How To Build A Mobile App In 11 Steps

You’re instantly connected to the world with a single tap on your mobile phone. Mobile apps act as a gateway to convenience, putting everything you need at your fingertips. 

In 2023, annual consumer spending was recorded to be $171 billion. 

From a business perspective, an intuitive and user-friendly mobile app can be valuable for increased customer engagement and business growth as it facilitates you with direct marketing channels, improves brand recognition, and enhances customer loyalty.

The global mobile app market surged at a CAGR of around 13.8% per Grand View Research from 2023 to 2030. 

Whether you run a business or are a general user who prefers using mobile apps to meet your routine, mobile apps are a win-win situation for both parties. 

According to Statista, in 2023, the app download record in North America hit 15.2 billion. 

So, many businesses choose to make a mobile app to get customer data and insights, boost conversions and sales, and elevate operational efficiency. 

But how to build a mobile app? As you are here, you are also seeking the best ways to make a mobile app. Well, you have landed on the right page. 

This blog post will unveil 11 simple steps to develop a mobile app for your business. 

Let’s gear up!

11 Steps To Build A Mobile App

Mobile App Development Market Trends & Stats

The mobile app development market is elevating. Only saying this will not make any sense; let’s put forth some statistics that can support this statement. 

• The global mobile app development market valuation will grow at a Compound Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.8% during the forecast period of 2022-2030. 
• The global enterprise app industry’s market valuation will likely grow to around $527.40 billion by 2030. 
• By 2030, the global mobile app development market will reach $583.03 billion. 
• Gartner reported that by 2025, around 70% of new enterprise apps will be developed using low-code and no-code development platforms. 

We hope these insights have accentuated the fact that the mobile app development trend will not settle for years from now. So, you can also build a mobile app to expand your customer base and ROI. 

What To Know Before Developing A Mobile App? 

Let’s check out the aspects you should consider while building a mobile app. 

1. Plan your Timeline & Budget

With a thorough timeframe and budget, you can save your project from being influenced by frequent issues and delays, such as missing deadlines and overspending. 

To determine your budget and timeframe, you should gauge varied aspects that can affect app development cost and timeline, like app quality, complexity, scope, etc. 

Examples of Project Management and Collaboration Tools that can help are Asana, Trello, and Slack. 

2. Define Your Target Audience And Market

Your target audience and market are the identities that will reap the advantage of your app. Also, they are the factors that can impact your app’s success. 

Therefore, you should conduct deep market research to understand your target users’ preferences, needs, features, and behaviors. 

This way, you can segment your audience per personas or category and craft user profiles that showcase their goals. 

3. Choose the Appropriate Technology and Platform

One more essential consideration is going for the right platform and technology for app development, which depends on the former consideration, your target audience. 

For example, if your app includes complex features, you can opt for native app development to meet your app’s best performance. 

To meet your restricted budget and timeframe, you can choose a cross-platform app development that allows the creation of a single codebase that can run on both platforms. 

Examples of Technology & Platforms: Android, iOS, or Windows, React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, or Firebase.

4. Hire the Best Mobile App Development Company

Choosing a trusted partner to make your mobile app is essential as, under expert guidance, you can create an intuitive, dynamic, and targeted mobile application. 

To emerge with a perfect pick, you should consider reviewing their past work and client reviews and ratings. 

5. Craft a User-Friendly Interface

The user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) play an essential role when it comes to building a mobile app. With a good UI/UX, you can make your app more engaging, appealing, and easy to use. 

You must adhere to the best principles and practices, like clarity, responsiveness, simplicity, and consistency. Besides, keep track of the design standards and rules specific to every platform. 

Examples of Prototype and Wireframing Tools: Sketch, Adobe XD, and Figma. 

6. Incorporate Unique and Essential Features

This is one of the most challenging yet crucial mobile app-making aspects. The features you pick will decide what you want your app to deliver. 

Start by prioritizing your app’s value proposition and core functionality to integrate distinctive and critical features into your app. 

Examples of Technologies to Identify Features: Google Analytics, Firebase, and App Store Connect

7. Improve Privacy and Security

The mobile apps accumulate users’ data (with consent), including personal and sensitive information. This demands your app to be safe and protected from data breaches, cyberattacks, and malware. 

For this, you should implement authentication, authorization, encryption, and a firewall. 

8. Launch and Market Your App

Ultimately, when building a mobile app, consider launching and marketing your app properly. It includes letting your app introduce and promote before your target audience and market. 

Ensure you test, debug, and publish your app on the store. Remember to create a landing page and press kit for your mobile app that can reveal, describe, attract, and inform users about it. 

Following the above factors, you can make a top-quality and successful mobile app that meets your users’ expectations and business objectives. 

