What is custom mobile application development?
A custom mobile app is one that’s developed in-house and tailored to specific business goals and needs. A one size fits all approach doesn’t take into account your business’s unique data, but a custom application does.
Depending on what you need it for, a custom app can range from $20,000 to $1 million or more. The cost will depend on your chosen developer, your chosen programming language, and how many platforms you want to target (Android, iOS, and Windows are common). This is not a DIY project; building an app from scratch takes serious technical know-how so be sure to leave it up to experts.
Custom app development is a common misconception; many people think that custom apps must mean building something from scratch when in reality it means an extension of their business. If you own a restaurant and want to build an app to tell users about your daily specials and take orders, you’re not building something from scratch—you’re building something on top of your existing business.
The same goes for lawyers or doctors who use customized software for their clients or patients to book appointments or check on open files. There are so many great reasons why businesses should consider working with developers to create custom mobile applications—everything from marketing initiatives to customer retention tactics. Here are some of our favorite uses cases for custom apps
What are The Benefits of Developing a Mobile App for My Business?
When your business has its own mobile app, you’ll be able to reach more customers who are interested in what you offer, regardless of whether they’re using an iPhone or Android device, on Wi-Fi or off. So how do you know if it’s worth developing a mobile app in the first place? Here are some of the most important benefits of developing a mobile app in this age of smartphones and tablets.
1) Mobile Apps Build Trust
In an age where most people make purchases and schedule appointments through their phones, having a mobile app is crucial to building trust. It not only gives users quick access to your brand, but it also allows you to advertise special deals and sales via push notifications. Mobile apps aren’t just for ecommerce sites—they can also be used for social media posts, video tutorials, or anything else you might want to communicate with customers. As long as your customers have fast and easy access to your brand via mobile devices, they’ll be able to feel more secure about placing orders on your website or trying out one of your products.
2) Mobile Apps Can Extend Your Reach
Many businesses feel they don’t need an app because their products and services can already be found online. True, you might have a good web presence, but your reach is likely limited to computers and laptops. Smartphones are everywhere; in fact, 1.1 billion were shipped worldwide in 2019 alone. If you aren’t reaching smartphone users, you’re missing out on a huge swath of consumers and business contacts. A mobile app allows you to extend your reach so more people can find your offerings. As an added bonus, if consumers love your mobile app enough to use it regularly, they’ll also be familiar with it when they visit your website; an easy win-win for everyone involved!
3) Mobile Apps Have Long Lasting Potential
Mobile apps are all about instant gratification. But, as Statista reports, users are keeping their favorite mobile apps much longer than they used to—meaning more potential for developers and businesses. In fact, U.S. app retention rates increased from 46 percent in 2018 to 48 percent in 2019 and 49 percent in 2020, per research firm comScore.
4) Mobile Apps Drive Sales By Using Personalization
Do you want to drive sales through your mobile app? Personalization is one tactic that will help you get there. First, personalization gives customers an incentive to download your app because they will feel as though they are getting something special and unique. Once they have downloaded your app, they have an increased incentive to buy again because they know they can use their discount again when making another purchase. Another way personalization can help you increase sales is through loyalty programs that give customers rewards when they use your product or service. The more customers use your product or service, the greater their loyalty will be—and more often than not, loyal customers tend to spend more money than their non-loyal counterparts. Personalization helps you create loyal followers and future customers for life!
5) Mobile Apps Are Good For SEO
Creating a mobile app for your business can actually be good for your SEO. For example, if you’re using keywords in your mobile app that matches closely with what people search on Google or other search engines, you’ll likely see an increase in mobile traffic. Keep in mind that simply creating an app doesn’t mean users will find it—make sure to promote and distribute it widely. Also, make sure to invest in native apps rather than hybrid ones, which aren’t optimized for mobile use.
