Introduction
When was the last time you remember opening a website to order something for yourself? The invention of smartphones has completely revolutionized how business works, and mobile apps have become an integral part of the success of any online business. They are not only a medium to take your business in front of too many users from different geographical locations, but also, help engage them to your brand. There are many businesses that have quite interesting and innovative apps, which attract and fascinate users, every time they use them.
Need for Mobile Apps
Most business owners are often get stumbled upon the idea of getting a mobile app developed. These days not only do an e-commerce business need an app, not just a product based company needs an app, but even service-based companies also require mobile apps. Even a cafe or a food restaurant needs an app to connect with their users. Before moving ahead let us share some statistics, which will help you understand and determine the importance of mobile app.
As per the recent study, the number of smartphone users in the world has crossed the 3 billion mark way back, and this number is continuously increasing and new smartphones are being launched into the market every now and then. As stated by Statista, the total mobile app revenue, in the year 2018 amounted to 365 billion U.S. dollars and is estimated to be more than 935 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2023. This revenue includes the amount received from paid downloads and in-app purchases.
We are now sure that by reading the above information and by seeing this emerging demand and importance of having a mobile app for your business, you might have made up your mind of getting an app developed and already have an idea for it. Now, the next step is to find a right mobile app development company and a nice team of mobile app developers, which can carry out your idea just the way you imagined it to be, and with their proficiency and technical knowledge, you can get the app prepared. But wait, not everyone is tech-savvy and understands the intricacies involved in the mobile app development process and often gets confused with how to proceed with their journey of getting an app developed.
Do not worry, you have landed on just the right blog. Today we are going to talk about the whole process and what all are the things you must consider to get the best mobile app developer for your project. So, let’s begin.
Steps to Follow Before Starting the Hiring Process
It is not feasible to directly rush to a mobile app development company the moment you conceive an idea. There are a few tasks which you must complete beforehand on your end, to get the most fruitful results. It is very important for you to understand the whole mobile app development process and only then you will be able to hire mobile app developers for your project.
To make it simpler, getting any kind of mobile development solution developed is a challenging task, and if you do not have the right strategy or the right mobile app developers working on your project, things can go completely wrong.
So, let’s discuss a few things, which you must do before you go out for a hunt to hire app developers, for your project.
Be clear with your idea
Before you reach out to anyone, you have to be very much clear about your idea. It is when you know what you want and only then you will be able to explain it to mobile app developers.
Know your target audience
You must be clear with the area and demographics, where you want your app to be launched. Streamline your mobile app marketing strategy and try to focus on only those people who can really connect with your product or services. If you get your app developed keeping in mind your target audience, it will give you much better returns. For example, if you are planning to launch your app in the US, going for iOS app development is the best choice as people there prefer iOS platform over Android one and you must opt for iOS app development services. However, if you are trying to target any Asian country, here the number of Android users is more so opting for Android app development services will be the best-suited option.
Read Also: Guide to Hire iOS App Developer
Decide the platform
This is really important that before you choose top mobile app developers for your business, you must decide on which platform you want to launch your app first. To be honest, having an app on both iOS and android is important these days. Going by the numbers, there are more Android users in the world as compared to the iOS users, so having an app on both will give you better chances of visibility. But if you are a start-up or have a limited budget, then we would suggest that you must make a decision based on the kind and type of products and services you offer, your target audience, and targeted demographic location.
Once you have decided on the platform only then you will be able to decide whether you want to hire iOS developer or Android developer.
Budget
This is an important factor to consider before you hire experts. See, if you want to target both the platforms, then instead for choosing native app development, you can go for cross-platform app development and hire experts in from the same domain. Flutter and React Native are two of the most popular cross-platform app development technologies and you can easily find and hire React native and Flutter developers. This is because cross-platform apps cost you much less as compared to the native ones and app developers working have the power of reusing the code for both the platforms, thereby reducing the mobile app development cost.
Now that you know the steps to be followed, let’s go on to find a skillful app developer for you project.
A Complete Guide to Hire Mobile App Developers
There are plenty of app development companies offering mobile app development services in the market. Apart from hiring experts from a company you have plenty of options to hire freelancers for your project. In short, there are too many developers available be it a React Native developer, or an Android developer, etc. But this also brings in a lot of competition and makes our task difficult in choosing the one with the best technical skills and knowledge. You have to be very prudent in your choices while deciding to hire mobile application developers. Here are a few things which you must check before you finalize anyone for your project.
