30DayChallenge

App Concept To Store 30 Day Challenge Introduction

Hi,I’m going to see if I can take a concept for a simple mobile app, develop it and get it published into the iOS store in 30 days documenting my journey along the way.

About me

My name is Lee, and I am a (hands on) Software Development Manager living in Stockport UK.

You can find more information about me at the following places.

 

Challenge Background

I want to see how easy / difficult it would be to build and publish a native mobile app for iOS given a relatively short time frame. As I have family commitments and 2 young children I only intend on working on the app 1 to 2 hours during evenings after i’ve put them to bed and possibly some more during the weekends.

More importantly I want to document and share my progress and findings during the 30 days in case it helps or encourages others to do the same.

I don’t know if i’ll be done and dusted in 2 weeks, run out of time, find insurmountable obstacles or even be refused entry into the app store so this will be a ‘warts and all’ blog series.

 

Technology

Being pretty well versed in Microsoft Technologies I intend on developing the iOS iPhone app using Xamarin Forms on my Windows 10 Surface Pro laptop. Fortunately I have a MacBook Pro that I can do build compilation on. I’ve had very little experience developing Xamarin Forms so learning this will be a challenge.

Issues Predicted

Learning Xamarin Forms for iOS

This is probably the most difficult part of the challenge, learning a new technology. I will share how I learn to do certain things. I can guarantee that the app wont be developed using the most efficient or maintainable of code!

Design

I am not a designer.I have a basic grasp of UI and UX concepts but I wouldn’t expect any mobile app I create to win any design awards. I may even outsource some of the design work. We shall see.

Lack of free time

I’m not entirely sure i’ll have enough free time in 30 days to develop and publish a mobile app. In fact i’m sure there are days when i’ll make no progress at all.

Marketing

I suck at promoting things I create. I suffer greatly from the "If you build it, they will come" mindset. I hope to learn some marketing strategy during this challenge as I need to get better at this.

Navigating the app submission and review stage

I am unfamiliar with the Apple store app submission, review and publish process so this will be a learning curve and an area that may be fraught with snags and / or setbacks.

There’s no guarantee that the App Store will deem the app useful enough to appear in the app Store.

The Development Approach

This may change as i’ll encounter things that I cannot foresee however I need to choose an approach that allows me to develop quickly. This may include circumventing certain best practices during this blog series such as Unit Tests and Continuous Integration..

Will I regret this? We will see.

The App Concept

The proposed app is a simple one. An app that allows the user to play a variety of sound effects in their office environment ranging from comical to serious. Will it be the worlds most useful app? Probably not. But it will be a bit of fun.

I call it Office Sound Effects

And before you ask / check, yes I have registered www.OfficeSoundEffects.com

Getting Started

I aim to start this Challenge on Friday 1st June and run it until Saturday 30th June at which point i’ll conclude the experiment and summarise the journey and findings.

Look out for my first blog post in the series App Concept to Store Challenge - Day 1

Wish me luck.

-- Lee

  • By Lee
  • On May 30, 2018