Mobile app development can be complicated. Despite the best efforts of app developers, mistakes are still made everyday. Developers are only human, too. However, there are resources available to help them fix whatever problems develop, even if it is the result of their mistakes. Here are mobile app development mistakes that developers make every day.
Not Doing Enough Research
One of the most common mistakes mobile app developers make is not doing enough research. It can be tempting for developers to jump straight into building the app, but this often leads to problems.
Not doing enough research means that developers and designers don’t have enough information to base their decisions on. You need to know the target audience well before you can design an app for them. By jumping into the design or development process right away, there isn’t enough time to do the necessary research to know if your app will deliver the results that you want.
Not Having A Proper Plan
Mobile app development involves big commitments. Unless you have a proper plan and timeline, the project likely won’t be finished on time. There are many parts of the development process that have to happen in a specific order to produce results. Ultimately, it's the process that determines the success of the project more than anything else.
Failure to plan leads to the project falling apart as you get work done. Things are designed and built out of order, making it harder to create a cohesive design or to build the initial setup for the app. In the end, the project delivers poor results, if it is even finished at all. Failing to plan usually comes from wanting to jump into the design or build process too soon, before the pre-development stage is finished.
Not Making Apps Accessible
Accessibility, making apps usable by people with disabilities, is an important part of design and development. Not making your app accessible means that some users won’t be able to use it. This cuts into your user base and can cause issues for a large segment of the population.
Incorporating accessibility into an app’s design and development takes planning and effort. Unfortunately, it can also make development more complex. In many cases, developers accidentally create an app that is not compatible with accessibility guidelines or systems without realizing it.
This often happens with font choices or color choices, but can also be problems on the backend that stop screen readers from accessing information. Developers sometimes forget to incorporate accessibility measures and other times they accidentally break them while fixing other problems.
Not Doing Enough Testing
Testing is often included in development, but not enough testing is done. This leads to errors or bad UI decisions being left in the code when the app is launched. You need to make sure that the app being developed matches your initial requirements and sketches perfectly. Not doing enough testing on your app could mean that you miss out on a problem that greatly impacts performance or the user experience.
Making Apps Too Complicated
If you're a mobile app development company, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is creating an app that is too complicated. An app should have as few steps as possible, and should not be overwhelming. Each step must provide the best user experience possible. If it doesn't, then customers won't use them or like them.
One of the best ways to avoid this problem is to stick to common design conventions. App designs feel similar because the design elements are reused among most apps. For example, the menu button on a mobile device (the three parallel lines) is the standard way of showing that there is a menu hidden there. Using a different symbol makes the interface confusing and hard to use. Stick to what users already know and expect to make an app user-friendly.
Not Focusing on the User Experience (UX)
Creating great user experience (UX) is essential to the entire mobile app development process. It doesn't matter what you are trying to create, whether it is a game or an app that sells something, if the UX isn't right then users will not be happy and will start leaving your app for better ones.
Not Making the User Interface Mobile-Friendly
A mobile-friendly interface is essential to the mobile app development process. Mobile devices are the most commonly used method of getting online. If your app is not designed for mobile devices, the majority of users won’t use it. Always start with a mobile design, and make it work on other.
If your company needs to develop a mobile app, one of the best things that you can do is get help from an expert. At KitelyTech, we work with a wide range of technologies and companies to create modern mobile applications. Call us at (800) 274-2908 to get started.
