Every Millennial, Gen X and Indigo in developed countries have a smartphone nowadays. This makes web, iOS and mobile Android apps development a very lucrative niche. However, while you can come up with the app idea relatively easily, developing an application for Android requires some effort and expertise. This is why many startups search for reliable companies who make apps to ensure their budgets are invested correctly and their projects come to a successful conclusion.

If you are such a startup, read on to learn all you need to know about Android apps, how to develop and publish them, and how to select the best company for app development.

Most of the steps below can be done by you or third-party specialists you hire. Obviously, if you do not know how to code, you will not write the code. But you can do the preliminary research, sketch some UI drafts, contact Google regarding publishing your app to the Play Store, work with customer feedback, etc.

Without further ado, here are the 10 basic steps you need to make to develop an Android app:

1. Come up with the app idea
2. Perform an in-depth market research
3. Form a list of features for your app
4. Prepare design and UI/UX mockups
5. Create a graphic design
6. Write and test the code of your app
7. Prepare a marketing plan for publishing the app
8. Submit your app to Google Play Store
9. Promote your app and monetize it
10. Use user feedback to continuously improve your app

Let’s now take a look at each of these points in more detail.

Generating an app idea

You might think that your app idea is unique, but with more than 4 million apps already in the stores, chances are somebody has already implemented your idea. If they did — do not worry, this does not mean they did it perfectly. You will be able to learn from their mistakes (see more on that in the 2nd step) and improve on them.

If you cannot find an existing app that uses your idea — this does not mean there is none. Perhaps somebody has it 99% ready and will publish it tomorrow, and let this also not discourage you. You can mix and match good features from existing apps to create a perfect user journey.

In any case, you should try to implement our idea, because maybe your app will have some unique points the competitors did not think of and you will become the market leader in that niche.

Performing and in-depth competitive research

If you find a lot of apps similar to the one you want to build, take a look at their reviews in the Play Store and on their social media. Some users express their frustration on Facebook or Twitter and never bother writing a review at Google Play. These negative pieces of feedback are invaluable to you, as they highlight what your competitors do WRONG, meaning you can understand what you can do BETTER.

Forming a list of features

After doing this research, you will have a better picture of must-have features for your app, as well as nice-to-haves. Write them down, this helps visualize the future use cases, hint at some design features or even understand that something should be dropped (or excluded from the MVP scope at least).

Preparing design mockups

There are lots of tools for creating design mockups, from Balsamiq and Mockingbird to Hotgloo and Mockup Builder. Even a pen and paper might suffice at first, to give your designer an idea of what you want to get in the result. Form these mockups based on the use cases and features you prepared earlier. Even with Lorem ipsum placeholders instead of content blocks, it will help the designer prepare design drafts faster.

Creating a full-scale graphic design

Once you definitely know what your app should do and how the workflow should unfold, it’s time to create stylish designs. Hiring a good designer is crucial, as you won’t get a chance to show your potential users all the range of features if they don’t like the look and feel of the first screen of your app. Luckily, there are great guides on Material design for Android developers, so you can ensure your app screens are sleek and appealing.

Writing and testing the app code

This usually is the stage where startups start outsourcing to third-party companies that make apps. The point is, the cost of failure to meet the deadlines is high and the risks of making mistakes in the code (or hiring the wrong person) are ever-present when working with in-house developers.

On the other hand, the outsourced app development cost is much lower, as hiring remote teams from countries like Ukraine, Poland or other outsourcing hubs allows saving up to 70% of budget compared to working with US-based developers. Once you partner with a good team, they will write and test your app code, ensuring it is of high quality and properly tested, as their payment and business reputation is at stake. To build good Android apps, look for decent Java and Kotlin development expertise that can be proven by previous satisfied customers.

Preparing a marketing campaign

You can have the best app in the world that will go totally unnoticed if you don’t promote it correctly. There is a paid Google Play Store promotion, but it is good to come up with a marketing plan in advance and cause some traction in the media to interest a pool of early adopters and influencers, who will further promote your app if they like it — or provide invaluable feedback on improving it if they don’t.

Submitting your app to the Play Store

There are detailed Google guides on publishing your app to the Play Store. While you might try to do it yourself and succeed, there are little hints and tricks to use to ensure your app gets maximum exposure after the launch — and a good outsourcing company can make it happen.

Promoting and monetizing your app

While the choice of monetization model should have been made on ideation stage, there often are multiple cross-selling and integration opportunities arising after a good launch. While the target audience is hyped for your app, use this opportunity to land good partnership deals or maybe even make a successful exit and sell the app to a big publisher for a hefty sum.

Improving your app based on feedback

Should you decide to continue managing your app yourself, pay close attention to user requests in their support tickets, as well as their reviews. Just as you used negative reviews on the competitors to avoid their mistakes, you will now use feedback on your product to make it even better. Implement the most demanded features quickly and you will have your customer base satisfied and promoting your app with word of mouth — the best kind of promotion ever.

Conclusions

This is a pretty high-level guide on mobile Android app development. Every step includes little gimmicks and best practices that professionals know and outsiders don’t. While this guide shows the general direction to move in, it’s those little details that make all the difference.

Working with Spintech, you can be sure we use our in-depth Android app development expertise to help achieve your project goals successfully. Would you like to try it out for yourself? Schedule a call and let’s discuss how Spintech can help you make your next Android app a success!