How to Make an App - Create Your Own App in 2020

How to Make an App

You’ve got an enormous idea for subsequent killer app. But… how does one make an app?

In this article I’ll show you ways to bring your app ideas to life. Here’s what we’ll dive into:

• What’s the simplest thanks to learn iOS development?
• How to create your app with Xcode and Swift
• How to form tangible progress towards realizing your app project
• Needed parts for your app project: design, UI/UX, a landing page, mockups
• How are you able to launch and promote your app, to urge more app installs?
• Tools which will assist you speed up the app development process
• The required steps to publish your app within the App Store
• What happens after you launch your app?

The 9 steps to form an app are:

1. Sketch your app idea
2. Do some marketing research
3. Create mockups of your app
4. Make your app’s graphic design
5. Build your app landing page
6. Make the app with Xcode and Swift
7. Launch the app within the App Store
8. Market your app to succeed in the proper people
9. Improve your app with user feedback

1. Sketch Your App Idea

Every app starts with a thought . It doesn’t got to be big, ground-breaking or clever. Just a thought is sweet enough.

Sketch out your app idea with pen and paper. The goal is to form the thought tangible. You define how your app works and what its features are, before you begin developing the app. It’s as simple as that!

You don’t need any special tools to sketch your app idea. A pen and a notepad is enough. Start sketching, make an inventory of features, and see if the thought involves life on paper.

I like to separate the features of the app into two groups: prerequisites and Nice To Haves. The prerequisites are features that your app can’t do without, and therefore the Nice To Haves are features that are great but not crucial.

When you make an app, you would like the app to be as lean and mean as possible. That’s called a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and it’s the primary, simplest version of your app. once you specialise in what matters most, you speed up your app development process and make your app more resilient against setbacks.

A few questions you'll ask yourself:

• What features are you able to leave out?
• Which feature may be a unique point or money-maker?
• Are there any features that make your app bloated, or slow building it down?

A good app does i thing well. Some examples:

• A note-taking app like Bear is great for taking notes
• A transportation app like Uber helps people go from A to B – the opposite features are secondary
• A game app like Two Dots is great at entertaining people – it shouldn’t attempt to do more

It’s tempting to form an app with tons of features. This only obscures the one thing your app is sweet at. confirm your app do i thing only, and does it well.

• Time: Spend a couple of hours, up to a couple of days, on sketching your app.
• Cost: Free. (Use pen and paper.)

2. Do Some marketing research

Market research is usually skipped by app developers, albeit it’s a crucial a part of making an app. you'll save yourself time and energy down the road by doing research up front.

Before you create an app, you would like to understand if your app idea is viable. You’re asking questions like:

• What are alternative apps and competitors within the marketplace?
• What do potential customers want? What are their needs and desires?
• How much should I charge for my app? What’s an honest business model?

Doing marketing research before you create your app can prevent from making tons of mistakes early . You validate assumptions and assess the requirements of potential customers.

Two sorts of marketing research are especially helpful:

• Finding out what mistakes your competitors are making
• Finding out if people are trying to find an app like yours

That’s right! you'll estimate the demand for an app without making it first. during this article I’ll show you exactly the way to use Google Trends and Keyword Planner to live demand for an easy to-do list app.

Finding insights also serves another purpose. you would like to steer within the shoes of your customers, so to talk. rather than assessing needs and desires while sitting safely ahead of your computer, you would like to urge out there and ask people.

Who is your app for? What are they like? How does your app impact a specific problem that users are struggling with? How are they currently solving that problem? What change does one, together with your app, seek to make?

Based on your research you'll clearly define the matter your app solves, and who you solve that problem for. you employ these insights to form an app that serves its users better.

• Time: Spend a couple of days discovering, to make space for ideas.
• Cost: you'll do that for free of charge, or invest some money in pro tools.

3. Create Mockups Of Your App

It’s best to form mockups before you begin to create the app. A mockup may be a rough sketch of your app’s layout, user interfaces (UIs) and flow.

Here’s an example:

In the image above you see how I’ve outlined three important UIs of my app Crest in Balsamiq Mockups. It’s a reasonably rough sketch, right?

