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Evolution of App Builders for Mobile App Development In 2020

Najam Khan

Technology offers new prospects to enhance your business using mobile apps. All the data points to the fact that the device that has become fundamental is the smartphone. And with it, all channels are designed to work on mobile app development. More and more users are being connected to the internet through their mobile devices.

This makes the possibilities of reaching and capturing a greater number of users. According to the latest report, more than 90% of the time users spend using smartphones is spent on apps. Aside from that, the number of mobile apps worldwide download count in 2016 was 140.7 billion which increased to 204 billion in 2019 and is still increasing in 2020.

As seen in the above graph the number of mobile phone users worldwide in 2015 was 4.15 billion and now it is increased to be 4.78 billion in the year 2020. This brings a clear picture showing the massive market opportunity for your business.

In this way, if a user is truly interested in your company, your application will be downloaded to their mobile phone. This will allow your users to have continuous and direct access to all the content that your brand is offering.

A few years back when the mobile phone market became the biggest opportunity for user engagement almost every business/organization had its ideas for mobile apps. The fact that the mobile app market is emerging does not make it any easier to launch and learn how to make an app. As mobile app development costs went up and the time required for a business to launch an app was also increased.

During that time evolution of app builders for mobile app development brought a drastic change, providing businesses and individuals an easy method for creating mobile apps, even if you do not know how to code.

Table of Contents

1.  Need for Creating Mobile Apps

Knowing all the stats mentioned above there is still a plethora of thing which makes creating mobile app a necessity for your business in 2020. Have a look at some of the intentions for why we need to make an app:

To achieve this goal, you can add functionality to the mobile application, thanks to which the client will visit it more often and buy more.

One of the typical app options is push notifications, which have proven to be a powerful marketing tool. With their help, you can inform customers about new promotions and special offers, remind you of upcoming events, report on completed transactions. The list goes on.

Push notifications of the web version of the site are also displayed on smartphones, but with restrictions: only Android and only Google Chrome. This means that the audience shrinks noticeably.

Another reason that you should know how to make an app is for accessing the hardware of the smartphone: GPS module, camera, microphone, fingerprint scanner. Thanks to this, you can add functions to the application that cannot be implemented in the mobile version of the site.  Your client could see the brand deals of the specific region where they currently reside.

Some features in human behavior have not changed for millennia – they still require bread and circuses. Use this to your advantage. Let us say, how do you like the mobile app design with augmented reality and tag scanning?

When your app is installed in your customer’s phone every time, they go into the menu they would be scrolling through your app leaving a subliminal marketing impact. When they hear or see your brand name in public, they would feel more aware of your brand.

The mobile application greatly simplifies interaction with the client due to additional functions such as one-touch access to the application, usability on devices with a small screen, smooth animations, the ability to use the application offline, customizable targeting of push notifications.

This provides the affiliation with the brand or your business and eventually increasing your sales conversions whether you are selling a product or providing some services.

Even if you do not delve into the life of the app development for your business (which, of course, is undesirable), you will still get a nice bonus – free traffic from the App Store and Google Play. A certain percentage of users will find and love the application without any effort on your part.

Meanwhile, mobile app design is a full-fledged source of lead generation. To attract a potential customer, you can offer a bonus, free shipping, or a lifetime discount on a product or service by downloading the app. Another popular option is a first-order discount promo code that your users can share with their friends.

You might also like to read: 5 Experts Advises For Mobile App Design

2.   Types of Mobile Apps and How to Choose

Applications reside on the device itself and can be accessed by clicking on the application icon. Such applications are installed through an application store (such as the Play store on Android, App Store on iOS, etc.). They are designed specifically for a specific operating system and can use all the device’s functionalities such as – camera, GPS sensor, accelerometer, compass, contact list, and everything else.

They can also recognize gestures (standard gestures pre-installed by the operating system or completely new gestures that are used in a specific application). Native apps can access the device’s notification system and continue their work offline.

These are websites that look and feel a lot like native apps, but still cannot completely replace them. They are launched using a browser and are usually written in the HMTL5 language. By launching mobile web applications, the user performs all the actions when going to any website and gets the opportunity to install them on his desktop by creating a bookmark of the website page.

