Mobile App Basics
A mobile app is a software application designed to run on mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. Mobile apps are designed to suit the demands and constraints of such devices and are distributed through various app stores, including Google Play and Apple App Store.
There are three main types of mobile applications:
- Native apps, designed specifically for one particular platform (Android or iOS)
- Web-based apps
- Hybrid apps, combining the features of native and web-based apps
There are also two main monetization models for mobile apps. They are:
1. Direct sales;
2. Indirect sales which include strategies such as:
- In-app purchase
- iIn-app advertising
- Affiliate links
- Freemium upsell
- Sponsorship
- Etc.
How Much Can You Earn?
Once you’ve built a state-of-the-art mobile app, it’s time to start generating revenue from it. The sky’s the limit when it comes to earning on mobile apps. However, there are numerous factors you should take into consideration to get your app off the ground and make it a lucrative revenue stream. They include the category, platform and payment method, the time and effort invested in optimizing and promoting your app and even the name and the icon of your app.
Why Do You Need to Take Mobile App Development Courses?
We’ve already mentioned that the mobile app market is currently booming, and its earning potential is limitless. However, there are also hundreds of other app developers who want to cash in on building and selling mobile apps, and the competition is constantly increasing. For this reason, it is vital to develop professional, top-quality apps and learn all the ins and outs of mobile design, promotion and marketing, if you want to succeed in this niche. Fortunately, the internet abounds with online courses, guides and tutorials on all the aspects of mobile app creation.
Developing a Mobile App
This is the most crucial and the most discouraging stage for novices who want to create an app. Luckily, there are numerous online courses and tutorials which can teach you to make a mobile app from scratch and help you start off on the right foot in this sphere. We’ve chosen the best ones for you.
The List of Free Courses
1. Digital Skills: Mobile
Digital Skills: Mobile is a Futurelearn course which covers the foundations of mobile technology and explains key development and design approaches, which will allow you to make a successful mobile app. The course includes a test to validate your learning, and you’ll get a Certificate of Achievement if you pass it.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Basics of mobile technology
- Advantages of mobility in the digital context
- Main mobile design concepts
- 7 basic principles of designing a good app
- Key development approaches
- Internet of Things, its pros and cons
2. Build your first Android app
Build your first Android app, by Android developers, is a guide on how to build a “Hello World” project with Android studio and run it
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The algorithm of creating an Android Studio project
- Running your app
- Using the Android Studio Layout Editor for creating a layout
- Application fundamentals
- The overview of app resources
- App manifest file overview
- Permissions overview
3. Build your very first iOS app
Build your very first iOS app is an EdX self-paced introductory course by Curtin University which provides an overview of the basic tools, concepts and techniques necessary for creating an iOS app from scratch.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Using Swift and Xcode for building an app
- Variables and data types
- Interface Builder
- User Interface Development
- Controllers and navigation
- Using Model View Controller design pattern
4. CodeWithChris
CodeWithChris is a video tutorial for novices in app development which will teach you to make an app even without any coding experience.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Making an iOS app in 10 lessons
- Swift programming and building your app
- Using XCode to build iPhone apps
- Playing sound in your app
- Making a YouTube video app
- Building a shopping app with Moltin
- Solutions to programming challenges
- App store optimization and the marketing of your app
The List of Paid Courses
5. Building a Mobile App: What you ABSOLUTELY need to know!
Building a Mobile App: What you ABSOLUTELY need to know! is an introductory course which will provide you with basic knowledge on how to build a mobile app.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- How to create a convincer
- How to undertake the SWOT analysis of your app
- Creating paper prototypes (templates provided)
