You have a great idea for a mobile app, but do you know what it will take to create it? Some ideas seem simple but are more complex than you might think.
How much development your app requires directly affects the cost. When you’re asking companies to develop a mobile app, you are, naturally, asking for a cost estimate. To figure that out, they need to know a lot more about your app: its purpose, your goals, features and more.
There are four types of apps: basic consumer, simple enterprise, medium enterprise, and complex enterprise. A simple app is your phone’s calculator, while the app you use to log in to your bank account is far more complicated, as are social media apps and many games. Apps that rely on basic tables are at the lower end, while apps that require a database require more development.
To determine how much development will go into your app, consider the following:
While the app’s features are a large part of mobile app development, other aspects of the construction process affect development time and costs. For example, the more complicated your app, the more project management time is required. Also, the team you select to build your app will affect the cost and development time. Cheaper services may promise a quick turnaround for a low price, but you often get what you pay for.
Mockup and testing are two other parts of app construction. Many people skip them to save money, and some app creators and companies segment these services so you can do just that. This allows them to offer you a lower estimate. However, both are critical to the success of your app.
Mockups and a full working prototype give you a complete look at your app before coding begins. These tools give you a sense of how each page and button appear and what happens when you click on things. During that process, you might discover flaws or realize buttons need to be moved for a better user experience. It’s much easier to make these changes before coding begins.
Testing, too, uncovers issues that may turn early customers away, dooming your launch and creating a backlog of fixes. Testers should use the app on different devices with different versions of the operating system. Your mobile app development team should have access to all relevant devices or use a universal platform, which enables them to test on all models.
Some apps require more testing than others, and if your app contains user information, you should run additional tests to check the security. Finally, have real people try out the app before you launch to make sure everything functions properly.