The world of mobile app development is growing larger by the hour. Companies all over the world invest in custom iPhone apps or build beautiful mobile experiences for Android devices. These custom apps can be designed and engineered to fully support a particular business process, appeal to specific audiences, or take advantage of certain technologies. Wearables and virtual personal assistants accompany users everywhere, creating new opportunities for interacting with customers.
Native apps are the ones developed for a single platform – usually either Android or iOS. According to data from 2018, Android has over 80% of the mobile market in terms of number of sales to end users. But a comparison of their revenues shows a different story, with Apple’s App Store grossing almost twice the amount as the Google Play Store in revenue. This goes to show that developing native apps for both platforms has clear advantages. The choice between them is often influenced by the target market: Android is the mobile OS of choice in many developing countries, as well as such potent markets as Germany and India. iOS, on the other hand, attracts many users from countries like the US and the UK.
But what does it mean to develop a custom native mobile app? Aside from choosing the right platform, the focus of mobile development is on delivering a smooth and satisfying experience to users. We often interact with mobile apps in context, which means that they often need to fit seamlessly into the ups and downs of daily life. Mobile apps need to be fast and easy to navigate. Clear designs help users get the most out of the experience in the short amount of time they might have to complete it, while a good and sustainable architecture allows them to enjoy the app’s features fully.
The full suite of native features, which include GPS, as well as access to the device’s camera and movement detector, are one of the main benefits of native development. For projects that rely on these features, building a fully functional mobile app may be the only way forward. This includes projects with a particular focus on efficiency and security. The main challenges in developing such custom business applications are the need to craft app designs for multiple devices, and, sometimes, the additional effort required to develop and maintain more than one application.
It’s possible to avoid choosing between platforms and build a hybrid or cross-platform application. These cost-effective apps can share a single codebase between versions for iOS, Android and the web. It’s a great approach for businesses building custom applications that don’t rely heavily on native features. Not only does it shorten development time, but it also makes the app easier to maintain and update. Challenges of cross-platform development include making sure the app’s designs deliver a smooth, consistent experience across devices, and choosing the right technology to fit the project’s needs. React Native is among our favourite options at Netguru.
With cross-platform solutions, which handle iOS and Android, there is no need for building separate projects. Cross-platform applications are built as a single project but support different devices. It is possible to reuse a big part of an app's code between platforms, which can make development much quicker and about 30% cheaper.
It’s also possible to build a Progressive Web App, which, as the name suggests, is a type of web application – one that delivers a satisfying, native-like experience to mobile users. PWAs use modern web APIs to do their magic as they run in the user’s browser. They offer features such as custom splash screens, home screen icons, push notifications and limited offline functionality. They are often a fantastic choice when the target audience includes users with older devices or a weaker internet connection, as they are fast and efficient but require no download or installation.
Choosing the right technology for your mobile app is a key decision that will determine the success of your endeavour. When planning a cross-platform mobile app, you need to make sure that the underlying tech ensures stable performance and adequate user-friendliness. On top of that, it must enable you to create a beautiful, memorable UI.
Not every app can be built with a cross-platform solution. There are many cases when it’s better to stick with native development. However, cross-platform development is worth considering, as it significantly decreases the time and cost of development. For relatively small applications without specific platform requirements, React Native or a similar framework can be a perfect match.
Enterprise applications set the bar high through their sheer scale. As they need to support the business processes of large companies, these apps must be highly efficient, well-designed, and secure. At Netguru, we make sure that your custom mobile application is built through a tried and true development process, which includes business consultations, architecture design, a thorough quality assurance procedure, and maintenance. Our apps help clients from everywhere in the world reach their business goals: improve conversion, boost sales, increase efficiency, lower costs, and more.
Custom application development services include making sure that the apps we build will delight users. Netguru’s team of experienced Product Designers are wholeheartedly committed to delivering true value through designs that are both stunning and extremely user-friendly. We use proven internal processes, such as regular feedback sessions, to make sure we always have our clients’ business goals in mind, and we use our long commercial experience to offer additional value through know-how and business consultations. We also take advantage of workshops and other collaboration tools to truly understand each project, and to find what will make it great.
Netguru’s mobile development experts use cutting-edge technologies and follow contemporary trends to make sure we’re always up-to-date in terms of modern architecture design and security measures. We’re careful in choosing the best tools for every project, keeping in mind maintainability, scalability, efficiency and security. We use internal quality assurance teams and thorough testing processes to make sure our clients feel safe using the software we build. In a world undergoing a digital transformation, staying on top of security is a must.
Modern businesses compete with each other on many levels, and one of them is process efficiency. The main tool at their disposal is digitisation: introducing automation and software tools to help employees work more quickly, reach wider audiences and deliver a better experience to users. Customer relationships can be improved by a personalised mobile experience. New data can be collected, including location data and user habits. Apps used by employees in the field provide real-time access to crucial project information, making their users efficient and independent regardless of their location. Managing resources becomes easier thanks to custom apps, and new metrics can be used to improve core processes.
There’s no way of avoiding the digital transformation. Companies from a wide range of sectors are using the power of custom mobile applications to gain competitive advantage and deliver unique value to users. At Netguru, we’ve worked with clients from banking, healthcare, robotics, agriculture, tourism, fashion, and a number of other industries. Each project was different and exciting. We can’t wait to see where the next one takes us.
The development process for custom enterprise apps should always involve a learning period, for the development team to truly understand what the client’s business is all about, and to feel the client’s passion for the project. At Netguru, we offer consultations along with UX review workshops that let us become even more involved in setting the requirements for each project. Our expertise includes machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and big data. We want to be partners and consultants for our clients – always there to offer advice and help answer questions. We believe in constantly striving to exceed expectations. perhaps we can help you take your project beyond yours?
