9 Often Unknown (But Crucial) Elements Of Creating Apps

Leaps and bounds don’t even begin to describe the growth trend mobile tech has had in the last decade. It’s a night and day difference that has seen cell phones go from merely a means to communicate anywhere to personal computers that we can’t function without. With the future of smartphone technology trending off the charts, developers are hard pressed to predict and adapt to just how we can use them further. Here’s 9 aspects of app development that the best apps are focusing on to ensure they create the most useful apps on the marketplace.

1. Keeping the End User In Mind

Chances are your favorite apps are your favorite apps for a reason. Based on your habits, lifestyle and phone usage they tailored an app to suit your needs.

The best developers are keeping their target customer and users in mind throughout the creation process. It’s a long and arduous process but a laser focus makes the end result worth it.

2. Your Storage is Important

You might have hundreds of apps on your smartphone already, so getting that next one could tip you closer to the edge than you’d like. Apps are constantly battling for your attention on the app stores, but once you’ve downloaded them, it’s a battle royale to remain. App developers are doing their best to keep the file size low to accommodate your limited space, and it’s greatly appreciated.

3. Art isn’t Cheap

Graphics, animations and any sort of imagery required by an app isn’t free. Pixels are pricey, and the best looking apps carry a deep cost for looking that good. The prettier an app is means there’s a good chance a lot of time and money went into it.

4. Keeping Things Interesting

Most apps are deleted within the first few days post installation. It’s hard to keep users interested, but when they do stick around it’s for a good reason. Making sure that an app satisfies the reasons it was installed in the first place is crucial, but giving them a reason to launch it again is important as well.

5. Commands Need to be Simple

An app might have the most groundbreaking design and interface of all time, but if it's not instantly intuitive to how users are accustomed to using apps it’s likely to fail. Keeping things familiar while bringing new elements to the table is a constant struggle for mobile app developers.

6. A/B UX Testing Works

Getting vital user feedback on small changes to an app can be the difference between life and death on the app marketplace. Very rarely are even the smallest changes made in a vacuum for the most successful apps. They have to be OK’d by multiple people after extensive input. A very trying process, but it pays off.

7. The Fine Line of Updates

The chances of annoying users with a rapid series of updates has to be weighed against the improvements those changes can bring. The most popular apps can afford to add new changes on the fly constantly as they’re not afraid of seeing a large dip in users, and instead only stand to gain further success. This isn’t always the case with every app though.

8. Focused Functionality

Just because an app team can add a feature to an app doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Sometimes branching out isn’t the right move, as veering away from the primary usage of an app can cause it to lose its purpose. Big changes and new functions sometimes warrant a new app, which is why you see developers with multiple apps in the same vein of each other.

9. Promotion. Promotion. Promotion.

Marketing is the lifeblood of an app. If people aren’t using and talking about your app, you need to make that happen. The costs of app creation can be high, but in order to see success a budget needs to be in place for those apps to take off. It’s a fine line, but one that needs to be kept in mind.