Assistant App

iStudiez Pro

Awesome Note

Foursquare

Nota

Starmatic

piictu

Dropbox

Jambalaya

Static

LetterSchool

Leaflet

Keymote

Statnut

ChowNow

Flight Card

Blip Me

Ecoki

Sound Asleep+

Ballpark

Camera+

Wehostels

Hipstamatic

Circle

Cocktails

Pair

Square

Duet

dribbblr

Localmind

#1. Ignoring the importance of pixels

Pixels are more important than ever, as more and more screens become retina resolution the pixels in your icon becomes more and more important. Remember that just because your icon looks amazing at 512 pixels it might look horrible at smaller sizes, you need to consider the fact that icon design is not a one fits all item.

Mezzoblue have a really good article called Icon Design Sizing, it covers topics such as designing small icons and the things you need to beware of.

When designing your icons however you also need to remember that not only does your icon need to look nice on a small screen but it also needs to look beautiful on a larger screen, remember that some people zoom in on the iPad and you don’t want your beautiful icon to look like a pixilated mess when zoomed in.

#2. Adding text on the icon

This is really an important mistake that unfortunately too many developers still make. Is it might be tempting to add the name of your app in the icon, however unless people have Jailbroken their devices and removed the app names, guess what they are located right underneath the icon.

Secondly remember that these icons are small on the screen and in most cases users can’t even read the text you have added on the icon. To get our point across we have created a sample icon using Mobile Orchard. As you can see when the icon is smaller it is nearly impossible to read the text on there.

#3 Icon is too similar to other icons

This is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes people make when designing their app icon. You really need to make sure your icons are not too similar to existing ones. If your icon looks too much like another icon then people will get confused.

Take a look at the icons above, they are really similar, in the past Apple has actually been known to reject apps  with an icon that is too similar to already existing apps due to their anti cloning rules. These rules don’t only apply to the apps themselves but also to their icons.

#4. Forgetting about other cultures

If you plan on adding your app to foreign App Stores then you really need to be careful when creating the icon. Remember that Cultural traditions and in particular gestures can mean very different things in different countries.

A real life example could be giving someone the OK sign, in the United States this would mean everything OK, however in some countries such as Brazil this pretty much means the same as using the middle finger. Get the message, you need to consider the countries in which you icon will be used.

#5. Forgetting who the audience is

Before you even begin designing your app icon you really need to sit back and think about who your audience is.

If you were creating an app for toddlers your icon would have to look very different to the kind of app you would create if you were designing an app for a Fortune 500 company. While an app icon for children might be filled with a whole bunch of bright colors you might want to use more conservative colors when creating an icon for a financial app.

#6. Too much clutter

Our final suggestion is actually just as important as the others, you really don’t want to create a cluttered icon as it will be hard for users to understand the purpose of your app.

Furthermore as we have discussed earlier once the apps a scaled down to a small size it will be nearly impossible to decipher the purpose behind your icon.

In other words watch out with adding too many different elements to your icon. Furthermore if you think back to our cultural suggestions, remember that the simpler you keep the icon the smaller the risk of offending someone in another culture if you decide to enter international markets.

Conclusion

There you have it our six suggestions for creating a better App icon. Of course there are many other mistakes you can make when creating an icon, however these are some of the most common mistakes made by designers. However if you think we have forgotten something feel free to leave us a comment.

#1. Programming in Objective-C

Author: Stephen G. Kochan
Price: $28.01
Buy Now

Programming in Objective-C is a concise, carefully written tutorial on the basics of Objective-C and object-oriented programming for Apple’s iOS and Mac platforms. The book makes no assumptions about prior experience with object-oriented programming languages or with the C language (which Objective-C is based upon). Because of this, both beginners and experienced programmers alike can use this book to quickly and effectively learn the fundamentals of Objective-C. Readers can also learn the concepts of object-oriented programming without having to first learn all of the intricacies of the underlying C programming language.

