How to Launch an App in 2024: 8-Step Guide

In today’s digital age, possessing an app is of great help to businesses. Not only does the app help companies sell their products or services and build their brands but it is also the connection between companies and customers, helping to retain old customers and develop them into loyal customers and attract new customers simultaneously.  

However, not every company knows how to launch an app effectively, as this requires thorough research and planning tracking every step before implementing and officially running. Let Adamo Software suggest how to launch an app successfully in 2024.  

Through this blog post, you will have an overall picture of the app’s launching steps, tips that experts give to launch the app, and some FAQs about launching an app. The information in the post has been thoroughly researched and updated according to the latest technology trends. So, read on for our post and find useful information for you. 

I. 8 Steps to Launch an App 

Grasping the steps on how to launch an app is extremely essential to ensure the smoothness and success of your app. It helps maximize your app’s potential for user adoption and retention and minimize errors as well. Here are the eight steps to launch an app that you can consider to confidently launch your application. 

1. Discovery Phase 

Identifying a problem or need, conducting a research market, and defining goals are some things to do during the discovery phase. This is the first and mandatory phase of how to launch an app. In this phase, you may want to identify what app you need to do based on your business sector. For example, if your business is in the Food and Beverage industry, building your ordering delivery app is extremely necessary. You can encourage your customers to choose what they like, buy, and purchase directly on your app.
After you have an idea of what app you will make and its function, you will need to do market research. This helps you know the competitors in the app market you want to enter, and how they are doing. Let’s research each competitor’s application, and determine their strengths, weaknesses, and user reviews of each application. Besides, market research also involves collecting information about future trends that could determine how to launch an app successfully. By doing market research, you can create the best app in the market you are targeting.  

Additionally, during the discovery step, you have to define clear goals for your app’s development and launch. This will help you orient your app, track your process, and ensure that you stay focused on what you want to do.  

2. Planning 

The planning phase is an essential step in how to launch an app profitably. In this phase, you will need to define your target audience, decide platform for development (iOS, Android, or both), outline your app’s features and technology stack, and establish a budget and project timeline. Let’s see how each of these helps in how to start an application.  

– Defining the target customer 

Defining the target customer involves getting to know the demographics, behavior, psychographics, and preferences of your customers. Thanks to that, you can tailor your app’s features and have suitable marketing strategies.  

Here is a look at key difference between iOS and Android: 

– Deciding Platform for Development (iOS, Android, or both)  

How to launch an app without deciding on a platform for development? Surely, that is impossible, because the platform is one of the things that determines the direction of the app. The platform will directly impact your app’s reach and user engagement. Both iOS and Android have their advantages and challenges. Depending on your target customer’s preferences, you can choose one or both to develop your app.  

– Outlining your app’s features and technology stack 

Outlining your app’s features and technology stack is also indispensable in how to launch your app. By listing the functionalities meeting your target customers’ needs and technology stack including programming languages, frameworks, databases, and front-end and back-end tools, you can ensure the user experience.  

– Establishing a budget and project timeline 

The last thing to do in the planning phase is to establish a budget and project timeline. You may want to establish costs for development, marketing, staffing, and post-launch support, and plan the time to complete each step. This helps you control costs and limit delays, which is one of the deciding factors in how to launch an app on time.  

3. Design 

Once you have already planned for your app, you will come to the design phase which is also a crucial part of launching an app. During this phase, wireframing, developing a prototype, and UI/UX Design are three things you need to complete. Let’s learn about each step with Adamo Software! 

– Wireframing 

A wireframe is the skeleton of your app’s design, allowing users to visualize the app’s interface. Looking at the wireframe, you can easily visualize the basic structure to plan to edit and development. Wireframing requires you to know the structure, content, display method, app interface, and how users can interact with your app.  

– Developing a prototype 

Prototypes are initial samples created during the design process for testing and trial before producing the final finished product. Developing a prototype means that you will convert the previous wireframe into a functional model of the application. This helps you detect problems that may occur with the app and then make reasonable adjustments to help minimize errors when officially running the app.  

