Author: Vishnu T

Let’s say the advent of technology has created opportunities for bringing more and more ideas into the limelight. Mobile phones have changed to smartphones, either Android or iOS. The increased sales of these smartphones have resulted in an increase in the use of mobile applications. The handier they became, the more people downloaded them. Earlier, the concept of mobile apps was limited to features that supported music, videos, recording, and file sharing. But nowadays there are apps for everything that we do in our daily lives – diet apps, beauty apps, sleep monitoring apps, health monitoring apps, fashion apps, personal loan apps, credit apps, and the list go on. All these concepts of apps have been brought into practice after going through many stages.  

Here in this article, we are going to discuss how to turn an idea into an app. 

How to bring an idea into an app? 

It is totally okay to get tempted by the sheer opportunities found in the mobile app development area. What if an idea about developing an application hits your mind? Idea generation is not a problem here, but keeping the idea alive and giving it a chance is actually a responsible task. Let us take a look at the different stages of bringing an idea into an app. 

Expand the idea 

The very basic beginning of app development lies in the way you expand your idea. Expanding your idea means identifying the purpose of the app, the service you want to offer through the app, and the target audience. It is better to evaluate the quality of your concept to understand whether it meets the user’s expectations or demands. Always keep in mind that your app will be impactful only if it reaches the intended audience. If you find any inappropriate feature that doesn’t make your idea sensible, try multiple ideas to replace it with an appropriate one. 

Market research  

Once you fix your idea, the next focus should be on the market trends. You may want to get a better insight into the market conditions to analyze the future outcome you may get once you launch your app. This will also enable you to identify the relevancy of the app according to the market conditions. You can compare other applications with similar features and understand what they lack in performance. This will help your app to stand at the top of all other apps with similar features. Add new elements that make your app look unique to the audience.  

Brand idea 

When you are done with developing the concept and market research, you should start thinking about establishing a name and generating a brand image. For this purpose, you can seek the help of professional developers who have better knowledge and skill and can help you bring up the name. 

Choose your audience 

Once the foundation of the theoretical framework of your app is laid, the next step is determining the audience you want to reach. For this purpose, you can look for demographic conditions like gender, geographic location, age group, profession, educational background, or whatever you prefer. The accuracy and effectiveness of your app depend on the user experience. A good user experience indicates successful use and implementation of the app. If you succeed in choosing the right audience for your app, then your app achieves success in the first stage itself. 

Decide your budget 

A clear idea alone cannot make an app. If you want to build your idea into an app, you need to invest a certain amount of money in the process of developing it. If you don’t have a fixed budget, you may face unpredictable costs and expenses at each stage of your app development. This can happen even after having a fixed budget. Therefore, it is always better to have an estimate of expenses that may come your way and prepare one step ahead of it in order to avoid any financial damage. 

Start building the app 

After defining the idea, determining the audience, and fixing the budget, the next thing you would want to do is build your app. App building can be a complex process sometimes and this is why you can seek the help of a developer or a company that can make your app according to your requirements. They can manage the entire process efficiently as they are proficient in mobile application development services. This will save you time, and money, and give a more professional appeal to the app. There are many online app development tools available if you want to build the app yourself.  

To monetize or not? 

There is one easy way to get back the money you have spent on developing the app. It means monetizing your app. You can put a fixed price for installing your app from the App store. If you are confident in the features and uniqueness of your app, if your audience finds it worth purchasing, they will definitely pay the money to get the app. In the other case, you can simply put your app in the App store, making it accessible to anyone who wants to use it. This will apparently increase the download rate of your app but may take some time to obtain good revenue from it.  

Test and optimize  

Now is the time to test the prototype. When the app is developed, you need to ensure that it functions the way you have designed it. Run the app to check its compatibility. You can also detect problems if there are any and optimize them. You can cross-check the efficiency of the app, its compatibility with devices, and its functioning. If you have a hired team for app development then you should be aware that the development process is different from testing and optimization, and therefore it requires a separate charge.  

Launch your app 

After successfully completing the testing and optimization process, your app is ready to be introduced to the market. Once the app is launched in the market, generating traffic in the field is an important aspect. 

Start marketing to the target audience 

If you already had a marketing campaign before the launch of the app, then gaining the attention of users will not be a challenging task. If you haven’t had a campaign before, you can start one to market your product. Social media is the best platform you can use to market your app to the target audience. Search for events or pages on social media where you can do promotional activities for your app. You can pinpoint the features of your app in the campaign. This will drag the audience’s attention to the app. Meanwhile, you will get the chance to analyze the drawbacks of your app and make the required updates as soon as possible.  

