The mobile development industry continues to grow at a rapid pace and the numbers prove that. With 258 billion mobile app downloads expected in 2022 (which is a 45% increase compared to 178 billion in 2017), it’s easy to confirm that users love mobile applications and businesses should take this fact into consideration.

There is no doubt that mobile applications are a valuable asset that helps companies reach their customers in a fast and efficient manner. However, many business owners choose a speed of development over quality and end up with a rather inaccurate product that annoys users with poor performance and design. So how to create an application that will correspond both to one’s business goals and users’ needs? Read the article below where we collected the most common mistakes in mobile app development and tips on avoiding them.

Incomplete business plan
When developing a software product, it is obligatory to conduct thorough research and have a solid business plan with clearly defined goals. Here are a few things to take care of:

● Identification of the target audience,
● Choice of a mobile platform,
● Identification of the app’s goals,
● Analysis of the market and the competition,
● Identification of value for the users.

Even though these steps are obligatory before starting a development process, some business owners either ignore or miss them. This, in turn, results in the need to redesign the app, add or remove certain features, switch platforms, etc. because the final product does not always correspond to the real needs of the users.

No MVP development
A minimum viable product, known as MVP, is a great and cost-efficient method to assess whether you offer the right product to the users. As well, it offers a chance to timely implement any needed changes before the app hits the market. An MVP is basically a working prototype of an application with all the must-have features. The main purpose behind the MVP development is to test the application concept, see the feedback from the real users and optimize the app “on the go” before it is officially released.

When a business owner opts for the MVP development, he gets a chance to constantly monitor the development process and timely implement any changes. This helps save a significant amount of time and resources and minimizes the possibility of errors and bugs.

Feature overload
A common mistake that many business owners make is overloading the app with extra features in an attempt to make it more valuable and attractive for the users. However, the effect turns out to be the opposite: the app becomes too slow and not user-friendly at all.

As well, the development of these features demands lots of time and resources and also slows down the overall development process. So if you want to create a really valuable and performing product, it’s best to start with the essentials and then gradually add a few more features, if needed.

Size of the app
Mobile devices have rather limited space and memory capacity in comparison to the desktop but many developers still miss this point. As a result, the application demands too much space and does not perform well enough.

In order to reduce the app’s size and make it more light-weight and mobile-friendly, a developer can do the following:

● Compress files,
● Remove unnecessary code and unused resources,
● Use WebP file format for image compressing,
● Check if the app needs all of its functionality.

By making the app more lightweight, you can significantly increase its performance and improve the user experience.

Connectivity issues
Even though some functions of an app can efficiently work in the offline mode, many of them require a stable Internet connection. Unfortunately, there are quite a few mobile apps out there that experience severe performance issues when the connectivity is low or lost.

An experienced mobile developer should make an application ready for this sort of issue. As well, it is obligatory to perform network connectivity testing to check how well the app functions with different network types and with different speed and quality of the connection.

Poor UI/UX design
Mobile applications are intended for relatively small screens and therefore, they need to have a very clear and user-friendly design in order to quickly provide the users with all the necessary information.

When designing a mobile application, the following issues need to be considered:

● Easy and intuitive navigation,
● Size of the buttons and interactive elements,
● Clear and minimized design to avoid confusion,
● Minimal user input.

Remember to keep the design of the mobile application consistent with the brand and the website. Even though a mobile application can differ greatly from the website in terms of visual elements or color, it should still include certain elements that will make it recognizable.

Poor security
Mobile applications contain massive amounts of sensitive data such as users’ contacts, personal data, etc. The loss of this data can lead to serious consequences so development companies should pay double attention to the security of their software products.

In order to safeguard an application and make sure it’s protected from the possible attacks and external threats, developers need to pay attention to the authentication methods, encryption, use of reliable third-party services, code security. As well, it is important to constantly perform security testing.

Lack of performance optimization
There are multiple aspects to take care of before the application is ready to be released in the market. All of them are part of the performance optimization strategy that has to be followed if you want your app to perform as intended.

Performance optimization of a mobile app includes:

● Testing of the device performance (compatibility with different platforms, memory and battery consumption, background state, integration with device features),
● Testing of network connectivity,
● Deployment of a CDN for faster content delivery,
● Image compression,
● Code review and elimination of unnecessary code,
● Use data pre-loading,
● SDK integration.

In order to better comprehend the state of a mobile application and pinpoint the possible issues, it is recommended to conduct a performance audit that will help identify the problem areas.

Author Bio:

Irina Linnik is a digital specialist at SoftTeco – a company that designs custom software products for enterprise clients. Irina has over 6 years of experience in copywriting and she loves creating a compelling copy that informs the readers about the latest technological trends in an engaging and clear manner.