Talk To People, Lessons Learned Making Android Apps As A Side Project

The great thing about Android App development is that it is easy to put your App in people’s hands. When you do, resist the urge to tell them how to use the App. Observe what they do and what they try to do. Are they trying to interact with the App in a way you didn’t anticipate? Ask them what they are trying to accomplish. Ask what features they would like to see.

In the rest of this article I will share some things I learned by talking to people about Android Apps. (Note: this article is part of a series about making Android Apps as a side project. Click here to  read the introduction.)

Feature Requests

It was very exciting when I got my first App up and running. It was cool to be able to write a program that runs on the touch screen computer that you carry around in your pocket.

I had to show it to my friends. That is when the feature requests started and that is a good thing. If you don’t provide too much direction and ask open ended questions, these demos can be useful brainstorming sessions for the future of your App.

One of the main components of my first App was the graph of gas mileage over time that was suggested by one of my friends. This mileage chart is in fact one of the key differences between the App and the paper log I used to keep. In addition to making it easy to actually calculate the mileage, the technology enabled the ability to keep a chart. Not something I would do other wise.

Referrals And Best Practices

I have already mentioned how demonstrating your App to other people can give you lots of feature requests to consider. However, it is important to start talking to people even before you have an App that is far enough long to demonstrate. Once you start developing an App and telling people about it, you may find some of your friends and colleagues have experience making Apps as well.

That is exactly what happened when I began telling people I was working on an App. A colleague from a past company told me about the App he was working on. He was a lot further along than I was and was able to offer valuable feedback.

It was at his suggestion that I started using the Action Bar via the Action Bar Sherlock library. If I were to start a new App today I would target 4.0 as a minimum and the Action Bar Sherlock back port would not be needed. Two years ago this was a very helpful suggestion. The Action Bar provides a nice framework for the user interface of the App.

I couldn’t help noticing the professional icon that my friend’s App had. When I asked where he got the icon, he was happy to provide a referral to a designer. I ended up hiring this designer to create the icon for Eco Trip. Your App icon is a key part of the design.

Users

Once you have shipped the first version of you App, you should make it easy for users to email you. I like to do this from the About screen of the App. It is easy to pre-populate the to field and subject line of an email using the Android intent system and hook that up to a button. (See this Stack Overflow question for details.)

In my experience, users will be glad to hear from you if you reply to their emails in a timely manner. It is a chance to show them that you are not some Big Co. If you fix a bug or end up implementing one of their feature suggestions they will usually be grateful. This is a good time to mention that they can help you by giving a positive review on the App store.

public void handleEmailDeveloperButton(View v){
        Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
        i.setType("*/*");
        i.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, new String[] {
            "you@yourdomain.com"
        });
        i.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "Your App Name");

        startActivity(createEmailOnlyChooserIntent(i, "Send via email"));
    	
    }

Once you ship the initial version(s) of your App you can let the development be guided by user suggestions. You should pay special attention to repeated requests. Keep in mind that bells and whistles cost money (or in the case of your side project, time). There is no end to human creativity and the number of possible features that could be added to an App is almost infinite. That is why it is a good idea to filter requests to look for things that will benefit all users of your App as opposed to a one off feature to fill a unique use case.

I have shipped 15 updates to date for my most popular App, Email Sign Up. These updates were largely in response to feed back from people that actually use the App. I think the App is much better than what I would have come up with by myself.

Conclusion

Writing Android Apps is exciting. Once you start your app start talking to people. You never know who will be able to make helpful suggestions. You may even find referrals from friends and colleagues. You can also let users guide the development of your App by paying attention to their feature requests.

Related Articles

• An Introduction to Lessons Learned Making Android Apps As A Side Project
• Always Check The App Store
• The Best Book For Getting Started With Android
• Slides From A Talk I Gave About Lessons Learned Making Android Apps
• Get A Decent App Icon
• How To Make A Good Looking App

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