How to create your first mobile app?
We’ll tell you how to master mobile development and start creating your own products
You can create a simple application and upload it to the store without programming skills. There are designers and special frameworks for mobile development. Together with Azamat Nurkhodjaev, the lead developer of the mobile development area at Home Credit Bank Kazakhstan, we figured out how to do this.
According to Ericsson, over the past two years, mobile internet consumption in the world has doubled, and its share continues to grow. If you have long wanted to try your hand at mobile development, now is the perfect time. Apps are popular and developers are needed everywhere.
How apps work
In a broad sense, an app is a program for mobile devices: smartphones, tablets, smart watches and other gadgets. Most often we talk about applications for iOS and Android platforms. Applications are placed in the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.
Apps most often have a client-server architecture. This means that they have a “client” part, with which the user interacts, and a “server” part – the engine.
Some popular mobile applications such as Wildberries or OZON are mobile “copies” of desktop versions that work with the same server but have a different interface.
There are completely local applications that store data on the same device where they were launched. These can be, for example, games that don’t require Internet access, or tools that run only offline. Such applications are not always client-server.
Why create your own app
It’s common for aspiring developers to create apps for three reasons:
- To run their own business. If a professional has their own business, their own app can bring in additional traffic and new customers. Business app builders are used to create business apps. They allow you to “build” a simple app with a minimum of code, as from ready-made blocks;
- training. An aspiring professional needs experience and a portfolio to get a job. Pet projects are a great way to get both. We talked about how to create a pet project in this article. Typically, “training” pet projects are simple applications written from scratch;
- have fun. Apps can be created for fun or recreation. Sometimes they add advertising or premium features, and sometimes they leave them non-commercial. This is where you can both apply a builder and create from scratch.
How to prepare for creating an app
Think about the purpose and goals of the app.
Decide in advance why and for whom you’re making the app:
- Who your target audience is;
- What their needs or problems are;
- Which ones the app will be able to “close”;
- How it will do it;
- What results it will produce;
- What you’ll get out of it.
Define the functionality
For example, if it’s a store, will it be possible to add an item to the “Shopping Cart” – or will users only be able to order using the order form? To understand what features are needed, put yourself in the place of the user. The buyer will be more comfortable if the app has a convenient menu, the ability to filter the catalog by popular parameters, and a personal account.
Another feature that shouldn’t be forgotten is push-notifications. They are displayed in the “curtain” of the mobile system and remind the user of the application.
Choose your tools
If you’re not writing code yourself, you’ll need a tool called Zero-Code or No-Code. These are primarily constructor services. Usually these services are paid, but some of them have free or trial versions.
If you want to write an application from scratch, you’ll need knowledge of the programming language and a prepared environment:
- for Android mobile development – Java and Kotlin;
- for iOS – Swift;
- for writing portable “non-native” (cross-platform) applications for any environment – JavaScript and HTML/CSS;
- for Flutter technology – the Dart programming language.
Some projects for mobile devices are written in other languages: C and C++, C#, Python. For example, the popular Unity and Unreal Engine game engines work with C# and C++, respectively.
Think about interface and design
Usability and design affect the perception of an application. This is where a niche analysis comes in handy. Look at how similar apps are made. If an app is annoying with intrusive ads, too flashy design, or ill-conceived logic, the user will delete it.
There is a concept of responsiveness in interface design. When a user interacts with an element, they should receive feedback from it. For example, if a person clicks a button, the interface must visually reflect: the button is clicked. If the application is “pondering” – it should display a loading circle. If in doubt about the convenience, test the application yourself or ask your friends to help.
You don’t have to draw the design from scratch. The designers usually have ready-made versions that you can customize. And if you’re going to code, you can find free design templates online and use them. For example, on the freepik site. You can use the standard elements offered by the authors, and change the style a little.
Think of the logic
The user will switch pages, move from one screen to another, possibly open or close pop-up windows and do many other things. Think about how the program will behave in different situations: what should be in the application, how it should react to events. For example, what should happen when the user presses a button?
You need to think through the logic separately for each component. Try to break down large tasks into smaller ones and solve them sequentially.
Plan the next steps
Think about what will happen to your application after you write it. Will you develop or promote it, where do you plan to grow with it, how are you going to maintain it. Even if it doesn’t go the way you planned, you’ll have a rough strategy.
How to create a mobile app in a builder
Every builder has templates – ready-made “frameworks” that you can refine to your liking. The app can be linked to an existing database or to the CMS of the site, that is, the content management system. This is useful if you already have a website or a database and want to transfer information from there to the application.
Mobincube
Cost
There are six plans to choose from, from the free plan to the feature-rich XXL, which costs 1,199 euros per month. The free plan allows you to create, store and download applications and provides access to analytics. But to make money on the application, remove the constructor’s watermark, and optimize the product for stores – premium features.
