The applications we use in our everyday lives aren’t just made in an instant or in a blink of an eye. It underwent numerous stages for it to reach the optimum standards. And just like how web design possesses its own set of steps, app development also similarly carries out its own line of stages that most developers across the globe follow.
Although a lot of people view app development as a complex process, there are still a few less complex stages when it comes to its processes. Want to dig deeper into the stages of app development? Read more about it down below:
1.Strategy Development
It is always best recommended to begin with the planning before diving into the following stages of app development. The planning stage is all about building the backbone of the application which shall be used as a basis and a guideline for the entire development process.
Regarding strategy development, it covers the creation and finalization of the goals, objectives, and basic functionalities of the app. It allows the developer to properly conceptualize how the app would look at work. Along with this is the selection of which platform the app is going to settle in may it be on Android or on iOS.
Additionally, this stage also covers the selection of the app’s target audiences. It includes researching and keeping in mind the user’s lifecycle and characteristics during the development process.
2.Designing Stage
The second step to building an application is putting the generated plan into action. In this stage, it is time to build a development team that will take over and handles the application’s design process.
Before beginning the actual design process, the requirements and necessary data about the application are clarified. Next to this is UX planning wherein the app architecture is made for a better conceptual understanding and in preparation for the application’s prototype.
Following UX planning is the UI creation and design. Here, the client’s tastes and preferences are always kept in mind during the creation of the project’s style and rendering of the rest of the screen. This phase also requires the development team to follow the client’s brand book or unique corporate style if ever it is applicable.
The last phase of the designing stage is none other than the maintenance and testing of the visual concepts. This focuses on ensuring that the logic, and structure of the app are all in optimum condition.
3.Development Stage
Moving closer to the final stage brings us to the second to the last stage which is the application’s development. Its process begins with the selection of the app’s architecture. This will depend on the functional requirements that include the orientation, flip, business logic, etc. Once the architecture has been finalized and matched with the project, we now move on to the next phase which focuses on the backend of the app.
The building of the application’s backend will depend on which platform it will be centralized in. It could either perform a custom backend or use Saas as the backend. Right after this comes the selection of frameworks that will be used in the app. These frameworks are considered infrastructures that speed up the code-writing process.
Following this is the network models wherein the database is designed and the diagrams are drawn. The final phase will be focused on the team setting up repositories and configuring CI/CD.
4.Application Testing and release
The last and final stage of app development is its testing. Although it may seem less complex than the previous stages, this will be the most vital stage yet. It will serve as the deciding factor that will distinguish if the app has been successfully developed or not.
Testing is composed of several branches that focus on the application’s specific areas. One of these is performance testing. This determines how fast the system or part of the system works under a certain amount of load. This testing allows developers to analyze important areas such as the app’s capability to respond to user requests, the app screen’s loading time, and if the app’s size is feasible enough for its use.
Once the testing has been completed and it has resulted in the proper functioning of the application, it will now be prompted for release. The most awaited part of app development is the release of the newly developed application to the market. It may seem like the end of app development but this is just the beginning. From then on, the app will be continuously monitored and redeveloped nurturing its growth in the process as time passes by.
