Create your own app – part one: the planning phase

The mobile app industry is booming more than ever before with users enjoying a multitude of apps on their smart­phones and tablets. This con­tin­u­ing trend means that it can make sense for even small to mid-sized companies and freelance in­di­vid­u­als to develop their own mobile app: par­tic­u­lar­ly when you take into account that the cost, effort, and expertise required for app de­vel­op­ment are dropping all the time. As long as you have a good idea for an ap­pli­ca­tion and someone in your team with a decent technical un­der­stand­ing, then you have many options for de­vel­op­ing iOS or Android apps. Beginners can make use of ready-made app starter kits, while more ex­pe­ri­enced de­vel­op­ers can proceed without as­sis­tance and have a go at coding their own apps from scratch.

In this latest series of articles, we’ll take you through all the things you need to know when de­vel­op­ing your own native mobile app. By native mobile app, we’re referring to an ap­pli­ca­tion that is created for use on one par­tic­u­lar operating system (like Android or iOS mobile devices). First, we’ll focus on the primary step you need to complete when de­vel­op­ing an ap­pli­ca­tion: proper planning.

You can download the in­fo­graph­ic on consumer ex­pen­di­ture on apps here.

Thanks to their high per­for­mance, native apps are usually used for the more computer-intensive, complex, and graph­i­cal­ly chal­leng­ing ap­pli­ca­tions. But even simple apps can be made as native apps and profit from the high per­for­mance of this app format. If an app needs to use par­tic­u­lar native functions of a smart­phone or tablet, then the native app format offers the best variety. Com­po­nents like the camera, mi­cro­phone, address book, calendar, push no­ti­fi­ca­tions, GPS lo­cal­iza­tion, Bluetooth, sensors for position and movement of the device, and many more can be easily in­te­grat­ed into the app. Another great advantage of native apps compared to most web apps and many hybrid apps is that they have the option to function without access to the internet. As a result, any ap­pli­ca­tions that are still useful in offline mode are usually created in this format. Native apps also offer the shortest loading time – this is par­tic­u­lar­ly handy for games and other ap­pli­ca­tions that require a high degree of re­spon­sive­ness and where there is a lot of activity within a short space of time. 

If your primary focus is on per­fect­ing usability and making sure that the operating system offers the user an optimal ex­pe­ri­ence, then it also makes sense to go for a native app format. Since they make use of the platform’s standard frame­works, it’s easy to optimize a native app for the platform-specific user interface, like the smart­phone display screen. This means that they usually offer a better ‘look and feel’ than hybrid apps or web apps, simply because they fit correctly and perform the way that users expect. The uniform design and behavior of menus and buttons within different native apps also plays a role here. Users are familiar with the look and feel of their mobile operating systems and so view apps that fit their system properly as a mark of quality – something that you can really profit from as a native app developer.

Before you can create an app, it goes without saying that you have to have a good idea of your app concept and be convinced of its potential. You should test this idea out, even before actually planning the app. A good way to do this is to have a look at the added value of the ap­pli­ca­tion – that means the benefits that it offers the user as well as your company.

• Added value for the app user: people will only download and use your app if it offers them something useful. There’s many ways that your app could be of use though – for example by offering in­for­ma­tion, en­ter­tain­ment, support and as­sis­tance, shopping, or com­mu­ni­ca­tion to users.

• Added value for the app creator: since an app also rep­re­sents an in­vest­ment, it has to be worth­while for you in some way, shape, or form. Once again, the pos­si­bil­i­ties are broad here – financial gain isn’t the only added value offered by native app de­vel­op­ment. Apps can help you grow your customer base, create a stronger brand identity, establish or improve your image, and much more.

The planning phase for your native mobile app can only begin when you have found sat­is­fac­to­ry benefits for both you and the user. You should remain realistic here: make sure to check that your app idea is both tech­ni­cal­ly possible to create and capable of achieving your aims. You’ll have to make estimates for the amount of time you’ll spend making the app and the financial costs you’ll incur.

Find out whether other companies are offering similar apps to see how your app could set itself apart. If there aren’t any com­pa­ra­ble mobile apps to yours, then this could mean that you have real potential for in­no­va­tion. But be aware that it could also mean there’s actually no demand for such an app, or that your app idea has already been done in another format (e.g. as a web app, hybrid app, or a website), or that it’s simply im­prac­ti­cal to create. It’s important to look at what other companies in your industry are doing: analyzing the behavior of your com­peti­tors and busi­ness­es with similar models to yours can give you a clear view of the current market situation and may also provide you with ideas for your own app.

If your app idea already exists in a similar form, com­pe­ti­tion analysis is essential. This will give you a valuable insight into which ap­proach­es have been suc­cess­ful and which haven’t. Download your com­peti­tors’ apps and get to grips with the way they function in order to better un­der­stand which features and functions make them popular with users, and which areas they fall short in for you to exploit. Not every app has to reinvent the wheel, but by noting what your com­peti­tors are doing and making little tweaks, im­prove­ments, and ad­di­tion­al features that offer added value to your customers and your business, you can give yourself a good chance of success.

