Have you been eyeing up for the best app development partner for your startup to begin your journey in a digital platform? If yes, then San Francisco can be an ultimate place to search for the best mobile app developers as over the years this city has grabbed the attention from all across the globe due to its rapidly rising tech market. Not only San Francisco has generated better opportunities for app developers but also provided highly talented and experienced developers with a potential platform to collaborate with businesses and startups, looking for app solutions. 

Now the question is, “how will you make a perfect choice of mobile app developer when there are hundreds of app development companies offering highly scalable solutions in 2023 and claiming themselves best over others?”.

Investing in a mobile application can indeed be an additional financial burden for startups. Still, you can’t take the risk of hiring app developers that offering you the lowest development cost. Choosing app developers based on their costing can be the biggest mistake. Instead, there are several other things to look for to find the right development partner for the startup.

So if you are worried that from where you need to get started, what to look for the in-app development company and how to choose the right app developer in San Francisco, then you have landed at the right place. This blog has all the answers to your query.

But before getting into the detail of hiring a developer, you must be wondering why it has become an urgent need of the hour?

Here are some stats and facts portraying the increasing importance of having a mobile application for your business:

• According to the Clutch survey report conducted with 351 small companies and managers, it is concluded that 42% of small businesses currently have a mobile app, and 30% are planning to develop an app. 
• The forecast from the survey report has revealed that 28% of small businesses have primarily built the app for attracting new customers.
• The latest market report says that mobile apps are expected to generate $189 billion in revenue by 2020.
• 90% of mobile time users are spending on mobile applications and using approx 30 apps in a month.

The revenue generated from the in-app advertising and mobile app downloads are projected to create more than $935 billion in 2023.

Image Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/

To conclude these figures and stats, it is fair enough to say that mobile app is not going anywhere in future and if you want to secure your foothold in the market for the next decade. It is essential to hire a development company in 2023.

So how will you choose the right app developer for your startup? Here’s what you need to consider while searching for the development partner…

Let’s spilt the points in different categories to understand the things in a deep:

• Determining Your App Need: What you are trying to achieve through the mobile app, its budget and platform?
• Prepare a Questionnaire: Ask the specific questions while selecting the app developer.
• Understanding the Development Company: Know What Features You Need To Look for in a Development Company?

Let’s understand each point in detail to make the best decision for your startup:

Determining Your App Needs: Why You Are Creating this App?

Instead of directly reaching out to the top three mobile app development companies in San Francisco, it is worth preparing a list of relevant information. And before getting into the deep of development team hiring tips, firstly you need to find out answers to these questions:

• What are you trying to achieve through this app?
• What do you expect your app will deliver to your user?
• What budget can you afford to invest in mobile app development?
• What type of app do you need to develop?
• For which platform you need to develop an app: iOS or Android?

Once you have answers to all these questions regarding your expectations, budget and the app platforms, you are ready to jump on the next phase of the development process. 

Prepare a Questionnaire: Ask all the Potential Questions To Developers to Know More About Their Services

Whether you want to develop an eCommerce mobile app or an on-demand food app, hiring an app developer from a reputed software development company will always benefit you. Not only it helps you deliver robust solutions integrated with the latest technologies and proven methodologies but also bridging a gap between your goals and success.

Let’s understand what type of questions you need to ask a development company:

1. What Type of Mobile Solutions Do You Develop?

The easiest way to determine the expertise of developers is to check the work portfolio of the company. This will help you determine whether a developer is a good fit for your business needs, or does they have relevant experience in building an app that you are looking for your startup.

For example; if you want to target a vast user base, then you need to hire a developer that can release an app that runs on both major operating systems such as Android, iOS and Windows.

Make sure they just not only use appropriate programming languages and technologies to develop an app for multiple platforms but also expertise in producing apps for various platforms. 

2. What is Your Mobile App Development Process?

You will always prefer to work with a development company that maintains transparency in the process and offers you end-to-end development services. Moreover, the company you hire for the app development should follow agile methodologies and a transparent well-established process that involves you throughout their development process.

Also, before hiring the company, make sure to ask these few questions from  the development team:

• How will they update you about the project progress?
• Who will be the point of contact person?
• Will they appoint you any project manager or you need to coordinate with the developers individually?
• What will be the mode of communication: Skype, email or chats?

