Despite being a niche industry barely a decade ago, the mobile app market is now poised to be one of the dominant players in the global technology sector. The worldwide market for apps is now worth more than $300 billion and is set to be worth a staggering $407 billion by 2026. While the high-growth future of this market is all but assured, that does not mean that all app developers will see success.
These days, users are more discerning than ever about the quality of the apps that they choose to download. That’s why any ambitious dev should know exactly what it takes to make a good app truly great. Read on to find out exactly what it takes.
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Flawless UI
Consider the most successful apps in the world right now, such as Instagram, Tik Tok, Wordle, or WhatsApp. One thing that they all have in common is a totally flawless UI (user interface) that makes navigating the app so easy that literally anyone can intuitively get the hang of it in minutes.
Your app should strive for the same level of functionality as these heavy hitters. You need a UI that is unobtrusive, quick to use, and accessible. Always conduct extensive testing so that you can fine-tune the user journey and make it as simple as possible.
Seamless Integration
Any successful app should not ask the user to do a lot of work. This means that the app must be ready-made with the user in mind. For a start, this means ensuring that your app is available on iOS and Android, but that’s not all. Most important is ensuring that users can access paid features on your app via the payment apps they already have on their device.
In mobile sectors that involve frequent transactions, such as online casinos, this is the difference between success and failure. That’s why rankings of the top casino apps usually base their reviews partly on the number of mobile payment apps that the casino app is compatible with, such as PayPal, Venmo, or Skrill.
Speed
Put simply, users are impatient. If your app’s features take more than a second or two to load, they will close the app and never open it again. That’s why you should prioritize making your app as speedy as possible.
If necessary, this means stripping back visual and interactive assets so that the app is not overburdened and slows down. It means conducting A/B testing until you can get your load times down to the absolute minimum. No matter what your product offering is, you can be sure that your audience values speed above anything else.
A Flexible Model
You might think you have the perfect product, but that is no guarantee of success. In fact, complacency about your app is almost guaranteed to lead to failure further down the line. Any ambitious developers will know that it is essential to collect constant feedback from your audience to find new ways to make your app better than ever. Let’s consider a quick case study for this one.
Angry Birds, the most successful mobile game of all time with more than 4.5 billion (yes, billion) downloads, did not just release their original game and leave it at that. Rather, they release updates for the game on a near-weekly basis, incorporating feedback from their loyal users to fine-tune their product and keep it relevant. This is the approach that you should take with your app.
If you want to benefit from the high-growth app market, a mediocre product will not cut it. By following these guiding principles, you can create an app that will truly stand the test of time.