6 Common Mistakes in App Development & Tips to Avoid

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Mobytelab Team

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This is the era of mobile apps. It’s time for you to jump into this lucrative market. But every jump holds an implicit failure. The market demand is putting more and more pressure on app developers and designers to deliver a large number of sleek and stunning mobile apps. You are not forced to build a perfect app, but you have to make as few flaws as possible to survive. A little mistake can kill your entire app business.

Not everyone can achieve a smash hit in their first try building an app, which can comfort you a bit. But a lot of people cannot get over the pain of failing and throw their efforts into the trash. So try to avoid mistakes from the beginning can help you decrease the chance of being discouraged and waste your app idea.

Over a decade of app revolution, there surely are some common mistakes in the development process that have been figured out. You can learn from those mistakes and find effective solutions for the very first version of your app.

Common mistakes

Shortlist of all common mistakes

1. Packing too many features
2. Poor user experience
3. Not aware of platforms differences
4. Disregard the analytics
5. Miss out on the Monetization Plan
6. Lack of experience in app development

Continue reading if you want to check out more in detail.

1. Packing too many features

Most of the smartphones available on the market today come with many cool built-in features such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, camera, GPS and so on. But packing all these features in just one app will not help. Professional app developers would raise an objection to that. A Multiple-function app is especially a risky choice if you have little experience

Hint:

In the very first version of your app, you should aim to serve your target user’s particular needs and focus sharply on your app’s original functions. Those will make your app stand out from others. So you must clearly define your target audience from the beginning. Then only use the features which work best for them.

You still have chances to add more features in the upcoming versions. Doing that even gives the feel of constantly updating your app, which will likely delight your users.

2. Poor user experience

The user would uninstall the app very quickly if they are unsatisfied with the user experience. Basically, the poor experience is due to an improper user interface design, which creates bad app performance. So, if a user struggles to perform a basic function, it would result in the app being discarded in no time. Some of the poor user experience examples can be listed such as long loading time, long registration process, complicated features etc.

Make sure that you don’t follow any of these poor performances for your app even mistakenly. That means you need to do a thorough test of the app.

Hint:

Your users are not geeks, they could have struggled with those “creative” maze you created. Before that, if the users are not familiar with your app, don’t challenge their patience with a rough experience. The very first version of your app should be easy to operate that users can learn to use it quickly. The UI, therefore, needs to be simple, to the point and including each screen, each button and each function that is well defined.

But it’s not likely that you should never build apps with complicated UIs and multi-touch gestures. After the first version has been launched, you can define your users’ behaviour and standard to decide on a ground-breaking improvement. In case you want to do such a thing, show your users you care for them by involving a detailed how-to section in your app. An important thing to remember here is to make your UI consistent and homogeneous through all the upcoming versions of your app so that your users will not be confused with future app updates.

3. Not aware of platforms differences

Building an app without keeping platform differences in mind is one major flaw that you might have while developing the mobile app. There are over a million apps on both the major app stores that are one factor that will confuse you in choosing the platform that you must choose.

Every mobile platform including iOS and Android have their distinctive interface guidelines. They operate in their own specific ways, gestures, and common buttons places in different areas.

For example, Android devices have a back button built into the hardware. However, Apple devices don’t have any back button. In such a case, failing to address platform-specific nuances can affect user experience. Adding on too many features and mobile platforms to your first version will also raise your initial costs sky-high. This may also turn counter-productive for you, as it may actually end up reducing the chances of the success of your app in the marketplace. Thus, keeping platform differences in mind is important while building an app for multiple devices.

Hint:

You need to resist the temptation to immediately start developing for several mobile platforms, all at once. It is important that you consider some other conditions also while choosing the app development platform. Research the several mobile platforms available to you and do not rush in to include all the OS’ in one go. If you should think of developing an app for multiple platforms, plan out your app development strategies well in advance. Think of a unique app concept that will also most appeal to your audience. It is wise to finalize an app into one of the stores and then afterwards you can port it to the other platform after having a couple of iterations.

4. Disregard the analytics

There’s a popular saying that “we only manage things we measure”. Launching an app without having gone through any analytic tool is unimaginable. The analytic process is so important from the start of the app development itself so that you could make future data-driven decisions on the design, content and user experience.

Hint:

Use the analytics services like Flurry analytics, LodgeNet which are leading provider of valuable insights. You can measure some important metrics within your app:

• Daily Active Users (DAU)
• Retention Rate
• Average Time Spent on the App
• App Crashes
• Engagement

5. Miss out on the Monetization Plan

The thought of monetization of the app might seem very discouraging at first until you know that app monetization is one of the most important parts of the app development process.

The app will not surely sell itself. Don’t think that the users will come directly to come and use your app. Most of the apps are free so it is important to think about the monetization of the app at the beginning itself.

Hint:

Start making the monetization plan at the early stage of the development process and tracking the correct path. You can learn a lot about app monetization plan online and see all the tactics they are using. Read our thoughts if you want to.

6. Lack of experience in app development

We are confident to say that if an app takes us two months to build, it would usually take an amateur company a half year. Many companies make mistake doing the whole process on their own despite the fact that they lack software management experience. If you think that this way would save money, you pay time instead. Unless you have a dedicated, built-out mobile team, you are risking your investment.

Hint:

It is advisable to consider outsourcing to an external firm will be the best choice if you are unaware of the app development process before. You will have to balance the time and the amount of money you are paying for it. Take the support of a professional mobile app development company that has experience in working with clients of diverse technical background. You end up with something much better much faster.

Mobytelab focuses on software consultant, product design, UI/UX design, web & mobile application development and ASO.

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