Mockups don’t include:

• Fine-grained UI elements
• Exact positioning of UI elements
• Complex color schemes and effects

A mockup shows you what an app seems like , without distracting you with unnecessary details. It’s a functional rather than aesthetic approach to your app’s design.

A mockup should also describe the flow and interactions of your app. What happens once you tap thereon button? How does one get from screen A to screen B? what's navigation flow of your app?

I recommend you employ Balsamiq Mockups for creating a mockup of your app. The software includes an excellent number of UI templates, and they’ve struck an honest balance between roughness and adaptability . I’ve used Balsamiq for years – it’s an app that basically sticks with you, and fits my workflow well.

When you’re making an app for a client or employer, creating a mockup may be a good opportunity to point out them the top result before building the app. you'll guide them through the UI, by using the mockups, and help them see and picture the entire app. I always use mockups in sales meetings with clients.

It’s also an excellent idea to make a functional-technical design next to your mockup. You describe what the app does in simple words. you'll create annotations in your mockup software, or simply create a text document that explains how the app works.

• Time: a couple of days or 1-2 weeks, counting on your app’s complexity.
• Cost: $89 for Balsamiq Mockups 3 for Desktop – well worth it!

4. Make Your App’s Graphic Design

Now that your project is taking shape, it’s time to form a graphic design for your app. Your app’s design includes pixel-perfect visual details, graphic effects, image assets, and sometimes even animations and motion design.

I recommend two approaches for creating the graphics of your app:

• roll in the hay yourself with a graphics template
• Hire knowledgeable graphic designer

Professional graphic designers spend years practicing and perfecting their craft, and an honest graphic designer can deliver results 100x greater than an inexperienced designer, like yourself (assuming you’re a developer).

As an app developer you would like to play to your strengths, which means outsourcing work you’re not particularly good at. cash in of platforms like Upwork or Toptal to rent knowledgeable graphic designer.

If you would like to travel it alone, don’t reinvent the wheel. Use a design template specially made for iOS apps to save lots of time. Use the template’s building blocks to make your own design, then customize them after.

There are a couple of templates i prefer in particular:

• NOW, TETHR and treat InVision
• iOS iPhone GUI from Facebook
• Stark UI kit by Baianat
• Stitch by Lina Seleznyova
• Phoenix by Adrian Chiran
• Apply Pixels by Michael Flarup

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Especially the iOS kit from Facebook is useful , because it includes pixel-perfect UI elements of iOS itself. you'll use it to make detailed mockups with the default iOS UI.

Be aware of copyright and licensing when using someone else’s original work. Copyright law is real and universal. You can’t just copy and use stuff you discover on the web . When a usage license isn’t explicitly provided, assume that you simply can’t use the add your own projects.

You can use tools like Photoshop, Sketch and Affinity Designer to make the graphic design for your app. i like to recommend Sketch, because it's built-in support for mobile app designs, and it can export on to @2x and @3x image assets.

The end result (or “deliverable”) you aim for, may be a set of images and assets you'll import into Xcode. you employ the graphics files because the basis for your add Interface Builder or with SwiftUI (see below).

You can’t import a Sketch or Photoshop design directly, so you’ll need to recreate it in Interface Builder and/or Xcode to create your app. You lay out views in Interface Builder, import image assets, and found out Auto Layout constraints, to bring the UI of your app to life.

Oh, and don’t forget to see out the Human Interface Guidelines. they're exceptionally helpful for understanding how iOS design works, so you'll cash in of the planning of iOS when making your app. In fact, Apple’s documentation may be a treasure trove of insights into app development..

5. Build Your App Landing Page

App developers often overlook app marketing. simply because you made an excellent app doesn't mean that folks will find it. How can people discover your app?

You should a minimum of create an landing page for your app, and ideally before you build your app. Here’s an example:

This website is for my app Crest. It explains briefly what the app does, who its for, and why it’s a helpful app. The page also includes a call to action (CTA) to check in for the app invite waitlist.