In other words, web apps are made using web development languages ​​such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They run within the device’s web browser through a URL and adapt to the device once they start to be used.

Finally, we find the famous hybrid apps, which are characterized by being a combination of, as their name indicates, a hybrid between the two applications that we have seen previously.

In terms of design, development, and programming, a hybrid application will be made from HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, – just like web apps; the difference is that once the application is finalized in terms of its design and programming, it will be compiled in such a way that the final result will be very similar to a native application.

What are the benefits of this? By developing a single code, you will be able to obtain different applications and thus be able to take your product to the different operating systems on the market. This, without a doubt, is a great benefit for mobile app developers.

How to Choose the Type of Application?

What option to choose if you want to develop a mobile application? The decision of one type or another depends on many factors that require more detailed analysis, such as the target audience to which it is oriented, the functionality to be developed and future uses, if it will be your product, the budget you have, and the time you have to learn how to make an app.

Scenarios for the Hybrid App

⏩ If your application is going to use generic functionalities of an application without varying its functions depending on the device.

⏩ In case you are going to launch your application for more than one mobile operating system.

⏩ If you do not care much about the purity of the appearance and the speed of your app.

Scenarios for Native App

⭕ Your application needs to access the specific hardware of the device such as the fingerprint sensor or face unlock.

⭕ If you want to use the appearance and speed of the system of each mobile device.

Get to know: The Native App Vs Progressive Web Apps (PWA), How To Choose?

3.  Choosing a Suitable Framework for Mobile App Development

It’s time to talk about the evolution of mobile apps. To understand how most applications work, it is not necessary to have deep knowledge in this area. It is enough to understand how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript work. With the help of web technologies, you can make an app that runs on different platforms, unlike native applications.

Right now, some various tools and frameworks help us create mobile apps without much difficulty. So, some of them are discussed below:

React Native is was considered the most exciting and promising framework, taking the best of the web and React.js.

The React Native framework grows from React.js, created by Facebook to fix their chat. Building an interface from JavaScript, an adaptive approach to design was such a success that the company ported React to mobile platforms. This is how React Native came into being.

A crucial advantage of React Native is that the large percentage of shared code, which helps to write modern applications that look native. Moreover, development is simpler and more convenient.

For instance, programmers write JavaScript code that works with native platform components, thereby transferring the benefits and usability of React.js from the browser to mobile applications.

PhoneGap was one of the leading cross-platform development tools that programmers use to create solutions in CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript. Another plus of the framework is the many ready-made plugins provided.

Adobe PhoneGap is an open-source framework that is free to use. Also, PhoneGap does not require hardware, SDK, and compilers to create mobile applications.

Adobe PhoneGap is an ideal choice if you need to develop an application interface or a simple application. Working with the framework requires the team to have experience writing single-page web applications in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.

Since all interface elements are styled as native, there is no direct access to the API. To access system functionality, developers link plugins that add JS methods to the web browser and then link them to the native implementation on each operating system.

Like other popular cross-platform frameworks, it offers many useful features. For example, reload simplifies UI development, feature implementation, and product testing.

Flutter framework is a new open-source cross-platform solution released by Google for faster development of beautiful high-performance native apps for iOS and Android.

Even though this cross-platform solution is still very young, does not have support for Windows and IDE, it can be used to develop modern apps with high performance.

Flutter includes third-party SDKs, 2D APIs, animations, native Material Design widgets, and provides the ability to reuse existing Java, Swift, and Objective-C code.

As the mobile app builders are introduced in the market providing the complete package where you can create different kinds of mobile apps without having the slightest knowledge of coding. This has completely revolutionized the market of app development as this has opposed the idea of all these mobile app development frameworks.

When we talk about the best free app builder there are further classifications in that, some of the frameworks do provide you with the ability to make an app with less code also known as low-code app builders. These frameworks are also cross-platform but while utilizing them you must be aware of the coding language used.

Moving on to the evolution of the best free app builder we mean the app builders that do not require any prior experience of how to code an app. Not only that the evolution of such app builders has decreased the time and money required to create an app.

