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App Store Optimization Tips

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To make a positive first impression it is important to present yourself as best you can. Whether it be wearing smart clothes, submitting a great resume or even smiling to catch someone’s attention. For mobile apps: the app store is your stage and your app profile and screenshots are your outfit or resume. It is vital to present your app with its best foot forward for downloads and popularity. Steve P. Young, the host of the Mobile App Chat podcast, discusses some of the strategy behind app store optimization – specifically in regard to app screenshots. This post will be summarizing and extending his discussion. App Screen Shots Firstly, it is important to address what you want to achieve with your screenshots. According to Young, the four elements to capture within your app screen shots are: attention, interest, desire and action. These events will lead to an increase in downloads. All good mobile app screenshots should attract the attention of potential users. Some tricks in standing out and grabbing browsers attention include social proof, unique benefit or authority. Don’t be afraid to show off your previous success. If your app has had over a 1000 downloads – say so! If you have developed apps previously that have been a success – let the browser know! Browsers also respond to authority. If the previous example is the case, where you’ve been a successful app developer in the past, or you are an established figure in the category of your app it can be very effective to add credibility to your app through your reputation and photo. Another pull for app screenshots is to be upfront about what makes your app unique and thus better. Potential users will appreciate the time you save them from reading through your entire app description. App Description Young advises that once you’ve caught the browser’s attention it is vital to stir their interest. In the description your app, or the screenshot images, it is important not to get too caught up in the details of the features. Instead, use the screenshot of the feature to highlight how the app gives the user options and increased convenience to their everyday lives. For example, the Seamless app emphasizes the variety of food options they offer through demonstrating the feature to choose through distance or cuisine. Moreover they use a screenshot of simple screens where it is obvious that with one simple and convenient click the user’s food will be on its way. In addition to building browser interest, desire is an important element in convincing the browser to become a user of your app because your service will satisfy their unique need. Therefore, your app store screenshots should represent the voice of your app that users can relate with. In the description make sure to describe your potential user’s problems in detail so they feel as though you have built this app specifically for them. In any sales scenario it is key for you to identify the customer’s needs. Call to Action Finally, you want to lead customers towards taking action and downloading your app. Make sure to give them images of encouragement ‘buy now’ or ‘click to download’. Promotional encouragement has also been very successful in the past and demonstrates that you value every customer who chooses your service which can lead to customer loyalty.

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All Accounts You Need to Develop & Publish an App

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Publishing an app is not just about Apple and Google. In order to publish an app most likely, you will need several accounts, including space for your server, payment processor, text message automation, and others. Required for everyone Developer account First of all, you cannot publish an app without signing up for Apple or Android developer program. If you are developing an app for iPhone or iPad you will need to sign up for Apple Developer Program. Apple will charge you $99/year to keep the membership active and your app live on the App Store. If you are developing an app for Android you will need to sign up for Android Developer Program. Google will charge you a one time fee of $25 to enroll in the program. Server Second, if your app has users or any other type of database that will be stored on the server you will need to have hosting (server) and a domain name. There are multiple providers for both. For server we suggest you use Amazon AWS and for domain name you can use Google. Depends on the app Credit card payment If your app will need to process credit and debit cards you will need to sign up with a payment processor. The two largest companies in the space are Braintree and Stripe. They will be in charge of storing all the billing information from your clients and actually processing transactions. Text messages If your app has text message phone verification or will send text messages of any kind the chances are you’ll need to sign up for Twilio. Twilio is perhaps the largest company that provides text messages automation and if you need to send any automatic text messages they are your choice. Custom maps Does your app use Apple or Google maps or are you looking to create a beautiful custom map? If latter is your choice then checkout Mapbox and create an account with them. Through their system you’ll be able to customize apps to fit the exact style of your app. Chat There are many ways how you can go about building a chat inside your app. Our favorite app is to use Sendbird. They will provide a secure stable platform for your chat and great analytics to go with it. Email automation Often times you’d like to send a welcome email to your newly registered users. Depending on your marketing strategy you might to just simply code such email or use Mailchimp to combine all users into a marketing list that will be used for sending your welcome email and further marketing thereafter.