This is a chance to attach with potential app users early , before your app has been launched within the App Store. You don’t yet have an App Store page to point out to people, so a landing page website is crucial to possess .

As an app developer you would like to make a connection between you and an opportunity customer, to let a conversation happen. Such a conversation can then cause a user trying out your app or becoming a customer.

Your app’s page needs the subsequent components:

• a transparent headline at the highest of the page
• a quick introductory paragraph or explainer video
• An app screenshot or iPhone mockup
• A call to action, i.e. to check in or install the app
• A breakdown of app features and benefits
• A story about the app’s creators, or an “About Us” section

You can fiddle with the precise order of those elements. It’s best to place the headline and call to action above the “fold” of the page. But it’s not uncommon to place a story or “About Us” section high on the page, to form that private reference to people.

The page is a central point that you simply can lead people to, if they're curious about learning more about your app. And when you’re still building your app, you don’t have an app page within the App Store yet, so you’ll need something else to draw in potential customers.

Even once you have an App Store page (example), you can’t blog thereon page, send newsletters, or invite feedback from early adopters. an easy website goes an extended way in creating an enduring reference to the people you would like to succeed in , and serve. It’s smart to invite their email address too, so you'll confine touch.

Effective tools to create your webpages are Strikingly, WordPress and Leadpages. None of these tools require any knowledge of HTML.

In 2020, many app developers still see their App Store page because the only channel to plug their apps. That’s a missed opportunity, because there are many other marketing channels which will usher in app installs. Many of these work best with an internet site , so consider building a landing page when you’re creating your app.

• Time: a couple of days. Don’t make it pixel perfect!
• Cost: Free, or up to $100 a month for an honest landing page builder.

6. Make The App With Xcode And Swift

We’re finally here. It’s time to create your app!

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork for your app project, building the app itself becomes much easier. You’ve created mockups, your app’s design, and brought the primary steps in marketing your app with an internet site . thanks to go!

You build iOS apps with Xcode and Swift. The Xcode IDE includes a project manager, code editor, built-in documentation, debugging tools, and Interface Builder, a tool you employ to make your app’s interface . Everything you would like to form an iOS app!

Swift may be a powerful and intuitive programing language , and it’s the default programing language to create iOS, macOS, iPadOS, tvOS and watchOS apps. If you’re learning iOS development today, i like to recommend you learn Swift rather than Objective-C. Next to UIKit and Storyboards, we’ve got an excellent new tool to create User Interfaces (UIs) at our disposal: SwiftUI.

You can install your own iOS apps on your iPhone or iPad, via Xcode, with a free Apple Developer Account. Signing up is basically easy!

You can divide app development into two categories:

• Front-end: this is often the a part of the app you'll see. It includes layout, navigation, graphics, user interaction, animation and processing .
• Back-end: this is often the a part of the app you can’t see. It includes databases, networking, data storage, and user management.

When you build the front-end of your app, you're creating the app’s User Interfaces, and you identify what must happen when users interact together with your app. You found out the navigation of your app, and you build the app’s features.

The back-end of your app mostly stores data. Many apps lately make use of cloud-based back-ends, like Firebase or Parse Server.

When data is made within the app, like photos, tweets or social media posts, this data is uploaded to the cloud and stored during a database. The app keeps local copies of that data, and updates them whenever new data comes in.

As a developer, you integrate the front-end and therefore the back-end with one another . Imagine you’re building a Twitter app. You build user interfaces to make and consider tweets, and you connect those UIs to the back-end database. Newly created tweets are saved within the database, and previously stored tweets are often read from the database.

A great number of tools can speed up the app development process. You don’t need to code everything on your own. because of an engaged open source community and therefore the proliferation of economic development tools, you've got an armada of tools, libraries and frameworks to settle on from.