Also Read: How To Build An App Differently Using APPSTYLO App Builder

4. Why Choose Mobile App Builder

According to stats, best free app builder platforms represent an industry that generated a minimum income of around $1.8 billion in 2018. With the digital transformation process that companies are experiencing, the demand for solutions based on app builder platforms continues to increase.

A Business Process Management (BPM) solution, for example, could take months and months to be ready by applying procedures with more code development. While using an app builder platform, a fully functional demo in a few days is perfectly feasible. It may even be ready and customized, perfectly tailored to business processes.

Some of the main reasons why you should be choosing for your mobile app development solution are mentioned below:

✅ Reduction of development time: By saving all the development parts at the code level, except the necessary adjustments that must be made in some cases, the time is drastically reduced.

✅ Improves developer productivity: By simplifying app development, IT staff or third-party developers have to worry less about complexity and hassle and can focus more on maximizing the software working. Technical details less limit the productive aspect and even creativity.

✅ Contribution to aligning IT with business objectives: Providing a simple and intuitive development environment allows executives and other business profiles more related to the business than to the technical aspects, to be much more involved in the design and creation of the applications.

✅ Cost reduction: As said in the previous points, the creation, deployment, implementation, and change time is much shorter, costs are also lowered, and this applies to both internal and outsourced app development.

✅ Low risk and high return on investment: With app builders, the database’s security processes are robust, and data integration and cross-platform support are already built-in out of the box and can be easily customized, so it involves less risk and more time to focus on the customer’s business.

✅ Less time for maintenance: It is a common mistake to focus only on the development phase and neglect the maintenance phase when it is extremely important to be able to quickly change what already exists to ensure permanent alignment with the business. In conclusion, we can say that using the app builders it would require very little time for maintenance.

At the end of the day, it is about having technological resources that allow you to gain efficiency, improve productivity, and respond quickly to market changes. And of course, use technologies like app builders that allow human talent to emerge across the world.

Get to know: 9 useful features your app builder must have to create an app from scratch

5. Creating a Mobile App Without Coding

The mobile app development industry has evolved exponentially to meet the demand for immediacy that users demand and, above all, thanks to the emergence of companies. Especially services like Uber, Spotify, or Careem, which base their operations on these dynamic IT solutions. According to the market research on average, there are at least 25 apps installed on each mobile phone.

Mobile apps play such a crucial role in the operation of companies that they have become a channel of communication and support between the user and the outside world, a service provider, and even a virtual bank executive to carry out operations with a simple touch on the mobile screen.

In this way, startups and other businesses now face a challenge that was not considered a priority before which includes planning and developing the mobile app design is necessary for the operations of their business structure. In the past few years, app development through app developers brought design challenges for achieving a user-friendly capability, high costs, and technical limitations, just like the coding required to create an app from scratch.

However, in response to the increasing demand from companies requesting to have a presence in the environments where their potential customers are moving to digital and mobile platforms, app builders have emerged.

These allow business owners to build apps without the need to use programming languages, they facilitate customization and allow you to introduce modifications in a very simple and fast way, with high-cost efficiency which eventually saves time and money both.

App builders operate in a highly intuitive interface. Its objective is to minimize the time and resources dedicated to app development, providing reusable components and visibility into the behavior of the application.

For example, some platforms guide business customers step by step to build their applications, through elements such as commercial templates, interface components, user experience, and functionalities, which can be added to an app according to the needs. of each business.

Knowing all this is clear that mobile apps went from being should have to must-have and that institutions that fail to adapt their model to bring these types of solutions closer together will be downgraded in terms of innovation and it will be more cumbersome to adjust to the dynamics of the market.

App builders will be the allies that will help these types of companies to add innovation to their business models, quickly, intuitively while being completely customized.

Want to learn more about: How to Create Android App Without Coding?

6. How Much Does It Cost to Create an App?

The most frequently asked question in past years is how much it costs to create a mobile app. The answer is not straightforward, to begin with, it varies on the type of app we have in mind: a native app is not the same as a web app, nor is a web app the same as a hybrid.