#2. iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

Author: Joe Conway
Price: $29.55
Buy Now

iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide leads you through the essential concepts, tools, and techniques for developing iOS applications. After completing this book, you will have the understanding, the know-how, and the confidence you need to tackle iOS projects of your own.

Based on Big Nerd Ranch’s popular iOS Bootcamp course and its well-tested materials and methodology, this best-selling guide teaches iOS concepts and coding in tandem. The result is instruction that is relevant and useful.

Throughout the book, the authors clearly explain what’s important to know and share their insights into the larger context of the iOS platform. This gives you a real understanding of how iOS development works, the many features that are available, and when and where to apply what you’ve learned.

#3.  iOS 6 Development Unleashed

Author: Robert McGovern
Price: $31.49
Buy Now

Packed with code, this is the only book that covers the full range of intermediate-to-advanced iOS development topics in tutorial/reference form.

Expert author Kevin Languedoc follows the natural flow of application design, development, testing, and deployment, and reviews each essential design pattern and development model available for building world-class iOS 6 apps.

iOS 6 Development Unleashed offers extraordinarily thorough coverage of iOS 6 app development techniques.

#4. The Core iOS 6 Developer’s Cookbook

Author: Erica Sadun
Price: $25.10
Buy Now

The Core iOS 6 Developer’s Cookbook brings together reliable, proven solutions for the heart of day-to-day iOS 6 development. World-renowned iOS programming expert Erica Sadun covers all the classes you’ll need to create successful iOS 6 mobile apps with standard APIs and interface elements and take full advantage of iOS 6 graphics, touches, and views.

As in her previous bestselling iOS books, Sadun translates today’s development best practices into working code, distilling key concepts into concise recipes that are easy to understand and transfer into your own projects. This isn’t just cut-and-paste; using her examples, Sadun fully explains both the “how” and “why” of effective iOS 6 development.

All code has been fully revised and extensively tested to reflect the latest iOS 6 features and the newest iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch capabilities. Throughout, every chapter groups related tasks together, so you can jump straight to your solution, without having to identify the right class or framework first. Coverage includes.

#5. Beginning iOS 6 Development: Exploring the iOS SDK

Author: David Mark, Jack Nutting, Jeff LaMarche and Fredrik Olsson
Price:$22.53
Buy Now

The team that brought you the bestselling Beginning iPhone Development is back again for Beginning iOS 6 Development, bringing this definitive guide up-to-date with Apple’s latest and greatest iOS 6 SDK, as well as with the latest version of Xcode.

There’s coverage of brand new technologies, with chapters on storyboards and iCloud, for example, as well as significant updates to existing chapters to bring them in line with all the changes that came with the iOS 6 SDK. You’ll have everything you need to create your very own apps for the latest iOS devices, including the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the latest iPod touch. Every single sample app in the book has been rebuilt from scratch using latest Xcode and the latest 64-bit iOS 6-specific project templates and designed to take advantage of the latest Xcode features.

Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Beginning iOS 6 Development offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch programming. The book starts with the basics, walking through the process of downloading and installing Xcode and the iOS 6 SDK, and then guides you though the creation of your first simple application.

#6. Sams Teach Yourself iOS 6 Application Development in 24 Hours

Author: John Ray
Price: $25
Buy Now

In just 24 sessions of one hour each, learn how to build powerful applications for today’s hottest handheld devices: the iPhone and iPad! Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll master every skill and technology you need, from setting up your iOS development environment to building great responsive user interfaces, from sensing motion to writing multitasking applications. Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!

#7. Appreneur – Secrets to Success in the App Store

Author: Taylor A Pierce
Price: $15
Buy Now

You are interested in making an app. You have read all of the stories of successful developers and appreneurs. You are determined to get a piece of the pie. The world of apps is the fastest growing market in the world today, and it is here to stay. The best part is you can get in on it! Now what if I told you that without the knowledge contained in this book the odds of you making a profit are slim to none? What if I also told you that you probably wouldn’t break even? There is more to apps than most people think. The average person assumes that if they make an app, they will instantly become a millionaire. The truth is without the knowledge from years of successes and failures, you just won’t know where to begin. This book contains tips, tricks, secrets, and stories from the top developers, appreneurs, and companies from around the globe. After reading this book, you will have the knowledge to bring your idea to life, market it, promote it, and sell it in a way that would have otherwise been impossible.