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How to Reserve an App Name

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“Can I reserve an app name so that nobody else could use it?” – one of the most popular questions that come to mind when you start developing an app. And that’s a fair one! After all, you don’t want to end up creating a logo for your superfast calculator app called Uber only to find out later that name is taken. So is there a way to prevent this from happening? Yes! Let’s start with the obvious: search App Store to make sure nobody else has the same name! The short answer is that with Apple you can reserve the name so that others won’t use it. To do this you will need to: With Android everything is simpler! You cannot reserve a name but you can have multiple apps with the same name. So no need to reserve the name – you can definitely use it. Whether or not you want to have the same name as other apps is another question… In addition to reserving a spot in the app store you want to check and reserve:

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How to Come Up with an App Idea

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How to find a great app idea and determine if it’s worth pursuing Though seeing your app’s name up in lights on a Times Square billboard may not be the typical endgame of an app in the app store, that doesn’t mean that you can’t create a unique idea that will become a hit. Check out these tips below to see how you can unearth that next big idea! Discover a problem and/or find a market The app market is huge, both financially and in terms of apps/downloads. As of this year, there are a combined 5 Billion apps across the Apple and Android app stores and with 268 Billion downloads, apps are on track to generate $77 Billion in revenue in 2017. So, what does this mean for you? It means that there is a wide open world of unique, differentiated apps that cater to a wide audience. This means that there is a huge margin for success for your app idea, which all starts by discovering a problem and/or finding a market Discovering a problem is sometimes like stubbing your toe on your bed frame in that oftentimes, it just happens randomly. BUT, that doesn’t mean you can’t give the big idea generate AKA your brain, a little push. The first step is looking around you. What kinds of things do people do in their everyday lives? What actions or services are involved in those activities and where is there possibly room for improvement. Or, look at it a different way what service, activity, or action seems to frustrate or complicate daily life? The point is, is that if you think hard enough and observe how people and yourself go through your day-to-day routine, you’ll quickly discover that there is unlimited room for improvement and many of these solutions can be implemented in an app! Similarly, finding a market, is all about identifying if you have an audience in the first place. This is does not exclude tips about identifying a problem, but rather, it is encouraging you to view things in a different perspective. In fact, it is very possible and likely, that a great app idea you may generate will both solve a problem and cater to a large market. However, if you have trouble first identifying a problem that your app could solve, think about the different markets of apps and activities already out there. Look into the different categories in the app stores to get some ideas too and you’ll soon discover that there are all types of people interested in all types of categories. Then, when you think you’ve found a category or audience that you think would make a good candidate, you can then circle back to see how you might solve a problem that would cater to this audience. Research the space! Is there competition? Out of the 5+ Million apps currently on both app stores, you would be surprised by how many apps are very similar to each other. In fact, there are tons of apps, particularly in the game category, that often mirror other games exactly with the exception of a few color changes here and there. The reasoning behind this is because the app market is so large and there are so many people downloading apps that even similar apps can garner attention and downloads. However, if you only copy and app that has already been copied before OR if you try to copy an app that already has a huge following but little competition (i.e. Instagram or Facebook), you are likely to experience difficulty in getting an audience. So, the best course of action is to do some simple research to determine if your idea exists in the app stores already. Search in the different categories where you think an app similar to your idea might reside and you’ll quickly discover if there is anything similar out there on the market. If then during your research, you discover an app similar to yours, DON’T PANIC! While you might think this is the end of the line for you app idea, this actually might be an opportunity to discover how you can make your app better than the current idea. This doesn’t mean you should copy ideas from someone else’s app, but you should look into how you can make your app unique and more successful, which leads to the final tip of this article. Make it unique-cater to your niche and add your own personal flair Some of the most successful apps on the market didn’t become successful without investing in unique features or design, which means that it is more important than ever to make sure your idea stands out. Now, we’re not necessarily talking flashing lights and big bold letters, but by thinking up creative ways to structure your app from its features to its design, you can do wonders for how your app will be perceived by its target audience. If you can, look at apps in the category that your app might reside in. What makes some of them successful and why? Is it their color? Their layout? What can you do to make your own idea stand out on its own? Put another way, think about marketability. How can you structure your app so that people see it as something new and exciting? This doesn’t mean that you have to have your app’s name, logo, and color scheme down pat, but you SHOULD start thinking about ways you can expand your app’s purpose so that it keeps catering to its audience. All in all, the app market is projected to grow by 270% by 2020, which means that apps are certainly here to stay. Use these tips to help generate your own unique idea and you’ll soon discover that you too can be a successful app entrepreneur.

