How to create a mobile application from scratch?

Entrepreneurs solve problems in their locality with efficient and easy-to-use solutions. Do you have a problem you are passionate about solving with a mobile app? Learn how to create a mobile application from scratch. Nowadays, you can pay a mobile app developer to create the app for you or learn coding skills to become a mobile app developer.

Apart from getting an idea for solving a pressing problem that people are searching for the solution, you need money to pay a developer or learning resources to equip yourself with required skills, and marketing ability to sell your app. Follow the steps below to create a mobile application from scratch.

1. Find a problem to solve

Building an app means solving a problem for people, but ideas that will let you create a simple, easy-to-apply solution no one has thought about.

  • Itemize problems in a comprehensive list
  • Think of how you solve those problems in the list
  • Write down the most applicable solutions

You can go to the next step if you already have a problem you want to address with your app.

You may be interested in this article: Best mobile bills apps

2. Confirm if there is a need

You shouldn’t build an app that nobody wants. Confirm if people are searching for a solution to that problem. Find out if a solution(s) already exists and what you can do to make yours better than the existing solutions.

Look for a free keyword planner tool to do the keyword research by typing that on search engines. You may use the popular ones like Ubersuggest or sign up for a free trial in paid plans like Ahrefs and Semrush.

You may choose to make interested people in your app sign up with their email on a landing page. Explain the problem your app solves and see if they are interested in a solution. You can promise to give an update about the app development and email them when you launch the app into the market.

3. Sketch the app ideas and features

Once you have proof there is a demand for the solutions, you wil have to write a piece of complete information about how the app will be and the features on paper.

You may use a tool to lay out the product Wireframe and map out the place to put buttons. State what each function does and how the user uses the app from beginning to end. What does the user do at each phase? For example, type a new word and save it, copy and paste and delete words.

In addition, add how the user navigation and buttons of the completed app will look. Determining the features and flow charts will enable your developer to know the exact benefits the app gives the user.

4. Keep only the core features

Examine the app features and decide what features you will keep in the initial app you are building. Give the user core features that offer tangible benefits.

To lower developer costs, and launch the app into the market faster, don’t add features needed for the update of the first version.

5. Decide the design and Graphics first

Make the best solution for that problem your app is proposing to solve. Don’t create just an app with basic features to enter the market. Design means how the app looks and how it works. Make user experience and graphics paramount while developing the app.

6. Employ an app designer and developer

Find a person, team, or company that has experience creating the kind of app you want to build. Research Developers online to verify the apps they had produced in the past. Search their portfolio for similar work that proves they are the exact match to design and develop your app.

7. Register developer accounts

Go to the popular app stores online and register for a developer account with them. Doing that will allow you to sell the app when they are ready. You may register as an individual or company app developer.

8. ​​​​​​​Incorporate analytics

Add analytics to the mobile app for checking the downloads, user engagement, and how many users it retained. Find free tools for tracking analytics, or find the paid tools if you can’t afford them. You may consider Mixpanel Firebase and Flurry to give you actionable insights to improve user engagement.

9. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Obtain responses and manage them promptly

After launching the app on the App Store, look out for updates from the first users. These early users will give you comments that you can use to keep improving the functions and features of the application. Reviews from the users and improvement of the app is a continuous process and not a launch it and forget it.

10. Present withheld features

You launched the first edition of the app with modest but essential features. You can add the other beneficial features you removed from the application’s first version. Examine user feedback and analytics to confirm when to update the app.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Do it yourself—how to become a programmer

If you want to create a mobile app from scratch yourself, become a programmer. Follow these three steps to study and improve your programmer skills.

  • choose a language
  • learn the language
  • build applications and continue to learn

To do those three things above, search for learning aids and guides online and learn:

  • SQL database language
  • Basic Dev Ops for creating your development environment and server
  • Skill to launch the app
  • Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, Go, and
  • JavaScript first before learning frameworks
  • iOS and Android development

Go ahead to choose a problem people need to be solved and design the database. Then create user interface wireframes, research solutions, produce an app checklist, and build the app.