In today’s connected world, the use of mobile Apps is part of our daily life. mobile Apps to do shopping, to play sports, to learn new languages or to book movie tickets, we appreciate them especially for their ability to simplify our daily life tasks.
Because it must meet the requirements of its users, the development of a mobile App is a complex project that requires specific skills.
If you have in mind to create a mobile App for your brand or your company, we give you the keys to understand the specification of its environment. Let’s go!
What is a mobile App?
We talk about mobile App when we refer to a program or a software application that can be downloaded on a mobile support (tablet or smartphone). When it is downloaded, it runs on an operating system: iOS for the Apple environment and Android for mobile devices from Samsung, Xiaomi or Google.
Which languages are used to develop a mobile App?
Depending on the operating system chosen, the mobile App is developed using very specific languages. For applications developed for Android, you can choose between the following programming languages: Kotlin, Java, C and C++.
Less numerous but equally popular with mobile developers, the Swift and Objective C programming languages are implemented to make mobile Apps work with Apple devices and the iOS operating system.
Note that some mobile Apps can be used under several operating systems. We talk about hybrid mobile App, we explain.
What are the different types of mobile Apps?
According to the functionalities and uses they are given, there are different types of mobile Apps.
Native applications
Most of the applications we download on our mobiles today are called native. The native mobile App is developed for a particular operating system (IOS or Android). They generally use the existing features on our mobiles to offer a unique user experience. Their little plus is that native mobile Apps can be used offline, which is quite practical when you take a plane.
Hybrid applications
In the mobile App environment, we also find hybrid applications. The term “hybrid” is used because this type of mobile App combines elements of both Native Apps and Web Apps. Since they are coded using web languages such as HTML 5 and JavaScript, they can be downloaded from all mobile platforms and this is what makes them so popular.
Web applications
Finally, the third type of mobile App concerns Web Apps or in other words, web applications. They are duplicates of websites optimized to be used on mobile. To navigate on a Web App, we use the search engines of our mobile. The weak point of these mobile Apps is that they cannot be used without an internet connection.
What is the purpose of a mobile App?
Develop the notoriety of your company or brand
We spend much more time browsing on our mobile than on our computer. In recent years, the number of mobile users has been growing rapidly. This phenomenon can be explained by the democratization of mobile access.
If your goal is to develop your brand or your company on the Web, we strongly advise you to develop a mobile App to increase your chances of being visible to your audience.
Having an app strengthens your online presence as you will be visible on mobile app download platforms such as Microsoft Store, the App Store or Play Store.
Offer an innovative experience to your audience
A mobile App is an excellent tool to provide an immersive experience to its users. This experience also contributes to the development of your company’s notoriety.
It is by focusing on your users and optimizing their navigation on your mobile App that you guarantee the success of your application. At the same time, you create value for your company and promote the profitability of your business.
Developing an interface with fun features so that using your app is a real pleasure for your users is a good way to increase your number of downloads.
The ideal tool to build customer loyalty
We also advise you to develop a mobile App to retain your customers. Our cell phone is the accessory that we always have on us and that we use at any time of the day.
It is much easier to interact, communicate or send information to its users via a mobile App, especially through push notifications. To give you an idea, the reaction rate to push notifications is 27% on average for e-commerce apps.
Why create a mobile App rather than a responsive site?
Send notifications to your users
One of the many advantages of the mobile app over the responsive site is the ability to send notifications to users. Notifications are excellent marketing tools to remind your users that you exist. But be careful not to overuse them, as they may end up being annoying.
Here are two types of frequently used notifications:
- Push notifications: they target less engaged audiences to encourage them to open the mobile App;
- In-app notifications: their role is to guide users when using the mobile App;
For example, push notifications are used when you want to warn your users about promotional offers or upcoming events. As for in-app notifications, they can support gamification elements to improve your users’ experience on your app.
The possibility to monetize your mobile App
The advantage of developing a mobile App for your company is also that you can make it profitable by monetizing it. Indeed, the most recurrent economic model of mobile Apps is the annual or monthly subscription.
Generally, they all offer a freemium subscription, allowing to test the interface for free with a reduced access to the app’s features. The idea is that if the user wants to have access to more features, he can upgrade to a paid offer.
Other mobile apps rent advertising inserts from brands or other apps to pay themselves. When an app sets up this type of business model, it is because it is already well identified in its field of activity and has many active users.
How to create a mobile App?
Use an agency specialized in mobile App development
With the rise of mobile Apps in recent years, many application development agencies have emerged. For the development of your mobile App, you can trust these expert agencies since they master mobile App design and mobile development languages.
The advantage of these specialized agencies is that they keep abreast of technical developments in the app environment to offer their clients innovative products that convert.
Opt for the creation of your mobile App by a freelance mobile developer
For the creation of your mobile App, another solution is available to you: the freelance mobile developer. Its flexibility in project management and its lower cost is often what encourages project owners to use its services.
Our tip for creating a mobile App
Developing a mobile App is a great idea to boost your company’s reputation and communicate about its services or products. However, it is also a complex field that requires a knowledge of specific languages.
Before starting any development project, we strongly advise you to ask yourself about your targets by creating personas. They are the ones you will have to seduce through the design of your application and its ergonomics.