How To Create A Mobile App In 11 Steps

Let’s walk through the sequential process of making a mobile app. 

Step 1. Identify a Unique App Idea 

First thing first! You should start by identifying the latest app idea that can thrive in this competitive landscape. It’s unnecessary to surface with a brand-new or fresh idea. You can first dig deeper into common users’ issues and then emerge with something that can bridge the gap in the existing market. 

Emerge with an app idea that can make users’ lives easier and allow them to enjoy using it. 

Step 2. Conduct Research

Next, define your target audience and understand their needs, demographics, and app usage patterns. Research if there’s any specific demand for your app idea. You can even conduct surveys to know user interests and potential adoption. 

Search for any existing apps based on your app idea. Scan their strengths and weaknesses. Plan out accordingly on how to perform better than them and how to acknowledge their loopholes as profitable opportunities. 

Step 3. Outline Features and Functionalities

Jot down the points that you want your app to deliver. Create two separate lists, one including basic yet top-priority features, and the second one should showcase the advanced features you can consider incorporating after your app stands out in the market. 

Step 4. Design Mockups & Wireframes

Now, it’s not the time to start with coding, as mobile app development depends chiefly on visual roadmaps, such as mockups and wireframes. 

Creating mockups will produce a realistic representation of your mobile app’s final design, incorporating fonts, layouts, and colors. 

On the other edge, wireframes aim at the app’s functionality and craft its structure, user interaction elements, and screen flow. 

Such visual tools help developers plan user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) before coding starts, save money and time, and ensure everyone is on the same page, considering the app’s design direction and functionality. 

Step 5. Plan App Security

While moving ahead with building your mobile app, the most crucial feature you must consider is the app’s security.  You must safeguard your user data from cybercriminals. Remember, even a single data breach can cost you a lot, besides millions of dollars and extreme loss of users. 

Ensure Your App and Mobile Platform Stay Secure by Opting for The Following:

a) Authorized APIs

The most significant part of the backend of programming development is the application programming interface (API). So, you should ensure the APIs you consider for your app fulfill the verification standards for your chosen platform. 

b) Tamper-detection Software

Choose mobile-specific security features, such as tamper-detection software and other 3rd-party software, to prevent hackers. 

c) Robust Authentication

Your app should use accurate cryptographic key management and correct user session authorization or tokens. Usually, the tokens are assigned to every device and embrace varied expiration times for the session. 

d) Encrypted Data

For the sensitive, personal data of the users scattered all through the app’s software, you can use proper encryption. Proper security steps incorporate encryption of the cache, local database, or API communication. 

e) Continuous Testing for Possible Breaches

You must consistently test for the breaches. Throughout the development process, constantly review your code. Also, address the potential security issues before a hacker catches them up before launching your app. 

Step 6. Choose the Best App Development Company

To create a responsive, user-friendly, and secure app with an apt platform, demand hiring a mobile app development company. 

But how do you Choose the Best App Development Partner? 

Consider the vital factors below:

• Experience and Expertise
• Client Review and Testimonials
• Project Portfolio
• Development Approach & Methodology
• Communication and Transparency
• Project Rates
• Hidden Costs

Considering these parameters will increase the chance of catching up with the right app development company that can convert your mobile app idea into reality. 

Step 7. Start Coding Your App

Before you start coding, there are some components that you need to keep on track. 

You have two faces to code, front end and back end. The former is what the end-user will see, and the latter is all about “behind the scenes,” which indicates the app’s functionality. 

To emerge with a cohesive end product, ensure coordination with the work process of both ends. You can go for the Agile methodology of project management, which may lead to adaptable, efficient, and flexible coding. 

Ahead, prefer to code in a test environment. To make sure your final product is a successful app, it is essential to set up a test environment to check the software’s execution. 

For the test environment, include the front-end environment, database server, network, and operating system. 

Step 8. Test Your App to Make It Bug-Free 

You would love to skip rigorous mobile app testing when you have a tight budget for your project. However, one of the key stages in building a mobile app is quality assurance (QA). As app development is competitive, you have to perform QA throughout the development process. This is the best way to address the bugs and quickly improve before making the app available for the end users. 

Think about the following things when performing testing:

a) Device Compatibility

Whatever operating system your app is going to run needs testing. Ahead, the QA team should confirm its compatibility with varied versions of OS. Opt for some device-specific considerations, like your app should fit every screen size. 

b) Front-end vs. Back-end Functionality

Confirm that your app looks as expected for the front end and performs as decided for the back end. 

c) Application Type

If you built your app to work as both a web and mobile app, it must be tested for a complete range of functionality across both platforms. 

d) Security Optimization

Nowadays, mobile app security is a trend. Check safety, ensure secure source code, conduct penetration testing, and perform input validation. 

e) App Integration

If your app’s core functions interact with other features, like the phone’s camera or another application such as Google Maps, you must check that the integrations function correctly. 

f) Installation and Storage

Check if your app downloads aptly to the intended device and OS. Besides, keep an eye on the app size. A large app will demand a lot of space on the end user’s phone and may block them from downloading it. 