By defining a target group for your app, you can help make certain re­quire­ments concrete (like functions, design, price, etc.). It’s best to do this with the help of sta­tis­tics, rather than relying on your gut feeling. If, for example, you already operate a website that has a lot of thematic crossover with the app your planning, then you can carry out web analytics (with tools like Google Analytics or Piwik) to learn more about the way your website is used. Analysis tools for websites can tell you how many users load your website on a mobile device, and which operating system they use. This gives you a clue as to which platforms to launch your native app on. Web analytics also offer insights into user behavior, helping you to determine which website functions are most fre­quent­ly used and so are essential for the app. Surveys and in­ter­views offer another way to discover more about your target market. Bear de­mo­graph­ics in mind too: studies have shown that young people are by far the biggest consumers when it comes to apps. An app targeted at seniors would be con­sid­ered a niche and so is less likely to be suc­cess­ful.

Which operating system do you want to offer your native mobile app on? This question can sometimes be answered by looking at your target group – for example if you only want to appeal to Android or Apple customers. It could also be the case that your app is linked to a specific software that only exists on a par­tic­u­lar platform, meaning that you don’t need to worry about any others.

If you’re not looking to target one par­tic­u­lar brand of app user, then you need to carefully consider whether you’re going to develop an iOS app, an Android app, or both. They each have their own pro­gram­ming language, meaning that if you choose to program your app for both platforms, you’ll need to develop and maintain it as if it were two separate apps, one for each operating system. This is con­sid­er­ably more work, but it can be worth­while: Android and iOS account for close to 98% of the market share for mobile operating systems worldwide, with Android leading the way ahead of Apple’s iOS.

Since the market share for smart­phones using other operating systems like Microsoft Windows Phone (Windows 10 Mobile) or Black­ber­ry 10 OS is extremely low, we’d recommend that you only develop an app for these platforms in ex­cep­tion­al cir­cum­stances. Instead, you should focus your de­vel­op­ment or planning on one or both of the big two – iOS and Android.

When it comes to app pro­gram­ming, many de­vel­op­ers follow the principle of reducing the func­tion­al­i­ty of an ap­pli­ca­tion to the bare es­sen­tials. An app usually serves a specific purpose – or con­cen­trates on a central feature. You can still use the planning phase to make a com­pre­hen­sive list of all the features that you can possible think of including, but then you should separate this list into features that are ab­solute­ly in­dis­pens­able and features that would be nice but aren’t essential. It’s important to recognize that not all the features you want will fit into your app – you have to make sac­ri­fices to optimize per­for­mance.

The vast majority of users expect an ap­pli­ca­tion to be easy to un­der­stand and intuitive to use. This is why it’s crucial that you use the planning phase to make sure that your app isn’t too complex and packed full of features. It can be useful to create sketches of the in­di­vid­ual menu screens to help you to visualize your idea. This also gives you a chance to assess menu nav­i­ga­tion and the re­spec­tive display on different screen sizes (smart­phone vs. tablet). This gives employees and any external investors or de­vel­op­ers a good idea of how the final ap­pli­ca­tion should look and function.

Remember to pay attention to certain legal aspects of your app as well. The same rules apply to apps as do to your website: if you collect, process, or save personal data of users, you have a duty to inform them in an ap­pro­pri­ate manner. Your app also has to request per­mis­sion to send push no­ti­fi­ca­tions or access any native features of your chosen operating system like the camera, mi­cro­phone, or camera roll. Before you start col­lect­ing data or accessing native features, you’ll also need to prepare a com­pre­hen­sive, clearly worded de­c­la­ra­tion of the in­for­ma­tion you’re col­lect­ing, where you’re storing it, and how users can access it. 

Remember that trademark and patent laws apply in apps too. To find out more about the im­por­tance of branding and how trademark and patent pro­tec­tion works, you can refer to our guide to US patent law.

It may seem like a time-intensive process, but accurate planning and sketching of an app can really pay off. This isn’t just for content op­ti­miza­tion either: legal aspects and financing need to be discussed carefully and metic­u­lous­ly as well. This com­pre­hen­sive planning will be useful further down the line, as you can refer to it to make sure you’re on track and that you haven’t over­looked anything important about your concept or im­ple­men­ta­tion. After the planning phase is over and you’ve secured the financial backing to create your native mobile app, it’s time to move onto the basic technical im­ple­men­ta­tion of your design. Even if you’re a newcomer to app de­vel­op­ment, you shouldn’t be fearful of this step: a promising app idea that’s been properly planned out is more important than the pro­gram­ming know-how required to develop the app, which you can bring into the project in the form of free­lancers or an agency. In part two of our series on creating your own app, we’ll look at the different options you have for pro­gram­ming your app. We’ll also discuss the pros and cons of using an app-building kit and in which sit­u­a­tions it’s best to leave the app pro­gram­ming to external experts.