Mobile usage on the internet has grown to become a huge force for good. In many countries and industries, mobile usage has reached over 50 percent of total internet access with smartphones making up most of mobile use,with tablets and other devices like gaming systems comprising the rest. For companies that offer a software-as-a-service (SAAS) product, this is often a web app only but can expand to cover different platforms too. For instance, productivity SAAS like Wunderlist and Todoist have web access, plus desktop access (often via Google Chrome) along with mobile apps for iOS, Android and other platforms. While both iOS and Android get most of the attention for mobile apps, there’s also continued interest for Windows Phone and Blackberry. However, much ofthe interest is in Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile platforms. Both are based around the Linux operating system, which itself was based on UNIX which has been used in computer mainframe computers for decades.This is why apps run well on less powerful smartphones because they’re not resource-hungry.

Mobile App Development

Mobile apps are developed by Tricity Web Solutions for clients who either wish to have a standalone app on iOS or Android, or both. Other times, they wish to have a mobile app to complement their existing website or SAAS web application. It is important that our company understands clearly what your mobile app goals are before we begin development. This is because, whether an app will work alone or be used cooperatively with other versions running on different platforms affects how it is created and the way it will operate. For instance, an isolated Android app that doesn’t need to mirror its data on other platforms can be coded differently and faster than one that needs to reflect identical information across all platforms the app is available and is update lived over the net. The former could use a cloud storage system but doesn’t’ necessarily need to whereas cross-platform app development requires data stored in the cloud to be accessed by all the apps whenever that’s needed. The latter is a totally different level of complexity than the former which would alter app planning, developing time, testing requirements, cross-platform app consideration, and costs.

Apps Are No Longer Made Only Once

The days of making a software app once and only updating it every 2-3 years are over. Even Microsoft that would release a delayed new version of Microsoft Office every 3+ years has switched to a model where minor new versions of Office 365 are released about every month and major revisions every few months. What was found with both software apps was that with more significant major new versions, a greater number of software bugs were introduced. More bug testing was needed to remove them. With complex software, the bugs started to overlap creating considerable difficulty in eradicating them because fixing one could create three more unrelated issues. Eventually, software development switched to a different style of coding and app development framework which was very applicable to mobile apps too.

SCRUM, AGILE, LEAN and KANBAN: A New Methodology

Rapid development of software apps and mobile apps began as a change in methodology. Incremental updates of an app every week or two for mobile apps became far more normal. The idea was to code both one or two minor new features and fix a collection of software bugs for each new minor mobile app release. For software, the releases were monthly but for mobile apps it can be every few days as we see when we’re having to update our installed apps on our smartphone on a regular basis! By limiting app updates to small improvements and fixes, it introduces fewer major changes that could mess up what was already working. Testing can be performed pre-release to verify that the new features don’t mess up anything that was functioning previously, and bug fixes can be implemented. Patching any security holes before releasing an incremental new version is also done. By operating in a limited fashion with a smaller batch of changes, mobile apps especially became rapidly updatable pieces of software that could respond to customer reviews by adding new features and fixing issues far quicker than every 2-3 years. There are different development methodologies providing this support for a series of rapid ‘sprints’ where programmers complete new updates within a few days or a week or two. These include AGILE, SCRUM and LEAN. They each work slightly differently. KANBAN is another methodology that helps track feature development and software bugs to their logical conclusion. Using these methodologies allows busy developers to create updatable software will less confusion or complexity while keeping the users’ happier.

Starting from Scratch with Mobile App Development?

When a mobile app doesn’t have another version on a different platform already, then an app must be planned out and executed from a blank screen. This takes considerable back and forth discussion time to cover scope, how each screen should look, which interface within the app is best, and the objectives of the app itself. Creating an app from scratch takes weeks or months depending on the complexity. Sometimes there are existing frameworks or skeleton apps that provide a basic model to start from and can then be revised from there. Doing things this way saves development time and costs but may limited the level of customization. It’s a trade-off.

Expectations When Requesting Mobile App Development

Mobile App development is a complex topic. It is necessary to have clear discussions about the client’s needs and draw up ideas on how to proceed. This is to avoid creating an app that doesn’t satisfy the criteria of the client. The coding language depends partly on the platform, but also how quickly the app needs to be ready. Clearly, the more complex or cross-platform the app will be, the longer it will take to develop. Therefore, there is no set average time that an app takes to be developed. There are simply too many variables to answer that question with any accuracy before knowing much more about what is required. TriCity Web Solutions can produce a mobile app that will deliver on your remit. It is a growing area of our business and we’re enjoying expanding more in this field as our clients continue to venture more into the mobile side of online business in Chandigarh and beyond.