Many startup owners have fixated their business idea through the mobile app platforms and the online medium, as well as businesses with more tradition, although in most cases they do not have particular technical know-how in this niche, and they have to choose the services of a to outsource coder or a firm specialized in app development.

Also Read: How to Choose A Good App Name That Converts?

Now we will be considering what options you have when developing an app and the most important variables that can affect the development cost so that you can get an idea and how to overcome that cost.

There are no specific charges fixed for that and vary from around $25 per hour (Self-employed / beginner freelancer) to around $150 per hour (consultants who are experienced and agencies specialized in this niche).

Based on how you want to utilize the mobile app, there are simple apps that are developed in a few hours and complex apps such as games or social networks, which require several hours of work.

Logically, a simple design with menus and tabs as an information sheet based on a template is not the same as apps that include more advanced and complex interaction options for users. Making the development costs to rise.

The platforms on which the application will be deployed and the number of them it must work on are decisive for calculating the charges for creating an app. In general, the normal thing is to create your app for android, iOS, and Windows phones, which are the operating systems for mobile devices currently predominant.

There are many complications in the case of having to integrate the app with existing systems in the firms (content manager, user management, databases, sending notifications, etc.). Generally, such implementation for an application is an extremely technical and expensive procedure that usually involves a significant cost in the development of the app.

As we evolve with time and technology for learning how to create an app, we are approaching several alternatives that are far more suitable for our businesses. Since app builders have started providing app development services you don’t need to worry about the upfront and exceeding costs of the apps.

App builders are the solution for creating an app without coding with full customization without having large budgets and offering all the functionalities. Not only that you get to design your app yourself, enhancing your designing skills.

You might also like: How To Create App At Low Cost Without Coding?

7. How Much Time Does It Take to Create A Mobile App?

There is no suspicion in saying that we are using phones more as compared to computers. However, if we eliminate the time we devote to the computer for a job, I am sure that most users spend more leisure time using the mobile phone than in using a computer.

Business owners are also aware of this fact, and this is the reason why companies are launching their mobile apps. There are even startups that arise solely from a mobile application.  Instagram or Instagram are some of the best examples.

But the question is how much time does it take to create a mobile app? We will be placing ourselves in the situation of entrusting the development to someone who is committed to it, be it a freelancer or a service provider.

Just like we talked about how much it costs to create a mobile app several parameters define how much time would be required to create a mobile app. Some of them include the type of app, no of platforms, different screen sizes, complexity, and features.

The time it takes to create a mobile app varies significantly depending on the project. In any case, we could say that the average would be around 3-5 months. But what to do if you do not have that much time to create an app.

Why go through all the troubles for creating a mobile app when it could just be created in a few minutes without having any coding or technical knowledge. You can opt for app builders with the help of which it would be done within a few minutes. We would highly suggest you use the best mobile app maker to simplify the process of creating an app without coding.

Learn About: Ultimate Guide For Mobile App Navigations

8. Mobile App Development Guide Step by Step

Have you ever thought about how to create an app? Or what are the steps to follow in mobile app development? How do you get the top positions in Google Play or App Store to increase app downloads? Or which strategy is better, cross-platform app, or focus all efforts on a single platform?

The method that follows an idea from the moment it is conceived, until it reaches the final audience transformed into an app, is complicated and long, but the results are worth it.

In terms of marketing strategy that you could devise, the first step to create an app is to plan the phases or sequence in which each of the steps will be carried out. To be clear about the time necessary to launch your mobile app. It should be from the moment you have the idea until users can download and start using the app.

✓ Establishment of goals to be achieved.

✓ Planning the project.

✓ Brainstorming the idea.

✓ Know costs for creating a mobile app on ios and android

✓ Choose the best mobile app builder for the development of your app.

✓ Testing and testing of the app.

✓ Launch the application.

When the business model clear, it is time to start the mobile app development process. It is very important to develop a function of the application to know what can be done in it and how it will work. Without this step, it is very difficult for the result to be satisfactory.

Choose the best mobile app builder so you can rest easy knowing that all mobile app development could be done with ease without worrying about any technical knowledge.

Besides, in the creation process, you will consider that the next step will be the ASO so that you can act accordingly.

