Creating a custom app
In these day and age there are many articles that talk about how to create an app. Many of them come from template-based softwares that explain how to create an app with his tool.
Here we will focus on how to create an app that needs a custom development. And, as if you had crossed the door of our office, I will ask you questions so that you can mentally organize how to create an app that fits your idea. And I will give you some basic tips to create a good mobile application.
How to create an app. Point 1. Are you sure that what you need is an app?
Before we even begin to consider how to create an app that works, we must stop to think if the answer to our idea is an app. We are all struck by mobile applications, they are attractive and easy to use but this technological dream should not blind us.
Every day thousands of mobile applications are downloaded and then not use again, and we do not want that to happen with the one we have in our hands. The mobile application must first solve a user problem, and secondly be the natural habitat to develop your idea for its singularities (geolocation, place of use, reiteration, accessibility etc).
Therefore, the application must be a means to get your product works but not an end. We will sincerely advise you on this point, and if your project fits better on a website for example, we will tell you. The important thing is that your product is a success.
How to create an app. Point 2. What do you need the app to do?
The range of possibilities at the beginning of the “how to create an app” process is immense. That’s why we always advise to address the most basic functions first.
The investment should go to what really matters and not waste resources on secondary things that may not be used later.
This point is very important, we cannot know what the app will cost without knowing what its complexity is.
Define who the app is aimed at and on which devices it will be available. Think about on what operating systems you need it works and go to the next step: take pencil and paper! Draw the screens that your application will need and what can be done in each of them. Here you will realize the functionalities that your app could not do without.
When you have made the screens you can start to prepare the list of the needs of your app, in the simplest way possible explained from the user’s point of view. For example: initial view, login, push notifications and within them what can I do as a user of the app.
We can sit with you and perform a consultancy work to define the project and not have to worry about anything, so you can have clearer the cost of your application.
How to create an app. Point 3. Do you already have a brand? Do you have the design in mind?
How to create an app without a design that impacts? If you already have a brand created, it will be interesting to share with us your logo and corporate colors. Maybe even if it is not created, you do have an idea of the image you want to convey. All these details will be very important for the design team to get it right. All the previous steps are essential to get to this point.
The designer of the application will present one or several proposals to the client who can already see the screens of his future app and see how to create an app is not as simple as it seemed at first. The designer will also take into account everything that we have decided before and adapt the design to the screens sizes, taking into account all the functionalities that we have specified.
The design team, on the other hand must address the most visual part. They will put in the shoes of the user to offer you the best experience.
How to create an app. Point 4. How do you need the development to be? Do you have in mind a date for the launch of the app?
The ideal development team should be as flexible as possible to adapt to your times. If the app needs to be published in a short space of time, a larger initial investment will be required for several developers to run for example the iOS app and the Android app in parallel. Otherwise we can lengthen the development process by making an app first and then the other. This decision can also be strategic, because it may be useful to have feedback from one of the two operating systems before starting the development of the second.
Do you need a custom development? If you want to know how to create a custom app, the answer is native development. In this case, a mobile application for iOS and another app for Android will be created, using the native programming languages recommended by these operating systems.
At Mobivery we are experts in creating custom mobile developments, to create unique mobile applications and solve the specific demands of our customers.
How to create an app. Point 5. How do you plan to promote the app?
From the first moment you have to put into value the promotion of the app from its upload into the stores. How to create an app that is well positioned in the ranking of stores? From our experience, we know that the birth of the mobile application does not occur with the end of the development stage. Although the code is ready to run, we must prepare the ground so that the app can be located and positioned successfully in the App Store and Google Play.
At this point to start we must use the ASO (App Store Optimization) in our favor. You have to take into account the rules of each application store to describe the app, choose your category correctly and use attractive images that illustrate the content of the application.
Once we have the application in the stores, and if the app was created in order to achieve a large mass of users, we must focus on advertising. Creating a landing page with direct links to the download, using social networks, advertising in app and investing in Adwords campaigns are some suggestions to publicize your app. Now we could go back to the beginning, because this point is as important as development and you will have to take it into account in your initial budget.
Leave it in our hands, you will see how to create an app with the expert Mobivery team will make the process easier.