Check the Portfolio
This is the first and the most important step towards the hiring process. Whether you want to hire Android developer or iOS developer, it is important to see the kind of work they have done in the past. This will give you an idea of the type of apps they have created and you will be able to determine their ability, whether or not they are the right fit for your project or not.
Talk to their previous clients
If you get a chance meet people they have earlier worked for and know their feedback. This will give their credibility to their work and you will also get to know more about their work process. You can also get an idea about the project time delivery, their approach, how well do they communicate, and a lot many things which are required to build a good work relationship.
Read Also: Guide to Hire Android App Developers
Technical knowledge
You do not want to give your dream app in the hands of someone who does not know how to work on it. Working on mobile app solutions is a tricky part and a lot of technical expertise is required to work upon them. So, before you finalize someone for your project, ask them about their technical skills, mobile app development tools and frameworks they use, how well they know their skills. Ask as many questions as you can.
If you are looking for android app development services, then they must know everything about Android app development and all the tools required creating Android apps. They must also be aware of the latest trends and technologies prevailing these days to keep your app trendy and engaging.
Ask Questions
This brings to our next point of asking questions. Before you hire app developers you must get all your questions answered. Let all your doubts be cleared beforehand so that you can trust them more with your app development. Do not leave any question unanswered and if the developers refuse to answer any of them or you do not get a satisfactory answer to your question, then you must move on with your search.
Experience
The experience of a developer really matters. The more the experience of a developer the more he has worked on a variety of apps and he will be able to handle the complexities involved in your app development. Here we are not saying that you must not give a chance to any fresher or someone with less experience, but has immense knowledge and skills. But in most of the cases, if your app has a complicated design and structure, experience matters to handle everything smoothly. So, whether you want to hire react native developer or an iOS developer, look for an experienced one.
Timeline
It is very crucial to introduce your app in the market at the right time, otherwise, you will lose on the users. So before finalizing any developer for your project it is important for you to have a tentative timeline, within which, you will get your mobile app ready. Although, mobile app development is an intricate process and no developer can make it for you in a day.
Each stage requires a certain amount of time and this time differs based on the approach your developer follows. However, it is always better to know the amount of time your developer will take at each stage, like planning, development, testing, etc, so that you know when to expect your app to be ready.
Read Also: Top Reason To Choose React Native For App Development
Communication
To make a strong relationship and to understand each other’s needs, good communication is really important. Generally, every team has a dedicated project manager, who is responsible for sharing all the details with you. So, seek out for a team that has nothing to hide and is ready to share all the details, related to your project, with you.
Post-development services
If you think that app development is a one-time process, then you are wrong. It is an ongoing process and you need a development team all the time to keep your app up and running. You must hire app developers who can help you with the post-development services too, like app maintenance, upgrades, version controls, adding new features, and various other support services. If you do not talk about this before, then you will have to hire a separate mobile app developer for all of this, which will raise your budget.
Hiring Model
You must also consider the hiring model, based on your budget, to hire app developers. You can decide from on-site hiring, off-site hiring, and hiring experts on a fixed budget, hourly price etc. This will help you in controlling your app development cost.
These are a few things, which you must consider and look out for before hiring an app developer for your project. With so many developers available, find them is not a task, but to find the right one can be cumbersome.
FAQs
Question 1: Which platform should I target for my app development, Android or iOS?
Both platforms have a large number of users and both are equally popular among the users. Based on the target audience, demographics, and your budget, you can choose your app development platform. But since Android users are quite more than iOS users, it is better to opt for Android app development, and you can choose iOS as your second platform, after you have launched your first app. Also, Android app development for start-ups is quite popular, and a great move too, to acquire the maximum number of users.
Question 2: Does the app development location affect the app development budget?
Yes, the place where you decide to get your app developed, plays an important role in determining your app development budget. You get developers on different hourly rates in different countries. So, if you are looking to get an app developed in a budget, then you must hire mobile app developers from Asian countries like India, as developers in Europe and North America are quite expensive. To give you an estimate, developers in North America and Europe may cost around $60 to $100 on an hourly basis, whereas in India, you may find app developers at $15 to $80.
Question 3: What is the cost to develop a mobile app?
Mobile app development cost varies app to app. There is no one fixed cost, every app costs differently, depending upon the features and the time required developing it. However, here are a few factors that affect the mobile app development cost:
- App Complexity
- Location of app development
- Features
- Team size
- Type of app
- Hourly rate of the development team
Apart from this, the graphics, layouts, number of pages, experience of a developer, etc may also affect the app development cost.
