The mobile app build process consists of a few stages.
1. Logo and Photos from customer
To get started, we need your logo (if you have one) in a high resolution format or vector. If you don't have either of these, you can send the best you have and we can try our best to work wit it. We also have a simple stock logo you could use.
The photos should be about 5-20 great photos. For churches these would include the church inside, church outside, people praying, people doing activities etc. For schools, interior and exterior shots would also be helpful as well as students doing activities and learning. Other organizations should send the best photos they have. We ultimately only need one photo to get started, but 5-20 really helps us pick out some good ones for the home page slideshow of the app.
You can email the logo and photos to us or you can upload them here: https://form.jotformz.com/2781948638
2. We create the initial designs for you.
We will take the logo and photos and create 3 things for you.
- icon.png: the little button you push on the phone to launch the app (The app icon name will appear below the app icon on the user's phone/tablet.)
- loading.png: the page that shows for a moment when the app is loading if the app was not already running in the background
- home page images images that rotate in and out on the home page of the app (like a slideshow)
We will also make suggestions for the app store names.
We generally have these initial designs to you within one week of when you provide the logo and photos.
3. We build a simple version of the app for submission to the Apple and Android stores.
Apple and Android have an approval process for their apps. Because of the upload and approval process the app is out of our hands for some time.
The building and waiting for approval usually takes 3-6 weeks total. This is after you have approved the designs from step 2.
4. We add additional content and prepare the app for you.
We provide you with log in information to the app editor so that you can update and maintain the app going forward.
We also provide you with a great promotional flyer and a unique URL for promoting your app.
We also provide you with a checklist of app promotion ideas.
This usually takes us 1 week or less.
5. You Launch the App
You make any final tweaks using the app editor and then launch the app when ready.
Why we wait until Step 4 to work on final content
Because the app approval process is out of our hands and the timeline can vary, we prefer to get this variable out of the way as soon possible. In this way, once the app is approved, the customer can launch and promote the app as soon as the content is finalized. If we waited to finalize content before app submission, there is a greater possibility that the variable length app approval process could extend beyond the desired launch time of the app.
Also, if the customer had access to the app editor during the approval stage it is possible that the customer might be changing or editing content while Apple/Android are testing the app and this could result in the app being rejected. It is also possible that the customer could leave some content unfinished or a picture missing, which also could result in the app being rejected. A rejected app requires resubmission and an extended waiting period.
Lastly, it is much easier for the customer to conduct internal testing on the finalized app. Fortunately, most end users will not know the app is available until it is advertised, so, it usually makes sense to get a simple version of the app approved before extensive content tweaking is applied.
Overall this timeline works very well because we are able to submit an app with very limited information. This allows the customer time to gather and prepare content while the app is being built. The end result is the fastest possible app build time.
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