A Step-by-Step Guide to Mobile App Development
With mobile app usage going up by leaps and bounds, more and more businesses are now heavily investing in developing cutting-edge mobile apps accessible on every platform. How is this possible to develop a mobile app that is available across multiple platforms for broader customer reach? The short answer is “cross-platform app development.” Is that only the reason, businesses choose cross-platform app development? To explore more, we’ve prepared this descriptive guide that entails what cross-platform app development is and why your business needs it. Additionally, you’ll discover the step-by-step guide to cross-platform mobile app development.
What is Cross-Platform App Development
The process of writing code once and running everywhere, basically across multiple operating systems, including Android, iOS, and Windows is known as cross-platform mobile app development. It is ideal for reducing resources and costs associated with native app development that requires a unique codebase for different versions of OS. With a single code base written for each platform, it streamlines development effort, time, and maintenance.
Why Your Business Needs Cross-Platform Mobile Apps
The cross-platform mobile app is a way to reach a broader target audience and maximize your visibility on each platform. With cross-platform app development, you can stay ahead of the competition by launching your app faster to the market. It gives you a competitive edge over your competitors who are still in the development stage, while your first draft of the app is ready to be launched in the market. Furthermore, with cross-platform, you can test and validate your app idea by creating a minimum viable product. Upon its successful validation, you can proceed towards scaling your mobile app with additional features and functionality.
Here are some more benefits of cross-platform app development:
- Reduce the development time, as the cross-platform framework contains built-in libraries, extensions, and tools that boost the development process.
- Facilitates seamless collection, storage, and analysis of data on the cloud.
- Easier update and maintenance of code and maximized reusability.
- Improves the user experience and enables customers to interact with the app most efficiently.
- Faster-time-to-market that enables the quick testing of app features and gauging early customer feedback.
What Steps to Follow in Building Cross-Platform Mobile Apps- 600
These are the steps you need to consider when embarking on a journey to developing a cross-platform mobile app for your business.
1. Define Your Project Goals and Objectives
Setting goals and objectives is essential to have a clear understanding and the purpose of building the cross-platform mobile app. Identify the reason behind creating your app, what you want to achieve with this app, who is your target audience, what pain points your customers encounter, and how you can address them. Moreover, discover the challenges your business currently faces and propose solutions accordingly.
2. Conduct Competitors Research
Now, with clear goals set, you need to thoroughly conduct competitor analysis and market research. Uncover where your competitors currently stand in the market, how well they’re performing, and what features they implemented within the cross-platform app. Explore how they address their customer pain points, and if users feel satisfied with their app. Moreover, identify any missing opportunity that can become the unique selling point, giving you a competitive edge.
3. Identify App Features and Functionality
Now begin identifying the core features and functionalities that you need to implement within your app. Remember, you’re creating a cross-platform app intended to run across multiple platforms, necessitating comprehensive consideration. Collaborate with your team to prioritize features based on user needs, market demands, and competitor analysis. Ensure that the selected features align with your app’s objectives, offer value to users, and enhance their overall experience.
4. Choose the Development Framework
The next step is to select a dedicated cross-platform app development framework for initiating the development of your cross-platform mobile application. You need to select a platform compatible with diverse operating systems while ensuring it aligns with your project goals and ideas. Below are the frameworks supporting cross-platform mobile app development.
- React Native
- Flutter
- Xamarin
- Ionic
- PhoneGap
- Sencha Touch
5. Design UI/UX
Designing a consistent and intuitive UI is essential to maintain the uniformity of the app design across all platforms. While designing the UI, designers need to meet the UI design guidelines and principles of various platforms. Designers can use platform-agnostic design principles, such as adhering to a unified style guide and utilizing shared UI components. In addition, employing adaptive layout techniques ensures that the app’s interface adapts gracefully to various screen sizes and resolutions across different platforms.
6. Code the Mobile App Features
The most crucial aspect of cross-platform app development is the coding phase. Here, developers write the actual code of the app by adding core features, integrating third-party APIs and libraries, and connecting it with the database to make it functional. The code is written once and deployed across multiple platforms to build a cross-platform mobile app while adhering to platform-specific guidelines. For the initial release or MVP, build only core features and functionalities to gauge idea validation.
7. Perform Mobile App Testing
After coding, you need to rigorously test your app functionality and identify any bugs within the code to maintain its quality. This involves conducting thorough testing across different devices, screen sizes, and operating systems to ensure compatibility and reliability. Additionally, employing automated testing tools and soliciting feedback from beta testers can help uncover potential issues and refine your cross-platform mobile app before its release.
8. Launch Your Mobile App
Finally, you can now release your mobile app across various platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, Linux, etc. Submit your app following the platform guidelines. Each platform has different guidelines and requirements, so read it carefully and submit it accordingly. Once your app gets approved, users can download your app on their preferred devices. Moreover, they can rate and review your app, providing in-depth feedback that helps you refine your app and enhance your user experience.
Final Words
Cross-platform is a way to go for businesses looking to expand their customer base, reduce development costs, save time, and enhance efficiency. With this technology, developers don’t need to worry about creating a unique version of the app for every platform as they can write the code once and reuse it. Moreover, cross-platform development also facilitates easier cloud integration and maintenance, thus reducing the need for platform-specific updates. Go ahead, embrace cross-platform mobile app development, and unlock novel business opportunities.