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List of All iOS Permissions

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Remember those annoying popups that ask you for your location? Well, now that you are becoming an app founder you should know that those popups are actually super important. In fact without showing them or without users agreeing to them your app might simply not work. In this article we will review the complete list of features that requires the app obtaining permissions from the user. Location One of the most common pop ups you will see. If you have a map in your app or need to know to track users location in any way make sure you show this popup. As the map is the main screen of many apps it is often a good idea to ask for location permission during onboarding. Contacts If you want to pull user contacts from the phone book or maybe you’d want to send some messages, whether triggered by the app or user, to phone contacts. In this case you will need to show popup asking for contacts permissions. This popups should be shown right before the app will attempt accessing the phone contacts for the first time. Microphone Do you have a voice chat in your app? Can users record some sounds through the microphone? Then make sure you get permissions to do that! Speech recognition Want to be fancy and add speech recognition to your app? Apple has you covered! Just request permissions and it’s yours to use. Calendar If your app creates events then it might be a good idea to add syncing with the calendar. This way your users would be able to save event details in their calendars and get automatic calendar reminders beforehand. Make sure you show the permission popup before you try to sync with the calendar. Reminders Not only can you access user calendar but you can even access the reminders section! So if you want to make sure user doesn’t forget something feel free to request permission for accessing their reminders. Camera & Media library Building a very VERY very unique one of a kind selfie app? Make sure you ask users if you can access the camera. You can do it right before user attempts to take a selfie. Photos Not only do you need access to the camera but you need another permission to access the photo library. Those two usually go hand in hand. Health & Motion activity If you are creating a fitness app it might be beneficial to sync with Apple Health. Also consider obtaining permissions for motion activity and fitness to track calories and activity of the person through your app. HomeKit If you are building a new world with smart homes that make it possible to control blinds, doors and coffee through your app with the help of Apple devices then you might want to set up your work through HomeKit. Whatever the app you are working on make sure you review this list and obtain permissions for any feature that your app requires. Moreover, consider when would be the best time to ask for that permission. If it’s an integral feature (such as the map) then consider asking for it during onboarding. If it’s secondary feature such as syncing with calendar then you can ask for it right before user tries to sync with its calendar.

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Tips on App User Retention: How to Keep Users Coming Back

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With the app environment projected to grow by 270% by 2020, there is plenty of room for new ideas to join the ranks of the already 5 BILLION apps in the app stores. However, true success in the app store doesn’t just boil down to pure downloads when you launch, it is also related to user retention and app longevity. This means that while you might think to generate the app idea was all the brainstorming you had to do, looking towards the future is what can really make or break your success! Look at the marketplace You might have already checked out the competition when you were generating your app idea, but that doesn’t mean you should stop your research. By looking at similar apps to your app idea or apps in a similar category, you can see how different apps are trying to cater to their users. Read the app reviews for those apps and see what people are saying. Are they wishing that the app had a new feature or included an improvement somewhere? Are there any complaints about the app’s performance or its current features? Think about where and how other apps are going wrong so that you can steer clear and not make the same mistakes. Let other apps do the mistake trailblazing for you and you’ll soon discover that features your app has will be received with open arms. Anticipate your audience’s growth As technology improves and apps cater to more specialized markets, app producers are being forced to think of ways of how to hold onto their current audience for longer periods of time. Put another way, like trying to fit into that itchy sweater your grandmother knit you when you were 12, some features you created when your app first launched might not fit your audience years or even months from now. So, to curb this possible outcome, you need to think about where the current users of your audience might be months or years from now. As related to the type of app you have, what kind of user longevity can you expect? While it is true that many apps maintain their longevity purely out of the nature of their market such as those social networking apps, even those have evolved in some way shape or form. Compare Myspace to Facebook and you’ll see exactly what I mean. By thinking about how you can add features to still appeal to that initial audience as it ages, your app will be in a great position to maintain its position firmly on your users’ home screens. Have a cache of improvements lying in wait Closely tied to anticipating how your audience might grow is the idea that you should always have new ideas cooking in the confines of your app’s new feature kitchen. However, whereas thinking about new features to evolve along with your audience is one aspect of the new feature process, new features for all users is something else entirely. Here, we’re talking about new features that you would launch for your entire app audience that will re-engage and re-invigorate your current user base thus resulting in an additional influx of new users. Introducing things like new filters for a photo app or new recipes for a cooking app can mean a world of difference for someone who initially downloaded your app because they thought it looked cool but then didn’t think it was worth keeping. Start looking for inspiration based on how people are either reacting to your app (if it has been launched) or how people are reacting to similar apps in the market. What additional features did you think about when you first came up with the idea? How can you expand on those? But REMEMBER, this does not mean that every new idea you generate should be pushed to the app store immediately. As the title for this tip suggests, you should always have a cache of new ideas in store so that you can pepper your audience and constantly engage them. If you release all your new ideas at once, it is likely that no one will fully be able to appreciate every single one and that new feature you thought would really change the game will end up falling on deaf ears. So, keep writing down new ideas and features and you’ll ensure that you not only hold onto your current audience but engage new users for years to come.