– UI/UX design 

UI/ UX design helps you to enhance the user’s experience with your app through an engaging interface. UI design focuses on elements related to the interface of your app such as layout, color, functions, content, images, and effects. Whereas, UX design is the process of developing and improving the quality of interaction between users and your app. As both elements are equally important, you need to invest in developing both segments in a balanced way.  

4. Development 

How to launch an app without errors? This depends not only on the three processes above but also on the development phase as well. This phase encompasses backend development, frontend development, platform-specific development, and third-party services integration.  

– Backend and frontend development 

Backend and frontend are two key aspects of every application; therefore, developing them is especially important in how to launch an app. The front includes visual elements such as buttons, checkboxes, graphics, and text messages, allowing users to interact with your application. In contrast, the backend is what users cannot see, including the data and infrastructure that makes your application work. You must design them harmoniously to bring the best results.  

– Platform-specific development 

You have previously decided which platform to develop the app on. Now, it’s time for you to tailor your app for the chosen platforms. You must ensure that your app runs smoothly on any platform you choose.  

– Third-party services integration 

Third-party services like payment gateways, social media integrations, analytics tools, and cloud storage can enhance your users’ experience and satisfaction. You can also save a lot of time and money when launching your app with the help of third-party services.  

5. Testing 

How to launch an app successfully depends a lot on the testing phase. Unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance testing are four key testing processes. Let Adamo Software introduce you to each stage of testing.  

– Unit testing 

Unit testing brings many benefits, contributing to the success of the application. This is an indispensable step to put your application into practice. Unit testing is performed during the coding phase of your application, isolating a section of code and verifying its correctness. Some popular units include the function, method, procedure, module, or object. Besides helping fix bugs early, unit testing also helps reuse and edit the code until the tests run again. 

– Integration testing 

The integration testing happens when you have already finished the unit testing. It takes input modules that have been unit tested, groups them into larger aggregates, applies the test cases defined in the integration test plan to that aggregate, and provides output to the integrated system. This step is extremely important as it will check whether your app’s quality is guaranteed, and the system operates according to user expectations.  

– System testing 

Through system testing, you can monitor and evaluate the behavior of a complete and fully integrated app and know if the complete system functions to your requirements. The system testing focuses on performance, security, recovery, interface, installation ability, usability, documentation, and load. By taking the test, you can guarantee that your app performs as per user requirements without errors, data and information protection for users, and can be installed without any difficulties. Besides, the system testing also ensures the user’s system experience is optimal.  

– User acceptance testing (UAT) 

User acceptance testing is the product testing phase before it is officially released to the market. The UAT process is mainly evaluated by the users themselves. Users will use your app and check for potential errors or user experience issues, etc. After that, they will give you feedback so that you can adjust your app more appropriately.  

6. Preparation for Launch 

Finished all the steps above? Now, it’s time for you to prepare to launch your app, which is a crucial step in how to launch an app that can achieve your desired results. During this phase, you must ensure that your app meets App Store guidelines, and optimize it on the App Store. Besides, developing a marketing plan and conducting Beta testing is also needed.  

– App store guidelines 

Both iOS and Android have their specific guidelines and requirements for an app to appear in the stores. You should first get familiarized with these guidelines to ensure that your app is not rejected and complies with all necessary criteria.  

– App Store Optimization  

In the preparation time, you may want to have your app optimized on the app stores, which means that it can be easily found. You need to pay attention to how to name the app, describe the app, search keywords for the app, images in the app, and icons. By doing that, you can increase your app’s chances of being discovered by potential users.  

– Developing a marketing plan 

Without developing a market plan, you won’t know how to launch an app well. With a well-planned marketing strategy, you can attract more downloads to your app. You have already identified your target customers, and now it’s time for you to reach them through as many channels as possible, such as social media, email marketing, online ads, your website, etc. You should create attractive content, stating why customers should download your app, the benefits your app brings to customers, etc.  

