Essential Considerations Before Building Your Mobile App

The software world is always evolving. In the past five years alone, things have changed dramatically in this space. 

When I first started out, there were very specific ways that apps had to be developed (like Objective-C and Java). There weren’t really many choices available.

But today, you have plenty of options. There are templates, components, frameworks, hybrid apps—lots to consider. How can you decide what’s right for you? 

Before you start any new app development project, there are certain factors that must be taken into consideration. This is especially important for those of you who don’t have any experience with mobile app development, and arguably more important for anyone who has had a bad building experience in the past. 

As someone who has been through this process countless times, I always have this conversation with my clients before we start building anything—I try to drill this into their minds. 

I’ve identified the five most important things to consider before you start mobile app development. I’ll go over all of the different options at your disposal to ensure that you select what’s right for your business and project. 

 

Consideration #1 — Platforms to Support

This is the first thing you need to figure out from the beginning. 

What platforms will your app be available on? Obviously, you’ll want to put primary emphasis on Android and iOS, since these are the two most dominant. 

Globally, Android reigns supreme. The research displayed in this chart says it all:

Platform	Global Market Share	US Market Share
Android	Dominant	Approximately 50%
iOS	Secondary	44.8%

But here in the US, it’s much closer to a 50/50 split. In fact, iOS controls 44.8% of the US market share, according to PCMag. Either way, you’re going to want to build an app for both.

However, you’ll also need to consider the devices that your apps will be used on—in addition to the platform itself. 

Each operating system has smartphones and tablets. Android tablets and iPads are not the same. This information will sort of give you a different dynamic of how you build your app since the specs and dynamics of each device is different. For example, devices with larger screens might not have as many limitations as a smaller smartphone. 

You should also be thinking about PWAs—progressive web apps.

More and more people are going to be accessing your mobile app and the web from their smartphones. PWAs offer an easier barrier to entry for whenever someone is exploring your product.

Another advantage of building a PWA is the ability for people to stumble upon your app via Google search. 

If someone is browsing on their phone and searching for something on Google, a PWA will allow them to enter your app directly from the browser. They can engage with it, either fully or partially, depending on how it’s built. 

While they’re trying it out, you can give them a prompt offering a more native experience, which would require a download. This is definitely something that you’ll want to think about and consider.

Consideration #2 — Mobile App Development Team

What team do you want to build your app? Most people don’t realize that they need more team members than they initially anticipated. That’s one of the reasons why software development is expensive.  

As we said before, we need to build an app for both iOS and Android. These apps will be written in two different languages. So you’ll need an iOS developer and an Android developer. 

You might find a developer that can actually do both, but I would advise against that. Why?

If you have one person building two apps, it will just end up taking double the time. Alternatively, you can have two separate developers working on it simultaneously. It will cost you the same amount of money, but you’ll get to market much faster as they work in parallel to each other. 

In addition to the two platform-specific developers, you’ll also need a full stack web developer.

Even if you opt-out of the PWA route, you still need to host your app data somewhere in the cloud. What does this mean?

Unless your app is something super simple, like a calculator that only requires a quick function and nothing else, you’ll need to make sure that your data resides in a secure and scalable location in the cloud.

A calculator or a flashlight app doesn’t have data that needs to be saved anywhere. There’s no communication between users or anything like that. But most apps will be much more complex than that.

For example, when your users register after downloading the app, where do their usernames and passwords go? It doesn’t stay on the devices. Everything is stored on a database somewhere in the cloud. When users communicate with each other, give you ratings, and when you release new updates, all of this is hosted in an infrastructure in the cloud. 

So you’ll need a full stack web developer to create this infrastructure that you need with the API so that your mobile app can access the data. 

You’ll also need a designer on your team to make sure everything looks good. 

Eye candy is the biggest selling point for most apps. It’s not necessarily always about the app functionality. If it looks pretty, it will engage with your user-base, which is extremely important—especially in such a competitive landscape. 

Your app development team needs a QA person as well. Their responsibility is to make sure that the software is properly tested. They run testing on multiple browsers, devices, and operating systems. Whether it’s the backend infrastructure or the app functionality itself, the QA has to cover all of your bases. 

Last, but certainly not least, your team needs a project manager. You can do this yourself or hire someone else. The project manager ensures that the team is hitting their deadlines, oversees the entire project, and holds everyone accountable.

So in the end, your team will be at least six people—three developers (iOS, Android, web), a designer, QA person, and a project manager. 

Consideration #3 — Infrastructure 

You’ll also need to consider where your app is being hosted. 

We’ve already established the fact that a member of your team needs to build this infrastructure. However, they’re probably not going

I hope you found this information helpful. Continue to use this as a resource if you’re thinking about building a mobile app. Good luck with your next development endeavor!

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