Functionality
There’s a visual editor for creating apps, and the premium features are easy to connect from your personal account. Advanced users can edit the source code of the apps. Google Analytics or a database can be connected.
App templates are tailored to the needs of specific businesses, from event registration to clinic appointments.
iBuildApp
Cost
You can create an app for free. But most of the features to support it are only available if you choose a plan. The cheapest one allows you to create a single application and costs 80 CAD per month. Other tariffs are corporate, designed for use in web studios.
Functionality
The service is fully Russian-speaking, the cost is indicated in Canadian dollars. Many template widgets and integrations can be added to the application. There are virtually ready-made solutions for different types of business.
Kalipso Studio
Cost
The program is paid, but you can try it free for 14 days. To test the trial version, you need to fill out a form on the official website of the developer. The cost of the license is from $83 per month.
Functionality
This service is positioned as an application generator. It supports, in addition to the popular Android and iOS, also Windows Mobile, Windows CE and Windows 10. Unlike the previous ones, Kalipso Studio has only a desktop version for Windows. Applications can be created by dragging and dropping components by drag-n-drop. Then you can customize them.
This service is not Zero- but Low-Code. This means that you might need to program, but not much. But the application will be more flexible and less formulaic.
Appy Pie App Builder
Cost
The platform is fully paid, but there is a free demo. The minimum cost of the plan is C$20 per month. It allows you to create applications for Android only. Tariff, where you can create products for iOS, costs 65 CAD per month.
Functionality
The English-language platform has a pleasant design and detailed instructions. This constructor also works on the drag-n-drop principle: components can be added to the application by dragging and dropping. There are many templates. Appy Pie is powerful and simple, flexible and functional for a designer. It has no ads by default, which are placed in the created applications by cheaper services. You can add your own ads for monetization if you wish.
AppsGeyser
Cost
You will be able to create a simple app based on the template for free. Store optimization, push notifications, and in-app purchase support are paid services. Subscriptions start at C$1 per month.
Functionality
Listed designers mainly allow you to create business applications that work in conjunction with CMS sites. On the first page the service asks which of two purposes you are creating the project for:
to Grow – to grow your business with an additional promotion channel;
to Earn – to make money on advertising and other ways to monetize the information or entertainment project.
Different goals have different usage scenarios: the list of templates, additional features and other details. For example, there are more templates for an informational app, there are even simple games. You can manage advertising in it. The designer promises that it is possible to create an application in 5 minutes.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using constructors.
Advantages
- The high speed of creating an app;
- The ability to create a working product without coding skills;
- Intuitive interface. Zero-Code services are usually designed to be easy to understand.
Disadvantages
- Paid access. Free versions have very narrow functionality;
- Templates. A standard application created with the constructor is a mobile version of your existing site. In essence, in the builder, you create an interface and bind the app to the “internal” part of your site.
If you want to dive into mobile development, you need to practice writing apps yourself.
How to create a mobile app from scratch
You can’t “build” an app from components. You need to write code, link modules together programmatically, and maybe draw a design. It will take more time to create such an app, but this way you can gain new experience and practice.
For iOS. Apple has its own languages for development. The main one is Swift. To write applications in the native ecosystem, you need an Apple device with macOS installed. The company offers developers an environment called XCode, which supports out-of-the-box programming in Swift, can emulate various Apple devices, and has great room for the imagination. It can be downloaded for free from the App Store, the macOS app store.
Users with Windows or Linux PCs won’t be able to work fully with XCode and Apple’s tools. The “non-native” development features are available to them, which we’ll talk about below.
For Android. Mobile applications for Android are created in Java or Kotlin. There are specific programming environments for this, such as Android Studio, emulators and specialized tools. Java is considered the main language and has been used in mobile development since the beginning. Kotlin is newer and is fully compatible with Java. You can also use a universal programming environment such as Eclipse.
Non-enabled (cross-platform way). There is another approach to creating applications: you can use frameworks. A framework provides the developer with a generic “box,” a set of interfaces within which the application runs. The specialist writes the logic and the graphical interface. And creating a “shell” to interact with the system is the task of the framework.
Non-native applications are usually less productive than native ones, but for most tasks they are enough. Writing with these technologies can be done quickly and without the hassle of porting an application from one platform to another.
Here are a few examples
- React Native is designed to write JavaScript applications. You can use it to write an app even if you’ve only done web development before. The technology stack will be almost the same;
- Flutter framework from Google. To use it, you will need to learn the Dart programming language. The application will run faster than on React Native;
- Apache Cordova environment, which allows you to take any web application and “wrap” it with special code to run it in a mobile OS instead of in a browser.
The technologies that facilitate the development and use of native functionality of the device become more and more every day.
In order to write a full-fledged application, you need to train: at first you should perform simple tasks, then gradually move to more complex ones, constantly learning something new. You can get the knowledge necessary for this at our courses.