3 Reasons Why Mobile App Developers Should Explore User Testing

User testing is a crucial step in the mobile app development process. And yet, many appreneurs and developers largely ignore it due to inexperience or time constraints. But that’s a mistake and potentially damaging to the reputation of any developer that releases untested apps in the marketplace

And that’s because untested apps often suffer from performance, security, and usability issues. Thus, users will have a subpar experience causing them to leave negative reviews, uninstall these apps, and not recommend them to others. 

Furthermore, user testing makes life much easier for developers in the long term. Since it’s necessary to maintain and update an app during its entire lifecycle, it’s essential to identify bugs and other issues and fix them before rolling out the next version. Regular troubleshooting and user testing early on lead to high-quality apps that delight users. Below, we delve into this matter in more detail.

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User Testing Helps Developers With Quality Assurance

Many developers may have hang-ups with user testing because they don’t know where to start. Moreover, they may not know whether to run internal tests with company employees or open or closed beta tests with early adopters. And if they go with internal testers, how many will they need?

If the developer must release an app early, it’s better to run an internal test with the help of in-house staff and trusted users. Google recommends up to 100 internal testers per app, which the developer will invite via email and manage through the Google Play Console. 

The Google Play Console also makes it easy to run open and closed testing tracks. A closed testing track allows the developer to reach more targeted users for feedback. And an open testing track makes the app available to the largest pool of users, but the app and store listing must be visible in Google Play. In all cases, users will give the developer invaluable feedback about the overall quality of their app and what they’ll need to fix.

Understanding The User’s Journey

User testing reveals much about how users interact with an app. Savvy developers implement analytics and visualizations to better understand the user’s journey. And this entails how users launch the app for the first time to how they navigate through the app’s menus and pages. Thus, with the user feedback they receive, developers will be in a better position to make improvements in all their current and future apps. 

User Testing Increases App Success

All appreneurs and developers want their apps to succeed, but that only happens if they don’t skimp on any important steps during the development process. User testing is one of those essential steps that shouldn’t go ignored for the following reasons: 

  • Smoother development process: User testing results in more helpful user feedback, which allows developers to quash bugs and technical issues early and often. This makes it easier to maintain apps and attain higher quality levels. 
  • Better user experience: Higher-quality apps keep users engaged for longer periods. Thus, app stickiness improves, resulting in users returning to these apps regularly rather than abandoning them, which is, unfortunately, the case for most apps. 
  • Increase in word-of-mouth referrals: Satisfied users are more willing to recommend high-quality apps to family members, friends, and their followers on social media. They’re also more likely to leave positive app store reviews and ratings. 

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The Bottom Line

Appreneurs and developers ignore user testing at their peril since that often leads to low-quality apps. Users expect a rock-solid experience from their apps and have no qualms about uninstalling buggy apps and leaving negative reviews. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create outstanding apps with quality at the forefront. 

Android Studios: Are There Any Experienced Mobile App Developers In Charlotte?

If you’ve been feverishly searching for experienced Android studios in Charlotte, North Carolina — you’ve come to the right place! Not only is NS804 one of the leading lights of the mobile app development world in the Queen City, but we’ve also received many accolades

And while we pride ourselves on being one of the most prominent Android studios in this dynamic city, we’re experts at cross-platform native app development. That means that we know both Android and iOS platforms intimately and are renowned for creating engaging and performant apps for either platform.

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However, you may not be interested in iOS and only care about targeting Android for your upcoming project. Or you’re thinking of releasing an iOS version of your app at a later stage but want to focus on Android for now. Whatever scenarios you’re currently contemplating, we’re here to help you make the right choices and accomplish your goals.

But now you may be wondering what to expect from one of the most prolific mobile app developers in Charlotte. And if you’re embarking on your first app project, we understand you’ll have many questions. Also, we know there isn’t enough information available about what Android studios can offer their clients. 