6) Get Found Easily On Google And Apple Stores
For ecommerce businesses and other companies that deal with customers on the go, having an app is essential to their success. People often turn to their mobile devices first when searching for new products or services, so having an app where they can immediately find you can be a huge boon for your business. Mobile apps also make it easier for people to engage with your brand on a daily basis—which has many benefits for retention, engagement, and sales. And because Apple's App Store and Google Play are such popular distribution channels these days, developing mobile apps helps you get found more easily in online searches.
7) Mobile Apps Convert Better Than Websites!
According to Shopify, mobile apps convert at 2.5x higher than website-based checkouts. People respond better to engaging with an app than they do with an e-commerce site, so if you don’t have an app, you’re missing out on crucial conversions. Don’t risk losing customers! Create your own app! A user-friendly app will turn more people into repeat customers, who in turn will boost your sales and reputation. Make sure your company stays ahead of its competitors by creating a simple and easy-to-use mobile application. That way, anyone can access your products or services whenever they want – even on their phones while they’re traveling!
8) You Can Earn Money From Mobile Apps Like YouTube Videos
Apps can be easily distributed and accessed, making them very valuable to customers. Additionally, apps offer businesses an opportunity to make money by charging for them (like YouTube videos) or through advertising. They allow companies to reach more customers with messages directly targeted to their needs. Apps also help startups test out new products or ideas without having to commit to too much initial investment. If you have a business idea, developing a mobile app is an easy way for you to start exploring that business model without having to invest in larger fixed costs.
How Can I Make My Mobile App More Secure?
Protecting your mobile apps should be a top priority if you’re looking to build an application that will be widely used by your customers and colleagues, especially if the application stores or processes sensitive data like passwords, credit card numbers, and medical records. Here are 5 ways how CodersDaddy makes your mobile app less vulnerable to hackers so you can feel confident releasing it into the wild!
1) Run the Best Encryption Tools and Techniques
This is the most important tip of all. In fact, you could almost stop reading right here and everything else in the post would be a waste of time. It’s vital that your keys are never stored locally on the server. By doing so, you leave them open to being stolen and brute-forced. You can lock them up in secure containers such as hardware security modules or even smartcards – but do it! Don’t put keys on servers that anyone can get into by just walking in the front door. Also, think about rotating keys over time.
2) Impose Access Policies
To protect sensitive data on mobile devices, it's important to impose access policies. For example, if a device requires a PIN code or password before being unlocked and going into sleep mode, only authorized personnel will be able to view any sensitive information stored in memory on that device. It may be necessary for employees of a company with multiple offices to travel with their laptops but leave them at home overnight or when they're not using them. Instead of having open access to confidential documents when they're not working on company business, these same employees could use an encrypted document management system that would require encryption keys or passwords before it can be accessed. Encryption is one method that can help limit exposure in case of theft but there are several others including tracking software and remote wiping tools.
3) Stop Attackers From Executing Commands
Mobile applications are increasingly targeted by hackers who use a wide range of malicious exploits to infiltrate and take control of them. This can include command injection attacks, code manipulation, code obfuscation, and a host of other vulnerabilities that give attackers control over an end-user's phone. To protect against these sorts of attacks (and stop attackers from executing commands), you need to: 1) Enforce secure coding standards on all projects; 2) Monitor network traffic for signs of malicious activity; 3) Set up two-factor authentication; 4) Secure public Wi-Fi networks with multi-layered encryption; 5) Provide education to employees about security best practices.
4) Testing the Program
Remember that what we're trying to do is build an app that users will want to use, not just one that'll pass QA. Testing your app as you go can save a lot of time and effort in terms of debugging after it's finished, but don't wait until your app has been built before starting. Focus on testing individual components separately (the login function, perhaps) instead of diving straight into end-to-end tests. And remember - be strict! If something doesn't work as intended and no one else is around, either have it fixed or remove it completely. In order for your app to be accepted into Google Play or iTunes Connect and later downloaded by millions of people, security needs to be a priority at every step of development!