- Developing an app
- Testing an app
- How to market your app and provide support
6. The Complete Android Developer Course: Beginner To Advanced!
The Complete Android Developer Course: Beginner To Advanced! is a comprehensive course for those who are eager to start creating Android apps. The course offers a certificate of completion and can be accessed from a mobile device or displayed on TV.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- How to install Java JDK and Android Studio
- The basics of Android
- Activities and States explained
- Widgets, pixels and layout
- Handling events in Android
- App design and buttons
- How to create an overflow menu
- Intents and threads
7. iOS Development for Creative Entrepreneurs Specialization
iOS Development for Creative Entrepreneurs Specialization is an all-embracing course which will help you master the skill of building iOS apps and earn a certificate to share with prospective employers.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The basics of Objective-C programming language
- Security in iOS applications
- Developing sophisticated user interfaces for iOS
- The secrets of creating networked games
- The fundamentals of the Swift programming language
8. Google: Associate Android Developer (AAD)
Google: Associate Android Developer (AAD) is a course which will prepare you for the Associate Android Developer Certification exam and provides you with all the knowledge and skills necessary to build productive and profitable Android apps.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The fundamentals of Android applications
- Android tools and testing
- How to manage Android App data with the help of SQLite
- How to leverage the power of the Android platform
Promoting and Monetizing a Mobile App
In the past it used to be really simple to monetize your app. It just had to be innovative, top quality and provide some value to consumers. Nowadays, however, the global mobile app market is uber-competitive, and it takes much more effort and dedication to market a mobile application. Below, we’ll list hands-on courses which can teach you the most effective up-to-date monetization and promotional mobile strategies.
The List of Free Courses
1. App Monetization by Google
App Monetization by Google is a self-paced course taught by industry pros which will teach you how to develop and implement a sustainable monetization strategy for your app.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Various monetization models and profit margins
- KPIs
- How to acquire and retain consumers
- Monetization strategies for different platforms such as freemium, subscription, e-commerce, etc.
- Setting up tracking to monitor the effectiveness of your monetization strategies
- Google Analytics and other tracking tools
- Re-engaging consumers in case your strategies fail, etc.
2. Monetize your Android Applications
Monetize your Android Applications course is a part of the GalileoX Android Developer MicroMasters Program. This is a six-week course which explains how to tweak your mobile app for success and start generating considerable revenue from it.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- App markets and distribution models
- Providing value to consumers
- Monetization strategies
- The important metrics of app monetization
- Android analytics and reporting
- Notifications
- The basics of Admob
- Banner and Interstitial ads in an app
3. Monetize your app
Monetize your app is a PlayAcademy course which aims at teaching learners how to develop a monetization strategy to earn on Google Play.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Managing your app’s price
- Managing orders
- How to analyze and boost your monetization strategy
- Setting up subscriptions
- Growing your subscriptions
The List of Paid Courses
4. The Complete App Marketing Course
The Complete App Marketing Course will reveal secret ASO strategies to boost your app’s performance and increase your revenue.
What Topics You Will Cover?
- The importance of app marketing
- Validating your ideas
- The difference between iOS and Android monetization strategies
- Optimizing app store listing
- Hacking techniques for app downloads
- Getting your app features on the App Store
- ASO
- Driving downloads through paid advertising
- Getting 5-star reviews
- Implementing Google Analytics to retain users
- White Hat techniques vs Black Hat techniques
5. Hands-On App Marketing Course: Learn How To Monetize Your Apps
Hands-On App Marketing Course: Learn How To Monetize Your Apps is a course including 57 lessons, you’ll learn how to build high-conversion mobile apps.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- XCode projects
- Initializing Chatboost in XCode with code
- Adding framework and dependencies
- SDK
- Getting the Android developer license, etc.
6. Mobile App Marketing Masterclass
Mobile App Marketing Masterclass is a comprehensive course which will help you leverage the most powerful strategies for marketing an app.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Keywords selection
- Most popular monetization models
- Creating additional customer value
- Maximum marketing investment per new user
Testing, Debugging and Analyzing Your App
The main aim of every developer is to provide a painless and pleasant experience for their consumers. To achieve this, you have to invest a lot of time and effort into testing, debugging and analyzing your app. The following courses and guides will teach you the basics of these processes.
The List of Free Courses
1. Mobile App Testing Tutorials (A Complete Guide with 30+ Tutorials)
Mobile App Testing Tutorials (A Complete Guide with 30+ Tutorials) covers various topics of mobile testing from defining basic testing concepts to getting a job in testing.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Android and iOS testing
- Overcoming mobile testing challenges
- Field testing for mobile
- Phone model vs OS version
- UI testing
- Mobile testing services
- Blazemeter for testing mobile apps performance
- The most effective mobile testing tools
- Mobile automation testing.
