So you want to make mobile apps now. You studied how to code, followed lots of online tutorials, and are ready to make your idea of the next Instagram or Snapchat come to life. But wait, you need to think about a few things first. You need to consider the following things so that you can begin to create your app.
Concept and Goals
You need to specify the concept of your app. You need to define what you aim to solve with the app. This, in turn, will lead you to think of what the app should have as its goals. In this part, you will also need to research whether your app idea has been implemented or not. You can aim to create a unique app or build upon another app and improve it. This will further enhance your app’s concept.
Audience
Your app will be used by people other than you. Hence, after defining your goals, you need to pinpoint your target audience exactly. When you see a clear image of your app’s user, you can begin to take note of special considerations for them. The more specific your audience is, the better your app specifications will be since they will also become very specific.
Design and User Interface/Experience
Your app idea can save world hunger, but if it looks ugly and hard to use, it will never reach enough audience. The best mobile apps often did not pioneer in their field, but they made their niche easier to access. By putting the user experience first, you make sure that the users will enjoy their time using your app. An appealing design and a well-thought-out user interface will help you attain this.
Supported Platforms
There are two major mobile operating systems you can develop for Android and iOS. You might have thought of this already when you were studying how to code. As you will soon notice, the operating system you choose largely defines the constraints of the technicalities of your app. Although you can develop for both platforms nowadays, there can still be OS-specific considerations that you have to take.
The Technical Details
After all these deliberations, you can start thinking about the technical details of your app. The structure of your code, the APIs you will use, the features you will need to implement start to come out here. You might need to use a database to store information, or a sitekit to get location data, or you might need to implement e-payment methods. This process should become significantly easier if you followed everything before this.
Conclusion
Mobile apps have become integral to people’s lives. As a developer, the true end-goal, hence, is to improve people’s lives. This might be easy to forget, with all the technical thinking that app development entails. However, these considerations should help you stay in track of the vision you have for your app. By putting a bit more effort in conceptualizing your app, not only will it hasten your workflow, but it will make your app very user-centric, hence a better app.