Here’s a fast pick of my favorite tools for building iOS apps:

• Xcode, Interface Builder, Swift and SwiftUI for iOS development
• Balsamiq Mockups and Sketch for graphic design and UI/UX
• CocoaPods and libraries like Alamofire, SwiftyJSON and MBProgressHUD
• Firebase, Parse Platform, Realm and Core Data for storage and databases
• Fastlane automates your app publishing workflow (among other things)
• PaintCode turns your visually designed UI elements into working Swift code 
• The Apple Developer Documentation has super helpful articles, tutorials and documentation on just about every iOS component
• TestFlight is that the default platform to trial your app (see below), and with it you'll distribute your app to up to 10.000 devices

Learning to create iOS apps is challenging, a bit like learning the other skill. Swift, Xcode and therefore the many development tools that are available today make it easier than ever to form your own apps.

If you are feeling inspired to find out iOS development, i like to recommend you buy an honest book or course. you'll learn almost anything online for free of charge lately , including iOS development with tutorials. Doing so isn’t always an honest idea.

Learning only with tutorials may be a bad approach, because you miss out on many fundamental topics and best practices. Most iOS tutorials only teach you superficial coding tricks, and as a result you’ll lack the inspiration to code on your own.

Some online courses, like my very own iOS development course, have the additional advantage of supplying you with access to a members-only community. you'll connect with the developers like yourself, who face an equivalent challenges as you.

My course also gives you 1-on-1 access to your course instructor, so you'll ask questions and obtain help once you need it. This has proven to be vital to the training experience of developers.

And last but not least: don’t forget to practice! Practice makes perfect. There’s no point in watching YouTube videos about iOS development if you aren’t getting to practice what you learn.

Self-taught developers know this, because they’ve spent years finding solutions on their own, while learning programming. this concept isn’t always incorporated in courses, books and tutorials.

Most beginner developers struggle to travel from following iOS tutorials to writing code on their own, and that’s exactly where practice leads you to mastery. you would like to line aside a while within the day, or during the week, to practice, experiment, to form mistakes, and to find out new techniques.

• Time: 1-2 weeks for an MVP, or weeks/months for an entire app.
• Cost: Free for DIY, commercial apps often cost upwards of $25k.

7. Launch Your App within the App Store

Are you able to launch your app? Now that you’ve built the app, it's time to launch it within the App Store.

The process to publish your app within the App Store is straightforward:

• Register for an Apple Developer Account
• Prepare your app’s title and meta data with App Store Connect
• Upload your latest app build to the App Store with Xcode
• Apple reviews your app, following the App Store Review Guidelines
• When your app is approved, it’s published sleep in the App Store
• DONE! People can now download and install your app

Making an app, and publishing it within the App Store, is exhilarating! It’s quite thrill, and an excellent feeling to possess built something, put it call at the planet , for others to ascertain and knowledge . Seeing “Ready for Sale” in App Store Connect still gives me butterflies…

What’s next?

When you’ve published your app, the work doesn’t stop. In fact, it's barely begun! Once you’ve gathered some early adopter feedback (see below), you return to the drafting board to enhance your app.

You do some marketing research , improve your mockups and styles , and build new features. You launch subsequent version of your app within the App Store, and therefore the cycle restarts again. this is often an iterative process.

You also got to promote your app. i like to recommend you begin promoting your app before you launch it. You generate some buzz before you launch, so you hit the bottom running once you actually launch.

Here’s some ideas:

• Start a blog and use content marketing to inform people about your app
• Submit your app to curated platforms, like Product Hunt
• Get local publicity and build a reference to influencers in your field
• Create an onboarding campaign for brand spanking new app users
• Optimize the keywords of your app with App Store Optimization

•         Focus first on getting 1 user, then 10, then 1000, then 10.000 – don’t attempt to make an impression on thousands of individuals from the beginning

•         Use the network effect to create a product that gets better when more people use it, and help people share your app with others

•         Set up an App Install campaign on Facebook, or use Search Ads within the App Store

•         Use SKStoreReviewController to ask app users for a review (which subsequently boosts your App Store ranking)

•         Improve your app meta data and screenshots, and tell people about the advantages of using your app (instead of just listing features)

Whatever you select to do: persist with it. I don’t fear the warrior who has mastered a 1000 techniques, but I do fear the warrior who has done one technique thousand times. an equivalent goes for marketing: consistency is important!

• Time: Publishing takes a day, tops.
• Cost: $99/year to publish within the App Store.