#8. iPhone iOS 6 Development Essentials

Author: Neil Smyth
Price: $29
Buy Now

he aim of iPhone iOS 6 Development Essentials is to teach you the skills necessary to build your own applications for the iPhone. Beginning with the basics, this book provides an overview of the architecture of iOS 6. Introductions to Xcode and programming in Objective-C are provided followed by an in-depth look at the design of iPhone applications and user interfaces. More advanced topics such as user interface layout, file handling, database management, graphics drawing and animation are also covered, as are touch screen handling, multitasking, in-app purchasing, iCloud storage, camera access and video playback. New iOS 6 specific features are also covered in detail including Facebook integration, Auto Layout, Apple Maps, Collections, Reminders and user interface state preservation. iPhone iOS 6 Development Essentials takes a modular approach to the subject of iOS 6 application development with each chapter covering a self contained topic area with detailed explanations, examples and tutorials. This makes the book both an easy to follow learning aid and an excellent reference resource.

#9. Flying with Objective C – iOS App Development for Non-Programmers

Author: Kevin McNeish
Price: $20
Buy Now

This second book in the series from Kevin McNeish, award-winning App Developer, highly acclaimed iOS trainer and conference speaker, is specifically designed to teach non-programmers Objective-C; the language used to create Apps for the iPhone and iPad. Many books designed for the beginning Apple developer assume way too much. In contrast, this book series assumes you know nothing about programming.

Book 2: Flying with Objective-C builds on what you learned in Book 1: Diving In. In the first two chapters, the author helps you understand basic concepts, such as “what is a class?” and “what is an object?” You then learn how to pass messages to objects, and then create your own custom classes.

As you go through the book, concepts become more advanced until you reach the final chapters on Advanced-Objective-C and Advanced Messaging. Each concept is accompanied by step-by-step instructions to build an App that shows the real-world use of Objective-C programming features. This is a tremendous aid in helping non-programmers grasp even more advanced concepts.

#10. iOS 6 Programming Pushing the Limits: Advanced Application Development for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Author: Rob Napier, Mugunth Kumar
Price: $29
Buy Now

iOS is the hottest development platform around, and iOS 6 adds a new and deeper dimension to explore. This guide offers serious information for serious programmers who know the basics and are ready to dive into the advanced features of iOS. You’ll learn to create killer apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, including how to maximize performance and make more money from your apps with in-app purchases. Topics covered include security, multitasking, running on multiple platforms, blocks and functional programming, advanced text layout, and much more.

The notion of taking an idea from the drawing board to the App Store can sometime be very daunting, therefore we have decide to create a small road map that will guide you through the most important steps of App Development.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why people don’t make their dreams of creating their own App a reality is that they simply don’t know where to start, or how to get the ball rolling. Let’s be honest even the most seasoned developer can sometimes get a little overwhelmed with everything there is to know about iOS Development.

We have divided this article into four parts:

1. Register as a developer with Apple and download Xcode

2. Getting familiar with the language

3. Patience lots of patience

4. Creating a developer account

Register as a developer with Apple and download Xcode

If you are serious about becoming an App Developer the first thing you should do is register as a developer with Apple. Not only is it totally free but it also gives you access to a plethora of resources. Furthermore you will get access to Apple’s developer kit.

Another good reason for registering is that Apple has uploaded a whole library of sample codes that you can use in your apps.

All you have to do is head over to developer.apple.com/ios and then click the Register button in the top-right hand corner. They will now ask you if you want to connect it with an iTunes account, after that there is a survey to get you started.

