iOS Mobile App Development Process: Everything in a Nutshell

Smartphones and Mobile Applications, together have transformed the usual ways of information consumption and living lives. 

The apps with different services like Android or iOS app development services are now moving towards becoming a service that allows you to do anything from reading books online to take all-digital care of your health. With the quickness and ease, they have made us all experience the absolute potential of our smartphones!

This new wave of apps and app development has changed the entire digital ecosystem. And the most popular digital platform out of all is Apple with its iOS technology. Apple’s App Store, with millions of unique apps, enjoys massive popularity. 

The numbers are still rising exponentially!

The market Apple has created is indeed a lucrative one.

However, good things in life never come that easily. Behind all the excellent interface, user-friendliness, and easy access is a tremendous and long process. 

From development to making the way through the App Store, it is not a roses bed. 

Therefore, we will establish an in-depth understanding of how it all starts, i.e., the process of developing an iOS application in this article. 

But, wait, starting with some motivation, sounds like a good idea!

Let’s look at some mobile app development statistics for motivation. 

Promising Mobile App Development Statistics

Speaking of mobile app development statistics, there are over 2.7 billion smartphone users worldwide at present. 

It is evident that the mobile app industry is flourishing at a fast pace. 

Mobile apps are expected to generate a revenue of over $189 billion in 2020. There are 2.2 million apps available for download on Apple App Store. On Google Play Store, around 2.8 million apps that can be downloaded. 

And about the users, 21% of Millennials open an app 50+ times per day, 49% of people open an app 11+ times each day, and the average smartphone owner uses 30 apps each month.

Out of all digital media usage, 57% of all comes from mobile apps.

What is the Essence of iOS App Development? 

Apple is the reason behind iOS app development for its Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad, etc. It has a closed-source code, which makes it work on Apple devices only. With iOS technology, Apple has successfully set up an environment for its own devices. 

The developers use Swift, Objective-C, or Flutter or various alternatives for iOS application development. The list of some tools providing custom iPhone apps development includes iOS SDK, XCode, Swift Playgrounds, TestFlight, and so much more. 

Overview of the iOS App Development Process

Start with the Goals App Ideation 

You know, you can never reach anywhere without analyzing what you have thought. It is essential to put your goals and ideas on the table and then retrospect. 

Here’s what you need to do:

• Define the objective of your mobile app clearly
• Have a firm idea of what features you need in the app 
• Understand your target market.
• Know the concerns you will be addressing with your app
• Determine the value proposition of your app

You are good to proceed if you have covered the points mentioned above. 

Planning of the App Design

You would have the initial design of the app in your mind right after the ideation. You need to get that preview in your head apparent before reaching out to an app development firm by taking into account the screen designs, menu, navigation, content, etc.

It is also essential to plan how you would monetize the app to earn revenues. You can use Google AdMob for seamless app monetization.

What to Consider Before Choosing Someone for App Development?

The first and foremost is the time!

You need to make sure whichever firm or developer you are planning to work with is committed to investing enough time in your project. Keep in mind that the App Distribution Workflow is quite extensive and would demand input throughout the process.

Second is the budget. You need a set budget to facilitate the development process. You surely don’t want to run out of resources in between and leave your hired firm or developer on a cliff-hanger. 

There are many more things than the basic ones like a firm or developer’s previous clients, experience, pricing system, mutual NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), and much more that you have to take care of. 

Wireframe

The Wireframe is considered as a visual architecture or mock-up of every page that is being found in your app. You would also be able to see how each page is linked together with each other. It’s essential to define the project scope. Also, identify the required features in your app.

Design

Talking about the design phase, it follows the wireframing stage. This is where the palette colours, logos, typography, styling, and overall look get touched. 

Some UI elements like status bar, navigation bar, toolbar and tab bar also get worked on.

Development

After understanding the design, it is the turn for coding. Successfully managing projects requires effective communication and scope management. It would be better if you plan about iOS application development services related to the development part before finalizing. 

Various tools such as Flutter, Swift, Asana, Basecamp, or Jira can be used for executing the project tasks. 

• Back-End Development – Back-end development tasks are about defining the back-end structure. It involves server-side logic to create the back end of the app. You handle how the user will navigate through the entire app, data integration for allowing users to access and share information to third party websites, push notifications to engage users to the app, and more at the back-end.

• Front-End Development – Front-end development includes Wireframing, UI design, and development translated into functioning UI. There is also data caching, building storage for data to improve the app’s speed, syncing app data at the front-end. 

Result Testing 

Result testing is vital for assuring the quality of your app. 

You can conduct QA (Quality Assurance) testing once the first version developed for the next version in a variety of environments and conditions. It would ensure if the app is bug-free and there are no crashes. 

App Launch

Once your app successfully passes all QA (Quality Assurance) tests, all you need to do is present it into the App Store for approval. 

However, it may take a few weeks before your app gets launched.

Apple reviews every app submission to check if it fulfills every criterion or guideline. Failing to do so, you may get asked to make a few amendments.

Marketing

Marketing may come later but is one of the most crucial steps of the process. Once you finally launch your new app into the App Store, the time comes for marketing. You would have to focus on drawing the user’s attention and optimizing the new app’s exposure.  

• Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to gather feedback from your app’s users to know what’s blooming and what’s missing. You can then make improvements to the app through APM (Application Performance Management).

Final Thoughts

You know, the process of app development never ends!

However, the process still gets completed with the successful deployment of the app to the App Store. 

After launch comes a continuous process of app maintenance. 

If you want your much- worked upon custom iPhone app development to be fruitful, then you need to monitor everything from app usage to its success rate or sort any functional and security bugs. 

Just be prepared for every hurdle that may come!