Google Play hosts around 3.45 million Android applications. Almost 71% of global smartphone population uses Android technology. Most profitable Android app ventures were once bootstrapped startups that had firm belief on their world-changing ideas.
The Android market now, as in 2021 and 2022 is predicted to become more saturated and highly competitive. To beat your competition, here is a quick guide on finding the right developer that can turn your vision into a successful digital reality.
How do Android app companies develop?
Android app development processes, because of their popularity and growing demand have become agile and error-free. Most companies now follow a 5-step process comprising:
a) Plan
Appreneurs, clients and developers together create a business plan that highlights the primary purpose of the app, its features, target audience, development budgets, monetization strategies and marketing initiatives.
b) Design
This stage includes wireframing and prototyping. Client and developers collaboratively agree on a user journey and forward the technical specifications to designers for app’s UI and UX.
c) Develop
After receiving app designs from the designers, front-end developers start with creating the client-side of the app. after this, developers start with API and server-side development which include databases, frameworks, and feature integration.
d) Test
After development is technically complete, a team of beta testers and penetration experts assess the application in terms of speed, performance, accuracy, viruses and any other glitches.
e) Deploy
When the app passes all sorts of quality checks, it is ready to be deployed on Google Play store. for that, appreneurs or whoever is responsible for launching the app needs access to a Google developer’s account which costs a one-time $25.
8 Factors To Consider Before Hiring A Team of Android App Developers
After checking the basics of the development process, here is a 8-point checklist to help you find the right Android app development company for your project:
1. Freelance teams vs development company
While prices are detrimental to deciding which human resource you should go with and obviously freelancers are seemingly cheaper in the short-term, we suggest appreneurs to hire a full-stack Android app development company because that makes project management easier and keeps the average development costs low in the long run.
2. Location and Time zone
It is ideal to hire a developer from your local area because that would operate in the same business hours as yours. Communication and project coordination becomes convenient and you can choose to meet your developer in person for quick technical changes or improvisation.
3. Technical expertise
When hiring Android app development company, check if they have extensive experience in native and cross platform technologies. Java, Kotlin, and React Native are top tech stacks used in Android development. In addition to these, if your startup idea is a game, your developer has to have exposure and experience in platforms like Unity and Unreal game engine. To keep up with the growing competition, your developer also should have exposure of AR and VR simulations.
4. Portfolio
If you’ve found 2-3 developers with the right technical expertise operating in your local area, it is now time to assess their previous projects and scrutinize them for magnitude and quality. See if your developer has previously worked in your desired industry, for example ecommerce, education, real estate, mining or automotive.
Download their free apps from Google Play store and check the user experience, functionality, speed, performance and the success metrics like download rates, rating and reviews.
5. Social proof
Social proof will guide about the authenticity and credibility of the development company’s services. social proof includes testimonials on the website, Google business listings, and social media reviews and ratings. Also, you can go and check the endorsements on LinkedIn and assess how the main faces of your shortlisted development company engage with their audience on community platforms like Quora and Reddit.
6. Payment structures
As we mentioned earlier, price is one of the primary factors that appreneurs and startups consider when investing in a development service. If budget is a deciding factor for your business too, we suggest you go with an Android app development company that allows flexible payment structures broken into down payments and installments. Hourly development and maintenance charges can also be a viable option, but only few companies following the resource outsource model accept payments on hourly basis.
7. App development timelines
App development milestones, timelines and total duration for development completion are detrimental to success of an app. Basic apps can be completed in 3-6 months while ones with intermediate features take around 12 months. More advanced applications with heavy feature integrations, deploying big data and neural networks can take more than 15 months.
In this case, you have to choose a company that stays committed to completing your project within the stipulated timeline and gets it ready for deployment on the agreed date. Again, this is one of the advantages that you can experience with a full-stack development company rather than a freelancer.
8. Innovation strategies
To make your app successful and profitable in the saturated market, you need to integrate it with emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and neural networks, introduce AR and VR environments, blockchain-based wallets, image or speech recognition, IoT-enable embedded systems or marketplace profiles.
With this, it will get way easier for you to monetize your app and set it apart from competitors.
Wrapping Up
While these are basic factors that one needs to consider while investing in app development services, you’ll have to balance price, quality, marketing efforts and timelines depending on the nature of your business and type of app you are introducing. During the decision-making phase, make sure to go ahead with a developer who can turn your app into a masterpiece digital reality that accurately reflects the vision behind your project.