The next thing you will want to do is download Xcode, you can do this by opening the Mac App Store. If you can’t find it on the front page then just do a quick search for it.

Getting familiar with the language

Great now that you have registered with Apple and have installed Xcode you are that much closer to becoming a real developer. Now before you start coding your first app you might want to get to familiar with the language. The first thing you need to do is get an understanding of Objective-C, this is the language that most developers use to access the Cocoa Touch (API for building iOS device software) frameworks.

Stanford has some great courses on iTunes U to get you started, other great resources can be found on the iOS Dev Center by Apple.

Patience, lots of patience

You need to understand with as with everything else in life developing an app is not something you just do over night, it takes lots of practice before you can develop your own apps. This is also one of the biggest reasons why people give up on app development, they simply don’t have the time it takes to learn the language needed to create their apps.

Creating a Developer account

Great so now you have created your first application and are ready to test it on an actual device, or submit it to the App Store, well this is when you will need to create a paid developer account, don’t worry this isn’t going to be some expensive endeavor it only costs $99/year to join the program and trust me it will be the best money you have ever spent.

Not only can you submit apps to the App Store, but it also gives you access to iTunes Connect and furthermore you can download beta versions of iOS before they’re released to the public.

Conclusion

I hope this short guide has given you a better idea of how to get started as an iOS developer. I am not going to lie, getting from the beginning stages to creating an app from the App Store takes a lot of time and isn’t something that happens overnight. But remember, once you have created your first app or have submitted it to the App Store there is no greater feeling in the world. Good luck on your path to becoming an App Developer.

What many designers forget is that submitting your app to the App store is only the first step. If you want more than 2 downloads a day, you will have to get the word out. A great way of getting exposure is App Review Sites. The biggest problem however is, these guys get hundreds of pitches a day. How do you stand out? How do you get attention and get those reviews coming in?

That is what this infographic will help you with. How to write a pitch email that gets your app reviewed.

View full image App Design Vault

Social media has exploded and it’s still going and going and it’s not stopping anytime soon. Geotags are on everyone’s lips. 2013 is ripe for the taking for those in the mobile business adventure. Marketers say more ad spending. Developers are shouting for better cross-platform tools. Smartphones are getting smarter and the Star Trek series still sucks without Patrick Stewart. But we digress.

According to ABI Research, location based apps sported a revenue of some $4bn in 2012. Naturally coupled with in-app ads and in-app gamification strategies, sounds like a good and profitable opportunity for marketers and developers in 2013.

Yet, LBS apps face a multitude of serious challenges and that’s why monetizing them, adopting them and providing user satisfaction is a tough nut to crack. And marketers have to take user apprehension into consideration when they plan their strategies in regards to mobile LBS apps.

source: whitehorse.com 

#1 Primary concern: Privacy and security

From privacy advocates joking and warning us about the next SkyNet learning everything about us in a couple of minutes to people who simply say: ,,It’s just an app, what’s it gonna do, steal my pizza recipes from Facebook?”, LBS apps have spawned a flurry of privacy issues and debates.

Criticism addressed at Apple’s data protection problems or the feedback from Facebook’s new user location app is just deepening user skepticism and mistrust towards location based apps.

LB apps like the very useful Google maps for example use cell tower based identification, wi-fi triangulation, GPS and user provided info to pinpoint your location and see where you are. That’s fine and I’m pretty sure most people are okay with using triangulation to help you navigate the world and save time.

But some apps, like Highlight, which is integrated with social networks like Facebook, uses info from your profile and alerts you when friends or persons of similar interest are near you on the street.

While this can be very nice for a lot of people and allows to lead to that intense feeling of social serendipity, it still poses some risks.

