Delving into the Android App market, we see it is growing at an increasing rate every year. It will soon be 11 years since the mobile application market came into existence. There are millions of apps available online and billions of users looking to download those. That keeps on growing too. According to Statista, the total number of downloads will be more than 350 billion by 2021. It is no wonder that more and more people are looking to join this industry to grab a share in an ever-growing industry.
If you are working independently, you will find that it is not so easy to make it big in this industry. Google only takes a small amount for you to upload the newly created app; it will take 30% of the amount you have set for the app too, each time it is downloaded. For your app to get viral and be downloaded by as many people as you expect; it has to be really good and it should show in searches of users. For that, you will have to market the app well. Developers and companies spend millions on marketing of an app to get the number of downloads they are expecting. It takes a sound strategy to achieve those levels of success; not every story is like that of ‘Flappy Bird’ where the creator did not have to market it at all and the game went viral on its own.
Even after this, more and more people are learning the skill to develop an app in hope to make it big. In terms of revenue, iOS-based AppStore generates more in revenue than Android-based Google Play. Still, the number of registered users of Google Play is much more than AppStore as most people in India and China use Android in respect to iOS-based applications. This makes the market still up for grabs as the full potential of it has not been exploited yet.
If you are someone who is looking to jump on the bandwagon, here are a few tips and steps of it that will help you get started down this road:
1. Basics – First things first, Android requires knowledge of Java and XML. You will require that to understand and create an app worth its use. You need to have a grasp on XML to understand how to program an application in the language of Java. You will have to install an Integrated Development Environment such as Eclipse and a Java Development Kit on your PC. If you do not have any knowledge of Java, you should go for online tutorials available on YouTube or buy books that are for beginners. Buying books will make it easier for you as they are more detailed in nature and will let you understand the language much better. To understand the philosophy behind designs and concepts, it is really necessary to lay a strong foundation for your learning. If you have no knowledge of XML and Java, you can ask experts at websites like TopAssignmentExperts to guide you with it.
2. Ideas – You must have an idea about what you are going to create; it is not feasible to have something so complex in mind that you are not able to execute it at the starting. To create an app, you need to understand what it is going to be about and what it will take to complete. You must have read about Object Oriented programming by now; this will help you ideate your philosophy of the app and create procedure for each function you are going to put in. Go for only a few pages and functions at the starting, if you try to create a bigger app; it might not work as well as you think. There are finer nuances to be taken care of here; so, don’t try to furnish the best one in the first attempt. If you are not able to ideate the application concept; you can ask for suggestions on student-connecting platforms like ThanksForTheHelp where you can talk to computer science students around the world and take inspiration from their ideas.
3. Setting Your IDE – Most IDEs give the programmer some form of assistance while writing codes. Basically, IDEs compile all your codes with a single click and help you create the app easily. You will need to download an Android Software Development Kit along with it too. IDEs will help you format the coding and make any changes if the code gets faulty. It will allow you to test the application in the software and see if there are any errors that can be fixed. It is not difficult to download it and set it in your PC. IDEs like Android Studio are heavily recommended for beginners.
4. Putting Images – You have seen all android applications use colors and images in its interface. It gives a good feeling to the user of application. You can see apps like Calm where the app makers gave it a serene feeling with its right use of calming colors and sounds. You can always find images online to use as icons for your application. You can even get down to Microsoft Paint or Adobe Illustrator to create icons. People look for interesting images when using an app; you will find many applications that give a ‘compiled’ feel, it doesn’t fit well with the people at all. You can click images of your own and put them as icons if necessary.
5. Building the Layout – It will require a lot of efforts on your part to build the layout, i.e., create the design for your app. You can use the ‘designer’ function of the IDE to put images, text, and icons where you want those. If you are planning to put in more pages, it will take a whole lot of effort as each page requires careful work to make it look good. For beginners, I would recommend keeping the number of pages to a minimum and the use of widgets too. You are only going to see if you can create a functioning app, so there is no need to make it more complex than it already is for a beginner like you.
6. Coding – As stated above, you will need to understand the language of Java to make an Android app. You can start coding in Java on the IDE for different widgets and assigning functions to each of it. Since, you are a beginner; there might be errors in the way you have coded. For this, you can take help of IDEs to check if there are any discrepancies. You can then download software to check if the coding done is right or not. You can download a virtual device manager to your PC and check if your app is working well. If you are unable to get it right, you can pay a nominal fee to experts on websites like BestOnlineAssignmentHelp and get them to code it for you or ask them what you are doing wrong, if it is showing any errors.
7. Giving your App the edge – Many apps face an error of crashing each time a user spends time on it. These errors are very common and you should use the app on your Android phone to understand the look-and-feel of the application. If there are any issues, you can go back on your PC and make the changes. If you want to make any changes to it or put any advanced coding from the internet, you can very well do that too. The app must look good and function well if you want people to use it. Millennials forget this when creating an app.
8. Publishing The Application- As mentioned in the starting of this article, you will have to pay Google around $25 to get the application published on Google Play store. It will also take up 30% of the set price for your app each time it is downloaded. I will advise that you do not set a price to the app as it is a new one and you have no money to market it like other companies do. Hoping that people find it useful should be enough for now.
Conclusion
Creating an app will not be easy as it requires knowledge of Java and XML before being able to fully understand the concept and functionalities. If you have understood the points above, you can very well start on this path. It is not an easy task and it will require months if not weeks before you fully understand to code in Java and create an app that is worth publishing. If you have decided that this is what you want to do in life, there is nothing stopping you. Buy books to grasp the concepts behind functionalities and do read about it on websites like Stack Overflow where you can post your codes to be checked by other people of the same community.