How to Build an App from Scratch: A Beginner’s Guide

NOTE: The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence.
Statista says that in 2020, over 200 billion applications were downloaded worldwide. And this trend is only growing. Let’s sayyou decide you want to build an app from scratch. Before you get started, you will have to think about how applications are developed and bring profit to your business.

For a large IT company or a beginner in this business, it will be apparent that the market for your application is enormous. The main thing is to find your niche correctly and develop a strategy for creating an application. We will talk about this today.

Outline your idea

If you already have an image of the application that you want to create in your head, be sure to write it down. Best of all, by hand and not holding back. Describe everything you could imagine, what should be in the application, what tasks it should solve, what features it should have.

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Choose your platform

Before you start developing an application, one of the critical decisions is to decide on which platform you want to run your application: android or iOS. Maybe the application will work for both platforms at once? Further development will depend on the answer.

Do market analysis

First, answer the question: is there already an application that you want to create? Is your idea unique, or do you want to replicate the success of an existing application? The critical aspect here is to understand what pain points of your audience you are willing to tackle.

In an article, Forbes points out that the most downloaded apps in 2020 were related to entertainment (TikTok) and communication (WatsArr. Facebook).

If your idea is not unique, but you know what you want to improve in an existing service, be sure to consider the competitor’s success and analyze its weaknesses.

Write business goals

What will you get from building your application? Will it be paid, or will it be profitable through in-app advertising? What is your target audience? Potential advertisers? How will new users find you?

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Find the ultimate goal of your application

Any product has an ultimate goal – to get a loyal customer whose problems are solved with the help of your business. Accordingly, you must know your target audience, their problems, and how you will solve them.

Creation of an MVP version

In practice, this will be just a skeleton, first working version or MVP (minimum viable product) of a future fully-fledged application. Any software development company, including MLSDev, that provides development services you can check here – https://mlsdev.com/services/custom-software-development, starts with MVP. It helps you test the core functionality of your application before designing and developing the full system. It will also be possible to understand how such an application will look and work roughly. So, it makes sense to develop core and basic software features and further adjust it based on feedback from the real users.

Get feedback from users

At this stage, you will test and receive feedback on your application. It is a very important stage, as you can find out which features are poorly perceived by testers, which ones should be replaced, what they like, and what is better to improve. It is essential to make this stage mandatory. Otherwise, you can waste time and money on re-developing the application.

User map creation

This is an important step in the app development process that showcases all the dependencies and user flow. This user map can be created by utilizing different tools like Figma, Coogle, or similar. Once you have a user journey map ready, you can have a clear idea of ​​all the users’ actions in your application. It’s good if you can create several usage cards for your application at once.

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Prototyping

Your project prototype is a functional UI / UX that allows you to test the user path without developing it. Once your prototype is well tested and ready to go, you can build your application’s final prototype.

Start building an application

Depending on what suits you best, at this stage, you can choose:

1. Application designers. These are online mobile app builders where you build your app without coding.
2. Development Agency. If you do not want to interfere with the development process, contact your application development agency.
3. Freelancers. Freelancers are the alternative to a development agency. Freelancing is on the rise and while Freelancers have their pros and cons, as they can offer you their services at a low cost, but their skills do not guarantee success.
4. Create your code. Writing your code can take a long time, but it has its advantages – you will be the creator. You will not depend on others.

Final testing

Before launching in the App Store or Play Store, it is vital to test the finished application in real conditions. Even your family members, friends, or colleagues should be there. Get feedback, hear what they think of this app, find bugs, and make sure the app works well on any device.

Prepare a starter document.

This document should include the app’s name, a description of the app, the privacy policy page on your website, email, website, etc.

Take nice screenshots

Screenshots and videos of the app’s review help users make a choice in your favor. These photos are kind of a showcase for your product. Therefore, you should not be lazy to make them high-quality and understandable.

Release your app and enjoy.

When the app is ready, you create an account in the app store to pay for and manage the launch of the app.

‍Building an app is fun, especially if you are passionate about the idea and willing to take risks. The market loves the riskier; good luck!