How to Become Pro App Developer In 2020 (COVID-19) Period?

In a short time, people all around the world adapted to a completely different lifestyle due to the rising cases of COVID-19 globally in the past 5 months. It has significantly impacted several industries, specifically the tech industry. COVID-19 leads everyone to go digital. Except for front-line workers, billions of people belonging to different industries and sectors are working under quarantine. Work from home has become a norm, thanks to recent events.

The Impact Of COVID-19 On the Tech Industry

The sudden digital shift has enabled people and businesses to link with customers, friends, family, and colleagues and stay connected on the cloud all the time. Recent events forced people to change their outlook on flexibility, convenience, and adaptability. The economic growth of industries is suffering greatly due to country-wide lockdowns globally.

The uncertainty caused by the pandemic disease, COVID 19, significantly caused a reevaluation of the corporate and tech ecosystem.

While business activities are being shut down or put on hold until the situation tones down, tech companies successfully worked towards new adjustments when the Coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

As the industry strives to offer a solution-centric shift, many companies looking to build applications for their businesses are outsourcing their work to software developers working remotely. Being a software developer in current times is rewarding. It’s 1 of the top 5 remote jobs reported to grow globally by 24% in 6 years!

Mobile App Development Post COVID-19

Let’s take a closer look at the facts to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the android app developers industry in this pandemic.

While the app store revenue has definitely suffered due to the virus, the overall growth of the industry remains unbeatable. Now more than ever, people and businesses have invested heavily in mobile apps. The market forecast post-COVID 19 states a huge jump from $85 billion to $171 billion within 4 years.

When it comes to app downloads, the market forecast positively predicted a huge 9% increase in downloads by 2024. Almost 184 billion apps will be downloaded in 4 years, 7 billion more than the current number of downloads in 2020.

When we look at these numbers, it’s difficult to comprehend the growth projection of one industry, while several are struggling to survive. After all, the digital shift proves to be beneficial for the modern consumer. Businesses and people are struggling to manage and, therefore, look for ways to survive in the current situation. Thankfully, apps are designed as a solution to an existing problem.

If you want to ace mobile app development in 2020, you must understand worldwide consumer spending on different types of apps. For instance, hospitality and travel apps like TripAdvisor, Uber, Lyft, etc. faced a huge decrease in the average number of downloads. In contrast, social media apps like Zoom, Skype, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, witnessed a 20% increase in downloads. Other domain apps downloaded the most were E-commerce apps like Amazon and eBay, healthcare apps like DSS Inc, Patient Safe, etc. food delivery apps like UberEATS, Grub Hub, etc. and E-learning apps such as Skill Pill, WordPress, etc.

How to Become A Top App Developer During the Pandemic?

All these apps have seen extreme demand in the past few months. With the world going digital, many people believe it’s safe to assume app developers are protected from sudden economic crashes in the future. However, this is far from the truth. There’s an economic downfall coming, which means market downturn for the mobile app development industry.

Consumer spending is limited, ad budget suffers, and user-values decrease due to low subscriptions and less in-app purchases. However, an average modern consumer with a tight budget is strict about his spending, yet, to stay in the digital loop, they invest in apps without in-app purchases. This increases competition, decreases prices, relaxes competition, and allows consumers to buy less for more.

There’s a silver lining in a collapsed economy as well. Every core developer looking for an opportunity in this pandemic should focus on creating apps that diminish the impact of these issues.

Working remotely in this pandemic isn’t a huge transition for an app developer. Their work station is made of a single laptop, hundreds of tools, and a great deal of pressure. With a significant rise in specific app demands such as healthcare apps, P2P payment apps, E-Learning, and video-streaming apps, any client who outsources app development is risking it all. They bet their money on the developer’s skill and expertise. If done right, outsourcing projects can become a lucrative opportunity, which means higher chances for developers to hook onto a project.

As a developer, having the right skill set and expertise is necessary to build a successful app. The app store is crowded with millions of apps fighting to find a place in the top 10 list. If you want your app to be on the list, make sure to follow the steps below.

1. Choose the right platform

Businesses are currently putting everything at stake to survive and earn in this pandemic. Launching an app is one way to survive. An economic crisis leads to tight budgets. Sourcing the project on the right platform is essential. To earn through an app, make sure the app is built on a profitable platform. iOS and Android are examples as they’ve dominated the mobile industry. Specialize in that platform and master every technique to expand your portfolio.

2. Understand the features

You will find many businesses making the mistake of cramming unnecessary features in their app. Dial down the number of features you’re incorporating by including only the necessary features. Conduct a test run and review user feedback to understand what your app is missing and add the missing features if needed. Cluttering your app with irrelevant features might be the reason for your app’s unachieved success.

3. Determine What Factors Will Make You Money

The sooner you realize the impact of the pandemic on development budgets, the smarter you’ll be with developing your app. Although determining how your app is going to make money a later step, you must start thinking about it early on as it affects the UI design and experience. In current times, people don’t want to spend a lot of money on apps that won’t benefit them. However, every business needs profit, especially in such struggling times. Some ways to make money smartly is through:

Developing an E-commerce app, an E-learning app or a video-streaming app
Adding third party in-app advertisements
Adding upgrades and low in-app purchases
A pay-to-download factor

4. Create a dummy wireframe concept beforehand

Once you’ve determined your app’s goals and features, start research on creating a simplistic yet attractive user interface. Avoid cluttering the space. The wireframe and UI determine the success of a user’s journey. Creating a dummy wireframe will prevent unnecessary spending on several designs and tests.

A dummy wireframe will offer a layout of how the user would use the app. It will draw out the user journey successfully. You can create dummy wireframes for different versions of your app, such as V1, V2, and the final version V3.