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, interviewed Paul Davison, the young CEO of Highlight, and she was quick to ask him about the creepiness factor. He answered O’Brien’s questions about privacy.  The first and most effective privacy safeguard that Davison cited was that “Highlight is entirely opt-in.” According to Ira Winkler,  president of Internet Security Advisors Group: ,,To me, this sounds like an admission that the only real way to protect your privacy when it comes to Highlight is to not install it on your phone in the first place.” Now don’t get us wrong, we aren’t bashing Highlight or anything, but there’s something important here that can’t be overlooked. The lack of privacy protection descriptions and features.

If LBS apps want to advance to become efficient software and even social networking tools or appendages, they need to be mature enough to protect user data.

#2 Barely any incentive to use location based apps

Though mobile applications like Foursquare enjoy a lot of attention, the gamification aspect is still a serious hurdle. Earning badges, ranks, promotions aren’t the best motivation to keep retention at good levels.

LBS apps should offer more than just virtual carrots to entice users. Perhaps, besides social integration, a feature that would be very interesting to see in location based apps would be push-notifications with random but interesting info snippets when you walk down the street.

Seeing something on my screen that says “You’re exactly in the spot where Albert Einstein bought his first ice-cream when he came to the US. It was peppermint.” would actually endear me a lot towards the app.

 #3 Age and gender play a role in awareness about LB apps

It may sound cliché but let’s face it, young people tend to adopt tech faster than mature adults. It’s not surprising to see that, according to a market study by White Horse Digital Futures, awareness about location based apps was over 50% from people in their twenties.

Additional insight also showed that non-users tend to be female (65%), women taking privacy concerns more seriously about personal info. Seeing as women are emerging as a bigger economic force stronger than men and influence 64% of global purchases of pretty much everything, both in terms of consuming products and content, location apps should take some steps to earn the trust of the fair sex.

#4 Ad monetization strategies in LBS apps are skating on thin ice

Ads are a multi-billion market everywhere you look. But there’s a lot of ways to do it wrong. One of the greatest advantages ads on mobile devices have, is the fact that they aren’t as intrusive and they can be much more personalized than the spray-and-pray ads on desktops.

Users like tailored ads to their preferences and relevant content, however, too many ads on mobile devices make users quickly uninstall any app. If a pop-up of push notification appears each time a user passes a coffee shop or a bookstore, he’s most likely to think twice about keeping the app if it’s too distracting. Correlating all these arguments with poor privacy protection, lack of incentive and low awareness. mobile ads on LBS apps can kill those kind of applications.

Like someone once said, it takes a couple of minutes to install an app, but it takes just 3 seconds to tap that ,,x” button and delete it.

Another addition would be that location based apps drain a lot, bucket loads of power from your phone. And if you have more than one running in the background, your phone will be depleted in a quarter of a day. And keeping your phone constantly plugged into a power source kinda defeats the purpose of a mobile device.

Unless marketers find a way to build trust, let’s say through privacy settings tutorials or video vignettes that show how that app is used, LBS won’t encounter strong adoption in 2013.

The primary goal for marketers who want to take a shot at location based apps should be securing goodwill from customers and users. Trust is earned and no matter how many rich opportunities location based apps can provide, if marketers will do it wrong, LBS apps will most likely be shortened to just BS apps.

So what’s your take on location based apps, creepy factor, usefulness? Will they see growth or stagnation in 2013?

This is a guest post by Adrian Tudor of Appscend - the all-in-one cross-mobile performance based application platform, offers its customers the fastest cross platform development technology available on the market today together with a complete list of backend technologies that ensure application & user management, a powerful push platform as well as app analytics.

How Google Adwords can Skyrocket Your App Sales

Lets imagine you have an app in the finance category. It’s a time tracking app for freelance workers.

Some people search the App Store for “time tracker”, your chosen term, but competition is high.

So you check the Google Keyword tool and see that 18,000 people are searching for “time tracking” on a smartphone every single month.

That’s a huge potential!

And it’s just one of the many keywords you could target.

How Google Sends Customers To Your Door

By expanding your promotion to Google ads you can cast a much wider net.

These people are Googling their problem. They may not even know that an app is their solution… but you’re about to let them know.