8. Market Your App to succeed in the proper People

App developers are problem-solvers. Your app solves a drag for somebody, and that’s what convinces them to put in and use your app. But is that each one there's to it?

Marketing helps to form change happen. Changing from an old solution to a replacement one, as an example. As an app developer, a part of your work helps people make that transition.

Marketing features a bad reputation, especially among tech-minded people. When brooding about marketing, they believe the sleazy door-to-door salesman, about how Facebook sells their private information, and about convincing people to shop for stuff they don’t need.

Developers often think that good products don’t need marketing. once you need a 1/8″ hole, you purchase the 1/8″ drilling bit. It’s logical, right? What does one need marketing for?

Most products we buy aren’t as straightforward as drill bits. What makes people choose iPhone rather than Android? Why purchase a Tesla rather than a Volkswagen? Do people attend a 3 Michelin star restaurant simply because they’re hungry?

Marketing is that the voice that tells people that you're, what you represent, and the way you’re different from available alternatives. Marketing is about trust, empathy and making a reference to people.

It’s about having the humility to inform someone your solution won't be best for them, and about having the courage to talk to people who can enjoy what you’ve created.

Do you need marketing as an app developer? HELL YEAH! you would like your ideas to spread, right? Your product gets better when the proper people benefit. Marketing may be a thanks to reach those people. Use it wisely, and don’t hide behind logic. Marketing may be a question you can’t solve with logic – the sole way forward is by making a private connection.

Where does one start? Ask 3 simple questions:

• What problem does your app solve?
• Who is your app for?
• How are you able to reach those people?

Use the strategies we discussed, like writing about topics associated with your app, or starting a billboard campaign, or onboarding new users. Help people discover that your app is supposed for them.

• Time: Help people discover your app, the maximum amount as you'll .
• Cost: Great marketing is free, and priceless.

9. Improve Your App with User Feedback

Real user feedback is vital for creating an app. you employ a user’s experience, and their feedback, to enhance your app. So how does one do that?

• Use app analytics to collect quantities data
• Use surveys and interviews to urge qualitative data
• Talk to your users regularly and build a private connection

The easiest thanks to get feedback from the users of your app, is to easily send them a private email to ask how they’re doing, and the way they’re using your app. You literally ask: “How are you using my app?” No need for complex analytics!

The key's “how”. You don’t ask if they like your app, or how they need to ascertain it improved, or what they believe a replacement feature. you'll ask those questions, but they’re likely to offer you opinionated answers. What you would like is real-world answers.

In his book Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug argues that you simply want to observe real users as they’re using your app. you'll ask them what motivated them to require a specific action in your app, or what they expected as a result, but you don’t want them to think too hard about the questions.

The risk of running surveys and focus groups is that folks start to believe what they’re thinking, and believe how they might react in certain scenarios. It’s better to place them within the scenario you’re researching, and watch what they do!

Another risk is diving too deep into analytics tools, and only using analytics to form decisions about your app. You can’t paint an accurate picture about how your app is employed just from watching numbers. you would like to form a private reference to your app’s users, and ask them, too.

Once you've got done a number of those feedback sessions, you identify interactions in your app that you simply thought would go differently. You compare your expectations against real-world results, and see if they match up. If they don’t, you either got to change your expectations, or change your app.

Make an inventory of potential improvements, and fix the things in these two categories:

• Fix things that are obvious mistakes
• Fix things that are easy to repair

Don’t make it too complicated, it’s not rocket science! Improve the items that require to be improved, and quickly launch a replacement version of your app.

The key to working with user feedback is experimenting with actions and results. nobody knows what works best until you’ve tested it, and measured the results. The quicker your turn-around time on experiments and their improvements, the faster your app improves.

You can trial your app with Test Flight. Simply invite some people to check your app, and send your next app build to them. you'll invite up to 10.000 people, and that they can provide quick feedback on your latest iteration.

• Time: a couple of hours, up to a couple of days for UI/UX testing. Don’t overdo it.
• Cost: Free, if you ask your customers. $100 permanently testing tools.