5 Key Considerations in Mobile App Development Projects

When investing in mobile applications, you need to consider many things before you give the green light to the project. Even as mobile apps are now crucial to boost brand presence in any business, you don’t just hire mobile app developers and create one for your business. Like any investment decision, you need to think over many things first before funding the project.

According to Nielsen, the average mobile user has installed 41 apps from just 32 on their mobile device from 2011 to 2012. This figure is expected to rise further this year. The majority of smartphone users (85%) prefer using mobile apps over mobile websites because of their convenience, speed, and user-friendliness. What’s more, apps don’t give users problems than responsive sites.

But app users have also become less tolerant of inferior applications. A Compuware survey found that 79% of app users said they would only give an app only one or two more tries if it didn’t work as they expect on the first try. Only less than one-fourth (16%) of them said they would give an application more than two chances.

With these studies, you can see that while users have a penchant for installing an application on their handheld devices, they also expect that this software delivers outstanding performance and value. Anything less is doomed for getting uninstalled.

Mobile App Development Considerations

So before hiring a professional mobile app development agency to kick off your mobile app development project, you need to consider many factors first. Here are some of them:

Concept proofing

In software development, a proof of concept refers to an activity that will determine the feasibility of an idea. This will answer the question, “Will the application be a solution to a problem that users is currently facing?”

Not all businesses need to develop and manage a mobile app. For some companies, having an online presence on social media is enough, especially when you’re still at the startup phase. Instead of focusing on developing an application that can cost you a lot of money, you may need to delay the development of the application at a future date.

To gauge the likelihood of success of your application, you must know its purpose, your budget, your business requirements, and how useful and accessible it would be once you’ve launched it,

Target Audience

Having a brilliant idea for your app is not a guarantee for success. You first need to study your audience well and understand them thoroughly. Millennials are the top smartphone users according to Nielsen.   Many of app concepts only provide a solution to a specific task or functionality rather than a particular market. If you realize that the application you’re developing caters only to a small portion of your target audience (say enhancing brand awareness), you may invest in other methods like spending more on digital marketing or social media marketing than coming up with an application that only a few would download.

Mobile platform

Part of understanding your audience is finding out whether they are iOS or Android users. If you want to develop native mobile applications, you may need to focus on a particular platform that you should focus first. Each platform has its programming language (Swift or Objective-C for iOS and Java or Kotlin for Android). While modern technologies allow developers to build (hybrid) applications using cross-platform frameworks such as Ionic, Xamarin, and others, they might not run the features that you want your users to enjoy.

Don’t get me wrong; hybrid apps can be advantageous to a certain degree such as cost efficiency and ability to run in different platforms such as PCs. But if you want a more robust application, you need to consider developing native applications

So, aside from determining whether you concentrate on iOS or Android users, you should also consult with your mobile app developers in Orlando whether native apps or hybrid apps work best for your concept, given the features of your app and your budget.

Design

To make your application engaging to your audience, you should plan for a good design that would allow your users to easily consume your content and avail your service without getting frustrated in your app’s complicated user interface. Always consult with your mobile app development team on coming up with a great design, one that has simple navigation, readable text, high-quality photos, and regular customer service feature.

Security Issues

Data breaches are now getting more and more rampant. Almost every day, you can hear news of hackers gaining access to customer data from large companies. They can penetrate the database of your users and use their information such as bank accounts, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive details for their benefit.

As a business, you don’t want to compromise the privacy and information of your customers. You need to check if the mobile app developers you’ll hire have enough knowledge and skills in protecting the data of your users, If not, you may need to find others that can provide better data protection for your customers.

Investing in mobile apps should not be done in haste. You need thorough planning to avoid developing applications that would only frustrate your customers.