Ultimate Guide For Avoiding Mistakes During Android App Development

The Android platform occupies a relatively large market share of 74.6%. Many people want to join this market with their Android app, and if you are reading these lines, you most likely already have an idea for your Android project.

This article will cover how you can make it, what pitfalls you should be aware of, and where you can hire Android developers. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Note: This is a guest post by Maria Diachenko. The author’s views are entirely her own and may not reflect the views of CodeItBro.

Also Read: 10 Best Free Tools For Android App Development

Main Ways to Create an Android app

There are four main ways to create an Android app:

Do It Yourself

This method is the first to come to mind if there is a need to create an Android application. Yes, this method gives you complete control over the development process and saves you a lot. But you also need to have excellent technical knowledge. Experience with Kotlin or Java, understanding coding logic, and app architecture is a must.

Pros

• The development process is fully controllable.
• No communication difficulties
• No additional expenses

Cons

• Tech expertise is strictly required.
• The development process is time-consuming.

Also Read: 5 Best Android App Development Frameworks In 2020

Hire Freelancers

This method is quite popular among many entrepreneurs. If you choose this method, you will have a huge selection of specialists from all over the world, and at the same time, the development will not hit your budget too much.

However, freelancers are not always the right choice for long-term projects, and communication difficulties can arise due to the vast distance between you and the developers.

Pros

• A lot of specialists from all over the world
• Low development rates
• No additional expenses

Cons

• Risk of failed deadlines, project abandonment
• Communication diffuculties
• Difficulties in code-quality evaluation

Also Read: Android ListView Tutorial With Example Project

Build an In-House Team

This method’s main idea is to rent an office, equip it with everything you need to work, hire developers, and start work on a project. This method is suitable because you and your team are under the same roof, and you will not have any difficulties with communication. But this method is one of the most expensive of all.

Pros

• Development process under complete control
• No communication difficulties

Cons

• Tricky recruitment process
• Expensiveness

Hire Outsourcing Vendor

The final method you can choose is to contact the software vendor. If you hire a dedicated development team, you will receive reasonable prices and high-quality final products. Thanks to these features, it is gaining immense popularity. The only minor drawback is possible communication problems, especially if you choose a company from a very distant region.

Pros

• High quality, low prices
• Wide choice of companies
• Fast project start

Cons

• Communication difficulties may arise

Also Read: Android VideoView Tutorial with Example Project in Android Studio

What Features Should Android App Have?

All features are divided into must-have parts and additional features in any app. Let’s consider each type in detail.

• Must-have features. These features serve to meet the most basic user needs. Take the Uber app, for example. This app has geolocation, travel cost calculation, payment, and routing functions. In a nutshell, all functions quickly transport passengers from point A to point B.
• Additional features. These features add various quality-of-life improvements and expand the app’s overall functionality. Let’s go back to the Uber example. Another Uber feature is scheduled rides. This feature is not strictly required initially, but it significantly improves transportation convenience for customers.

Let’s take another example to understand the difference between the features better. Take the food delivery app, for example. The must-have features for this kind of app will look like this:

• Registration
• Search
• Order tracking
• Order details
• Payments
• Push notifications

Meanwhile, additional features may look like this:

• Order history
• Estimated delivery time
• Discount system
• Social networks

Also Read: Offshore Software Development: Everything You Need To Know

What You Should Consider When Creating an Android app

The Android app development is quite tricky due to certain pitfalls associated with the Android operating system. We will briefly cover three main traps that you should consider throughout the app creation process.

Material Design

To successfully approve an app on Google Play Store, you must follow Google’s strict Material Design Guidelines during development. You can see an example of such guidelines in the image below.

Kotlin

Kotlin is the primary Android programming language that Google officially supports. And its popularity is confirmed by 80% of programmers who use it to develop Android apps.

One of the nice things about this language is that it is fully compatible with Java, which allows you to support Java projects using Kotlin. Don’t forget about simple syntax, which leads to more stable code with fewer bugs.

Fragmentation

This aspect greatly influences the development of any project for Android. In simple terms, fragmentation is the number of versions of one OS. In Android, there are many versions of this OS, and it isn’t easy to get the app to work correctly on all possible OS versions.

Also Read: 6 Best Free Task Management Apps For Android and iOS

Main Steps of the Android App Development Process

Next, we will briefly review the process of developing an Android app from start to finish.

Step #1. First Contact

This is where the first steps to developing an Android app begin if you work with an outsourcing company. You contact them and tell them about the app’s idea, requirements, and business goals. Then you get a rough estimate of your future project.

Step #2. Discovery Phase

At this stage, business analysts collect all the requirements for the future app and study them. You’ll receive specifications, wireframes, and detailed estimates based on this information.

• These are schematic representations of app screens and the relationship between each screen.
• Documented features of the app, technologies for their creation, and the connection of components.

Step #3. Development Process

At this stage, all client requirements are turned into lines of code. But before the developers start writing the code, the designers create mockups of the future app with the already finalized design. Based on these mockups, developers create all the project’s functionality.

Step #4. Release Sequence

Here it is, the finishing line of the entire development process. The app goes through the last polish at this stage, and the release process begins. The app must undergo automatic Google testing, which lasts 2-3 days, and after successful completion, the app appears in Google Play Market.

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Wrapping up

As you can see, creating an Android app is quite complicated, and it is pretty challenging to cope with it alone. But now, you are armed with knowledge and ready to enter the Android market with your digital solution.

Author’s bio: Maria Diachenko is a tech writer at Cleveroad. It’s a web, iOS, and Android app development company in Ukraine. She enjoys writing how-to tech guides and describing programming trends and IoT innovations.