In 2008, Apple introduced the App Store to the world. Since then, businesses have released over 2.2 million apps to the store, which means competition is rife.
This is scary for a small business, so you need to put some real thought into your entire app strategy if you’re going to stand a chance of succeeding. From planning and development, through to analyzing app usage, every part of your strategy needs to be on point if you’re going to get those all-important downloads.
It’s not a simple task. However, there are some points that you must hit if you’re going to enjoy success on the App Store. Here is a handy checklist for small business mobile app development.
Check #1 – Research Your Audience
Understanding your audience is key to the development of a successful mobile app. After all, if you don’t know who’s going to use the app, you can’t add features with that audience in mind.
Use your existing customer data to help you work out who would want to use your app, and why. Examine current trends in your industry to find out where the audience is headed, and what it demands from a mobile app. This will help you to define the key features that your app has to offer to its audience.
Check #2 – Choose an Effective Development Team
There are many mobile app development teams to choose from, so you need to think carefully before making a decision. The key question here is do you need short or long-term development?
If you’re building an app as a one-and-done solution, you could hire the services of an off-site team. However, if you believe the app will require extensive maintenance and constant functionality upgrades, you need to look for a more long-term solution. In these cases, creating an internal team, or securing the services of a dedicated mobile app development team, will prove more beneficial.
Check #3 – Choose Between Native and Hybrid Development
If you’re absolutely sure that you will only release your mobile app on the App Store, native development is the way to go. You’ll be able to use the many unique features that iOS has to offer, which results in the creation of a more functional app.
However, if you want to expand your app’s reach to other platforms, a hybrid development model may benefit you. Yes, you’ll lose out on the added functionality that the native development model offers, but you’ll develop an app that you can release across every available platform.
From planning and development, through to analyzing app usage, every part of your strategy needs to be on point if you’re going to get those all-important downloads.
Check #4 – Examine Apple’s User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Protocols
Having a great-looking app means little if it doesn’t work the way your audience expects it to. How you implement your UI is just as important as how it looks.
Happily, Apple can help you here. The company has some strict UI and UX protocols that you must follow before it will approve your app for its store. Make sure that your entire team reads them, so you don’t delay the project.
Check #5 – Choose Between Swift and Objective C
On the face of it, Swift seems like the ideal choice for iOS mobile app development. Apple’s own programming language, Swift streamlines the development process, and has a lot of features that will prove useful during the development cycle.
However, its simplistic nature may not offer you the flexibility you need for larger projects. If you want to develop a complex app, it may be best to choose Objective C instead of Swift. In fact, most app developers prefer Objective C to Swift.
Check #6 – Select Your Target Devices
Though Apple has a less diverse selection of devices than Android, you still have to put some thought into which devices your app will work on. There are currently eight basic generations of the iPhone, many of which have different offshoots. Each device has its own framework that may change the way your app works on it.
As a result, you have to optimize towards the device that suits your app’s audience. After all, there’s little point in developing for the iPhone 8 Plus if most of your audience still uses the iPhone 6.
Check #7 – Make Content Easy to View
If your users have to veer all over the app to view its content, you’re going to find that a lot of people stop using the app. As a result, how you display your content is an important part of the user experience.
As a general rule, you should try to minimize scrolling. In particular, don’t include a lot of sections that ask users to scroll from left to right to view your app’s content. Beyond that, you need to choose font sizes that make the content easy to read without the need for zooming, while approaching content development with the general idea of making things as clear as possible.
Check #8 – Implement Peer Reviews
Every programmer works off his or her own experience, regardless of the tools that they have available. On larger projects, this means that you have a variety of programming “styles” to contend with, which may cause issues during the testing period.
You can avoid such problems if you create a peer review system. This ensures you have the desired coding structure in place, with checks to ensure the team adheres to the practices that you want it to follow.
Check #9 – Get Your iOS Distribution Certificate
There are two certificates that you will need to build an iOS mobile app. The first is the iOS Development Certificate, which allows you to create an app, and run it on a personal device during the development stage. If you’re building a mobile app for the Apple Store, you must have this certificate before work commences.
However, the second certificate may be even more important. You need the iOS Distribution certificate before you can submit your app to the Apple Store. Try to get this as early into the development cycle as possible.
Check #10 – Build Reporting Tools
Your work isn’t done when you have a working app. You’re going to need to measure user engagement so that you can make future updates.
This is where your reporting tools will come in handy. Build these tools on top of your app’s code so you get a constant stream of data that tells you more about how people use your app. You can use this data to spot trends and user pain points, which will allow you to make improvements. Apple offers its own iTunes Connect App Analytics for this purpose, though there are also plenty of third-party tools to choose from.
The Final Word
Small businesses have a pretty big mountain to climb when they decide to develop an iOS mobile app. This checklist will help you to create a project framework that ensures you develop a quality app, with the future in mind.
Interactivated can help you with your mobile app project. Contact us today to find out how our team can use its experience to build a great iOS mobile app for your business.