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All You Need To Know About In-App Purchases

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At the end of the day, every app developer intends to generate revenue from their creations. The goal is not merely to cover the costs of its production, but also to turn a profit as well. After all, we might love what we do. So, if our apps don’t bring in revenue, who’s going to pay the bills and put food on our tables? Nowadays, monetizing your mobile app is a hugely important factor to consider. It is sure to be at the forefront of most app developer’s minds. Are In-App Purchases A Nice Way To Earn? There are lots of different ways to create revenue from app development. One of the most popular right now is by using in-app purchases. The in-app purchase market is booming right now, and we’re sure you’ve been following the figures closely yourselves. According to recent statistics, the total global revenue created solely by in-app purchases in 2017 was almost $40 billion. That’s highly significant, when the previous year saw a final sum of less than half of that figure. It also takes on the greater significance that the 2017 total made from paid-app downloads (previously the strongest way to make money from apps) was $30 billion. It shows you where the money-making potential in apps really lies. In-app purchases are ruling the app industry right now. If you’re an app developer looking for ways to turn what you do into a viable living, this should really be your primary point of focus for the time being. For developers, the use of in-app purchases has a clear benefit. It makes money and gives you a very evident source of feedback, regarding how well your app is doing on the market, and how engaged your users are. From the user’s point of view, in-app purchases are viewed either as a great way to take their experience with the app further. Also, it’s a  way to gain more enjoyment and usability from the service you provide or as an instant turn-off, which leads them to abandon the app completely as soon as they’re asked to cough up money for features. Getting the balance right – so as to encourage the user that the purchase is worthwhile – is no mean feat. Plenty of app developers have fallen by the wayside as a result of errors of judgement in this regard. In this brief guide, we’re going to be giving an overview of in-app purchases. Also, we will be thinking about how best to make them work for you. The New App Store Policies As we all know, the App Store is pretty much constantly updating and changing its policies, in an attempt to continually keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the app industry. While this can be a bit of a headache, it’s fair to say that the majority of App Store policies are in place for good reason. Their diligence does ensure that quality remains high and user experiences remain positive. Now, the App Store has four types of in-app purchasing models you can pursue your app creations. Naturally, before you even begin implementing any of them, there are a handful of legal hoops to jump through, forms to sign, and tax declarations to make. Once those are all done, you’re free to go ahead with either: Consumables These are typically in-app purchases for games. Consumables would include one-off purchases for lives, gems, passwords etc. Once they’re purchased and ‘consumed’, another payment would have to be made in order to benefit from them again. Non-Consumables This type of in-app purchase model usually involves giving users access to some sort of premium content. Purchased once, and without an expiry date, a typical example would be a filter for a photo app. Auto-renewable Subscriptions Users will agree to pay on a regular basis in order to subscribe to a service or feature. So, the payment will be taken at agreed intervals until the user agrees to cancel. Non-renewing Subscriptions These will be subscriptions with a set expiration date, for example, a season membership to a club or streaming service. How to Implement In-App Purchasing If you’re considering bringing in-app purchasing into your app, it’s really something you need to have thought about from the very beginning of your app design. After all, it will probably end up being a key feature of your product. And if it hasn’t been part of your plan from the start, it can be tricky to retrofit in-app purchasing options into the finished app. Once you’ve made the decision to implement in-app purchasing, you’ll need to think carefully about a whole number of factors. There are a whole load of things to consider when it comes to this particular niche of app development. And it’s probably worthwhile taking some real time to plan out different options, and see which work best for you and your intended audience. The Best and Most Common Way of Using In-App Purchases As previously mentioned, there are several types of in-app purchases your users could make. However, the area which has seen the most success when it comes to monetizing apps has been the world of mobile games. This probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. We’re all well away of how easy it is to become quite fixated on mobile games. The whole set-up of the vast majority of games involves progressing to the next level with an aim of ultimately completing the whole thing. As a result, in-app purchases make perfect sense: the game might be perfectly completable without any purchases being involved. If you want to get to that destination a little more quickly and easily (alongside some super-cool, exclusive power-up features etc), then purchases can logically and effectively come into play. How To Earn Money Without Limiting Your Users The main technique for gaining success with your in-app purchases is to ensure your consumables etc really add value to the app experience. Nobody wants to spend their money on something

