Want to explore comprehensive content on a mobile app development timeline? If yes, then this blog is for you.
We take it from the ideation stage to the launch and post-launch phase, giving you in-depth insights, practical guidance, and a well-rounded perspective.
The content of this blog caters to diverse needs and the interests of readers as well as explorers seeking ways to speed up the processes of mobile app development.
So, whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a tech enthusiast, or simply curious about app development timelines, this guide got you covered.
Read our alternative blog about the mobile app development process.
Understanding the Mobile App Development Timeline
Businesses need to ensure that their mobile apps operate as smoothly as possible as they embrace mobile app development and marketing.
What is a mobile app development timeline?
The timeline for mobile app development, according to designeveloper, is the timing process of mobile app development. It includes the stages of development, their complexities and lengths.
There is no one way to determine the application development timeline as it depends on the type of app.
The importance of a well-defined timeline in app development
An organised and well-defined timeline for mobile app development is crucial for several reasons:
Project Planning and Scheduling
A well-defined timeline breaksdown the app development process into manageable tasks and milestones.
With this, you can easily allocate appropriate time and resources for each development stage. For example, you can organise your research, design, development, testing, and deployment processes.
This ensures the project stays on track and meets the expected delivery date.
Resource Allocation
Timelines also provide visibility into all the workloads as well as the resources and other requirements of the project. It breaks everything down into different stages, stating clearly what and what would be deployed.
Another importance of the timeline is that it helps to identify vulnerabilities and sets the stage for proactive steps. For example, it offers insight into load balancing.
Stakeholder Communication
Application development timeline serves as a great communication tool, especially when keeping the stakeholders fully informed on all progress made.
It is also important and instrumental for setting and tracking all project expectations and allowing everyone to work together.
Risk Mitigation
When you can breakdown your project into smaller tasks and milestones, you have taken a step in identifying potential risks. This reduces the chances of delays or unexpected issues that derail the project.
Iterative Development
Mobile app development often follows an iterative approach. This includes multiple cycles of development, testing, and feedbacks for optimal performance.
Having a reliable timeline helps in planning and managing these iterations. It is important to ensure that each cycle is completed within the allocated time, but that is not all. It ensures that the mobile app is continuously improved based on user feedback.
Coordination with External Dependencies
If you know how mobile apps work, you will agree that they frequently rely on external services, APIs, or third-party integrations. None of which would be possible if there isn’t coordination using a timeline.
Agile Methodology
Many mobile app development teams follow Agile methodologies which requires sprints, tracking, etc.
A timeline is essential for planning and executing sprints, tracking progress, and adapting to changes in requirements or priorities.
Budget Management
You will need a timeline to go about organising and managing your budgets. If, for example, your app development follows a per-hour payment method, the timeline can help in estimating and managing all costs.
Don’t forget that you will need a clear understanding of the duration of each phase and the resources required.
Key Stages of the Mobile App Development Timeline
Stage 1: Charting Your Course in the Mobile App Development Timeline
Conducting market research and identifying the target audience
First thing first, do your due diligence and conduct quality market research. This will expose you to the current state of things in the market and probably how best to penetrate with your mobile app solution.
During your market research, ensure to identify your ideal audience. These are the users of your mobile app. Know their online behaviours, user journeys, their geographical locations, backgrounds, and the type of devices that they love to use.
Defining the app’s purpose and unique selling proposition
Having known your audience and conducted your market research, it is important that you also define the purpose that your mobile app will serve.
We will advise that take a critical look at your competitor app solution, features and functionalities.
Then ask yourself if you want something similar or one with more improved features and functionalities.
Every mobile app must have that unique selling point. Ensure to identify yours and implement it in the app design as well as the overall app solution.
