Launching into the realm of mobile app development is a thrilling experience with vast potential. In the competitive mobile market of the US, tens of millions of applications battle for attention. While the modern technological advancements make it easier than ever to create an application, a great number of them fail in their first year of existence. Interestingly enough, few of them fail due to poor coding skills or bad concept – the main reason for failure is preventable technical mistakes made early in the process
1. Trapped in “Feature Bloat” Fallacy
Trying to include way too many tools and features into an application at once is one of the most common pitfalls for the inexperienced developer. The temptation to make it a multi-purposed powerhouse can easily result in a poorly designed product – slow and utterly unusable. If the application works well, users will find a way to deal with any flaws in design or UX.
2. Overlooking the Critical Importance of Mobile UI/UX
The assumption that as long as the technical side is taken care of, the rest of the things will fall into place by themselves may seem logical for the engineering-minded developer. Nevertheless, this approach often results in high churn rates. User interface and user experience are not optional – without them, your audience will simply lose interest to your app and leave permanently.
3. Designing Unscalable Application Backend
During the development stage, it seems natural to assume that everything is working well enough when testing takes place on your laptop or just a couple of devices locally. However, the biggest mistake is thinking of the application’s growth possibilities and failing to accommodate that during designing. As soon as it is launched and gains some popularity, the whole thing might start to fall apart.
4. Overlooking Long-term Maintenance Costs
Often, novice developers assume that their work ends as soon as the app passes certification requirements and goes live on the app store. However, such an underestimation leads to projects being halted mid-way due to lack of financial resources for their further operations and maintenance.
5. Ignoring Systematic Device and Network Testing
It is understandable that when creating a project, a huge desire to release it to the world is generated. Nevertheless, to release an app to the public without conducting proper testing on various devices and network connections is an extremely reckless decision. The mobile world is diverse and there exist literally thousands of different screen sizes, devices, OS versions and so forth.
6. Neglecting the Importance of Data Security and Compliance
In today’s digital world, everyone understands the importance of data security. Still, newbies tend to forget about such nuances and consider cybersecurity as something that can wait. Ignoring it leads to severe losses and even data breaches, which cause a company to shut down in an attempt to save reputation and avoid legal penalties.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is MVP and why should I create it?
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. It implies the creation of the simplest prototype of your app which includes just basic features needed to solve users’ problems. Creating such an MVP is highly recommended for novice app developers since this approach simplifies coding process, reduces time of development and cuts expenses. Moreover, it will give you valuable user feedback for subsequent iterations.
Why does my app function perfectly in the emulator, but fails in devices?
When working in an emulator, a developer works on their powerful desktop which offers a perfect environment for app to run. Real-life mobile devices have many other factors affecting app performance, such as limited battery power, thermal throttling, memory fragmentation, and random connection changes, which are not represented by an emulator. Thus, bugs emerge only then.
How much should I budget for maintenance?
In order to properly maintain your app, you need to allocate roughly 15% to 20% of your initial budget per year. It covers all expenses related to cloud infrastructure, patches to fix bugs or security issues, updates due to iOS and Android releases, and new feature implementation based on user experience.
Is it better to create a native or a cross-platform app as a novice?
As a rule, it is preferable to develop cross-platform app. There exists a wide range of technologies allowing you to create an application which will work equally well in both iOS and Android. Such platforms reduce expenses and save time significantly.
What is ASO and why do I need it?
ASO stands for App Store Optimization. This practice helps you optimize your application and increase the chances of people finding it in search results. It consists in using keywords, description, visuals and so forth. Ignoring this approach can ruin your efforts since, although the app might work perfectly, users will never find it among millions of other titles.
