A recurring question that is asked is whether an app must be released on Android platform or iOS platform or on both the platforms.

Whenever a new app is released, it is designed for one platform or the other but not for both the platforms. So the question arises as to why apps are not designed simultaneously for both the platforms

The basis for this is explained as below

The main reason why startups decided to release only with one platform is because of agile development. The concept is that when designing an app the brand does not surely know which attributes the customers are going to utilize to the maximum. Probably an unheard of attribute could be the one which consumers like the most and this is a factor which the brand has to further focus on regarding the app’s next version.

Launching a Minimum Viable Product only on one platform and receiving customer feedback before progressing on to the next platform conserves time and assets

Discerning that the brand went in the opposite direction and having to change could be very expensive as the debacle will cost more than twice if the app is being designed for both iOS and Android.

The better alternative here is that an MVP can be designed, then released to procure customer feedback, then identify what does and does not work, enrich knowledge from the customers and ultimately utilize that knowledge to refine the app prior to moving it to other platforms. Once the app idea is analyzed and once the brand envisions how the ultimate product looks like, the brand can start to design for the other platforms.

Also featured is the cost parameter of designing for iOS and Android. A thought may occur as to whether developing for iOS is similar to that for Android

The answer is negative. Excepting that the brand is making use of a cross-platform tool, it is very unlikely to design a native app for iOS vs Android.Both constitute of different programming languages and the brand has a totally non-identical list of UI guidelines to be observed. As a consequence, this is the factor why it costs twice as much when designing for both the platforms.

As app design is expensive, concentrating on one platform will help to reduce the costs incurred considerably.

Another thing to consider is the case if the app is paid vs free vs ad supported. The money making plan of the brand features an important role in the determination of the brand as Android and iOS customers have nonidentical  expenditure methods

For instance, Android customers like to use free apps and  don’t  dole out much on paid apps while iOS consumers typically prefer to spend for their apps.

Hence any brand concentrating on a paid mobile app will design it with iOS in mind and with the help of the income,  later design the Android counterpart which could be advertisement supported.

Further, discussed is the Instagrams policy on the platform selection and see how it resulted in.

Instagram was initially released only for iOS and was subsequently launched for the Android platform after it expanded.

The mobile app of Instagram started in a grand scale much expansive compared to the present day photo filter which was a minuscule part of the originally released app.

Huge amounts of expenditure was spent on the app and later only the brand identified that everybody utilized only a small attribute of the app. A huge amount of money would have been wasted if the app was designed with all attributes for both the iOS and Android platform. The fact that the photo filter was  popular among users was understood so the app was finally designed with only the photo filter attribute.

Instagram’s prosperity is linked to the factor that it was built on one platform rather than wasting money designing on the other platforms

Most of the new companies have to make a determination as to whether they have to go for iOS or Android or both. Ultimately it is the money saving resolution that matters the most . Hence before designing the app on all platforms,  the company has to identify as to who are the users,  what attributes they are utilizing in the app and whether the brand knows what exactly do the customers want to do with the app. Releasing the MVP on one platform and then it has to be observed whether the customers use all the attributes of  the app before jumping onto the next platform.

Author Bio :Pyramidions is one of the top mobile app development companies in Chennai . We have expert mobile app developers for an enterprise.