You can start taking advantage of all these searchers in 3 steps:

1. Get a landing page

2. Run a Google Adwords Campaign

3. Track & Refine

Step 1: Get a landing page

One big mistake app marketers make is sending search clicks directly to the App Store or Google Play.

Most users aren’t quite ready to purchase. You should bring them to a mobile landing page to make your sales pitch – showing them images, description and information before they decide to download your app.

Before you run your ad campaign, you’ve got 3 options for building a landing page:

a) Custom code it or hire a developer on elance or oDesk. This is the most time/cost intensive, but gives you good flexibility

b) Use a template from a site like Themeforest. They cost about $10, but would require some basic coding knowledge.

c) Use a mobile landing page builder like SparkPage. SparkPage will let you build a landing page in minutes with no coding required.

Our experience shows that bringing a user to a mobile-optimized landing page can increase sales significantly.

How to Build The Perfect Landing Page

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing. (sorry!)

If there was one perfect page for every app then the iTunes & Google Play listing would be it.

The “one size fits all” app store template won’t deliver the most sales possible.

You know your app. You know your ideal user. You know your selling points. You can build a better landing page.

Here are some tips that we’ve seen work well:

• Include an app video. A killer video can turbo-boost app sales
• Use other rich media like image sliders with app screenshots.
• Make your text short & snappy.
• Add great user reviews or rankings (#1 in Finance!)
• Experiment. Run A/B testing whenever possible.

Step 2: Run Your Ads

To get started, you need a free adwords account (create one here).

Once you’re signed up, start a new “Search Network” campaign.

Under the “Devices” heading select “Let Me Choose”

Make sure only the “Mobile devices with full browsers” option is selected, as shown in the image below.

Then expand “Advanced mobile and tablet options.” Only show ads to people who could download your app. E.G. iOS 4.3 -> 6.0.

Note: If you have an Android and an iOS app create two separate campaigns. You’ll generate more sales if you track and optimize them separately.

Crafting Your Mobile Ad

There are more detailed guides online for creating a mobile adwords campaing, but getting started is very straight forward.

Follow the on-screen prompts to add a headline, description and URL.

As a rule of thumb we find that shorter sentences perform better on mobile, due to the limited screen space. So keep your headlines to a 3-4 word maximum.

To help you select some great keywords you can use the Google Keyword Tool.

(Tip: In the keyword tool click on “Devices: Desktop and Laptop” to filter down to just mobile devices with full browsers)

3. Track and refine

Set a small budget to start with and track your progress. Once you find the keywords and ads that are getting downloads you can accelerate your spending to really drive app sales.

If you’re selling on Google Play you can also link your adwords campaign to track right the way through to downloads. Google explain how to do that here.

Start Today

Your competitors are all putting time and effort into app store promotion, but few are addressing customers on the wider web.

As the wise man once said: fish where the fish are.

And with over 90% of all mobile searches now going through Google, that’s a great place to start.

This is a guest post first published on Inspired Mag by Peter Tanham, co-founder and CEO of SparkPage, the platform for building mobile landing pages in minutes.

When you launch your app, those first few days are the most important. Thats when you’ll get the most exposure, you’ll appear high up in the “newly released” lists, people will want to write about you, and heck you might even get featured if you’re lucky.

That’s great and all, but if you wait until your app is launched to start promoting it, you’ve already lost the highly competitive race to the top.

If you want to win or even finish the race, you have to think about marketing and promotion before you even start building your app.

Pre-marketing your app is the process of generating interest and buzz about your app before you launch. Register the domain name, build a landing page, and start generating buzz while you build your app. When launch day comes, you want a mob of people in the hopper itching with excitement to install and try your shiny new app. Consider reaching out to online influencers with branded giveaways such as promotional calendars with your website and launch date marked on them. They will appreciate the useful gift and be more willing to share your app with their networks.

AppifyWP just released a free WordPress theme called AppifyWP Launchpad to help developers do just that.