2. Test your app
Test your app guide by Android developers aims at making the testing process as simple as possible by explaining its fundamentals and peculiarities.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Test types and location
- How to run a test
- Viewing test results
- Running tests with Gradle and ADB
- How to use the am instrument command
- Implementing Espresso Test Recorder for creating UI tests
- Stress-testing applications with the Exerciser Monkey.
3. The Android Studio Debugger
The Android Studio Debugger is a part of Android Developer Fundamentals Course which will help you find and fix errors and unexpected behavior in your code.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The basics of debugging
- How to run the debugger
- How to use breakpoints
- Stepping through code
- How to inspect and modify variables
- How to set watches
- How to evaluate expressions
- Other tools for debugging
4. Mobile App Analytics Fundamentals
Mobile App Analytics Fundamentals by Google Academy is a video tutorial which will teach you how to implement analytics to tweak your app for success.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Marketing and analysis tools
- App revenue models
- Acquisition channels
- High-value users
- Screen and event tracking
- Identifying roadblocks to revenue
- How to re-engage existing users and remarket to new ones.
The List of Paid Courses
5. Mobile App Analytics for Developers
Mobile App Analytics for Developers is a course which describes how to leverage analytics for making your app more productive and increasing conversion rates.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The reasons for implementing analytics
- Google Analytics for Fireboard
- Dashboard
- Adding Firebase to the app
- Auto-collected events
- Predefined events
- Custom events
- User properties
- Sessions
- StreamView
- Conversion events
- Funnels
6. Mobile App Testing-Android/iOS App Test Automation with Java
Mobile App Testing-Android/iOS App Test Automation with Java is a complete course on advanced mobile apps testing using Java.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The fundamentals of mobile testing
- Tools for mobile testing
- Android mobile testing
- Leveraging Java for mobile testing automation
- Changing user agent
- Mobile automation on Gmail
7. Effective Android Testing for Mobile Developers
Effective Android Testing for Mobile Developers is a project-based course which will teach learners how to implement testing in the development process.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The reasons for testing
- Local vs. on-device
- Code coverage
- UI testing
- Hermetic environment
- Robot pattern
- Model-View-Presenter
- Testing with MVP
Other Courses for Boosting Your App’s Performance
The List of Free Courses
1. Advanced Android Developer Course
Advanced Android Developer Course provides you with a series of codelabs and will teach you how to integrate advanced features into your app.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Fragments and fragment communication
- Creating an app widget
- Getting sensor data
- How to add language support to your app
- Exploring Android accessibility and creating accessible apps
- Device location
- Google maps
- Creating and drawing on Canvas objects
2. Enrich your iOS apps with dynamic content and advanced presentation
Enrich your iOS apps with dynamic content and advanced presentation is a course which will uncover the secrets of creating engaging and high-conversion mobile apps.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Getting ready for development
- Developing an interactive app skeleton
- Creating dynamic content
3. Mobile Design and Usability for iOS
Mobile Design and Usability for iOS by Facebook for developers is a course which explains how to implement the user-centered approach into mobile development and build user-friendly apps.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- Conducting user research
- Defining user types
- Guiding prototyping with the data you’ve collected
- Usability testing methods
- Guide a feature redesign with the insight gathered from users
The List of Paid Courses
4. Android App Development: Localization and Internationalization
Android App Development: Localization and Internationalization is a course which will teach you the basics of internalization and localization to help you expand your app and reach consumers worldwide.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The difference between localization and internalization
- Choosing target markets
- Device locale
- How to translate your app
- How to test and release the app you’ve translated
5. Android Development: Building Battery-Conscious Apps
Android Development: Building Battery-Conscious Apps is a guide which will help you develop apps which are more battery efficient.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The fundamentals of battery usage
- What causes battery drain
- Alarm Manager
- How to prevent battery drain with Job Scheduler
- How to handle Android Doze mode
- The Battery Historian tool for diagnosing battery issues
6. iOS Development: Security
iOS Development: Security is a course which covers the means Apple provides to protect personal data from any security breach.
What Topics Will You Cover?
- The basics of iOS security
- Protecting user data
- Keychain
- File data protection
- Using biometrics to secure apps
- Touch ID and Face ID
- Asymmetric encryption and decryption.