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Top Trending Niches in App Development

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In business, you can find many niches that appear stable. The environment is key for the nurturing of a dream. Niches exist in every kind of business. For example, there are companies that specifically sell glasses, jeans, phones, houses, etc. In the app development business, existing niches continue to grow and are in need of innovations and improvements. Yesterday we had teachers, today we have educational apps with videos and subscriptions. Yesterday we had standard wooden desks, today we have app-controlled tactile desks. Let’s have a look at what niches you can break into and build your application. Education 5-10 years ago was the dawn of online education. A few years later it became a new niche in online business. There is no need to sit in a classroom and be lectured anymore; you can attend class from the comfort of your own home with technology now. Online education is trending. Twenty years ago people needed to go to colleges, institutes, or academies to become specialists in a particular subject. They would flip through volumes of text in order to learn something new. Today the Internet makes our lives easier because we have not to physically attend university in order to master a skill or mine knowledge via books. Anything we need is on the Internet. That’s the reason why we should pay attention to this niche. We’re also not limited to educational platforms such as Udemy. You can earn money by selling knowledge via app store by creating an education app that presents the information in a logical manner. You can use text or video to deliver your teaching. It doesn’t matter which medium you choose just make sure it comes off as unique, unusual, interesting, and has a practical value for your audience. You can create even your own cookbook or Spanish courses. Health Health is a popular social sphere. Your responsibility directly depends on what you offer. If you work on your own fitness application you are responsible for accurate data presentation. If you get involved with a telemedical platform, it’s an even greater level of responsibility. So, why health? This sphere requires accurate solutions. If somebody found a ‘magic pill’ in this sphere, he/she would turn become a celebrity overnight. The important thing is that such an application must solve an existing problem. As I have mentioned, it’s a social sphere, so here the quality of service is much more important than the number of downloads. Don’t forget about your users because their well-being partly depends on your product. Apps For Children Most apps for kids are created to entertain and develop at the same time. Parents strive to provide their kids with the best things: toys, books, food, living conditions, etc. Today many children have their own iPads, iPhones, and even Apple Watch accessories. Let’s go offline for a moment. How many soft toys, table games, and other interesting things are presented on the market? More than we can count. All of them are created for kids. These customers think about the quality, prices, and practicality of these products. The niche of interactive apps is not as narrow as the niche of yacht navigation apps, for example. There are little creative restraints while working on apps for kids. You can create interactive books, alphabet, digital painting desks, or full games with storytelling and arcade elements. The format of your product is not the problem here. The problems lie in detail. Your app will be used by kids, not adults, right? This means that you need to do research on existing children’s apps and talk to your potential audience (parents) to clarify issues. Only after that can you can build solutions. So, if your product is for a young audience it needs to go through the parents first. Parents need to understand why they need to download it or buy in-app content. Calendars And Timers Individual calendars and timers are trendy. Usually, they take the form of an application for a particular issue. For example, your audience is people who want to stop smoking. You create an app based on the standard calendar and timer for iOS and tailor it to the issue at hand. This application counts your days without a cigarette and shows past history as well as gives out in-app achievements. Users use this app for motivation. Calendars can be connected with Health Kit as many apps that follow a woman’s menstrual cycle are. You can choose problems and try to solve them via timers and calendars if you want to develop them in this niche. These types of apps are progressing. Maybe tomorrow people synchronize timers with their cars’ computers to be notified when to change oil or something else. Private Messengers We see how governments of different countries try to get access to popular messenger apps and social networks. 5 years ago this process was launched. The governments justified these actions as anti-terror measures. What if the vast majority of people in the world ARE NOT terrorists, but they don’t want anyone to know about their contacts, messages, data that they share. Today developing an app for communication is not complicated. Privacy and the trend of data encryption are not short and due to the blocking of Telegram in Russia, the demand for such apps will grow. Developing your own messenger is a good idea for a startup. Furthermore, data encryption with private access only provides value that is enticing on the market. All you need is to provide stability in your messenger app, making it simple for people to converse with each other in a safe way.