So, to make things easy for you, we’ve prepared this in-depth article to demystify a matter that may seem obscure. Read on to learn more about what one of Charlotte’s most talented Android studios can do for you!

The Best Android Studios Go Native 

We’re now living in the era of powerful cross-platform development frameworks. These include the likes of Flutter, Ionic, and Reactive Native. While the latter framework promises native performance, it’s still fundamentally a hybrid development toolkit. Furthermore, it requires a significant degree of optimization to create performant apps. 

Now there’s nothing necessarily wrong with using these platforms, especially for startups on a tight budget. Cross-platform hybrid frameworks make app development cheaper and faster but not necessarily better. And by better, we mean that hybrid-developed apps seldom reach the quality and performance levels of native apps.

However, if you’re targeting a single platform, especially Android, there’s little to no reason to opt for hybrid app development. And the best part is that Google offers exceptional native development tools to create engaging Android apps. 

They offer the Android Studio integrated development environment (IDE) and several robust tools free of charge. Furthermore, these include well-written documentation, tutorials, and even training videos to help anyone commence their app development journey. 

Therefore, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of all these free resources. But if app development seems too complex or beyond your capabilities, consider partnering with NS804 to complete your Android project. Our deep knowledge and expertise of Google’s entire Android development stack put us in a position to deliver apps according to your exact specifications.

Creating The Perfect Android User Interface (UI)

There are considerable differences between the UIs and gesture navigation systems between Android and iOS. Yet many cross-platform mobile app developers attempt to make them similar when targeting both platforms. Unfortunately, this is a massive oversight that worsens the experience for users in the general sense. 

That’s why we continuously stress the importance of native app development, as it impacts the overall quality of an app. It’s not just about performance but also how the app looks and feels. That’s why it’s crucial to have an experienced UI/UX designer on the team with intimate knowledge of Android’s native UI. 

Moreover, this designer should feel at home with Jetpack Compose — the official Android UI development toolkit that integrates fluidly with several Kotlin application programming interfaces (APIs). And what makes Jetpack Compose so powerful is that it helps designers make engaging UIs for small and large screens. 

Let’s not forget that the Android ecosystem is larger and more varied than iOS. When targeting Android, you must consider the multiple screen sizes of smartphones, tablets, foldable devices, smartwatches, smart TVs, notebooks (Google Chromebooks and Windows 11 PCs), and vehicle dashboard systems (Android Auto). 

But the most experienced Android studios know how to create responsive UIs that work with any device flawlessly. They can foresee when and where issues may arise while working on an early wireframe UI or prototype. Then, implement the solutions to deal with any bottlenecks to avoid costly and time-consuming workarounds that may occur later on.

 

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Working With Firebase

Without any doubt, you’ll likely need a backend developer for your upcoming Android project. You may need to store client credentials on a database, authenticate users, or even keep track of scores on a leaderboard if you’re creating a mobile game. In most cases, you’ll use either an SQLite or NoSQL database and work closely with the backend developer.

But you may want a more elegant cloud-based solution that minimizes the need for a backend developer. In that case, you may opt for Google’s Firebase solution, which includes several powerful analytics tools. Therefore, you can spend most of your resources working on and improving your app without worrying as much about the backend elements. 

Another reason why you’d want to use Firebase is for its Crashlytics feature, as it’s a lightweight crash reporting tool. It will give you real-time reports with in-depth insights into the health of your app. And it’s possible to conduct A/B testing and remote configurations via Firebase, which means you’ll cut down on tools for these additional tasks. 

Of course, if you’ve partnered with one of the leading mobile app developers in Charlotte, you won’t have to go it alone. You can rely on NS804 to integrate Firebase into your app development toolchain.

Making Mobile Games For The Massive Android Market

In 2023, Android ranks as one of the largest and most important gaming platforms. It also overshadows iOS significantly, even though Apple Arcade has made great strides as a game subscription service. Nevertheless, Android dominates, with 75% of all smartphones and tablets in the world powered by this operating system (OS).  

