7 Common Challenges Faced by App Developers

Though app development is a field with immense scope, it is also an area with several challenges. Just as a coin has another side and night follows every day, there is a flip side to everything. For app developers, this flip side is be presented through challenges. Here are some of the common, yet serious challenges faced by app developers and how they can be resolved.

Challenge 1: Creating Apps that People Want

With so many options and opportunities, app developers are always on the lookout to create apps that people need. After all, you don’t want to create an app that nobody wants, right?

Solution

Research, research and more research. Conduct a market survey and you will know when there is a gap in the market that you can fulfill. Apart from creating an app that people need badly, you have to make it look physically great with outstanding features and graphics. After all, it is the physical beauty that attracts a person first. In order to overcome this challenge, answer the following questions:

• Is your app absolutely necessary?
• Will your app fill the void in the market?
• What functions do you hope to fulfill?
• Is your app absolutely new or are you planning to modify an existing one?
• Has anyone previously released an app just like yours?

Challenge 2: The Market is Fragmented

It is not easy to get across to all the people marked as your target segment because there is no single unit of audience. Your market is filled with people with varying interests and requirements, so how do you get to the maximum number of people? How do you make an entry first?

Solution

Here again, the best possible answer would be research. Unless you research well, it is not possible to know who your audience is, or whether your entry into the market would be fruitful. Making an app involves a lot of things - you are putting in time, effort and money, so the end result should definitely bring in profit. No two ways about it. So when you do business planning, here are certain things that you must be prepared with:

• A solid business plan
• Cost breakdown
• Profit and loss statements
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis

Challenge 3: Software Fragmentation

As there are many Android versions, it is not easy to make apps run the same way in different devices, even if it is the same OS. The problem is actually not because the developers are not able to develop software that runs on various devices, but because of the various other software that can be found on them. These software read the applications differently causing hitches which further leads to major problems when customers use them.

Solution

The most probable solution to this would be to test all possible combinations, right from the older versions of Android to the latest ones.

Challenge 4:Different Screen Size is a Serious Problem

While designing an app, it is not possible to design for the latest platform because mobile devices have limitations based on screen sizes, embedded technologies, pixel intensities, OS requirements, and so on. And then again, it is not just about the devices alone, the developers have to realize that Andorid, Windows and iOS have their own UI objects as well.

Solution

The most feasible solution would be to create a responsive design. This would make the screens more liquid and suited to various formats and screen sizes. In order to prevent any kind of display issues, you can conduct a beta testing of the app.

Challenge 5: How Interactive Should the App be?

Making an app interactive is as important as making it responsive. Thanks to the high tech sensors in the mobile phones, mobile developers can make interactive apps. But the challenge comes when these become time-consuming, which it most definitely will become.

Solution

Plan the interactions well in advance so you can make more tangible interactions and do more than just swipe and tap. You can bring in tilting, flipping and shaking as well.

Challenge 6: Can you Make it as Simple as Possible?

It is the dream of every developer to make their apps as explanatory as possible. But what is simple to the developer may not be so for the user.

Solution

The trick would be to have a simple and clear structure. To make it easily understood, you can incorporate thumbnails, tutorials and icons so information is correctly displayed and the user can make the best use of the app.

Challenge 7: Apps that Take up Battery

When performance driven apps are developed, it is important to ensure that there is no drainage of battery. There have been several apps in the market that take up battery in the background when you are not using them.

Solution

Obviously, the solution would be to take steps to create apps that would take up less battery by modifying its behavior depending on the state of the device. For example, disabling service updates when net connection is erratic or poor.

Conclusion

While overcoming the challenges, app developers have to remember that app stores have limiting factors on how they present their applications to end users. You can present some screenshots or video demos and write good content that would attract people to the app. If you can overcome all the development hurdles, getting the app to the end user will definitely be a breeze. Do you face any of these challenges in your app development project? We can help you overcome them...

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