3. How Do You Keep Mobile App Development Idea Secure With You?

App idea security is the topmost priority of any company looking forward to hiring app developers. To make sure that they won’t pass your project idea or won’t be using it for their purpose, they must sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with you.

Secondly, a most important document that they should include to protect your app idea is the Non-Competence Clause (NCC) which disallow the development company to pursue any idea or project that is in direct competition with your app. 

You should make sure that the company is ready to sign these confidential agreements with you to keep the app security high.

4. What Kind of Value That Development Company Can Offer You?

Usually, our choices are depending upon the price of the things, whether it be a product or the company. But, when it comes to choosing the mobile app development company, you need to understand what value they offer you at the given price. 

There are many development companies that enable you to hire a developer with as low as $10 per hour cost, but they compromise with the quality. But on the other side, the one with the higher price will provide you with excellent quality, but that can put a significant burden on your budget. So you never know which one you should choose?

However, the best way is to analyse the case studies, talk to the previous clients, get the feedback from the clients, interview the developer to know their experience and knowledge.

5. What is Your App Development Strategy?

There are approx 5 million applications available on the app store, so to make your app stand out from the crowd, you need to adopt unique methodology and latest technology for the app development.

So it is essential to understand whether the app developer follows one fit-for-all strategy or they analyse your business requirement to develop a business growth solution. Make sure they have a team of experts that help you right from conceptualisation to the deployment of the app.

6. Do You Provide Support and Maintenance After the App Launch?

No matter how excellent features you have integrated into your app, to keep it updated with the latest features and make it running smoothly, you need a post-app-launch support and maintenance service from the app development company. 

Most apps will need updates after they launch to keep a track on security vulnerabilities and other issues that may arise. With actively monitoring the potential issues, the developer can quickly fix the problem promptly. 

7. How Do You Handle App Testing?

Every year thousands of applications have been launched in-app store, but 80-90% is being uninstalled within the first three days after the first use. The standalone reason is the poor app experience. The reason can be anything – design, development process, bugs, sophisticated design, high load time and more. That is where quality assurance engineers come into the role and deeply test all the major elements of the app to ensure its smooth functioning on all across the platforms.

Before hiring any app development company, it is worth checking what testing methods they use and recommend specifically for your app. 

8. Do you provide support to launch the app on the operating system?

So you have developed a brilliant app with the outstanding features but what if it fails to launch on the operating platform. So will they provide any support to submit the app on the preferred operating platform? Make sure that the development company will provide guidance on creating the app and present it on the app store. 

Understanding the Development Company: Know What Features You Need To Look for in Development Company?

Before you hire mobile app developer, you need to deeply analyse the profile of the app development company. So let’s start with the important tech things to look for in the developer:

• Go Beyond the App Portfolio of the development company

Usually, businesses analyse the nature of the development work by simply reviewing the portfolio and reviews and feedback of the past clients, but this time you need to go beyond that to test the design of the app.

You need to check whether the apps convey a strong understanding of the usability, UX Design and behavioural design? Are they really engaging and easy to access by the users? and more. 

• Understand the Technology of App Development

The skills of the development team must match your business needs. Basically it depends upon your choice of platform on which you need to launch your app. 

For example, Android app developers are specialised in working on Java and XML programming languages whereas iOS solutions are developed with Swift, C++ or Objective. However, for cross-platform applications, you need to look for the team having solid command on Flutter, React Native, Xamarin or other cross-platform programming languages. 

• How They Help You Earn From The Mobile App?

There are various types of applications available in the market that use a different app monetization strategy to make a profit from the apps. So make sure the developer should have knowledge of choosing the right app monetization strategy to easily convert app users into the revenue. 

For example, if you are using the in-app advertising method for monetizing the app, then make sure the advertisements should be relevant to the nature of the app and it should not distract the users. 

An experienced developer will always know how to optimize each monetization strategy effectively.

Conclusion

Developing a mobile app has become an urgent need of the hour for all businesses, but many of you are in a big puzzle from where you should start your journey. To help you find the best mobile app development partner in San Francisco, I have listed down some of the guidelines that not only make your task easier but also minimize the risk of making any mistake in the hiring process.

If you are still in a doubt or looking for the expert developers to discuss your business needs, then you are just one call away from Xicom Technologies. For more details, you can also go through the portfolio or you can Contact Us, our experts will provide you with the best solution for your business needs by simply keeping in mind your budget limits and market trends.