Frequently Asked App Questions

Development

• What is mobile app development?

  App development is a process of product strategy, computer programming, documenting, designing, testing, deploying and bug fixing in order to create and maintain a digital product which is accessible on an operating system for a mobile device.

• What is an app developer?

  An app developer is software engineer that creates apps for mobile and desktop devices. The most popular software app developers develop apps for are iOS, MacOS, tvOS, watchOS and Android.

• What coding language are iOS apps developed in?

  For a long time Objective-C was the iOS standard. Swift is an open-source language that has replaced Objective C as the main programming language for macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS. Objective-C and Swift must be written through Apple's Xcode development software only available on Mac’s.

• What coding language are Android apps developed in?

  Large parts of Android are written in Java. However, it is possible to develop an Android app in C++, using the Android Native Development Kit (NDK), or soon to become the standard, Kotlin, as it has the advantage of being native unlike Java. https://developer.android.com/kotlin/index.html

• What skills do you need to be an app developer?

  Most computer software development jobs require degrees in maths, computer science or software engineering. Software programs have significant maths requirements that include a sequence in calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, problem solving and physics.

• What coding language are web applications developed in?

  A web application or more commonly known as a web app, are generally used for client software that runs within a web browser. Common web applications are written using HTML, PHP, Python, Javascript or Google Dart.

• What is the role of a front-end developer?

  A front-end web developer is responsible for implementing visual elements that users see and interact with in a web application. They are usually supported by back-end web developers, who are responsible for server-side application logic and integration of the work front-end developers do.

• What is the role of a back-end developer?

  A back-end developer is the work of programmer who creates the computer logic for a website, software or information system. The developer creates components and features that are indirectly accessed by a user through a front-end application or system.

• What is data architecture?

  In IT, data architecture is composed of models, policies, rules or standards that govern which data is collected, and how it is stored, arranged, integrated, and put to use in data systems and in organisations.

• What is scalable development?

  Scalability is the capability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate growth. It is important to know the future plans and features of your software to ensure the right foundations are put in place to accommodate phase 2 and beyond implementations.

Design

• What is iOS Human Interface Guideline?

  A design principle created by Apple to help designers drive quality and deliver clarity, beautiful interfaces and depth in the content to help users understand and interact with an app to meet the high expectations. Learn more about iOS design https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/overview/design-principles/

• What is Material Design?

  Material Design is user interface guideline created by Google in 2014. The designs principles are based around paper metaphors, using card motifs that have depth, lighting and shadows to give content hierarchy. Material Design uses of grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions. Learn more about Material design https://material.io/guidelines/#

• What is a UI designer?

  A UI designer stand as for User Interface Design, a UI designer will concentrate on the look and feel, the presentation and interactivity of a product. Similar to UX, it is easily and often confused by the industries that employ UI Designers

• What are UI design skills?

  Great UX/UI designer are skilled at designing pixel perfect layouts and delightful user interfaces on digital products. A UI designer should be able to provide solutions to your users' problems and make their engagement feel enjoyable. On their resumes, UI designers will list the software and technologies they know, such as: Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, HTML5, CSS3.

• What is a UX designer?

  The creation and development of a digital product’s functionality is know as user experience or UX design. A UX designer is responsible for analysing current states, deep understanding of research driven best practices, user’s behaviour and key objectives of what the product is trying to accomplish to encourage a delightful experience for the end user.

• What is Flat Design?

  Flat design uses a distinct 2D style that is simply flat. The concept works without any embellishments, drop shadows, bevels, embossing, gradients or other tools that add gloss. Flat design has been made popular through the release of Apple’s iOS 7, Android’s Material design and demand in responsive website design.

• What is Skeuomorphism design?

  Skeuomorphism is the design concept of making items represented resemble the real-world counterparts. Skeuomorphism was commonly used in user interface and web design in the mid 00’s to help with learnability and familiarity when new remerging technologies were released.

• What is Responsive Design?

  Responsive design is an approach that uses flexible layouts developed in one HTML/CSS style code source. The purpose of responsive design is to build websites and apps that detect the visitor's screen size and orientation on a web browser and change the layout accordingly.

• What is Adaptive Web Design?

  Adaptive web design is different from responsive design as there is not just one layout that always changes. Adaptive web design approach is to design several different layouts which display accordingly to screen size loaded on the device.

• What are wireframes?

  A blueprint guide that represents the functionality and navigation of an app.  A wireframe can be done through paper sketches, or using software like Balsamiq or Sketch 3.

• What is a reskin?

  The process of changing an app’s user interface through the change of graphics, colours and fonts, but keeping the code as close to its original state as possible.

App Platforms

• What are mobile application platforms?

  A mobile application development platform is a software integrated into the operating system that allows a business or individual to build, test and deploy mobile apps for smartphone or tablets.

• What is iOS software?

  Apple created and developed its own mobile operating system, exclusively for its own hardware. The software is called iOS and the latest release is in Autumn 2017, iOS 11. The operating system runs on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

• What is Android software?

  Android operating system is primarily used in touchscreen mobile devices developed by Google. It runs on mobile devices and tablets such as Samsung, Pixel Phone, LG and Sony. Its design allows users to make interactions and gestures such as pinching, swiping, and tapping.