Step 9. Launch Your App to The App Store 

Next, it’s time to publicize your app in the app store. The regulations your app requires to follow entirely depend on the app store on which your app will run. Different third-party app stores demand the fulfillment of other needs for app submission. 

Developers should aim to release the app to stores like Google Play or Apple App. Targeting on a single platform can ease the app development process as your team would only have to build one app. 

If you develop an app only for Google Play or Apple, it can restrict your reach. Both app stores have respective drawbacks, but building a cross-platform app ensures better visibility and the potential for increased users. 

Step 10. Market Your Mobile App

Even after publishing your app, your duty continues. You should use a rigorous marketing process to reach more users and boost engagement. With numerous apps already listed in the app stores, marketing can assist in increasing the app’s visibility, easing it for potential users to find it. 

Be aware of the demographics and behaviors of your target audience for effective marketing. This way, you can emerge with a marketing strategy that can take you to ultimate success. Besides, you should have a clear idea of your app’s unique offerings, and they should alter your marketing initiative accordingly. 

You can choose any marketing channel that is widely available to promote your app. Besides, effective app store optimization can let your app rank well in search results. 

Other marketing strategies you can opt for are influencer marketing, paid ads, etc. But ensure you are safe from going over budget while promoting your app. 

Step 11. Keep Your App Updated

Well, keeping up with users’ preferences and needs is challenging. Staying updated demands walking with the latest trends that can let your app remain competitive. 

You can also prefer to push new features to keep your app stand differently and increase the downloads. 

Also, remember rolling out updates to offer value to users and keep them engaged. This can also help you resolve flaws to deliver a seamless user experience. 

Inform the users about the updates, what’s changed, and what is new so they can effectively use the features. 

Bonus – 10 Quick Tips to Build a Successful Mobile App

• Identify App’s Unique Value Proposition
• Craft a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
• Know Your Target Audience
• Aim at User Experience
• Ensure High Reliability and Performance
• Implement Responsive Design
• Consistently Update and Maintain
• Market and Promote
• Accumulate and Act on User Feedback
• Opt for the Right Monetization Strategy
• Ensure Privacy Compliance and Data Security

Should Your Business Develop iOS Apps or Android Apps?

You need to consider varied factors in your business to decide whether you should develop Android or iOS apps. 

1. Target Audience

You will find Android users hold a larger market share, but iOS users need to spend more on apps. 

You must analyze your target audience, demographics, and more and check which platform would align better. 

2. App Features and Purpose

Compared to Java/Kotlin for Android, native development for iOS would be more straightforward. If you include advanced features or opt for higher customization, the iOS app development process will be much easier. 

Besides, if you are looking for consistent app performance, iOS would be better as the hardware and software for iPhones are controlled by Apple, which leads to consistent performance. 

3. Development Cost and Time Frame

Obviously, app development is not a day or two job; it demands a considerable timeline. Android would take longer than iOS, while iOS development is faster and charges more per developer. 

Tip*: You can start with one platform that aligns best with your business goals and target audience. Later, you can opt for both with the growing business and broader audience base. 

How Can Emizen Tech Help In Your Mobile App Development Journey? 

Partnering with a leading mobile app development company can be helpful for an app’s successful lifecycle. The firm offers the expertise, efficiency, and resources to transform an app’s ideas into a valuable product. 

You should also hire a mobile app development company like Emizen Tech, which has years of experience and a team of adept mobile app developers who have accomplished similar projects with expected outcomes. Why Emizen Tech? 

Key Highlights to Know

• Filling Knowledge Gaps
• Project Management and Planning
• Streamlined Development Process
• Access to the Latest Technologies
• Quality Assurance and Security
• Cost-Effectiveness
• Scalability and Maintenance
• Access to a Wider Talent Pool

Conclusion

Creating a mobile app demands following easy steps that can lead to successful app development. You must scan the steps above to build a successful app for your business. 

Every step should be conducted carefully with the best planning and knowledge. You can do this without any fail. But you need to be tech-savvy for this. A non-techie would meet numerous issues in the app development journey. 

Even if you hold the required proficiency and have a technical background, you would need more time to manage your business simultaneously. 

A mobile app development company like Emizen Tech will appear as a savior here.

Opt for Mobile App Development Services and complete your project flawlessly within your budget and timeframe. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)