– Conducting Beta testing 

Beta testing is used to test the functionality, performance, stability, and usability of a software product. In this step, your app will be released to customers for trial use under real-world conditions. You can identify and eliminate remaining errors and defects from the customers’ feedback.  

7. Publishing your app 

Publishing your app is the final goal you are aiming for. This step requires you to know how to launch an app on the Google Play store and Apple Store and continuously monitor app launching metrics. Let’s continue reading for more information.  

– How to Launch an Android App on the Google Play Store 

To launch an Android app on the Google Play Store, you need to follow eight steps. First, you will have to sign up for an app developer account on Google Developer. After that, you will create your app on the store, install the logo and screenshot for the app, and upload the APK file. Next, you will finish the content rating with questions asked by Google. At last, let’s decide your app’s signup fee and places can find and install your app.  

– How to Launch an iOS App on the App Store 

Like the Google Play Store, the iOS Store also has its guidelines and requirements. Before launching your app, you must ensure that you follow the guidelines. If you want to have your app appear on the iOS store, you will have to enroll in the Apple Developer Program, prepare, and up your app. Then, let’s set up a pricing strategy and availability.  

– App launching metrics 

Monitoring your app launching metrics is essential to know the app’s efficiency. The number of downloads and installations is one of the key metrics that measure your app’s initial reach. Besides, you should also monitor your app’s revenue and understand your app’s financial performance.  

8. Post-Launch Activities 

Do you think that after launching the app, everything stops? If yes, then you are completely wrong. Post-launch activities also decide how to launch an app successfully. Let’s find some information about four essential post-launch activities with us!  

– Addressing issues and gathering feedback  

This post-launch activity helps you push your user’s satisfaction, positive attitude, and loyalty to your app. Based on real-user experiences, you can adjust your app and guarantee that it can satisfy your customers.  

– Releasing regular updates  

Regular updates help you bring the latest features to customers based on their feedback. Besides, regular updates prove that your app is well maintained and regularly improved, helping to increase customer experience, thereby retaining old customers and attracting new customers. Note that this update needs to ensure security and optimal running speed and capacity. 

– Tracking app performance  

When your app has already gone live, you need to monitor it to track its performance. User growth rate, retention rate, user engagement, crash, loading time, and revenue are some metrics you may want to keep an eye on. By analyzing these metrics, you can know your users’ behavior on your app and similar apps and identify things to improve for your app.  

– Planning for scaling your app  

When everything is done, it’s time for you to plan for scalability, which aims to handle future needs and growth. In case the number of users of your app increases, you may want to implement cloud services to have your app optimized. Scaling your app helps to raise your user experience, save money in the long term, and ensure your app’s stability.  

Overall, how to launch an app successfully depends so much on the 8 steps above. Every step needs to be done meticulously to ensure your app meets customer needs. Let’s start and turn your ideal app into reality!

II. Expert Tips on How to Start an application

As mentioned, a great implementation of 8 needed steps decides how to start an application with successful results. You can consider the tips from experts below to ensure you follow the 8 steps correctly. 

1. Choosing the right development team  

The right development team with planners, designers, testers, and developers will help a lot in launching an app. Those who can understand your aim and have the ability to work efficiently. You can choose to outsource your team or have an in-house team depending on your plans and costs, as long as this team meets your requirements. You can refer to Adamo Software, one of the software development companies offering apps, web, AI, and blockchain development services. In addition, Adamo is also specialized in providing dedicated development teams for other firms.  

2. Focusing on user- experience (UX) 

UX plays an important role in enhancing your users’ satisfaction, retaining your current users, and expanding your users. To create a perfect user experience for an app, you need to ensure the characteristics below.  

– Simple and easy to use 

– Minimized interface  

– Consistent experience across multiple devices  

– Easy navigation  

3. Paying attention to security and data privacy  

How to launch an app without the user’s complaints? It’s to pay attention to security and data privacy for the users. You must ensure that your app has the highest security standards. Only then will customers trust and use your app.  

4. Gathering your user feedback and adjusting your app  

User feedback is an important feature of how to launch an app smoothly, especially in the testing phase. Let’s encourage your users to review, do surveys, and directly interact with the app so that you can make continuous improvements. Besides, this also shows that you appreciate your users’ opinions, thereby attracting trust among users.  