Creating a detailed project plan and setting goals
Conclude the first stage of your mobile app development process by creating a comprehensive and detailed project plan. In your app development plan, state your development timeline and all the goals…
Stage 2: Building the Blueprint for Your Mobile App Development Timeline
Selecting the right development approach (native, hybrid, or web app)
The second stage takes off from the first stage. This is where settle for the ideal mobile app development solution type. Focus on asking and answering the main question here; do you need native, hybrid or web app solution?
Creating wireframes and prototypes for user interface and user experience design
It’s time to design the mobile app’s UI/UX designs. You may consider using wireframes for better functionality. When the UI/UX developers do a great job, their work will serve as a strong direction towards a better app solution.
The user interface should be slick and visually appealing to the users. There should be no glitches and no lagging of pages.
Identifying technical requirements and choosing the appropriate technology stack
This is the stage where you ask about all the technical requirements of your mobile app development timeline.
What are the tools and technologies that your app development team will need? At what point will each technology be deployed?
Ensure you capture everything in your mobile app development timeline.
Stage 3: Bringing Your App to Life in the Mobile App Development Timeline
Writing code and developing the app’s features and functionalities
This is where your mobile app developers step in to bring all designs to life. Their job is to write the codes and follow all laid down designs by the UI/UX designers.
The mobile app programmers will write the code for both the frontend and backend, including the features and functionalities, before passing it down to the QA testing team for further verification and validation.
While writing the code of the mobile app, developers need to focus on security and making the app as lightweight as possible.
Conducting thorough testing to identify and fix bugs and issues
After writing all codes, QA and testing team step in to check the functionality and other non-functional areas of the app.
The purpose of this is to ensure that all bugs, vulnerabilities and weaknesses are uncovered and fixed before launch.
Usually, the QA and testing teams make recommendations to the development team and ensure that the app complies to regulatory standards and security best practices before launching.
Stage 4: Launch and Beyond in Your Mobile App Development Timeline
This is a stage of mobile app development that follows development processes or programming stages. It encompasses three important sub-stages;
- Preparing the app for deployment to the chosen app stores (App Store, Google Play, etc.)
- Implementing app store optimization (ASO) strategies for better visibility and discoverability
- Planning and executing a successful app launch and marketing campaign
Stage 5: Keeping Your App Thriving in the Mobile App Development Timeline
If you get to this stage, you should have done other stages right and well. In fact, by now, your mobile app should already be up and running. So, what else and what next? The answer is monitoring!
This stage should cover three important areas of the post launch phase;
- Monitoring app performance and user feedback
- Implementing regular updates and improvements based on user insights and market trends
- Addressing technical issues and ensuring the app’s long-term sustainability
See your mobile app development cost.
10 Ways We Speed Up Our Mobile App Development Timeline
Over the years, we have come to a level of perfecting the science and art of mobile app development.
From agriculture, healthcare, tourism, hospitality, transportation, fintech, online dating apps etc, we have built apps that help start-ups and existing businesses to become relevant and have a rewarding share of their market.
We are a reliable software development company that you can trust to deliver your projects even before the application development timeline.
Here are 10 ways we build faster apps.
We Utilise the Use of Low-Fidelity Wireframes
One of our best approaches has been with using low-fidelity wireframes. This is a reliable resource for speeding app performance and we make it part of our development plan and the app layout.
Low-fidelity wireframes enable us to save time in its basic form and details.
Wireframe
Our developers use wireframes because it gives them an edge through its functionalities. These functionalities are also reflected in the final product of the mobile app.
Our UI/UIX designers also utilise wireframes for clear direction in the planning and design of the UI. This not only helps us to keep up with new and changing trends but, also keeps us in sync with rewarding developments in the industry.
The Lean Method, Launch MVP
Another method on how to make app updates faster is to launch a minimum viable product. this is much faster and works well for the collection of data which our team reviews for better and improved app solutions.
What do we do next? We Lean!
This entails using the feedback for the definition, categorisation and understanding of the design and mobile app development process.
