Mobile Software Development: Key Steps to Success

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Mobile software development has one key difference when compared with web app creation: it’s designed to meet the needs of mobile device users. Such apps and systems are usually created separately for iOS and Android devices. These mobile applications are called native. Designed for a particular operating system, such programs can demonstrate the advantages of unique functionality,
Those mobile solutions designed jointly for both platforms are called cross-platform mobile apps. Despite the difference in technical standards, the main principles of mobile development are the same. These are described below.
While each software application starts with one central idea, your initial concept may not be enough to create a product. To complete it, you need to set the target group, identify all the key
You will need to outline your ideal software and how it should work within the perspective of several years.
This is what should be done during the ideation phase.
Instead of starting from the design stage, take the time to conduct fully-fledged market research. By doing this in the beginning, you’ll have a firm foothold that will prove useful for you and your
Some guidelines for current market research include the following:
In the context of market research and the validation of ideas, check out our article outlining how to validate your startup idea and get better results.
If your digital product is intended for internal use, you won’t have to go through most of the validation strategies described above - though you’ll still need to understand your daily workflow and be able to discuss it with stakeholders and potential users.
Once you’ve verified your ideas and learned about your competitors and the target market, you can continue to identify the intended features and functionality of your mobile software based on your business goals.
It is also helpful at this stage to detail and
Don’t use too many features to expand the program - take a simple approach and use market insight to keep it focused.
You should also be following software development trends at this stage. For example, if you’re designing a mobile application in 2018, you should consider things like streaming apps, progressive web applications or AR / VR-enabled software.
At the end of this process, you must determine the scope of work and how much of the development will be done internally.
Depending on your budget and project scope, the design phase may be implemented as a basic design, as an implementation of corporate standards with mid-level
We recommend creating a general concept (MVP) with a basic design and testing it on the market. Later, you can polish the software
This is when you begin to
First outline how users will interact with different features and screens. You should also create a user journey and describe it in detail.
Ask these questions when creating a mobile user journey:
Once you have this information, use a pen and paper (or wireframe tools like Balsamiq) to create a wireframe of the mobile screen’s intended appearance.
Here's the wireframing you should do:
If you want to be as realistic as possible, download sample screens for different mobile devices and platforms.
Wireframes and storyboards provide information about the backends required to support your mobile software’s capabilities.
Depending on the features you need, your primary and secondary goals will be to reduce the API, push notification services, analysis tools, user engagement platforms
You'll also know if your system can be hosted on an off-the-shelf mobile backend or should be built from scratch.
At this stage, you may need to modify the wireframe or storyboard if faced with technical limitations.
After completing the wireframe, it's time to create a high-fidelity interactive prototype. This provides stakeholders with a first glance at your project and helps you verify the information you collect.
You should have your prototypes tested by potential users and correct any errors present at this stage, as well as solving UI / UX problems they pose.
Your programmers can then use the prototype to begin development.
There are many tools, such as InVision, Marvel, Origami, Justinmind, and Proto.io
This article details the need for prototypes in the development process.
Your developers can use platforms like Shopgate,
As development progresses, the software goes through several phases.
In this regard, you must set up a developer account for the store where you plan to publish your software.
At this stage, you should consider a variety of factors, such as form factor, multitasking, and operating system fragmentation. If features and functionality are not compatible with most smartphones, it does not make sense to integrate them.
Developers should keep resource restrictions on mobile devices in mind and write code for the mobile software that won’t overload the user’s processor or memory.
We use agile development methods throughout this stage of the mobile software development cycle.
When it comes to mobile software development, it’s a good idea to test early and often.
This will keep your final costs down. The further into the development cycle a bug appears, the more expensive it is to fix.
When building multiple test cases, always refer to the original planning and design documents.
You should also restore previously deleted features in each version. Just because a feature is running on a trial version doesn’t mean it will work during testing of the following version.
At this stage there are different types of testing:
In addition to manual testing, your product should be tried on as many devices as possible. You can do this with tools like Testflight,
The launch stage of mobile software development is crucial to the success of your project. Without due attention to this step, all the hard work and money you put in will be lost.
The main goal of the launch phase is to get your software product into the hands of as many people as possible.
This step should include:
With 2.8 million apps on the Play Store and 2.2 million apps on the Apple App Store, creating high-quality software and a solid marketing strategy is the only guarantee of success.
However, with so much competition, your only chance of winning is following a robust mobile software development process implemented by professionals. If you’re planning your first development, it may take some time to familiarise yourself with the process, but our software development team is always here to help.