Mobile App Development Checklist That You Need To Kickstart Your Business

So you want a mobile app for your business but are stuck at ground zero? Fortunately, I’m here to give you the jumpstart you need.

When you check for, “Mobile app development checklist”, all you find is generic advice. Don’t get me wrong. Those lists are fine and give some idea of what your business needs.

But is that enough though?

To build a business app, what you need is a list of components to cover. Specifically the components that all the top business apps have.

  1. Clear Business Goal
  2. Defined Wireframes For Your Mobile App
  3. App Design Flow
  4. Right Mobile Technology Platform
  5. Mobile App QA Testing
  6. Securing Your App
  7. Publish Your App Online
  8. Marketing Your Mobile App

Let’s get this started.

1. A Clear Business Goal

Apple store and Google Play combined have over 5.7 million apps. But when you consider the cream of the crop, only a few thousand business apps are super successful and popular.

The first common thing they all have is a clear objective for a business app. Now, do you have it too?

Having a business is different from having a business app. The purpose of your app is to boost your business.

Long Term Vs Short Term

Now let’s focus on the specifics. What are your immediate short term goals? If you are offering a few functionalities, what do you expect out of them?

What are your plans to improve your business app in the long run? Do you have ideas to expand and introduce new modules in the mix?

These are questions that you need to ask yourself before you start building a business app.

Analyze The Big Names

Okay, now you’ve straightened up your priorities. Let us do some research.

To get inspiration, you need to look at what others are doing. In our case, have a look at the top business apps out in your niche.

Want to start your line of sneakers? Check what Adidas, Nike and Puma are doing. Get ideas that you can work and improvise later on.

Also keep an eye on the local competitors. Some of them would have followed a successful strategy that made them famous. Find out where they excel and their flaws so you can improve yours.

2. A Defined Wireframe

If you had analyzed the top names in the industry, you would find their apps have top class user experience. A user-friendly design is simple yet effective.

None of them will be available as free resources online. Top businesses are willing to invest in high quality multimedia and you should do too.

So, where to begin? Let’s start with creating a wireframe.

In Layman’s terms, a wireframe is the 2D blueprint of your business app. It’s the basic design of how your app should look and what it should have.

3. A Cool App Design Flow

Your business app is similar to a bakery selling eye-catchy pastries. If those donuts don’t look good, people won’t buy them.

Same goes for your business app, my friend.

“What about those DIY app builders?”

Anything DIY is not so good for businesses who want to see their brand grow every year.

In the mobile app development world, it is a standard practice to document everything you discuss with the app development company.

From the platform, the design themes, the scope of the project, and everything in between.

I would advise to pen down as much detail as you can so that you and the team can stay clear during the whole process.

4. Choose The Right Mobile Technology Platform for Development

Great job in documenting all about your app. Getting the idea on paper is the first part. Now let’s start building.

Remember the wireframe you came up with? That plays a key role because the developers will start with the prototype of your app.

It is not fully functional yet and will require a few rounds of testing to come out as a practical app.

Which Development Platform To Choose?

You have the Apple store supported by iOS and the Play store powered by Android.

These are the two platforms you should be interested in. But most business owners want their business apps to be platform-independent.

Meaning, your app has to perform at its best whether it’s Android or iOS.

80% of app developers today use either React Native or Flutter because of their cross-platform development feature.

5, Time To Put It To The Mobile QA Testing

Before launching your business app online, you need to assure quality. This is where testing comes in.

The goal here is to test your app’s functionalities under multiple circumstances. What would happen if your app receives unrecognized data? What happens when the data is too large to handle?

Can it still maintain the loading speed and not slow down? An app is reliably fast if it loads within 4 seconds.

Offline operation is also key for a lot of apps. Even though a lot of apps rely on the global network all the time, if your app offers good support during offline situations, that’s great.

Finally, a feedback option for your app helps. Customers might find a bug in your app. This is a rare case scenario but you have to add a way for them to report. When they feel their issue is addressed, they feel more confident to use your app.

6. Secure Your Mobile App

App security is key now as a lot of small businesses set up an ecommerce store.

When you sell online, you will have to deal with multiple payment gateways, saving your customer’s confidential information and ensuring that orders are placed hassle-free.

For that, your app has to be secure no matter what.

You can statically test your app using tools like SonarCube online. Talk to your developers while testing and they’ll help you out.

7. Publish Your App Online

Way to Go! Your app is ready to go.

Now what you need is a developer account. Whether it’s iOS, Android or both, you need to register yourself by creating a developer account.

There’s an upfront registration fee where you need to pay $25 for a Google developer account. Apple charges $99 annually and their enterprise program charges $299 annually.

Here are the links to sign up for Android and Apple developer accounts.

8. Market Your App

Once you’re online, it’s time to go for it. Your name has to reach more eyeballs everyday.

51% of users prefer a business app because they like getting incentives. It’s not just the incentives that play here. It’s the brand as a whole.

Start tracking the traffic. Hop on to Google Analytics, a free tool that every business app needs. Once you get data, you can take measures to improve or correct features.

Integrating social media is a great way to boost your app’s visibility.

There are free apps like Linktree and Carrds where you can add links to your app and redirect visitors from your social media handles.

There are a ton of options to promote your business app. I have mentioned the most popular and the ones that ACTUALLY work.

Why You Should Hire A Professional App Development Company In Toronto

With that, I’ll wrap things up. I hope this mobile app development checklist proved to be useful for you.

Now you have a clear picture of where to start the journey of building your business app.

Building it professionally is the best thing to do. GyanDevign Tech Services is a professional app development company in Toronto that I run with a team of top developers.

Whether it’s a Native or a hybrid app, we can deliver you nothing but the best. We lay out a detailed 5-step process to understand your business needs and build your app strong from the ground up.

Contact us now and we can hop on a call to discuss your ideas and make them a reality.