5) Ensure High-Level Authentication
High-level authentication should be your top priority when creating mobile apps. High-level authentication ensures that you’re constantly checking in with your users to keep them on track. Each time a user attempts to check into their app, give them a brief set of questions or commands which help them get back on track if they’ve lost their way. The goal is for people who are attempting to use your app under duress or stress can recover quickly and easily.
6) Be Secure With Back-end
Only store sensitive data in an encrypted format and for a very short time. The backend is where most breaches occur, and it’s important to ensure that whatever you store is secure. For example, if you are storing credit card information, do so with a 2048-bit SSL certificate that expires after one year or sooner if someone tries to use it. You might not want people’s credit card numbers hanging around any longer than they have to be. And using asymmetric encryption will help you more easily prevent man-in-the-middle attacks—one of many techniques used by cybercriminals seeking to gain access as communications pass between two parties over an insecure network (like public Wi-Fi).
What are the top custom mobile application development frameworks?
No matter your industry is retail, travel, gaming, or something else entirely, you have probably thought about developing a mobile app. Your first step in creating an app should be evaluating your options when it comes to frameworks and development tools. Here are five of the top mobile app development frameworks to help you get started!
1) React Native
Facebook’s JavaScript framework for building native iOS and Android apps with a common codebase. It’s been around since 2015 and is used by many leading startups including Instagram, Airbnb, Baidu, etc. The idea behind React Native is that it uses an approach called learn once, write anywhere—which means you can use one set of skills to build an app for both Android and iOS devices. This is big because you don’t have to spend your time (and money) learning different languages and coding environments for each platform; instead, you can simply focus on building your app rather than spending hours figuring out what technologies to learn.
2) Xamarin
Building apps for iOS, Android, and Windows is hard. It takes a lot of time to learn all of their APIs and cross-platform specifics. Xamarin makes that easier with its C# tools that let you write once in C# and share code between mobile platforms. You’ll still need to know how to write native apps on each platform, but you can use a single programming language throughout. The major drawback is that it only works with Visual Studio on Windows, so Mac or Linux users may not be able to benefit from it.
3) Ionic Framework
The Ionic Framework is one of many frameworks that allow you to create mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms. Ionic is based on AngularJS, which allows you to write your app in HTML and CSS. There are two ways you can develop with Ionic: either by building your own app from scratch or by converting an existing web app into a mobile-app format. Both versions use Sass for CSS preprocessing, as well as a number of open-source libraries and tools such as Cordova and Stencil. Ionic was designed with mobile performance in mind, so it’s a great choice if your goal is to create an app that works quickly even on older hardware.
4) Cordova
Developing a mobile app for multiple platforms at once can be challenging, especially if you don’t have any experience developing apps. With Cordova, you can use native user interface components and UI widgets from Apple and Google to develop an app that works on both iOS and Android. Additionally, it allows you to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build your application. This means that if a company already has developers who know JavaScript but not Objective-C or Java (Android), they could start working on a mobile app for their business right away without having to learn a new programming language.
5) Flutter
What is Flutter? Well, I suppose it’s important to look at what Flutter is not: It’s not an iOS or Android development framework. While it can be used to build mobile apps for both ecosystems, it doesn’t actually do that by itself. Instead, it provides a way for developers to use their existing knowledge and tools (such as Dart) to build apps for both platforms easily. The best thing about Flutter is how easy it makes cross-platform app development. Without getting into too much detail here—that would require a very long post in itself—Flutter builds on Google’s own Skia Graphics Engine which handles all rendering tasks so that your UI code doesn’t have to worry about platform differences.
What is the difference between hybrid and native mobile app development?
A hybrid mobile app uses HTML5 to create an app, while native apps are built using Objective-C or Swift. Hybrid apps can be written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, while native mobile apps require knowledge of the programming language specific to each operating system (iOS, Android).
Hybrid apps are usually cheaper to develop because they’re built from web languages like HTML5 and JavaScript, rather than native languages like Objective-C or Swift.