5 Stages of Mobile App Development Lifecycle
According to a research, smart phone users spend their 90% of the time which they spend on mobile, on using mobile apps. Average time people spend on their mobile app is also increasing fast. Many other research predict that this is the era of mobile apps and there is and will be a huge demand for innovative mobile apps.
Generally people go for either Android App development or iOS application development, as Android and iOS are the most popular platforms for building mobile apps right now. If you want to develop a new mobile app then you should first make a foolproof strategy and follow a proper mobile app development lifecycle. The mobile app development company requires to follow the latest trends, tools and technology to develop a mobile app. Now we will discuss about the various stages of mobile app development lifecycle.
l Birth of an Idea and Thorough Market Research
Every mobile application starts with a core idea. Initial idea is not enough to build an app which can easily make money or get large number of users. Hence you need to build an app which targets a large market and also specific users.
Generally this is what you should do during the ideation stage.
n Thorough market research
Before starting the design phase you should spend some time on doing thorough market research. This will set you on firm footing and give you and your investors confidence that your efforts will be worth doing. Some steps for market research at this stage include:-
l Choose and target specific user types
You should target a specific audience. For e.g. Your app can target students, professionals, businessmen or lawyers. With this strategy you can validate your app idea.
u Solve a Problem
If there is a problem, you can find an app for it. Mobile apps solve so many problems and due to this they get loyal users and customers. Key is to provide a solution to the problem in such a way that your can differentiate yourself from other competitors.
l Do Online Market Research
Search on the internet like Google, Quora, Crunchbase and other forums to do market research of your app idea.
u Use keywords
You can check the Google trends for a particular keyword which can give you insights about popular things and trends.
l Set App Objectives
After you have validated your idea and understood your market then you can establish the goals and objectives of your mobile app. Use the data collected in first phase to determine the uniqueness of your app that will differentiate it from similar other apps.
Also note down what results your users will get and the features which will be included in your app.
l Design
This phase includes Wireframes and storyboarding. Here you will start working on the look and feel of your app as you already know the features and outcomes of the app.
You can describe how users will interact with your app in terms of different functions and screens. Also create user journeys across your app.
Create wireframes of how your screen will look.
It is important to keep the main objective of the app in mind while laying out the screens.
Prototype design and testing
After you finish the wireframe, build an interactive and high fidelity prototype. This prototype will give first look of your app and will help you to validate your information.
Test prototype, fix any flaws and address UI/UX concerns.
Prototype is the base developers use to start building the actual app.
l Development
Your developers can use app development platform or set up the databases, APIs and servers as they start building the backend of app prototype. As the development progresses, the app will go through many phases like Alpha phase, Beta phase and release phase.
In alpha phase, the core functionality is present but not tested. The app can have bugs and non core functionality is not present. In beta phase, most of the proposed functionality has been incorporated. The app has been tested and bugs fixed, although some issues might remain. Now you can release the app to a select group of external users for more testing. When the bugs in the beta phase are fixed, the app will move to the release phase where it is ready for release. Now set up the developer accounts for the app stores where you want to publish your app.
Here important thing to note for developers is that they should write the code so that the app doesn’t put too much burden on the processor or memory as on mobile, resources are limited. Developers can use the Agile development methodologies in the development phase.
l Testing
It is always a good idea to test as early and often. Different mobile devices respond in different ways. The main goal in the testing phase is to break the stuff as much as possible so that you can fix it before making it live for customers.
You can refer to the original design and planning documents for writing various test cases. Retest app to test the features of the app.
Different types of testing include:-
u Usability testing
u Compatibility testing
u Interface testing
u Services testing
u Low level resource testing
u Performance testing
u Operational testing
u Security testing.
l Launch
This phase of the application development life cycle is important for the success of your app. The main objective is to get your app in the hands of as many users as possible.
This phase includes App store optimization, SEO, Creating Website or landing page, using mailing list, giving paid ads on Google, Facebook and Twitter, maintaining public relations with media and influencers.
Conclusion
Mobile app development actually doesn’t end at launch. Now you will get lots of feedbacks from the user and you should incorporate those feedbacks in the future versions of your app. If you are a new developer then it might take some time to get used to the app development process but as you will build many apps you will become expert in the app development process.