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App Development: What Can Go Wrong And How Make It Right

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Let’s start off with an undeniable truth: there are plenty of times when app development can be very, very challenging indeed. The industry is constantly changing and evolving, new technologies and innovations mean app developers must continually be on our toes and ahead of the curve, and there’s also the ever-present reality unexpected surprises, last minute changes, and all those factors which generally making things that little bit more difficult. Despite this, when things are going well, app development can be an absolute breeze. There are those wonderful moments when everything just seems to slot into place, communication between the developer and the client is flowing, and the app itself is created with hardly any issues whatsoever. The big question we’re all left facing is, then, how do we ensure that our app development experiences involve more situations like the latter, and less like the former? We’d love to say that was just one catch-all formula to follow, but that would make life far too easy! Instead, let’s take a closer look at some of the most common and likely challenges you’ll come across when having an app development, and consider how to surmount each problem in turn. Clarify Your Goals and Objectives As a new brand, business, sole trader or individual, you want your app to best showcase whatever it is that you do. You know that it has to be user-friendly, attractive, and working to a high spec. However, is that enough to ensure that you get the app that you want? One of the biggest challenges that app developers face from their clients is a lack of clarity regarding exactly what it is the app is for. Every business nowadays knows that they want an iPhone or mobile device app – it’s become almost the standard in the modern business landscape – but before even setting out on the app creation journey, you’re going to need a pretty clear map to guide everyone’s way to the destination. Before you start the process of developing your app or having your app developed, think very carefully about exactly what it is for, who it is for, and the goals and aims you’d like it to achieve. Is your app to help boost sales? Is it to hype a particular product, event, or service? Is for entertainment purposes, or to help spread brand awareness? These are just the initial questions you’ll have to be asking yourself – and as you get further into the first stages of developing the app, you’ll have plenty more questions to answer along the way. It might sound like a bit of a headache, but unless you and your developers are crystal clear from the very beginning what your app’s all about, you’re going to find that journey will end up being a lot longer and more complicated than initially expected! Decide Who Will Be Developing Your App It might sound like an obvious point, but all too many people looking to have an app developed start out by being unsure of who to reach out to in order to get the job done properly. There is no shortage of app developers out there in the wider world today – go onto any freelancing website, and you’ll find thousands of amateurs and home professionals clamoring for your attention. What’s more, type ‘app developers’ into your search engine, and you’ll be faced with a plethora of professional app development studio websites, too.  How to decide? Obviously, there’s going to be a considerable difference in price between a lone freelance app developer working from his bedroom in Bangalore, and a professional app studio based in London. There will also be a huge number of options between these two extremes, too, but we’d advise you to choose carefully and consider a couple of points before jumping into a commitment. The main thing you should always, always keep in mind is to request the app developer’s portfolio of similar projects to your own. A commendable and professional app developer should have a wide array of examples to show you of successfully completed apps and should have no problem whatsoever in passing over these details for your consideration. No portfolio = no contract. Plain and simple! It’s also important to be aware of the limitations of their services, what sort of technology they’re using, and whether they’ll be happy to update your app in the future if things need changing or modifying. Don’t be afraid to ask the difficult questions, either; a quality developer should be able to answer everything with confidence and with examples to back up their points. Let’s Clarify Budgets As with any creative project, app development has a tendency to take a little longer than expected. A top-quality app company will always strive to get things done on time and within budget, but even then, last minute add-ons and changes can cause deadlines to be overrun, and budgets to be stretched. If you have a strict budget for your app, be sure to very, very plainly put this across to your developer. This will allow them to calculate the limitations of the project, and also to understand how much time they can afford to spend on it, too. Be wary of app developers working on an hourly basis – professional app developers should quote you for the overall project, not for the time it takes to create the app! Communication With The Development Team It’s vital to have an open channel of communication with your development team. Your app is being created for you and your business or venture, and as such, your thoughts, ideas, and visions should be listened to and appreciated, and your input should be implemented whenever possible. Occasionally, you’ll come across an app developer who has a very identifiable style and way of doing things, and they can be challenging to work with, especially if your vision differs greatly to their own. This is why it is so important, as previously

