We are all witness to the increasing number of Android smartphone users who have begun to rely on many apps in their daily lives heavily. For this reason, businesses today are eager to supplement their offerings with the help of their very own Android apps. If you are the owner or representative of one of many such businesses, we bring you a brief yet comprehensive guide to Android app development.
How do you go about launching an Android app? Is there any way to guarantee that your app will be perfect for use when it is ready? While one can never say that a certain app will be an immediate success upon its launch, there are specific steps you can take to ensure that the development process is smooth and flawless.
Let us go over the six steps involved in the typical development lifecycle for Android apps. We highly recommend that you follow these when investing in app development for Android.
1. Planning
This is the first step to custom Android app development. It is critical but often ignored or not paid much attention to. This is where your development plans take shape by your goals, which are also clearly defined in this phase. Therefore, this is where you would want to invest most of your energy and effort.
As a client, you must think about what you want to do with your plans for an Android app. Why do you want an app for your business? Do you need it? Who are you going to target with the app? Which business goals are you trying to achieve with this venture? Are you ready to invest your valuable resources into this initiative? Then, you need to analyze the app itself. What is it going to do? What features and functionalities are going to be a part of it? Exactly how much time and money are you willing to spend?
It is also here that you should think about who will develop your app for you. Are you going to do it yourself, given that you have the time, energy, and, most importantly, the knowledge and skills required for app development for Android devices? Perhaps you have an in-house tech team who can manage it independently. If you do not have the resources available, you can always look into outsourcing the project to a third party. Do you want to trust a freelancer with your project? If you would like to partner with a seasoned Android app development company, the UK, US, UAE, or other developed countries are some great locations you can outsource to. However, location also influences development costs. For example, hiring resources for Android app development in the UK would cost you much higher than in Ukraine. Which location would your budget allow you to choose?
Once you have chosen an in-house team, freelancer, or Android app development company, you need to communicate all your goals and expectations that you set in the first half of this step so that you are both on the same page. Next, you and your software partner will sit together and plan out exactly what the timelines and respective expenditures will be for the various modules of your app. Once the planning stage is complete, the project progresses.
2. Design
The next step to developing your app will involve working on its design. It is essential to discuss what you want your app to look like and plan the various interactions you intend for the end-users to have.
App design deals with the different aesthetic aspects of the app. At this stage, you also figure out the flow of your app and how a user will navigate through it to carry out each function it is intended to perform. The design elements you incorporate into your app should facilitate the user while using the app. As an experienced Android app development company, we have had many of our clients bring some wireframes or sketches that they designed themselves. However, there is no reason to worry if you cannot do that. With the help of your initial requirements, further input, and feedback, the UI and UX designers can come up with not just sketches but even high-fidelity wireframes. You can even request working prototypes to have a more accurate idea about the shape and form your app will take in the next stage of development.
3. Development
With this step begins the actual Android app development process. The programmers will now translate all your big ideas into a working application. Suitable programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and architectures are chosen. For quality app development, Android developers with appropriate experience and skill levels are selected to write the many lines of code that will make your application do the work it is meant to do.
4. Testing
Quality assurance and testing is a critical step in custom Android app development, and it plays a crucial role in determining the success of your app. If your app fails to offer the users a flawless experience right after its release, they may grow apprehensive of your brand name and lose trust in your business. This might even lead them to a competitor brand. Getting such a customer back would be near impossible. Therefore, you cannot release your Android app until it is 100% free of bugs and glitches.
Professional testers and quality assurance engineers may have to conduct many tests to ensure the app works exactly as it should.
5. Launch
Once the developers and testers have collaborated and fixed all issues in your app, it will be ready for launch. After completing this exhaustive app development process, Android apps are usually launched on the Google Play store. Millions of Android device users can download your app for free or for a price set.
6. Support & Maintenance
Most clients who do not have internal IT teams require post-launch support services from their development partner. If the end-users run into any issues, the support team can help listen to their complaints and resolve them swiftly. If you plan to enhance your app with additional features and functionalities over the years, you can also subscribe to a suitable maintenance package for the long run.