Then, there are Android gaming smartphones available in the marketplace, such as the Asus ROG phones. And devices such as the Nvidia Shield Android TV Pro gives gamers a console-like experience at an affordable price. Moreover, Microsoft’s Windows 11 OS can run Android apps and games from the Amazon Appstore. Thus, there’s no shortage of devices capable of running Android games, making it a truly all-encompassing platform.

And the world’s most popular game engines and tools vendors have responded in kind. Construct, GameMaker, Godot, Unity, and Unreal Engine all offer Android export modules. And Unity takes things several steps further by having the capability to run and export to Chrome OS (Google Chromebooks). A key benefit of Chromebooks is that they can run Android, Linux, and Windows apps and games. 

Making games is hard enough, but supporting all these devices requires the expertise of a professional studio. While an Android game should run on all these devices without issues — this seldom happens. It’s not uncommon for mobile games to run great on specific devices and perform poorly on others. However, the most effective Android studios know how to optimize mobile games for a wide range of devices, even those not commonly used.

In Conclusion

There are several mobile app developers in Charlotte, yet NS804 stands apart due to experience and reputation. Furthermore, we’re one of the top Android studios in Charlotte but also have a notable presence in Denver and Richmond. Contact us today to learn how NS804 can help you create Android apps that engage users on Google Play and beyond!

What Mobile App Analytics Can Tell You About Your Business

You probably have heard of the popular adage, ‘what cannot be measured, cannot be improved.’ Well, analytics is a critical component of any improvement effort. For you to improve, you precisely need to know your performance in the areas you’re looking forward to improving.

Mobile app analytics are not different. With a mobile app development project, you access your organization’s most critical areas – call management, tracking, resolution rates, and customer service.

A mobile app allows you to measure your performance across different fronts, and make critical adjustments on areas that need improvement. So, in this post, we will discuss the power of mobile app analytics and tell you what these analytics can tell you about your business.

1. User habits

Did you know organizations and enterprises design mobile apps to know how users interact with their brands? Well, if you didn’t know, Amazon implemented a mobile app solution to examine and evaluate customers’ shopping habits. Amazon wanted to know how many customers interacted with its brand daily.

The retail store wanted to evaluate purchase habits and thus improve customer shopping experiences. So, having a mobile app allows you to track consumers’ usage and shopping habits, giving you a solid knowledge of where to improve.

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2. Customer retention

Acquiring new customers is vital. However, retaining existing clientele proves more important and even difficult for brands. Mobile app analytics allow you to know new visitors, giving better insight into retention tactics.

When you know what type of customers are visiting your online store and interacting with your brand, you can know how best to retain these customers. So, mobile app analytics play a critical role in retaining employees, whether they’re new or existing.

3. Performance of marketing campaigns

Did you know that a significant portion of a company’s expenditure goes into marketing? Well, if you didn’t know, business-to-business companies spend 10% of their budgets on marketing.

This means that you must know the impact of this particular budget on your company’s overall financial health. Well-performing enterprises understand that evaluating their marketing campaigns is part of continuous improvement.

So, mobile app analytics allow you to measure the impact of your marketing campaigns in real time. This way, you can know where to make changes and where to improve.

Without mobile app analytics, your marketing becomes blind to critical areas of improvement. Mobile app analytics provide the much-needed insight to boost your operations and scale.

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4. Identify features that make an app competitive

Finally, there’s no doubt that mobile app analytics allow you to know what features make an app sticky. You can see what features users interact with and what features users do not interact with at all. So, mobile app analytics are critical pointers on what works and what does not.

NS804 – Building Apps that Provide Actionable Insight

NS804 is a leading provider of superior mobile app solutions tailored to individual client needs. NS804 has a specialty in native apps. The company is proficient with Java, Swift, and CSS. The company provides apps with advanced functionality, better user experience, and easy customization. So, whether you’re seeking native apps or hybrid apps, we have you covered.

NS804 provides superior solutions that befit your enterprise needs.