"Proper preparation, prevents poor performance."

1. We would highly recommend that you create a "Story-board" for your app before you even start. What do you want it to do? What information will be accessed, how and from what point?
2. Choose a template design from the Demo option on this site that suits your needs. If you can't find one you like, then send an email to support@buildanapp.com.au with your own design and we'll make one to suit.
3. Make sure that you have all the images and content you need to at least build a base app. You can check the description of the template you've chosen, to determine the images you will need and their sizes.
4. If you want an IOS (Apple) version of your app, you will need an Apple Organisation Developers Account. Its best to have this ready before you start, so that you have the details ready when you want to publish your app.

We have a guide that you can read below, or download. Also available as a download is a spreadsheet where you can put in the answers to the questions and a PowerPoint file to help you piece together your design.

Guide
Spreadsheet
Powerpoint

The first thing is to set out your Goals
Can you clearly identify half a dozen key objectives that will help you achieve your goals?

Who are your target audience?
Probably one of the most important questions. If you know your target Audience, then you can start to design the app based on what they want or need.

How can a mobile app help you achieve your goal?
Knowing what your goals are and who your target audience is, will naturally lead to "what do you need in a mobile app" to help you achieve those goals?

In most cases good communication is required to achieve any goal.
The first mobile phones had this covered by allowing you to speak to other phone users wherever you were. SMS was introduced to allow you to send text messages. SMS is heavily used but is considered by most to be a very personal space. Uninvited SMS messages are considered to be invasive. With the mobile phone moving to a smartphone, we now have emails and a myriad of apps like Messenger, Line, WhatsApp, Skype and Viber that will help you communicate.
Emails have become the prime vehicle for spammers and people who want to distribute viruses. Consequently confidence in Emails is starting to wane. Emails have to go through firewalls, spam filters and mail server rules that make it easy to miss important emails.
The WhatsApp, Viber etc. are all readily available for anyone to use and require each user to accept a request before communications can occur. With the BuildAnApp solution you can take all of this one step further. With the Chat feature you still need to make a request and have it accepted to "Chat" to another app user. However the app owner has complete control over who can communicate with who with and add that next level security. From the website the app owner can send out news, surveys, forms, updates, vouchers, tickets and more.
How would you use these tools to help you achieve your goals?

What are the main tools that you want people to use in your app?
This will help you design the home page of your app. Which tools will help you achieve your goal?

• What information do you need your users to have at their fingertips?
• Are the communications tools a key?
• Do you need forms, or Surveys as a key?
• Is e-commerce a key?

App Design
Once you have worked out what you want the app to do, now you can start to design it. If you have a website already, then it is best to keep the look and feel consistent with your website. You want to keep the home page clean and easy to navigate, with the most used tools easily accessible. This is the first place people will be taken when they open your app. So you need to present the tools that meet your objectives clearly.

Are Icons or Menu's better for you on the home page?
As Apps are accessed via Icons, if you have been able to identify half a dozen key features, it is best to present access to them via "Icons" or Buttons" on your home screen. If you have more than that, using drop down menus might be a better option, which also leaves more room to have a "Hero" image that portrays the "feel" for your app. Of course you can use both!

Images
Apps are very visual. A good design will often make the difference to the success of your app. This means that making sure that you have the right images is very important.
Although we have a gallery of some free backgrounds, buttons and icons, you will more than likely need to obtain the images you want for your app. If you already have a website, more often than not you can grab images from there. Otherwise there are plenty of sites you can go to that offer both free and paid images. For things like buttons, if you're not a graphic designer, PowerPoint is a great tool for creating buttons, even 3D ones. Although you may need other graphics tools to add text or crop your images.

E-commerce
When looking at e-commerce, which is also referred to as m-commerce if via a mobile app, the determination on how you tackle it starts with whether or not you have a web based e-commerce solution. If you do, then the quickest, cheapest and easiest option is to simply add a link from your App to your web based e-commerce. This then negates the need to try and synch your products, create new payment methods and pretty much re-invent the wheel.
If you don't have a web based e-commerce solution then you need to ask yourself whether you intend to or not. If you do, then it is best to either look at doing that first, or looking at a fully integrated solution for both mobile and web.
For the fully integrated solution we work with our country partner in the Philippines called Xtendly who have a web based e-commerce solution. The integration is there so that every time you update the web solution, it automatically updates the app. This way you can have a native app solution that can work with all the functions and features of the device it's used on as well as a full blown web based solution.
For the Mobile app only e-commerce, which works particularly well with industries such as Restaurants, the native mobile app solution is the only way to go. If you later decide to go web based as well, you can always go the fully integrated route.

Need Help?
To help you get things moving, we have put together an Excel Spreadsheet which you can use to answer your basic questions and a PowerPoint file to help you put together your basic app design. Using PowerPoint of course means that you can also use it to present your app design to your team.

What if you can't find the features you want?
If you can't find the features that you want, then simply ask. Download the BuildAnApp Own app from the stores and use the "Support Request" form to submit a request. More often than not we can build in that feature for you, or if needs be, build you a completely bespoke app.

All sound too hard?
For many all this sounds too hard. Building a tool that is highly reliant on graphics can be quiet daunting. That is why we have built a network of Country Partners and Resellers to help. Our Resellers are typically digital marketers, or web designers. So they know this space and are well equipped to help you go from idea to reality. If you have a web team that you already work with, let us know and if they aren't already a Reseller, we can look at setting them up as one.
Using our platform our Resellers don't need to be mobile app developers any more than you do. The simple drag and drop technology makes it easy for anyone to build an app once they have everything they need ready to go. What we can provide is a quick and easy to use platform that can provide you the app that you want, and keep the costs down. If you need the help of a Reseller, then just let us know and we'll find someone close to you who can help.

"Drag and Drop Build Process"

1. There is a little bit of setup, to ensure that we have things like splash screens and your app registration pages sorted. But once that's done its mostly "drag and drop".
2. Upload the images you have prepared or select buttons and icons from our Galleries available to everyone.
3. Content pages of information, menu's, product lists, forms, surveys and more are all built using our online HTML builder. Simply drag and drop the sections you want and input your content.
4. If you need help, there are videos to take you through each step of the way both in the builder and available under "Tutorials – Building".

"Check it out"

1. If you have an Android device, simply enter your phone number and we will send you an SMS with a link to an APK you can install on the device and a code to enter into the settings page.
2. You will be able to go through all aspects of he app you have just built and make sure that it is want you want before you publish it.
3. IOS testing is a little more complex due to Apple's policies. If you need to test on an IOS device, send an email to iossupport@buildanapp.com.au and we will reply with the requirements to enable you to test on IOS.

"Publish your App"

1. Add developer@buildanapp.com.au as an admin to your apple developer account, click on the publish button on your new app build and then let us take care of everything for you.
2. You're app will get published to Apple and Google within 48 hours. Android apps will typically be available in store the same day. Apple can take up to 2 weeks.