It features a simplistic layout with templates for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Mac, and PC apps. Also included is a custom MailChimp widget so you can collect email address from people who are interested and notify them when you launch. You can add up to 3 slideshow screenshots or a video within the device to tease people of the awesomeness coming their way. If you want more than just a landing page, you can add WordPress pages or posts and link to them from within one of two widget areas included in the theme.

When you’re ready to launch your app, if you decide to upgrade to the full version of AppifyWP, all of your Launchpad settings will transfer automatically and you’ll get all the added features of a full blown website, more screenshots, the ability to select multiple-platforms (if your app is a hybrid app), and lots more ways to customize your site.

Having an effective landing page combined with the pre-marketing elbow grease will help set you up for a successful app launch and long term sales cycle.

This is a guest post by Juri Vasylenko of Ramotion - one of the most skilled interface design and icons creation studios out there.

As our company Ramotion, have developed our first few applications using Agile Methodology, we have realized it is not enough to be proactive about quality control to get a quality product.

The first step is to provide the right conditions to obtain a quality product. Ramotion stress the utmost importance that all conditions which the application is developed in, are the highest quality themselves! Like the saying goes…

“You are only as strong as your weakest link”

… so make sure your processes aren’t weakening your app development.

Psychologically, it is conflicting to frame your mind around two opposite ways of thinking at the same time. More to the point, you cannot be “trying to find errors” and “looking to reduce or eliminate errors” simultaneously.

“Looking to reduce or eliminate errors” though fits in well with the ideology of Agile development that we use to develop our projects. This way, we can focus on “trying to find errors” while the Agile ideology “reduces or eliminates errors” in an organic way at the end and beginning of the project lifecycle.

The problems of testing in Agile

The two strongest variables in Agile are time and flexibility. A sprint deadline is unbreakable, while the software product itself needs to be flexible for changing for future sprints.

The traditional approach of “waterfall” for testing threatens the first rule. If QA engineers wait until developers finish their work to start testing the application, there is a chance that the app will not be 100% tested. If this happens, releasing of a new version of the application is too risky as it could be bug ridden.

What we are doing to avoid all these problems?

When I remember my math lessons in high school, whilst solving equations that the teacher delegated to us, we had to look for the range of values that were permitted and to also check if the result matches these values. At the time like any of us as student, we don’t value such information as being useful in the future, but as it turned out it was my first “Unit” tests.

Verifying that the code works as a programmer plans, is the basis for quality assurance in an Agile team. Any sophisticated system is composed of smaller blocks – “Units”, and ensuring that each unit is working properly, conversely increases the probability of the entire system working 100%.

Once the developer is convinced that the developed module is working correctly, you need to make sure that the system in which adopts it behaves properly as well. For that, there are integration tests that are also being developed by programmers and designed to test the system’s behaviour after the implementation of the new module.

Any module which a developer works on, is intended to perform a specific function (user story), and to make sure that the function works as a user or a customer expects is the responsibility of a QA tester.

Usually, the development process is ongoing until the end of the sprint, so the testers start their work with testing requirements & compiling (and automating) acceptance criteria from the beginning of the sprint. This is very important because it allows the developers to specify the correct direction and decrease the number of possible errors.

At the vertex of the pyramid of testing is the UI testing. Due to the fact that our designers are engaged in ergonomic and aesthetic problems, at this stage, the goal of tester’s work is to check that the random user actions (orientation changing, simultaneously pressing a few buttons) and outcome variables (cell calling at run time, or transition from one type of Internet on the other) are doesn’t violate the logic of the application work.

Overall, this is how Agile methodology allows us to develop an app quickly and accurately so that the application can be easily adapted for users needs.

Feel free to follow Ramotion on Twitter for the latest news & stories regarding interface design and on Dribbble to see their latest creations.

Copy this to Embed the Infographic on your site:

[Source: iPhone App Design]

This post was sponsored by Agiliq.com, They do Android app development. If you think they forgot something please add the links in the comments.