It is safe to say that technology has revolutionized the 21st century to the extent of calling this period of time the “digital age”.

With the various technological innovations all across the globe, mobile devices have become the most defining piece of technology that conducts the daily lives of every person.

Mobile technology has overtaken desktop usage, with over 70% of all web traffic originating from mobile devices as of 2018. From this avid usage, mobile application development was born.

Mobile app development does not solely rely on coding. On the other hand, this is a strategic process that involves designing, defining, building, and launching a successful mobile product.

The major reason behind a high amount of mobile apps failing is the lack of planning and organization involved to develop a triumphant mobile app.

 With that in mind, there is good news: the apps that fail, have a team that focuses only on the common myths of mobile app development.

So, here are the five common myths about mobile app development that we are going to debunk together:

1. Mobile app development is just complex coding

In order to build and launch a successful app, coding is not the only factor to worry 

about. According to Digital Authority Partners, in fact, mobile app development requires much more than functional code.

The user experience is first and foremost significant in the success of the app, which requires every feature in the app to be reasonable and understandable for a customer.

A developer in general needs to understand the process beyond programming. Some of the other topics a developer should be able to comprehend are the basics of design, UX, cross-coding functionalities, framework, and many such areas.

Being up-to-date with the latest competition and overall market trends is also crucial when developing an app.

The message is that coding may physically produce an app, but mobile app development relies on strategy and collaboration within a team of developers, marketers, and other experts from a variety of expertise.

2. Mobile app analytics data will tell you exactly how the app is performing

While mobile app analytics is helpful by providing a picture, or maybe even a 

prediction on how well the upcoming app will perform, every business should think beyond this feature. 

There is nothing wrong with looking at the entire data of an app, but make sure to look closer in order to truly know how well the app is performing.

Some of the other things to consider are looking at the screen for any minimal engagements, locating the complex engagements, and measuring and comparing the app’s performance on different screens, to simultaneously analyze and take note of important data points. 

Identifying specific metrics for conversions to follow is a skill to be worked upon. It is extremely important to not waste your time looking at irrelevant data. 

Yes, mobile app analytics should be a part of the process of mobile app development, but no person involved in the project should depend solely on this feature, but rather perceive it as a step within the process towards optimization and testing. 

3. Visitors will “magically” pour in once the app is live

As stated earlier, coding is not everything in mobile app development, as other fields have to be included in the process. For example, in order to get people downloading and using the app, marketing and advertising have to be incorporated.

Uploading an app is not the end, but rather the start of developing the app, because the app is useless without proper advertisement. Secondly, changes have to be made with development upgrades, based on how certain features are performing. It is important to A-B test the application thoroughly, to determine how it has to be enhanced. 

Campaigns and targeting a specific group of individuals throughout all relevant locations is the duty of the marketing team. Having no buzz around a newly introduced app is an absolute failure, regardless of how genius the app is.

One of the worst consequences of zero promotion is the lack of user feedback that can essentially be used to improve the app so that it can be commercially released. To move from an alpha to a beta version, this step is absolutely necessary. 

An app can be objectively awesome and great, but it matters how the app is showcased to the public. Mobile app development encompasses all of those requirements.

4. Creating a mobile app is super expensive

A mobile app is not completely cheap, but it does not take a billionaire to create and 

launch an app in the first place.

Many different factors dictate the total costs spent on developing an app properly. Some of those components are the number of features, platforms compatibility, the complexity of the interface design and animation, and type of employment. 

While the list can continue, the expenses are not as costly as one may think. A typical good-looking and functioning app can cost approximately up to $20,000 if the development is outsourced to Eastern Europe, for example.

Although other factors should be considered, such as the number of members on the team, the cost of the overall beta version of a mobile app is not as scary as it may seem.

5. The more features, the better

There are a few sayings that have the bottom line – “less is more”. Those mottos definitely are applicable in the case of mobile app development. 

Some may believe that if a developed app has many cool, tech-savvy, and advanced features, not only will the app be better by itself, but users will be more gravitated towards the final product. However, it is quite the opposite – the simpler the app, the more successful it will be in the long run.

With too many features, many things can go wrong, leading to the app being unsuccessful with users. The app can be unresponsive, too jam-packed, causing memory hogs and a huge amount of functional issues. This kind of interface would create a really bad user experience.

An app that has a clear purpose with a few defining features will succeed on so many 

more levels than one that seems to be so populated with features that the main idea and functionality of the app are lost.

While some myths have been debunked above, there are still plenty more that should not stop someone from developing an app the right way. The major lesson to be learned is that structured mobile app development needs specific and organized strategies to be implemented, in order to release a great app to the world.