The mobile revolution doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. The number of apps on the marketplace grows every year. Consumers downloaded 178 billion apps in 2017.
That number is anticipated to grow to 268 billion by 2022.
There’s money to be made in the app industry as well. Mobile apps are predicted to be a $188 billion industry by 2020.
But what if you don’t have a lot of money? Can you still get into this breaking market?
The answer is: yes! There are a lot of mobile app development tools for developers, even if you don’t have an enormous budget.
Let’s take a look at how you can develop your own app without a lot of money.
How Mobile App Development Tools Help You Create an App on a Budget
Creating an app is a bit like following a recipe but being forced to make some substitutions and get creative. Computer programming, in general, is like following a formula. Think of app development as analytical creativity.
Following these guidelines will make your app development as easy and painless as possible. It will help familiarize you with the technical aspects of creating an app so you can free your creativity and imagination.
Set a Clear Goal
Setting a clear goal before you begin developing your app in earnest will help you save time and money by focusing on what’s important.
The first step you should consider is who’s your intended audience? Your ideal customers will shape everything from what your app does to the GUI. It could even impact which platform you develop your app for.
The next question you should ask is what need your app is going to fill. It’s going to be hard to make any money with your app if there’s no demand for it.
You should also identify your competition. This will help you determine the state of the niche you’re trying to break into. It’ll also give you some ideas on potential problems that your app might solve, helping to differentiate it from the other products on the market.
Finally, you should consider your goals once your product is released. This will help you create an actionable timeframe and assess your app’s performance.
Decide on a Budget
Once you’ve decided what your app’s going to be, you should start to consider your budget. This will let you know what kind of timetable you’re working with and what resources you might have at your disposal.
Since we’re talking about building apps on a budget, that means you’ll likely be undertaking some of the coding yourself. If that’s the case, but you’re not an expert developer, you should use an App Creator program.
If you do have a bit of a budget and aren’t extremely confident in your programming abilities, you might consider hiring an experienced developer. Some developers work by the hour, while others charge per project. You might outsource some of the programming, for instance, or simply hire a developer if you want to make sure it’s done right.
Decide on a Platform
Now that you’ve set your budget and know what your app’s going to do, you should decide where your app is going to be released. As we mentioned earlier, different platforms have different demographics.
If you’re going for a younger, hipper audience, for instance, you might want to release your app on iOS. If you’re going for more of a business clientele, Android might be a better bet.
You should also consider how competitive each platform is. With Apple being so trendy, there’s likely to be a lot of competition in your app market. A lot of the common ideas are probably already taken, as well.
There’s also a certain price differential with different platforms. Android development tends to be a bit more expensive, as there’s a wide variety of different devices and screen sizes to consider.
If you’re working on a tight budget, you should pick a very specific product or range for your app. This will help keep prices down and your workflow streamlined and productive.
Develop an MVP
When you begin developing your app, don’t just automatically build the entire thing. That could result in untold amounts of wasted time, energy, and resources.
Instead, start by building a minimal viable product (MVP). An MVP is a prototypical version of the full app. This lets you test for market demand and solicit user feedback before going to market.
There are multiple types of MVPs you can create. A product wireframe or mockup is a graphical skeleton of your finished app. It includes all of the key screens, functionality, and layout but nothing else.
An interactive prototype is like an extended wireframe. It also features a skeletonized version of your final app, but with a bit more functionality. It still doesn’t feature the entire back-end, however, so it’s still faster and cheaper to make then a finished product.
Roll out More Complicated Features over Time
Not all app functions are created equal. Some are more complicated and require much more expertise to implement.
Live streaming, for example, is notoriously difficult to integrate into an app. It’s also highly in-demand and might be necessary for your app to truly take off.
In-app payments and purchases also tend to involve a lot of coding. You might hold off on integrating payment options for the initial launch and unveil these more demanding features in future editions of your app.
Following these steps will make creating an app fluid and organic, so you can focus on bringing your creativity to life and then marketing it. The mobile market isn’t slowing down any time soon, so the time is right to launch your own app before the market becomes too crowded.
Want to Learn More About Apps?
At Thrift Mama ramblings, we look for every opportunity to find ways to save money and spread them along to you!
Whether you’re looking to make some additional income with mobile app development tools or free Disney apps, we’ve got what you need to enjoy your mobile device without breaking the bank.
Browse the rest of our app articles today!