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How to Find Inspiration for App Design

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There are few things we love more than creating custom apps for our clients. Thanks to our expertise and experience, we’re always being asked to flex our creative muscles, allow our imaginations to run riot, and implement the latest trends and ideas into our app designs. However, even for seasoned professionals like us, there’s a common problem which strikes even the best of us down from time to time: creative block. That’s right: it’s not just authors and artists who struggle with the nagging irritation of struggling to come up with winning ideas from time to time. App developers constantly have to be on the hunt for new, eye-popping designs, innovative approaches, and trendsetting, unique ideas and that really can be exhausting. Whether you’ve been called upon to design a new app for an up-and-coming business project, need to create a stunning platform for an event or money-making venture, or have been commissioned to dream up new games and entertainment options, creative blocks can be devastating, and tricky to overcome. After all, you want to ensure your client can’t wipe the smile off their face when browsing your app, and making those big impacts is the way to guarantee future commissions. With all that in mind, we thought we’d write an article regarding the search for inspiration, and how to grapple with creative dry periods. Ready to have your imagination sparked into life? Read on, and see where our ideas take you! Stay Grounded The first point we feel we should make is to stay grounded, and to not let creative dryness affect you too strongly. Everybody in the creative industries struggles with inspiration from time to time, and it’s important to not let these temporary dry spots have too much of a negative effect. At the end of the day, there are always going to be moments when you feel like a whirlwind of energy and inspiration, and other moments when you can barely do more than scribble a few meager ideas down on paper. If you find yourself up against a brick wall, do what any other creative do: get out of the house or office, take a walk, enjoy a coffee in the sunshine, have a nap whatever it is you need to do to recharge your batteries and take your mind off the issue for a while. Once you return to your desk, you’ll probably find the ideas start to flow once more. Frustration is the natural enemy of inspiration – don’t let it take a hold of you! Where to Seek Inspiration? This is a question that really has more answers than we have time to write in one short article. As you probably already know, inspiration can come from the most random of sources. Magazines, TV programs, pre-existing apps that call out for improvement, mood boards, music, etc. The list goes on and on and on. As an app developer, you’ll know the places to go to when seeking inspiration, and you probably have your own favorite ways to get the creative juices flowing. However, we’d like to point out one question that you really should be asking yourself, and which often leads to highly satisfactory results. Instead of asking yourself ‘what should I create?’, you need to be asking yourself ‘what needs to be created?’. By putting yourself in the shoes of your client and their audience, you can step out of your usual pattern of working and thinking, and approach your project from a more user-oriented approach. If you were the customer of the business you’ve been booked to create an app for, what sort of features would you most like to see? Which colors or themes would you most immediately be drawn towards? What do you dislike about the apps currently on the market in the same field? All of these kinds of thoughts will help you narrow down your thought processes, and pinpoint more accurately how to proceed. For Love or Money If you’re seeking inspiration for your upcoming app design, it’s probably important to step back a moment and ask yourself an important question: why is it you’re doing what you do? Are you in the app development industry as a designer and passionate artist, or are you in it as a means to make a living? Of course, for many of us, the answer lies somewhere in between… but by thinking in this way, we can help push ourselves out of a slump, and start focusing on the destination, rather than on the journey. Does it help if your app is completely unique and a representation of the pinnacle of your creative powers? Probably. Is it absolutely necessary for every app you create to be this way? Probably not. Is your client interested in getting an app which shows off your creative talents, or one which does the job very well and is perfect for their needs? The answer is surely more likely to be later rather than the former, so instead of worrying about how great the app is going to look in your portfolio, start concentrating on delivering a product which fits the brief. Creative flourishes can come later, but the important part is getting the fundamentals right first! Remember: Most Unique Products are Successful Copies This might sound like an oxymoron, but there’s a lot of truth in this concept. It cannot be denied that many of the most successful and seemingly ‘unique’ apps, platforms, games, etc started their journey as copies and imitations of others on the market. If you browse through some of your favorite existing apps out there, we’ve little doubt that you – as a keen-minded app developer – will be able to find a list of flaws and faults, and niggling small details which you feel could have been done better. In essence, that’s your solution: take what’s already out there on the market, and fill in the gaps, adapt the features, and make the improvements you’d like to

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