In today’s times, building an iOS application for your small business is a good idea. The number of iOS devices has increased tremendously crossing the billion mark, and ignoring this subset of users in the market would hurt your profits. However, for building a smart app, you need the right company with high-quality iPhone application development services.
An application developer plays an important role in designing and completing your mobile application. The iOS developer you hire must understand your business to build the app. The developer must also provide crucial feedback to help you with your concept, storyboard, and user experience.
Here are some important things to keep in mind during iPhone mobile app development:
- The Purpose
The first step to create a successful iOS app is determining the purpose of the app. Before you type in a single line of code, you need to build a mobile strategy with clarity on the following:
- What is the objective of the app?
- What solution does it intend to provide?
Apps are developed to solve certain problems and address specific needs. Having a clear picture of these needs before you begin to code improves the chances for successful iPhone app development.
Next, you can outline the purpose of the app using inputs from competitor research. This research is based on understanding how your app can be better than the competitors and how it can add more value to the user’s life.
- Define Target Market
It is extremely vital to know your target audience. This includes various aspects such as age, sex, educational background, income levels, geographic locations, preferences, and interests. The existence of an app is redundant if there is no audience to promote it to.
- Content Layout and Design
The layout is crucial to the success of the app. Apple pays close attention to the same, ensuring that they only deliver the best to its users. The rule of thumb is that content must perfectly fit the screen in a way that users don’t need to scroll left or right.
Apple focuses on three rules for iPhone app design. These are depth, clarity, and deference.
- Depth: This focuses on the navigation for each screen and the sense of going deeper into the functions of the app.
- Clarity: This focuses on maintaining the right size and thickness of fonts so that they are easy to read on any device. The font must be bold enough in the right places.
- Deference: This relates to the intuitiveness and fluidity of the apps. The design must be simple and neat without text or images overly competing for attention.
Two other factors that need considerable attention are font size and color. The font size must be easily readable without the need for users to zoom in or out. Moreover, the font must not be light since it can be difficult to read while using the phone in the sun.
When you are all set to publish to the App Store, make sure you use the different emulators to review the app’s layout. This will help you evaluate whether the images and content rightly fit the device screen or not.
A critical challenge that you will have to face while evaluating the layout is that there are multiple screens for iOS devices. You cannot test the app on various screen sizes. As a result, making use of the most common sizes is the best bet.
- Apple ID Code
You need an Apple ID to sign the code. Any developer or coder needs to sign the code before it is uploaded. This works as a mark of identification, labeling you as the coder or developer of the application. If you have hired iPhone application development services, make sure you take all the necessary documents to complete the upload at your end.
An Apple ID is free but if you wish to use it to host an app on the App Store, you need to pay an annual account fee. Your app is published on the App Store if it meets Apple’s terms of service. An app development company can add you to their account as a developer to upload the app. The advantage here is that you are involved in the process of the verification of the app and they can upload and manage the code.
- Streamlined interaction
An interesting yet important tip for the success of your iOS app is having streamlined interaction between the website and the app. After users perform certain actions on the web version, the same must be updated and visible on the mobile application. A good example of this is Amazon. Users can add a product to their cart on the web which then becomes visible in the cart on the app as well.
- Compatibility
For more reach and downloads, it is recommended that you develop an iPhone app compatible with multiple versions of iOS. This is something to be taken into consideration while developing the app. Consumers who have older versions of iOS should be able to use the app without any inconvenience.
- High-performance
iPhone users have an interest in high-performing apps. Therefore, if you want your app to be successful, you must ensure that it is high-performing and highly functional. A typical iPhone user wants the app to be fast, flexible, and agile. If you are unable to make a high-performing iOS app, it will be deleted by the users without remorse.
- Testing
There’s no limit to testing. For a successful iOS app, the mobile application development company must perform testing at several levels before the app is released. A/B testing is a good example. With the help of A/B testing, the development company can send out two different versions of the app to different sets of target audiences. The objective of this test is to determine which version of the app – A or B – attracts more users in the target market.
After your app is developed, you need to devise a strong marketing strategy. Efforts in marketing will lead to app downloads and usage by your target audience. Currently, the App Store has millions of applications and if you want to break through the clutter, you must know the right techniques of marketing.