Developing a Mobile App: The Process Explained

We’ve all seen mobile apps that hit the critical mass and exploded with massive downloads off of the iTunes and the Google Play App Stores. Who could forget Pokémon GO, Angry Birds, and Flappy Bird. Have you ever had an amazing app idea that you know that would crush it, but didn’t act on designing and developing it, because you just didn’t know how or where to begin? Ever wondered what the mobile app design and development process looks like? There are many businesses and entrepreneurs that could significantly benefit from having a mobile app designed specifically for their businesses, however, they’re in the dark with respect to where to begin.

In this article, you will get a better understanding of what factors to consider if you’re just about ready to move forward with your brilliant app idea. I've also summarized what a typical engagement with an app development agency looks like.

These are a few things that you should consider before reaching out to an App Development Agency:

• Know thy target market. This will enable you to strategize how to best position your app idea from not only the UX design aspect, but also at the marketing level.
• Storyboarding and functionalities. It’s good practice to storyboard your idea before coming up with the design, in order to have a strong sense of what functionalities you want to offer the users of your app. Have a strong understanding of your deliverables, objectives, and goals.
• Preliminary wireframes or hand drawn design. This will enable you to better visualize what the end product may look like. InVision is a popular tool that UX/UI Designers use to mock-up and prototype the design of the app.
• Operating System. Which Operating System do you want your app to be developed in? iOS or Android? Or Both? iOS apps are placed on the market via iTunes, and Android apps are placed in the Google Play Store.
• Type of App. Do you require a native app - iOS or Android? A hybrid app? Or a web app? Be sure to educate yourself on the differences before marking your decision.
• Budget/Capital. Ensure that you either have a budget or you have raised capital. Most development agency’s charge an hourly fee, and the overall cost will depend on your design and development requirements and objectives.
• Time. Taking your idea to fruition takes time. You’ll need to be quite heavily involved in the design and development process.
• Selection Criteria. Make note of what factors will be important to you, when selecting an Agency. This can include, UX/UI Design and development experience level, business background (i.e. number of years in business and financial stability), quality, expertise, ability to come through on as many of your stated deliverables as possible, quality of communication, and agile project management processes.

Below is a list of the typical stages involved when engaging with an App Development Agency:

1. Initial Consultation. It’s important early on to try and engage with the UX/UI design and development team, either in person or on the phone, to get an idea of their skill sets, if they are able to come through with delivering on your project idea, as well as if there is a good fit for the project. A discovery/scoping session to determine your goals, objectives, and deliverables typically occur at this stage.
2. Proposal/Quote. Based on the initial consultation and discovery/scoping session, the Agency will draft a Proposal/Quote that details the project details, and estimated timelines and budget costs.
3. Negotiations/Signing. Once you have chosen an Agency to work with, or narrowed down the options, you’ll typically get into the Negotiations stage with the Agency to determine which firm offers you the best options for you. Sometimes a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is required, to protect your idea. The contract may be time-based or a fixed fee model.
4. Wireframing. Once you’ve signed a contract, the next stage usually entails wireframing. A wireframe is essentially a screen blueprint that makes up the framework of the app, and it typically lacks the colors, typographic style, or graphics.
5. Designing. After the wireframes have been completed, the next stage is the design phase. Here, the designer will present the client with mock ups in .psd files, and the client will be given the opportunity to confirm on the logo, colors, fonts, and styling. Once the design has been confirmed, the finalized design gets passed onto the developers/programmers in the development phase.
6. Development. This is the stage where the coding and programming takes place. The programming language used will depend on whether it's for an iOS app, Android app, hybrid app, or a web app. It is important that the design and development phases follow good project management processes to ensure that the project is kept on time and budget.
7. QA Testing. This step is important to ensure that adequate beta and QA testing is performed to ensure that there are no bugs and that the app functions the way that it should on different mobile devices and versions.
8. Launch. It’s come to that exciting time to launch your iOS app onto iTunes and/or Android app onto Google Play Store. Here is a great article from Mashable that provides 15 Tips for Launching a Successful Mobile App. Here’s an article of How to put your Android app in Google Play.
9. Post-launch. It’s important at this stage to receive feedback from your users of how to improve the app for future updates.

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