Mobile app development has been on the up in the last five years. Smartphones and tablets are mostly to blame for this influx, and every day developers are dedicating time, money and effort into building mobile friendly, games, website apps, and handy tools for the smartphone age. When an app does or does not work well, it’s usually down to the thought which has been put into its usability. To improve your app development there are many things you should always keep in mind.

Testing is one of the most important phases of the development process. If you do not try out and test the functionality of the app, there is no way of knowing if it will do what it’s intended to achieve. Check out platforms like Artisan to power these tests, or give the app to a person outside of the project to see how well they use it.

You also need to know what your users want. There’s no point in creating an app which will not be of any use to the consumers. Take their motivations into account, and you’ll gain a better understanding of what they want. For example, if you were creating an app for playing Betfair Poker on a smartphone or tablet, your users needs would inevitably attract them to the app. They want to engage with the game, they want the interface to be simple, and they want to not have to read any instructions.

Of course, in order to make an app which caters to the users motivations, the design will need to be flawless. Never assume that the smartphone user is nifty with technology and software, because the vast majority, despite using mobile technology for a long time, are still novices. The app needs to be simple, so the design of the page and navigation should be simple too.

The amount of platforms are on the rise. To keep up and make your app as accessible and popular as possible, it ought to be available on several devices (smartphone, web, tablet, PC) and platforms (iOS, Google Play, Windows Phone etc.). Changing the app so it works on a different platform takes a lot of elbow grease, but the result is worth it.