• How many people use Apple iOS software?

  iOS have reported to have over 1 billion active users on their Mac range, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch and iPod devices. 97% of users are running iOS 9 or above on their devices, iOS 10 adoption is 86%. Apple is highly praised for it’s ability to encourage customers to upgrade to the latest operating system, making it a better platform for developers to work on.

• How many people use Android devices?

  Android operating system powers over 2 billion devices worldwide. The latest version of Android, Nougat, is running on 11% of devices. Lollipop and Kitkat are most popular versions, released in 2013 - 2015, comprise 40% of customers, they are most targeted versions for Android developers to release apps on.

• What is the App Store?

  App Store is an application distribution platform maintained by Apple. A customer can browse the store and download mobile apps developed with Apples software development kit running iOS operating system. Currently the app store has made over $20 billion for developers.

• What is the Google Play Store?

  Google Play Store is Google's official store Android apps, games and media for Android-powered phones, tablets and Android TV.

• When was the first mobile application created?

  Along with the release of iPhone OS 2.0 in July 2008, Apple launched the App Store and introducing third-party app development to iPhone customers for the first time.

• How much does it cost for an AppStore developer account?

  It costs $99/year to purchase an Apple developer account.

• How much does it cost for an Google Play developer account?

  It is a one-time fee of $25.

• What percentage does AppStore and Google Play Store take from app sales?

  Apple and Google take 30% of any income from the sale of an app or in-app purchase.

• AppStore and Google Play payouts?

  Apple makes payouts to developer account at the end of the month. The Google Play Store makes payouts within a few days after the month is over. There are payout thresholds in place on some App Stores meaning an app developer will not receive payment until a certain threshold is beaten.

• What is mobile application testing?

  Mobile application testing is a process by which application software developed for hand held mobile devices is tested for its functionality, usability and consistency. Mobile application testing is manual process, tirelessly recreating the multiple tasks that can be performed within the app and reporting any bug reports so they can be rectified before full release. It is common for apps to be release in Beta, aiming at a core smaller audience before a wider main release.

• What is an app update?

  An app update is the release of a revision, bug fix or improvement within the same App. App updates on Apple and Android are managed by the stores and are commonly updated automatically in the background. An enterprise app will require a manual process to install new version.

App Project

• What does a mobile application do?

  A mobile application is most commonly known as an app. When an app is opened it will run inside the operating system until it is closed, it has access to the core hardware functionality built into the mobile or tablet device. An app provides users the ability to perform very specific tasks, similar to what you might find on PCs or Mac applications.

• What are mobile apps used for?

  People use mobile apps for wide range of purposes with the AppStore and Google Play store having a huge selection of categories such as productivity, entertainment, education, utility, photography, news, communications, video, travel, sports, health and fitness, design, medical, finance, reference and music.

• What is a native mobile app?

  An app that has been developed for a particular platform or device. The most popular native apps are Android and iOS. They run on the software and can access the hardware of the device.

• What is a hybrid mobile app?

  Hybrid Mobile Applications both the native and HTML5 programming languages. Primarily built using HTML5 and JavaScript, wrapped inside a thin native container that provides access to native platform features. They result in a slow and substandard user experience, but are considerably cheaper to build.

• What is a react native mobile?

  A react native is built using Objective-C or Java, using the same fundamental UI as regular iOS and Android, developers can using transferable code base to create the same app for iOS, Windows and Android devices.

• What are web applications?

  A web application or web app is a client–server software which runs in a web browser. Web app development is the creation of application programs are stored on remote servers and accessed on the user's computer over the Internet.

• What is bespoke app development?

  A bespoke software application developed specifically to the clients requirements and is particularly used when there is no ‘off the shelf' option.

• What are enterprise apps?

  Enterprise apps are used in business to solve problems within the business, service for their clients or perform business functions. Business applications are used to increase productivity, measure performance and drive business improvement.

• How much do bespoke mobile apps cost to develop?

  With a design and development rate of £500 per day, the majority of native apps developed by Colour On Code costs between £10,000 to £50,000. However, app requirements can be a lot simpler or complex depending on the specification.

• What is the process to develop an app?

  All of our apps go through a methodical process:

  • Strategy and Concept
  • User Experience
  • Design
  • Development
  • Testing and Quality Assurance
  • Deployment

• Is Colour On Code’s design and development done bespoke?

  Yes. Our bespoke mobile app development and design is all based around the client’s requirements.

• What is user retention?

  How many active users your mobile app has and consistently use it.

• What is a Software Development Kit? (SDK)

  A set of tools that can be used to develop software applications targeting a specific platform such as Facebook, AR or the Camera. For example, the Facebook SDK allows developers to add Facebook features into an app.

• What are push notifications?

  Messages from apps installed on a device that alert the user with a message displayed on the home or lock screen. Push notifications are used for actions, reminders, engagement, or to notify of an update.

• What is debugging?

  The process of identifying, tracing, and removing bugs from a mobile application.

• What is bounce rate?

  The percentage of visitors to a website that only view one page within the site – this is the same page they entered the site on. There is no measurement for bounce rate with apps, but app developers do measure bounce rates with websites, blogs, and pages affiliated to their own apps.

• What is A/B testing?

  Testing two or more variations of an app to see which one performs better. 

• Where can I test my app?

  Test flight is most popular platform to release a test version of your app to selective people.