There are several processes involved in the development of a mobile app. Most people combine the design process with the development process, while others combine testing with the deployment process. It’s not entirely their fault. Some processes of the mobile app development process are difficult to understand. However, in this article, we’ll try to explain all the processes in detail, so you do not get confused the next time you hear any of these processes. Let’s get started!
What is the mobile app development process?
A mobile app development process or software development life cycle is a framework that outlines the different steps that are necessary to develop a mobile app to achieve the highest level of quality. It is a method for measuring and improving the development process. By examining the development after each step, companies typically aim to reduce project costs. There are six steps in this software development life cycle. Let’s talk about all of them one by one.
Requirement Gathering:
The first and foremost step in the mobile app development quotation process is to gather the requirements. In this step, all the functional and non-functional requirements of the project are discussed between the stakeholders. After that, requirements are thoroughly analyzed to determine if they can be incorporated into the final product. In the end, these requirements are written in a document known as a software requirement specification (SRS).
Planning Analysis:
Planning is the most crucial component of any development. In the development of the mobile app, planning is the phase where each and every aspect of the development is analyzed thoroughly. In other words, the feasibility of the app is analyzed in this process. It includes checking if the project is economically and legally feasible for the organization to develop. As part of the analysis planning, time feasibility is also evaluated, which determines if the project can be completed in the given time frame.
Design:
Once the project has been fully analyzed, the design process begins. This is the phase where the overall architecture of the app is defined. Most people confuse this phase with the development phase. Nonetheless, it has nothing to do with development. The design phase describes every functional and non-functional aspect of the app including the user interface, system interface, input and output of every module, network requirements, and the database.
Coding:
After the design phase is complete, the next step is to code. The coding phase, as its name suggests, is the process of writing all the requirements defined in the SRS document into a programming language so that the computer can understand them easily. The programming language is decided according to the platform for which the app is being developed. Java and Kotlin are commonly used for Android app development, while Objective-C and Swift are used for iOS app development.
Testing:
A mobile app cannot be launched in the market once it has been developed. The app may have several bugs or errors at the beginning that need to be fixed before it is launched to the end user. Therefore, the app is tested module by module thoroughly by the development team to ensure that it meets all the quality standards defined in the SRS document. In some cases, beta versions of the app are released for the end user, and feedback is gathered to make changes if required.
Deployment:
Once the testing is complete and all bugs are removed from each module, the development team then integrates all the modules into a single primary source code. The modules are therefore presented in an app-like manner. Afterward, the app is released to the app stores for the use of end users.
Maintenance:
Maintenance is one of the most crucial phases of a software development life cycle. This is an ongoing process that starts after the app is deployed in the market and never ends. Maintenance is the process of fixing any bugs or errors in the app once it is deployed. Additionally, it includes adding more features to the app.
Android vs IOS Which one should you build first?
There are about six million apps available on both the Apple and Google Play Stores. The Google Play store has more than four million apps while the App Store has about two million apps. Android accounts for about seventy percent of the five billion mobile users in the whole world. The purpose of telling all these facts to you is to let you know which of them has more access to more users. Clearly Android has access to more users. So, if you want to reach a larger audience, you should build the Android app first.
Conclusion:
In this article, we discussed what mobile app development is and how the software development life cycle works. We discussed all the phases of the software development life cycle. We also talked about the difference between design and development in detail so that you do not get confused hearing these terms. In the end, we discussed why you should build the Android app first instead of the iOS app.
