Mistakes you should avoid during Android app development

Before moving towards app development for any kind of platform, you have to have the right approach for it. If you want to be successful in today’s market, where Android is the fastest growing platform, then you have to get your approach spot on. There are many who have seen success by keeping up with this philosophy. However there are others who end up making mistakes that lead to failure of apps. There are several app development mistakes that small business owners should avoid to avert failure.

Keep your target audience in mind

Multi-utility apps, low costs, great support are some of the reasons why Android is popular today. There are a large number of smartphone companies that are building their phones on the platform that offers apps in different domains. Hence it’s important that when you set out creating an app, you define the class of public you want to target. It will only bring clarity to your app development process.

Creating elaborate and complicated UIs

It’s important that the first version of your app has an easy to use interface. It should be such that your users don’t need to use manuals to work with it. Having to go through manuals can put your users off your app completely. You will have to keep things simple at least till the time you have loyal customers who will be ready to go past the difficult user interface in the first place. It has to be simple, appealing and should keep your customers hooked.

Version compatibility

Android is a platform that has gone through several updates regularly and they are many versions of it available in the market. It is interesting to note that there are many users who still use Android 1.0 version. Hence when you are creating your app you have to make sure it’s not created for a specific version of Android. It will have difficulty working in older versions and worse still, might crash. It’s recommended that Android developers carry out due testing across different OS versions to ensure that the application works smoothly on them.

Not looking after security

Irrespective of the platform, you have to understand that security is important for all business applications. Enterprise apps in particular are meant to carry sensitive information for companies and that makes things tricky because phones can get lost quite easily. That’s the reason any mobile app should have very stringent security measures in place. When you are developing an Android app for an enterprise, two important things you have to consider are functionality and security. Passwords should definitely be encrypted.

Ignoring battery life of the device

Your users will be using several apps on their phones besides the one created by you; hence the battery life of the device should be taken into account when developing the app. The coding used during development should be clean and you will have to stay away from widgets that are tricky to use, and keep refreshing themselves constantly. It leads to load times increasing for no good reason and thus battery drains out sooner than it should be. You have the option of reducing excessive battery drain by creating apps that dim themselves automatically. It will ensure that the batter life is saved.

Don’t keep one screen size in mind

Good thing about Android platform is that it is available across various devices that vary greatly in shape and size. Hence this factor is hugely important because if the app is created for one size screen it won’t scale properly for other devices and that can be a major hiccup. To avoid putting off your target users you will have to put in a lot of thought into making your app render well on bigger screens, including tablets as well. Screen rotation and landscape orientation are other factors that you have to consider when it comes to Android phone screens.

Branding over usability

If you are giving away your app for free, it’s only natural that you are going to be concerned about branding. But you can’t seem pushy about it. Avoid the common mistake of using the branding logo in a place where you would normally find a screen name as it could be a put off. It is a deterrent to the context for which your users are on the page in the first place.

Steer clear of too many features

As a rule of thumb, the idea of your app should be pitched to users in one line. Tech savvy users have the option of using all the features while others can choose to explore additional features or stick to basic ones. Moreover you can save new features for updates as it shows you are constantly working on your app. This kind of reputation will help you make a lasting impression with users.

These are some of the mistakes that programmers should be aware of and try and avoid when they are developing Android apps. Your app should be easy to use because that’s as important as creating a beautiful looking app. You should have all the functionalities in mind when creating a business app that will tick all the right boxes for users.

I’m Ramya, a freelance web designer/writer based in http://brandstallion.com/.  I have an experience of about 8 years in content writing and have worked for top blogs and websites. I’m generally an extrovert; I like photography, anthropology and traveling to different countries to learn the culture and living of the local inhabitants to do travelogues.