessary to make smartphone apps. Several options are available if you want to make software for smartphones:

Learn how to code;
Use DIY websites and software;
Hire a professional development agency.

How to Code you First Smartphone App?

If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to live creative ideas with your own resources and skills, you may want to learn how to make software, the process itself, and acquire coding skills - that is, how to make your own applications on your own. Be ready to go through the whole development process:

Define a goal
Sketch ideas
Conduct research
Think over and define the functionality
Wireframe
Check your architecture

Design the appearance
Implement the coding
Test the app
Modify and adjust
Perform beta testing
Release your app

The Web provides many sources of information on this subject, letting you discover all aspects of the development process. Each of them will help you make the initial configuration and teach you about the basic tools, the design policies of different platforms, the framework etc. With the help of these guidelines, you can make a simple app from scratch and send it to a store. With this option in mind, you must consider the time and effort necessary for the learning process.

Our Achievements:

322 App Development Projects

413 Mobile Applications

75 Enterprise Software Solutions

A Set of Tools for Work

The toolkit of a typical programmer often consists of the following things: Atom, Sublime 3 or just simply the Notepad ++. We recommend trying SublimeText - this particular editor is paid software, but a trial version is good enough to begin with.

What Tools are Needed to Develop iOS Apps?

Native applications for iPhone, iPad or iPod can only be written with the help of the Objective-C or Swift programming language. However, knowledge of this language is not sufficient to make an app.

First, programming in Swift or Objective-C requires Apple development tools that only run this iOS operating system.
Next, the Apple IDE (Integrated Development Environment) Xcode is required. This is designed for Mac OS X. To use Mac OS X, you need to use a Mac or install OS X on your computer. The Xcode IDE is a graphical interface that provides a complete set of tools for making applications on the iOS platform, including interface builders, testing tools and asset management toolkits, which you can download for free from the official site.
The iOS SDK (Software Development Kit) also includes a variety of APIs and frameworks providing access to additional features that enhance those already available. It includes class information, a methodology document and code examples that show each method and class. It helps developers to implement features such as Siri, Notifications, Maps, Touch ID, social networks etc.
Finally, to use all the privileges offered by Apple and have the opportunity to publish software products in the App Store, you must become a member of the Apple Developer Program. This membership provides you with more tools and resources.

Apple's Guidelines

Since Apple is known for harsh criticism and rejects many applications of all kinds during the presentation stage, you should know what is and is not allowed according to Apple guidelines before starting the project. If you don’t follow their instructions, you risk wasting time on something Apple won’t publish. First, understand the human interface guidelines, which are a series of recommendations that will help improve the user experience and provide an intuitive and consistent design. Next, you will navigate through the review process and review the guidelines to avoid rejection. Common reasons for blocking approval are code errors, incomplete information, broken links, adult content, etc. Therefore, developers should pay special attention to the quality and content of the program. Finally, keep in mind that there are guidelines to help you learn about how to integrate them by studying the iOS API.

Writing Android Programs

The programming languages that are applicable for developing Android programs and libraries are Visual C #, C ++ and of course Java. Preference is given specifically to Java, since using this language you can easily develop all kinds of software, and the cross-platform approach will offer even more advantages at both the programming and publishing stages of the project. How does the development process for Android go? Let's outline a few basics:

In Java files, you describe the logic of the program - what you want your application to do.
In XML files, you develop layouts - appearance.
Once the application is written, you need to use the assembly tool to compile all the files and package them together into an .apk file that can be run on Android devices and / or published on Google Play.
All utilities and files that are used to make an app for Android, are integrated into an integrated development environment (IDE). IDE is a program that you open to edit your code files, as well as compilation and startup.

Earlier, the standard IDE for Android programming was Eclipse, but now it has been replaced by a more functional Android Studio - Google's product.

Invite Beta Testers

You can evaluate your performance and the user experience, even if you try to code, and see whether it looks perfect. Therefore, it is good to have someone who can verify the code and test the behavior of the app. As a member of the Apple Developer Program, developers can use TestFlight to invite beta testers through an email address. You can run the beta program by simply downloading the TestFlight app. Another thing you can do to create a condition for collaboration is to register with GitHub and link Xcode so that other team members can access and view the work.

How to Make an App without Coding Skills?

To target smartphone users, you do not need to know how to code, you need to use the DIY platform in the WYSIWYG editor. DIY platforms such as Appy Pie, GoodBarber, AppMakr, etc. they provide a simple function app generator. Therefore, if you are a small business owner and your budget is very limited, and you need to make a simple smartphone app for advertising purposes, this option can be a savior. App makers can even create cross-platform applications that cover all major platforms, such as Android, iOS, Windows and even offer the opportunity to enter the smartphone market with a universal solution. DIY solutions does not require coding skills, it takes about an hour to make a program for smartphones. It works with templates and function buttons, and users can design and integrate necessary functions by clicking. The biggest advantage of app makers is the development and maintenance costs, which generally does not exceed $ 100 per month.

Disadvantages of using DIY software

Information technology advances us, allowing anyone to create software solutions for smartphones and tablets, without any specialised skills, but this is only theoretically wonderful. In practice, people face many shortcomings in this solution and regret the time and money spent.

App authors can not perform powerful functional integration that provides only a limited list of available functions. Normally, the DIY site provides only basic functions that make only simple and useful programs for smartphones.

The level of customisation is quite low. The template design does not let you make your own user interface and only provides standard solutions. Personalisation will only apply to images and content uploaded. Many app manufacturers must pay an additional fee to eliminate vendor brands and intrusion ads.

You can not boast that an app made on the DIY site is protected and secure. The development of programs with an app creator can generate unsafe solutions and solutions of intolerance to failures that are blocked as soon as they are downloaded.

A cross-platform solution can not be a patch in a native app in every way, from user experience to performance. Even experienced developers have difficulty achieving an intuitive and buggy user experience among many different smartphones, especially on some operating systems. As a result, template creators often can not guarantee a user experience without errors, so it is often not possible to provide real solutions.

Finally, applications made on the DIY platform are not intended to generate investment returns. If you want to make a profit, you must provide users with highly usable apps. In other words, a unique and outstanding design is required, it is necessary to improve the function and exhibit good performance. The DIY site still can not offer such products.

Start the Project with the Development Company

So, how to make a smartphone app without coding skills and minimise risks? It seems obvious, but you should rely on experts who have been involved in the development of mobile applications for years and who are proud of their success stories. Software development requires technical skills and experience, practical and proven technology, experience and knowledge of the industry. Magora, as a professional development company, offers all these skills and abilities.

We understand the needs of users and know how to satisfy them.
An experienced UI / UX designers guarantee a unique and personalised interface design that implements the business visual identity.
An expert team of programmers, web server backup provides robust operation.
A dedicated team of experts will provide quality assurance for the first class smartphone products.

The main disadvantage of hiring an app development company is the cost of development, but keep in mind that only a high-quality product will be able to improve your business efficiency and productivity, so a smartphone app made by a professional team like ours will be a cost-effective solution in the long run.

Collaborate with our Team!

Our experience in the development of smartphone applications is highly appreciated in the mobile industry. For more than eight years, we have worked with small and large companies, offered innovative solutions and made strong ties with clients. We have a deep vision of the industry and we know how to acquire customers. Call us and ask questions and tell us about the project. We are always ready to help.

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