What all challenges are faced by app developers as they build mobile applications?

With smartphones being widely used, several app development companies are putting money into mobile app development to cash in on the demand. However, mobile app developers confront a lot of challenges with regard to developing and designing the app and releasing and marketing the same. Here are some major challenges confronted by app developers as they plan, develop and market mobile apps.

1. A Fiercely cut-throat Market

The competition is intense as zillions of mobile apps are striving to make an impression among the users. Users with short attention make things more complicated. App developers must devise ways to find out the turn ons for their target market and what they seek. They must think hard to figure out ways to engage users for longer periods. App developers must ensure that the app’s innovation quotient is high, which prompts a higher number of users to stay engaged.

2. Specifying the Target Market with Clarity

As per business perspective of mobile app development, it is vital to carve out a concrete target market. Merely defining the target market will not be sufficient, ensuring that the market is big enough to offer a steady revenue. For this, the company should keep track of metrics such as installs and downloads, costs to acquire customers (CAC), average session lengths, average revenue per user (ARPU), etc. It warrants a genuine analytics solution, and handling this efficiently can be very challenging.

3. Managing Finances and Adequate Funds

To turn an incredible idea into a great app significant capital is required. Building an app can be a costly affair as it could be anywhere between $3,000 to $10,00,000, depending on the nature of the app. To acquire the money and handle the finances can be problematic for certain developers. There are numerous ways to bring in funds if you don't get the apt investor. Some of these happen to be availing a loan, angel investors from family or friends, etc. But, the huge challenge is to handle funds effectively to put them to good use and create an app that is value for the money.

4. Selecting the Ideal Development Technology

This is one of the biggest challenges in app development. Choosing the appropriate development technology for the app and decision regarding a Native, Hybrid or Cross platform mobile application can give you sleepless nights.

A small amount of research can help you acquire good awareness regarding the merits and demerits of each of the platforms However, selecting the one that is suitable for a certain project can be tough because app developers always seek a one-size-fits-all solution. Hence, creating the app on a platform that ideally matches the client’s target functionality is strongly advised.

5. Several Devices and Screen Fits

This is another problem for app developers. Dealing with various screen sizes and devices that the app has to fit into. The major challenge is to build an app that works smoothly on several devices having several screen sizes as possible. The remedy is Responsive Design for apps as it offers screens larger flexibility and adjusting to suit different screen sizes and various formats becomes convenient.

6. Handling Various Operating Systems

Developers need to look into several Operating Systems as well. The three chief systems – iOS, Android and Windows – have their own set of UI objects and patterns. App developers must perform bug fixing constantly on all three. Developers should unveil a beta version of the app to create later with constant updates.

7. Safety can be a nagging issue

Security issues are haunting mobile developers. Malware issues might crop up and software/hardware fragmentation can give you a throbbing headache. App Developers have to do a lot to handle app security issues, which wastes a lot of time and money.

Without following adequate security measures, the security problems will crop up leading to information abuse and exploitation, inferior user experience, and modest app adoption.

With several operating systems and devices in operation, assuring security for devices and applications can be unnerving. The best method is to meet the standard security norms, making a safe customer usage space and safeguarding data, user credentials and financial transactions.

8. App Distribution Woes

This is another challenge developers must confront. The software or app distribution for the device can be daunting for developers with no direct or shared control of the distribution. Most app publishers utilize a minimum one distribution platform apart from Google Play or Apple App Store and 23 percent don’t use either. Regarding pre-loaded distribution, carriers seek the distribution control, so as to get software onto a device. And despite that, the developers must ensure that their apps work smoothly on the several software platforms and hardware configurations.

Well these are some of the challenges developers should overcome. However, an expert developer will definitely find a way through.