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 localisation, 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 optimise 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 behaviour 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 are many ways that your app could be of use though – for example by offering information, entertainment, support and assistance, shopping, or communicating 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: analysing the behaviour 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 behaviour, 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 recognise that not all the features you want will fit into your app – you have to make sacrifices to optimise 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 visualise 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 UK trademark registration.

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 optimisation 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.