This perception is wrong that you should think about marketing strategy once the app is launched. Because the truth is not the same. Time is crucial to motivate user attention in your application and get users even before it is launched on play or app store.

Varying on the attributes of the app and the type, the methods we used in the marketing plan will change.

However, we must decide if we aim our efforts on offline marketing or it is better to choose online marketing.  Everything will depend on the audience to which we are targeting.

Get to know about: How to Make Your Own App in 15 mins?

9. Publishing the Mobile App to App Store and Play Store

The app store is the app distribution platform for iOS apps for both iPad & iPhone. Similarly, the play store is meant for android apps. Both these platforms have millions of applications available and increasing day by day. The process to upload an app to these platforms could be complex sometimes.

In most cases, the companies leave the task of publishing their mobile apps for the technical staff but if you are interested in knowing how to get your app published on the play store and app store then we will discuss that briefly in the next section with step by step guide.

Creating A Developer Account on Google Play

To publish an application on Google Play, you need a Google account, you can also use an existing Google account. Then, using this account, you need to log into the Google Play Developer Console to create a Google developer account.

This is a special type of account that allows you to upload an application to Google Play. A necessary part of the process is making a one-time payment for a developer agreement of $25. After payment, you will need to fill in the data for the developer account and complete the registration.

Creating the Graphical Contents

In the next step, you have to gather all the graphical contents of the app that you are publishing for example these contents could include an icon of your application, a promotional video of your application, and screenshots of your app’s functionalities.

You must follow the guidelines of the google play store or app store regarding the compliance of the screenshot size, icon size, and the video size, etc.  One more thing that you have to keep in mind is that you should create an app screenshot being displayed on the different screen sizes just to verify that your app is compatible with all the screen size devices.

Set Age Restrictions

The system of age restrictions for games and applications considers the peculiarities of the legislation and culture of individual countries. This allows developers to define content restrictions and distribute applications to the audience for which they are intended more precisely.

To set an age limit, log into the Google Play Developer Console, and fill out a specific questionnaire for each of your apps. Apps that are not rated may be blocked for specific users/countries or removed from Google Play Store.

Submitting the App

To submit your build to the play store, do the following:

⭐ Open the Google Play Developer Console.

⭐ Select an application.

⭐ On the left menu, open the Version Control section.

⭐ Next to the name of the version you want, click Continue.

⭐ Review the draft release and make changes as needed.

⭐ Select View. On the page that opens, you can make sure that nothing prevents you from releasing a version of the application for users.

⭐ Review all warnings and error messages.

⭐ For products that are running, specify the version rollout percentage. If this is the first time a working version is released, this setting will not be available.

⭐ Select Confirm Version Deployment. If the app is released for the first time, it will be published to all Google Play users in the selected countries.

You might also like: How to generate an android App and publish to google play step by step?

10. Revenue Model to Earn Through Mobile Apps

The basis of any business is to generate income. Without income, it is very difficult to maintain a long-term project. So how do you make money with a mobile application? How can you generate income?

The main element that you need to consider here is that you can publish your mobile app as a free app or the paid app. This depends on your choice while you are publishing your app in the app store or play store.

As mentioned earlier, your app could be free or paid, although it does not imply that you cannot generate income. A mobile app can have some paid features. In simple words, some features are only accessed if the user has paid for them. You have total freedom to create an app having such earning methods.

Apps with Ad Networks

You can also make use of the Ad Networks like Ad Mob. Ad Networks are companies engaged in contacting developers and advertisers. As creators of the application, we only have to take care of configuring where and when we want to show these ads and the Ad Network will do the rest of the work and you would get paid.

You might also like: Create Money Making Apps With Appstylo For Free

11. Conclusion

All things considered, to cope with the challenges of the coming times and the updated technology every business must evolve as well to sustain in the market because competitors are increasing exponentially. As we discussed in detail how the app builders have revolutionized the market of creating an app without coding and brought us closer to accomplishing our business goals.

It would be fair to say that now you can say goodbye to old school mobile app development techniques which require months to create and are expensive as well. You can use APPSTYLO best free app builder that would help you surpass your competitors in your business objectives.

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