1. Idea
The first step, even before knowing the idea, is to think about how much it costs to create a mobile app. When you discover the approximate prices, you usually stop thinking about your idea, and this is a mistake. You will soon realize that there is a high probability of obtaining a return on investment.
For example, creating games is complicated but they have the ability to go viral easily. On the other hand, simple applications cannot meet great expectations, but they are cheap and easy to build. The first step, therefore, is to find the optimal budget according to your needs and those of the business, in addition to defining the marketing efforts that will be carried out.
2. Planning
This step involves going through each individual screen and understanding how all parts of the application interact with each other. If I press this button, what happens? You will be surprised by the number of steps and scenarios there are, even for the simplest application. The number of functions to define and build will also play an important role in the cost of the application.
3. Design
Design comes once programming and functionality have been defined; the designer gets a complete list of what needs to be created. Design can make or break an application, plain and simple, so selecting a good freelance designer is a priority in its development. You will need a great icon that distinguishes your app, home screens, icons for different tabs... and everything must be related.
4. Deployment
Once you have the application built in xCode (Apple's application development environment), the freelance developer can help you get the application into the corresponding store (iTunes for example). This requires creating an iTunes Connect account (about 70 euros per year) and then filling in all the necessary information for the application – icons, descriptions, prices, etc.
Most of these steps are fairly intuitive and the setup only needs to be done once, so if you decide to develop another application later, you will already have an account to include it in.
Once you have the application in the store, you can monitor all operations through iTunes Connect – how many downloads, how much money you are earning, etc. There are many ways to increase your app's revenue, including in-app advertising and the possibility of purchasing additional information through the App. You will be able to see and analyze everything that is happening.