5. Making a marketing plan in advance for each stage 

Before developing your app, you may want to think about a marketing strategy plan for each step. How to launch an app successfully not only relies on completing all stages but also on your marketing plan. For example, you need to start building awareness by sharing your app’s concept, usage, and purpose through social media during the discovery phase while engaging your audience, creating promotional videos and posts, and running promotional campaigns are essential in later phases in how to launch an app.  

Overall, considering these experts’ tips on how to start an application will help you in developing your app. Besides, you can have a better grasp of the future success of your app.  

Also read: How to Make a Mobile App: Ultimate Guide

III. Looking for a Reliable Software Development Partner to Support You Launch an App?  

Do you want to turn your ideal app into reality? Do you need a trusted partner to support you on how launch an app that can make your users satisfied? If you need this, Adamo Software, which provides sustainable and innovative software development, can be your choice. With the help of Adamo, you can shorten the time to bring your products/ services to market. If appropriate, Adamo will provide flexible human resources. As one of Vietnam’s leading mobile app development companies, we have successfully launched many apps abroad. No matter what field your business is in, we can offer you innovative and cost-effective enterprise-grade mobile app solutions. We will follow the 8 steps and work closely with you to devise a plan for building, developing, marketing, testing as well as post-launch activities to ensure the long-term success of the app.  

Our end-to-end mobile app development solutions include adaptable prototyping, submitting your app-to-app stores, adaptive user interface, flexible approaches, smart coding, and ongoing maintenance and updates. Besides, we also offer high-standard mobile app development services including specific platform app development, multi-platform app development, cross-platform development with web technologies, and enhanced web app experience development. We are confident that we can help you in how to launch an app successfully.  

Are you ready to launch an app? Let’s partner with Adamo Software to successfully launch the app. Visit our website at Adamo Services for more detailed information about our services and contact us for a consultation. 

IV. FAQs about Launching an App

How to find ideas for an app, how much it costs to launch an app, how to monetize my app, what to do next after launching an application, and where to find a team to build up the app are some FAQs about launching an app. Let’s go through each question with us!

1. How to find ideas for an app?

To find ideas for an app, you should identify the issues that people face in their lives, thereby developing an app that can solve practical problems. Besides, let’s stay updated on the research market trends, competitor analysis, brainstorming, conduct surveys, and social media news. 

2. How much does it cost to launch an app? 

The cost of launching an app depends on your app’s complexity, functions, features, platform, design requirements, and quote from your app development team. Normally, for a simple app with just some features, the cost for your app starts from $80,000. The more features you want to integrate, the higher the cost is. 

3. How to monetize my app?

There are many ways to monetize your app. One of the most common ways is through in-app advertising where you can display paid ads within your app. Depending on your goals, you can choose different advertising formats, such as banner, video, multimedia, native ads, etc. Another way to make money from your app is to charge users monthly/ quarterly or annual fees so that they can access premium features, content, or services. Additionally, you can partner with brands and influencers to create sponsored content within your app. 

4. What to do next after launching an application?

After launching an application, you may want to monitor your users’ feedback and track the data of the number of users. Besides, the number of downloads, user engagement, and retention rates are also some metrics you must pay attention to. In addition, updating your app regularly to enhance user experience and carrying out marketing strategies are also crucial in how to launch an app smoothly.

5. Where to find a team to build up the app?

As having an excellent team is also important in how to launch an app with successful results, you will have to find your team. You can choose to have your in-house development team for your app by carefully interviewing and testing their ability. Otherwise, outsourcing is also a good idea. Freelance platforms, online technology forums, and app development companies are some places to find your team. Consider Adamo Software for your app design.  

In conclusion, how to launch an app successfully is not an easy question; however, by carefully implementing complete stages with the help of trusted partners, you can create an app that stands out in the market. If you want to have more information or detailed plans on running an app, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Stay tuned to our updated blogs and sign up to receive emails from us.