Mobile application development checklist

Smartphones and tablets are the inseparable part of our everyday life, therefore, different companies are involved in mobile application development. However that kind of activity needs to be clearly defined in mobile application development checklist to achieve the main goal – development of a popular application. So what questions should be answered? See the full iOS and Android application development checklist below.

Mobile application development checklist

What platform to develop for: iOS or Android?

This should be the first point of your mobile application development checklist. These platforms are the most popular, so you should define your target audience and choose the best approach to cover their needs. Before a development process you can make a market research to find out what type of applications are commonly used. This will help to compare the scope of work and choose the proper tools.

Which version of platform is best suitable with the application to be developed?

This is the second point of your iOS or Android application development checklist. Pay attention to all features that the application will include. Are they compatible with the version of a particular mobile platform? It is also good to prevent the application to be installed on platform versions which are not supported. This will help to prevent different compatibility issues.

Besides a platform version, think about the scalability. Is it necessary or there is another way to implement new features in future releases?

What are the hardware requirements?

While making your mobile application development checklist, pay attention to both CPU and the memory usage, touch screen and camera support. The issues when someone tries to install the application on an incompatible device should also be resolved.

Which target screen resolution should be chosen?

Although there are huge number of different smartphones and tablets, you must point one or more screen resolutions, which would be preferable for a particular application.

To make much more accurate decision, you can refer to Wikipedia or Google for statistics on the “screen sizes density”.

One app for phone and one for tablet?

Two separated versions of the same application for different devices is a good practice and some vendors choose that way as the most preferable. If your target audience is likely uses tablets instead of phones, the development of separated version could be a right decision.

Landscape, Portrait… or both?

In your mobile application development checklist pay attention to both modes, because this is the best variation for successful application. Besides the support of “two-sided” mode make sure that working process is not interrupted by application crashes.

Which advanced features are applicable?

Some advanced features may include the following:

• accelerometer: if the use of accelerometer is preferable than its functionality must be tested to ensure the correct utilization of the feature. The test case must be applicable to the majority or modern games, maps, 3D visualization apps, etc.
• hardware keys: several applications cannot work properly without the support of the hardware keys (e.g. camera or media player). Furthermore, it will be a big advantage in case of unpredictable behavior of the application – you may press a particular combination of the buttons to force the application to close.
• GPS: if your application will use maps or track the user’s current location – GPS support is a must.
• any other sensors or tracking components: you may implement everything you want depending of the application needs.

Which types of connections will be provided?

There are several possibilities: to allow only Wi-Fi, as the main source or to provide a whole set of networks: beginning from GPRS, to 4G and LTE. The necessity of each particular connection must be dictated by the users’ location and a popularity of different networks across these locations.

Which hardware connections will be implemented?

There are a lot of available interfaces, including: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, USB, IrDA. Which one or ones to choose depends on the specific task that the application will execute.

Which kind of updates is preferable?

How the application will update itself? What components must be updated both on the server side and on the application side? In which way? Can a particular user to schedule these update or they are forced to be installed?

How does the application handle the interruptions?

There are several critical situations that the application must handle correctly, including:

• incoming call
• sms
• no network / no Wi-Fi / airplane mode
• battery low (<25%) / battery dead (1-5%)
• storage low / no storage
• collapse
• sleep mode
• other app notifications

Is the application secure?

The main issue to worry about is the storage of credentials and sensitive data. How are they managed and transmitted through the network? Is it possible to hijack and hack these data? Will the application use an authentication? Is there a number of login attempts before account would be locked out? Make sure you have clarified it in your mobile app development checklist.

Will the application support payment integration?

Is it possible to complete e-commerce transaction through the application? If so, the appropriate functional compound must be included to your mobile application development checklist and tested in a proper way. Moreover, such application must handle and validate additional accounts of the payment system.

Is the application fast?

Performance tests are the integral part of the whole development process. And, as you mights guess, it’s an integral part of your iOS or Android application development checklist as well. All users like fast applications, no matter what they are: mail client, book reader or a game. That’s why, such tests must be completed with jewelry accuracy to find weakest links (if any) and give a full report about each component.
If the application uses a cloud, it must be also tested, especially the reliability of the connection between both server and application sides.

Do you speak English or parlez-vous Français?

If you want to distribute the application outside your country, it needs to be localized. In your mobile application development checklist pay attention to special characters (if any) and proper encoding to ensure that all the words and symbols are translated properly.
Make sure that the application applies different time zones and local changes as expected.

Facebook, Twitter?

Nowadays the social networks integration in different applications becomes a tool to involve new users and a part of self-promotion. And when it comes to the application that is deeply integrated with a particular CMS, news or fun portal, social buttons are the most valuable part of the whole resource. So, would you like to “like it” or it’s better to tweet it? Make sure to clarify it in your mobile application development checklist.

Which deployment method will be applied?

There are two possibilities depending on the platform on which the application will be developed. That’s why you need to plan this strategy in advance, because Apple Store and Google Play impose several strict requirements for the applications, which means that the application must meet these requirements. So, particular test cases and validations need to be integrated into the development process.

That was a complete mobile application development checklist. Are you looking for complete mobile testing solution? Make sure to check out Ubertesters that supports iOS, Android and WinPhone, and has all you need to make your mobile beta testing process be carried out in the most efficient way.

Looking for mobile app checklist for testers? We have it right here.