The launch of your first mobile app, whether it is an addition to your business or what your startup is centered around, is always a hectic and crucial moment. How well you manage to carry it out and how you prepare to it has a huge impact on how well it is going to do in the future. Even if you have a brilliant, never-seen-before idea, but fail to set your app properly, chances are it will fail. So how does one avoid it? Let’s see.

1. Decide on a Goal

What is your app going to achieve? What is its main mission? What will it bring to the customer? What problem will it solve? Nowadays apps that solve a small, clearly defined problem usually win over those with vaguer identity.

2. Put the Idea on Paper

The Internet is rife with prototyping tools that can help you quickly build a detailed and connected wireframe of your app – it will quickly show you whether it works as a cohesive whole or whether it is a jumble of ideas that have little to do with each other.

3. Research

Do some preliminary research. Look for other apps that may already be doing the same thing or something close to it. Think of ways to set your app apart from them. Look for design inspiration. Decide on how complex your app is going to be so that you can calculate technical requirements for it.

4. Decide on Monetization Strategy

You should decide how your app is going to bring your money right after you’ve created a more or less complete idea of how it will work and what it will bring to the customer. Don’t fall into the trap of creating a free app first and hoping to find a way to make money off it later – the odds of your app being the next Facebook are, let’s say, not in your favor. Whether it is going to be paid or free with in-app purchases, make a clear decision from the get-go and design everything else around it.

5. Test

Testing is bread and butter of mobile app development – you should subject your creation to as much of it as possible. If you can’t find anything wrong about it, it doesn’t mean anything – you’ve created the app and know how it is supposed to work, what to do in order to achieve certain results and so on. You cannot even imagine what some other person may be able to do with it, given enough time. Therefore, extensive testing is key to flawless performance later on. And it shouldn’t be limited to giving the app to your friends and relatives – you should hire an agency specializing in this kind of work. For example, software testing company A1QA provides mobile testing services in their full complexity, covering everything from compatibility and connectivity to security, while on your own you will never be able to cover all eventualities.

6. Build the Back-End

After you know for sure what kind of infrastructure you are going to need, start building it up – setting up servers, cloud storages, APIs and suchlike may turn out to be even more work than your entire app development took.

As you may see, creation and launch of an app is a much more complicated process than simply coding it – in most cases, this process will combine the work of many different people who have to function in careful coordination with each other. Make sure you think of all this before you even start out – although your own mistakes are the best sources of experience, why make them if it can be avoided in the first place?