What does it really take to build a successful mobile app in Africa? What will it cost, and how long will it take? Here’s what you need to know…
Need to invest in developing a mobile app in Africa?
Whether it’s for corporate venture building, a means to expand your current offering or to unlock new abilities within your organisation or supply chain, a new mobile product can be extremely successful – smartphone adoption on the continent is set to reach 87% by 2023.
See the current and future trends in mobile app development, how to select the best app developer for your project, top emerging trends and opportunities in app development in South Africa, how much it really costs to hire an app developer in Africa and how to find the best app developer in South Africa.
However, app development is a significant resource and time investment, and you want to be 100% sure that beyond the technical aspects of building a new software product, you can navigate the business strategies, stakeholder management and financial projections necessary to ensure success.
This post explores the practical side of developing a mobile app in Africa, covering everything from cost to timelines and required resources.
To provide a comprehensive understanding, we’ll break the process down into two broad categories:
Just like any product, a mobile app idea only becomes valuable once it's validated in the market. Developing and launching an app requires considerable effort and resources, so it’s crucial to ensure there's a demand for it. This involves conducting thorough market research, competitor analysis, stakeholder interviews, and feasibility studies to confirm that your app addresses a real need and that users are willing and able to pay for it.
Proper validation in Africa may also require understanding the unique challenges of the market, including regional preferences and infrastructure limitations.
See why your mobile app idea needs to go through concept validation first, then discover how to do it with app idea validation and then see exactly how long it takes to validate an idea, how to check if an app idea already exists and how to run some key validation experiments.
Next, learn how to test ideas with an MVP first, and gather user feedback to help you refine them before A-B testing to get down to exactly what you need to build.
Design in mobile app development is about much more than aesthetics. It’s critical for user experience (UX) and the performance of your app. A poor design can lead to a frustrating user experience, and up to 80% of mobile apps fail because of this. The design phase is your opportunity to test ideas, strengthen the app’s system architecture, and refine the user interface (UI).
In Africa, where mobile infrastructure and connectivity can vary greatly, it's essential to ensure your app's design is optimised for all types of devices and network conditions.
Get a full overview of the importance, function and resources needed in App Design.
Once the design phase is completed and approved by all stakeholders, the development process can begin. This is where the app's features are built, and all the research, testing, and preparation from earlier stages come together. At Specno, we bring a full team of developers, product owners, and designers to ensure a seamless app-building experience.
Have a look at our guide to the optimal app development process in Africa, where regional considerations, such as offline capabilities, may play a significant role.
Then ask us about developing your product. And to get the full picture of timelines and options for launching a new product, see our guide to how long it takes to create a new app and learn all you need to know about selecting your ideal app developer.
Even the most well-designed apps benefit from gradual rollouts. It's a good idea to start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), a version with just the core features, to test in the market. You can then gather feedback and make necessary adjustments before fully launching the app.
Allow time for testing and iteration to fine-tune the app’s features for your specific audience in Africa. Gather information from customers through customer interviews to inform how you should build your final product.
See the full guide to data-driven development and how to outsource app development in Africa.
Optimisation doesn’t stop at the launch. Once your mobile app is live, continuous improvements will be necessary. This includes both app performance (e.g., preventing crashes, refining UX) and external elements like marketing. You’ll need to grow awareness, get users to try your app, and then convert them into paying customers or active users.
At Specno, we are technical consulting specialists, and we can help you navigate the optimisation phase. Learn more about how to optimise your app conversion rate. See what to do if you have slow or low user growth. Then learn how to calculate your app engagement rate and what to do if you have low app engagement.
Then see how to increase app engagement, using this framework for your user engagement strategy and then learn how to increase active users.
Also see how to use analytics for better app user engagement.
Mobile apps vary in complexity, and this affects both the time and resources required for development. Simpler apps, such as those with basic functionality, are quicker to build. More complex apps that require advanced features, such as real-time data exchange or integration with multiple external systems, need more resources.
It’s important to understand the level of complexity your app will require to budget properly.
See our in-depth exploration of new app development.
Costs can accumulate at every stage of development, from idea validation to rollout. However, following a strategic, well-thought-out process reduces unnecessary expenses and increases the chances of success.
The good news is that Africa has many excellent developers and the favourable exchange rate means you can often get top-tier software development at a fraction of the price – see the cost to develop an app in South Africa, for example. Also see the future of app development in South Africa.
You can often save up to 90% on app design costs in Africa, around 25%-plus on app development costs and as much as 60%–80% if you use low-code development options. Also see how much it really costs to hire an app developer in Africa.
How long will it take to develop your app? The time required depends on the complexity of your app and the thoroughness of your preparation stages. From research and design to development and optimisation, each phase can take weeks or even months.
Explore the timelines you can expect with planning out and designing a successful product in our guide to app design time. And, for the actual coding and deployment, see our guide to app development time.
To build a successful app, you’ll need a team of skilled professionals. Depending on the complexity of your app, this may include UX designers, developers, product owners, marketing teams, project management and, depending on your product type, possibly even community managers and traffic control.
See what you need to build an internal app development team and have a look at the facts, figures, pros and cons of outsourcing and insourcing your development.
Specno offers the expertise and full-stack development team necessary to guide your app from concept to completion. Whether you’re looking to outsource or build an internal team, we can provide the support you need.
There’s a lot that goes into developing an app that works the first time, and that’s why we at Specno spent years building a multi-disciplinary team of tech experts.
To get your app created effectively, on time and with an immersive user experience, contact Specno now.