Wrap Up 

It is true that turning an approximate concept into an app certainly takes a lot of time, effort, and resources. All of this is worth it if you are able to develop an app based on thorough research and innovative ideas that address the issues of your target audience. This is a simple guide that gives a roadmap to build your idea into an app and also lets you know about the things to be expected. 

With over 350 billion app downloads across the world, businesses are interested in building a mobile apps more than ever. It is very common for businesses to have queries regarding the development process of apps and the cost incurred and the time taken for the app development. How long does it really take to make an app? Well, it depends on the type of app you are designing and the complexity involved in its building process.  

How long does it take to make an app? 

Mobile app development is a process that can consume a lot of effort and resources. Let us go through the app development timeline: 

Planning stage (First 2-3 weeks)  

Selecting the niche and the type of app that you are going to develop is the first stage in app development. You also have to decide the estimated time of completion of the app. It may take 2-3 weeks to finish off this stage, depending on the features you want to add to your app and any other relevant information needed for the development process. At this point, you need to opt on whether to make use of an existing framework or develop a new one. 

Business Analysis Stage (2-3 weeks)  

Business analysis is the second step in the app development process. Two weeks is the minimum time required for anyone with a basic understanding of coding to build and set up the outline of the project. The business analysis stage also considers the purpose, usage, and implementation of the app. This involves studying the competitors, the size of the market, demographics, and success parameters. You can find out the target audience, your competitors, and the exact resources required to market your app. Let’s say this is the most important stage in the app development timeline because you never know whether the decision you made with the app is a good one or not, without the right data.  

Design and Pre-development stage (5-7 weeks)  

Well, you can call this stage the initial stage in app development as you develop the basic concept, the design, and other relevant elements including the graphics, UI layout (user Interface), and color schemes, here in this stage. Making a development plan to ensure that the app development is finished within the estimated time is also a part of the stage. 

This phase also deals with certain questions like – How your app should look like? What should be the structure? What ideas can be used to make it functional? What should be the scope of work you have to finish? You also have to decide the kind of app you aim to develop and the time you need to build it. The real coding begins when a developer joins the team to work on the project. 

UI-Design stage (3-4 weeks)  

In every development process, there is a phase that consumes a lot more time when compared to other stages. In an app development timeline, the UI design stage steals the title as it includes designing a user interface for your app. User Interface designing involves deciding the colors, fonts, and images for your app that attracts the target audience once the app is launched. You also have to ensure that your app is compatible with different operating systems and tools. Even before you start developing your app, you should be aware of these elements in order to identify what your target audience is looking for.

Development stage (8-10 weeks)  

For app development, there are various stages with specific costs accompanied by it. The development stage basically involves 3 steps – UI design, front-end development, and back-end development. We have already discussed UI design, which will be handled by the graphic designers. The other two are very important elements in the app development process. The front end refers to whatever the users see in an app as well as the working of an application but it’s all useless until the back end is developed. The back end is what bridges the User Interface to the system, thus enabling the app to function properly. Back-end engineering involves Data storage, Server-side logic, Versioning, Data Integration, and User management. Meanwhile, front-end engineering consists of Caching, Wireframing, UI design, UI development, Front-end logic, and Synchronization.  

Testing Stage (2 weeks)  

During this time, you can test run your app to check if it is working as intended. If it doesn’t meet your expectations, you can make necessary alterations to the app with the help of a software developer or designer before releasing the app to the market. Once all the specifications are met, submit your app for review in the App Store. There they will examine the app you have developed, and make it go through careful screening processes before accommodating your app into their store. 

Finalization and launch (1 week)  

This is the stage where the design and proper functionality of the app are built and completed before releasing it to the public. You will receive feedback from beta testers on making improvements to the app. Though this phase demands some technical knowledge, you can get many resources like tutorials or YouTube videos for free of cost. Once this stage is completed, your app is ready for launch! 

Post-launch support and maintenance stage (2 weeks)  

It is very important to understand how your app functions after the release. This will allow you to identify and fix any bugs or glitches or to update features in your app that do not perform properly. The post-launch support and maintenance phase is crucial as it also gives the idea to bring a marketing strategy to increase the success rate of the app. 

Wrap Up 

It seems that there will be a new application that overruns our phones and computers every day. The increase we can see in the use and release of apps is not surprising with businesses wanting to get involved more in app development. This article will tell you how long it takes to build your app from planning to release.