The Main Stages of Mobile Application Development
It is hard to imagine the modern world without mobile applications because they are an integral part of our daily lives. From online shopping to fitness trackers and educational platforms, mobile solutions help users solve a variety of problems. However, the process of developing an application is a complex and multifaceted path that requires not only technical skill but also a deep understanding of the needs of the target audience. To create a truly unique solution, an individual approach is needed, and such market players as Implex – custom app development company, help in the implementation of bold ideas.
What Types of Applications Are There?
An application with 3-5 main functions, a personal account, and a server part are classified as mid-level applications. They can support authorization via social networks, integrate with payment systems, have a feedback function, a loyalty system with ratings and the ability to leave a review. For example, these are chatbots, promo applications, and booking systems.
Complex applications include multifunctional and high-load applications that consist of 5-10 functions and have about 15-30 screens. They can contain complex animation and integrate with various third-party services.
How The Volume of Work Is Formed
Work on creating a mobile application consists of certain stages: clarifying requirements, prototyping, design, development, and testing. Regardless of whether the application is complex or simple, work on it goes through all stages. Only a simple application moves faster from stage to stage, since fewer hours of specialists are spent on its development. Let’s take a closer look at what each stage is.
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Analytics
The analytics stage is divided into two large tasks – drawing up a technical task and preparing a prototype.
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Technical Task
The implementation of any software solution, including a mobile application, begins with clarifying the requirements. For these purposes, there is a technical task or Product Vision, which helps to predict future functionality and consider the product in the long term.
The technical task is needed to record the requirements for the future application. The technical task is a guideline for developers and designers who will bring the customer’s idea to life. It describes the functions that will be in the application, requirements for the interface, performance, and security.
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Prototyping
At this stage, application page layouts are created – prototypes. They represent a layout of the content on the screen and show the functionality and the user’s path in the application.
In addition to static prototypes, there are also clickable prototypes. A clickable prototype is a visualization of the future application. It allows you to see what the application will look like, and try it in action. At the same time, programming is not used to create it.
A prototype helps to go through the user’s path and evaluate whether it is convenient to interact with the application, understand what prevents them from performing the target action, and how this can be fixed. You can analyze the entire functionality of the product, and go through the main user scenarios. A prototype helps to more accurately estimate the budget, development time, and complexity of implementation.
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Design
At this stage, UX and UI design are developed. The main task is to make the application easy to interact with, so that users can easily achieve their goals and so that it looks visually pleasing. If UX design is responsible for the internal structure, logic of operation, and functionality of the application, then UI design is the appearance of the application: color palette, fonts, images, and animations.
The design stage can also be carried out in different ways. It happens that the client already has a corporate style, and then the future design of the application will need to be created on its basis. And it happens that there is no corporate style. Then it will first need to be created, and then the application design will be developed on its basis. This, naturally, affects the cost of the project.
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Application Development
The development time and budget depend on whether it is native or cross-platform. The difference is that with native, the code is written in different programming languages, separately for iOS and separately for Android. With cross-platform, one code is written that will work on both platforms at once.
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Server Part of The Application
There are applications where the development of the server part requires a lot of effort and time. For example, this happens when developing instant messengers, social networks and other applications with a complex structure and high load.
The peculiarity of the server part is that it must work quickly in real time and display correct information. Also, in addition to a large amount of information, it stores personal data of users, therefore, it is necessary to ensure their protection.
Working with the server part greatly depends on the tasks and features of the application, so it can take from 1 to 4 months.
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Testing
After development, the testing stage begins. Before the application gets to the end user, it must be tested.
When creating an application, user experience scenarios are developed, but in life with real users, everything may not go according to plan. Therefore, testers check how the application behaves in different situations. So, they try to break it to find errors in the code and fix them before release.
Once the app is developed and tested, it is published in stores. In addition, after the release, the app needs to be kept up to date, as iOS and Android are constantly updated.
Final Thoughts
Custom mobile and web development is a step-by-step process that requires proper planning, high-quality implementation, and constant analysis. From the initial idea to publication on digital platforms, each stage plays an important role in creating a successful product. Collaboration with professional teams such as Implex — application development company, allows you to optimize this process and create a solution that will satisfy user needs and bring success to your business. The company also specializes in providing web development services, creating AI-powered products, and UX/UI development.
