Mobile applications are about to win the competition with the typical web-based resources. They have almost won the epic digital battle for users’ engagement.
The situation will hardly change in the nearest future. Mobile apps guarantee the fastest access to any information we need regardless of the location and time. They deliver a better user experience and may appear to be a great source of income for startups.
For this reason, development teams are making endless efforts to introduce new mobile products of different types. A few of them really succeed. Some face the lack of problem-solving features. Others lose the battle when it comes to UI/UX features.
The major problem for all developers is poor performance of the application. Startups keep looking for the answers to some of the fundamental questions like “How to improve application performance?” or “How to increase speed of mobile app?”. We will try to answer those questions in this article.
What Is a Mobile Application Performance Management And Why It Is Necessary
The success of mobile applications results mostly in a fast and easy access to any data. A user can check the mail, book a room or read the latest news with only a couple of taps. Quick access is the feature we all look for in mobile products. If you fail to deliver that feature, your application will also fail to succeed.
Mobile apps performance testing is a vital step of the development process. For some reason, developers often underestimate this stage and start looking for efficient mobile app performance testing tools only after the release date. The best bet is to ensure smooth operation of the app from the very start. On the other hand, you can still improve the situation and keep an eye on some essential issues.
Any application will be appealing to the user if it lets him or her access necessary information with only one touch. However, a growing popularity can turn out to be a double-edged sword whenever you try to stand out from other mobile products. Once you decide to build your own app, you need to consider some of the fundamental attributes.
They include:
- Functionality;
- Design;
- Reliability;
- Speed of Performance;
- Availability;
- User Experience.
Those are the major factors that will define your app’s success in future. Keep in mind that your product is supposed to retrieve tons of content including images, photos, etc. Using https protocols acquires implementing a reliable Content Delivery Network service.
How to Improve App Performance in Android?
Every time users face difficulties when accessing the information they need, they are very unlikely to go back to your product. The competition on the mobile market is growing each day. They would rather find a better alternative.
Your mission is to keep them engaged with your application. This is why you may need to enable mobile app performance monitoring. So:
- Avoid downloading too many third-party libraries. The less you download the more time you will save. Using dependency properties is not always a good idea;
- Do not download external resources unless it is necessary. It usually takes time. Caching data and images is certainly a better alternative;
- Preload necessary content and get the data before you need it. Never make your user wait.
According to the latest studies conducted by ComScore, 90% of online users prefer using their smartphones and other portable devices to access websites instead of desktops. Other stats also reveal a growing number of mobile apps while the among of web users is declining rapidly.
On the one hand, it means tougher competition on the mobile market. On the other hand, you need to think of some award-winning competitive advantages in addition to the fast and smooth operation of the product regardless of its OS or carrier. If Android development is your main specialization, you will probably try to find out how to improve Android performance.
5 Ways to Improve App Performance
The implementation of mobile application performance monitoring will let you reveal some crucial stats. For example, you will have a clear vision of how fast the app is loading. You will also track the number of crashes and other possible misses. A poor performance can be defined by several pieces of evidence.
Conducted by AppDynamics, the App Attention Span research reveals 65% of users whose expectations towards mobile applications have increased over the last few years. For this reason, you need to constantly improve your mobile products as well as their performance. Otherwise, you will hardly avoid financial losses.
- Keep Up with Performance Measurement
Always keep an eye on your app performance level. Use available monitoring tools and measure the efficiency of the product. You need to have a clear vision of how the product operates under various conditions. Get all the insights from both good and bad things you may detect throughout the monitoring process. Consider important metrics and stats.
At the same time, you also need to track your users’ behavior. Use special tools to find out where they spend most of the time when running the application. Keep an eye on some crucial rates including the churn rate, retention, sessions, crashes, and drop-offs.
- Try to Meet Users’ Expectations
As a rule, users are mainly frustrated with the poor app performance. The AppDynamics reports that 86% of all users remove applications from their devices due to poor performance. 38% of them faces the same problem when trying an alternative solution.
It means, most developers do not really understand what their users actually expect from the app. They underestimate the first stage of the development process that refers to exploration and research of the target audience. Knowing your ideal buyer is vital in case you want to deliver your application to the end user.
- Make the App Less Complex
The more features and functions your app has the more complicated and loaded it will be. This fact has also a great influence on the performance level. Try to simplify and streamline the development process focusing on the core functions that really solve the problems for the users. Eliminate functions that your customers do not need.
Do not forget to check usability and avoid any assumptions. You need to have a clear picture of how a user will interact with the product. It is vital to use emulators and real devices powered by different OS on a testing stage.
- Keep Improving UI Responsiveness
Speed is of great importance to every user. If you are able to make the response 0.8 seconds faster, your customers will certainly appreciate it while the level of users’ satisfaction will grow. You need to regularly test and update new features. Try to make your app more functional.
- Pick the Right Tools
According to the latest researches, companies opt for more performance monitoring tools. Moreover, modern enterprises use at least 11 means that let them keep up with the app efficiency. On the other hand, a few of those tools are really effective. For companies, they turn into nothing but a waste of time and money.
The key to success is to pick the right tools that let you handle a quick and informative overview of the app. They are supposed to let you easily generate necessary data and analyze the app performance.
Conclusion
You can look for some more ways to improve the app. One thing you should keep in mind is that you always need to consider your users’ expectations as the major priority. The implementation of those techniques and using above-mentioned tools is not as easy as it may seem. It requires analytic and development skills. You need to have a strong technical background to overview the results. Moreover, the task can be time-consuming.
Save your time and opt for a team of professionals. Our company introduces a pool of experienced developers. They are aware of the most efficient monitoring tools and means to make your app fast and effective when it comes to users’ satisfaction.