Our mobile app development timeline is always within the timed schedule and we ensure to maintain optimal performance and efficiency.
This includes using iterative circles and with the relevant feedback, we slowly and gradually introduce new features into the app on a weekly or monthly basis.
In the cycle, we test all processes to check, regulate, improve and satisfy customer demands and requirements for the app. This always works out for us as it plays a crucial role in ensuring the best quality app development and performance.
We Perform Design Reviews
Before creating mobile apps, we go through reviews of the designs. The focus is on what we want to achieve which correlates with what our customers need. Following this, we come up with a demo version and do another review of the work so far.
Our app reviews and designs reflect the story of the customer’s business, the target and the key requirements of the customers.
After all of these have been completed, we will have a product that looks good, although not as it should be. So, we continue with our reviews, feedback and the quest to build the ideal mobile app within the timeline.
Make no mistakes, the fact that all of these happen from one stage to the other does not mean that we will not deliver your app in a speed-up process.
Our developers complement these efforts by using a speedy app development process for quick time to market.
We Practice Short Release Cycles
We keep our release cycles as short as possible, with the important features of the app. This aids in faster app development with better feedback methodologies.
Like many other top app development companies, we follow these steps;
- Identify the MVP
- Deploy automation and Deployment techniques
- Release Earlier Versions for Relevant Feedback
By releasing the elements in frequent release cycles, it becomes easier to see how the features are performing among the pilot group of people who are similar to the prospects that we are targeting.
Deploy Automated Testing
Our automation testing techniques are top-notch and result-oriented. They are also efficient for keeping to the mobile app development timeline. This does not in any way affect how secure our app products are. It also does not affect the quality of the app in negative ways.
During testing, automation is also considered. We utilise the best AI tools as our quality assurance teams are users of cutting-edge technologies for the best results.
Not much is done manually, except when necessary. Automation testing enhances speedy app development and launching of the final product with the app development timeline.
During automation testing, we explore tools like Appium, Selenium, and others.
Component-based UI
Have you heard of component-based UI for faster development? This is one good method for cost saving as well as timely delivery. For us, this process is reusable across different app development projects, especially when the method is backed by agile or iterative processes.
Projects take different shapes, sizes and requirements and sometimes they may be very similar to existing apps. However, we ensure to always forward the complete source code to the client.
Follow Agile and Sprints
We use agile and sprint methodologies to plan and create the app, releasing it with the most important features. We take our time to define different milestones while we use users’ feedback at different stages.
Agile development methods enhance our team in terms of coordination and flexibility. It enables the efficient management of financial resources, time and other app development requirements. Plus, it is very useful for timely mobile app development.
Agile enhances the building of speedy apps with the faster application of user-centric features.
Flexible Team Size
Since we utilise agile methodology for mobile app development are very flexible. We have experienced app developers who are familiar with different processes, markets, industries and client needs.
We have other options though. For example, we can help you hire offshore mobile app developers, outsourced app developers and in-house mobile app developers.
learn more about hiring offshore developers.
We have a robust quality assurance team for optimal results. At different levels of the app development, our quality assurance team ensure that the process being followed complies with global standards and as initially agreed.
That is not. Our QA teams are an integral part of the app development process, ensuring top quality and mobile app performance testing.
You can learn more about Quality assurance here.
Reduced iterations
If you ask us “How to make app update faster?”, our answer will include reduced iterations and sprints. What this means is that we divide the development processes into processes and sprints. Each with its own goal and timeline but all are connected for an ultimate goal.
Each process and sprint has a way of carrying the user story and meet the requirements of the users.
Conclusion
By following a well-defined mobile app development timeline, you can increase your chances of success. A timeline will help you stay organized, and on track, and avoid common pitfalls.
Remember, this is a general guideline, and the specific steps involved may vary depending on your app’s complexity. But by following a structured approach, you can turn your app idea into a reality.
Want to turn your mobile app idea into a reality? Let’s discuss!
