There are numerous steps, phases, and processes involved in the app development journey. Each and every part of this journey is significant in its own way and plays an integral part in the success of the app. 

Choosing the right app development platform, strategizing the right user experience, catering to the right audience in an intact way, adopting contemporary design standards, meeting the guidelines of Google and Apple – each of these phases has its own importance and adds unparalleled value to the end-outcome of the app development process. 

None of these phases can take a backseat in the priority or can wait to get attention in the second iteration. Each phase comes out of laborious work, effort, and preparation. 

In this chapter, there’s a phase-wise checklist that lets you ensure that you haven’t missed out or compromised on any part of this journey. 

Here is the list of phases before we get into the requisites for each phase that need to be checked

• Business Requirements
• Technology related checklist
• User Interface Checklist
• Development methodology
• Performance and scalability checklist
• Security related checklist
• Device related checklist
• Network related checklist
• Application related checklist
• Data related checklist
• Maintenance requirements

Business requirements

• You must clearly decide who your target audience is – internal or external customers of the enterprise.
• It is important to have a definitive business case.
• You must ensure to have a clear definition of your key stakeholders and a proper budget plan for mobile application development initiatives.
• Ensure to identify the application objectives and make user cases. This helps to determine the number of development phases in the mobile app to be developed. 

Technology-related checklist

• It is important to decide on which platforms and OS versions to develop the app.
• Check if you are developing native apps, hybrid apps, or mobile web-based apps.
• You must decide what data can be available for offline access and online mode.
• Determine if it is required to separate the versions for smartphones and tablets. Plan the app distribution, deployment, and optimization processes well in advance.
• It is important to check the need for push notification technology and device synchronization.
• After deciding upon the payment modes, ensure if you have active accounts with them.
• Check if the app needs to be integrated with maps and calendar functionalities.
• You must identify the appropriate payment gateways to use.
• It is recommended to ensure that the application handles time-zone changes smoothly.

• Decide if you need to embed in-app advertising or any social functionality within the application.

• It is better to decide if a scalable cloud-based infrastructure is required for your application.
• Check if your app needs to be integrated with any other hardware devices like memory, wearables, smartwatches, sensors, storage devices, GPS, camera, etc.
• Ensure if you have tested the application for data connectivity like 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. and even intermittent connectivity and no connectivity.
• It is important to optimize the devices and screen resolutions of the app.

User Interface Checklist

• Decide upon the content, app skins, workflow, and features for the app.
• If your app is a multilingual one, check if it is tested for character encoding, data translation, or any UI-based language issues.

• Ensure if you have a style guide to be followed for your UI design.

• It is important to know the gestures for the app users like tap, swipe, pinch, spread, etc.
• It is better to decide if white labeling of the application is necessary to enable personalization later.

Development Methodology

• Ensure to check upon the development methodologies with the in-house or third-party development team and other project stakeholders.
• Check if the decision-makers are finalized. 
• The existence of mandatory project management tools in place for project monitoring, tracking, quality control, and interacting with the development team needs to be ensured.

• It is important to decide and finalize the development process & methodology to follow (Agile, Iterative, Waterfall, etc.)

Performance and Scalability Checklist

• Check your app’s performance during the times of interrupting events like calls, text messages, notification, storage issues, low battery, airplane mode, sleep mode, and connectivity issues.
• Ensure if the mobile application has a server side component or a web service.
• It is important to track if the app performance reduces with increase in the size of mailbox, messages, or any other expandable content relevant to the application.
• You must define the performance parameters of the app.
• You must ensure if the app can scale up to bigger volumes and deliver the desired response time.
• Check if the scalability parameters are also defined.
• Plan accordingly if you need to be stay informed about app crashes.

Device related checklist

• Check if your app’s inlets like Cameras, GPS, and other sensors are tested for security issues.
• It is important to check if you will be able to manage your BYO or corporate devices.
• Ensure if you have a way to manage UDID numbers.

Network related checklist

• Check if your application uses secure network protocols.
• Verify if you can provide scenario-based network access.
• It is important to secure the communication to server against data breach and data leakage using encryption and up to date SSL certificates

Application-related checklist

• It is mandatory to verify if your application stores sensitive information such as credit card details and user profiles.
• Check if you can secure and manage your mobile or web app using access policies, secure connectivity, and data controls.
• You can check upon sandboxed alternatives to native apps.
• It is better if the application could be reverse engineered to view the control flow or pseudo code.
• You can also make the application’s presentation layer or binary executable as modifiable. 

Data related checklist

• Check if your app gives your users SSO and make any app available on any device.
• It is important to verify if you can allow your users to access their content while still protecting data.
• You must ensure if your application protects user privacy.

Maintenance requirements

• Check if you can handle App version upgrades in the future.
• Ensure that your application will be able to handle OS updates.
• You can plan to integrate analytics and usage metrics to track downloads, user engagement, and retention for your mobile app.
• Verify which kind of app updates will suit your application – Server-side or Application-side.
• It is important to plan and finalize the authority for taking care of the support and maintenance of the application on an ongoing basis

Once you are done with ensuring the items on this checklist, you can create separate to-do lists and categorize them into different silos based on their priority and necessity. If a few items on the checklist do not apply to your business, you may ignore them. (That means they are absolutely unnecessary for your business environment)

So, your app is not ready to be launched in the market unless you check all the items above with zero compromises. Every point in the above checklist is of paramount importance and adds value to the success of your app. Besides checking out for these items, you need to be aware of the best practices in the deployment of your apps and maintaining them in the market. In the upcoming chapters, we shed light on how to deploy and maintain your app, how to respond to the customer reviews on the app stores and play stores, how to increase app install rates, and how to reduce uninstall rates. Follow this space for more resourceful articles and information on mobile app development. 

If you want a free consultation on how to evaluate if your app is ready to launch, feel free to reach out to us. We are just an email away.  At Siam Computing, we develop out-of-the-box app solutions to meet your different business needs. With over a decade of expertise in mobile app technology, we deliver best-in-class mobile apps to a wide spectrum of domestic and international clients. Our team comprises of expert designers, certified programmers, coders, developers, app technology specialists, UI and UX engineers, testers, and other skilled professionals who leave no stone unturned to deliver customized app solutions to meet your dynamic business needs.