Like any other software, after its release, a mobile application should “continue its life”, namely, develop, update, and adapt to the changing needs of its audience. Actually, the mobile app development lifecycle is based on these aspects: after the launch, monitoring, user behavior analysis, bug fixes, improvements, as well as adaptation to new versions of the OS and devices begin. Therefore, if you are only at the stage of forming an idea, you should understand what app lifecycle stages are required, and how, based on this knowledge, you’ll have to form a project budget.
.jpg "Infographic showing 10 key benefits of mobile apps for business in 2025, highlighting advantages across the mobile app development lifecycle stages.")
1. Ideation and Strategy
At the ideation and strategy formation stage, the product concept can be significantly refined due to competitor analysis, real audience needs, budget assessment, and many other nuances. Here, your technical team should identify key hypotheses that need to be validated and form a set of artifacts on their basis: business brief, competitor map, initial persona set, and a list of critical risks. Here's how all this is implemented at WEZOM.
Market research and TA’s needs
Market research is not a couple of Google or ChatGPT queries. To conduct comprehensive research, we use quantitative data (analytics of existing services/trends/market size) with and qualitative methods (interviews with focus group representatives/shadowing/prototype testing). It typically requires 10-15 in-depth interviews, 200-250 targeted surveys, and end-to-end analysis of the target audience's behavior on competitors. Thanks to these insights, we get the opportunity to form a set of requirements that most effectively solve the end user's problems.
KPIs and specific business goals
The mobile product should contribute to improving business metrics, including increasing LTV, optimizing long-term app maintenance costs, and increasing the number of active users. We usually focus on the metrics like:
- Conversion rate;
- Activation (A1), to assess how effectively users move from their first interaction to receiving value from a product or service;
- Retention D1/D7/D30, to measure the number of users, returning to the application after its installation;
- Average Revenue Per User;
- Customer Acquisition Cost;
- Time to First Value.
Ultimately, it’s important both for reporting and adjusting the backlog.
Choosing between MVP and full product
MVP is a great tool to test hypotheses at the lowest budget, but not all products can be presented with reduced functionality. The final decision depends on the market and competition: if the market is dynamic and overcrowded, it makes sense to start with an MVP and then refine it; if the business risk is too high (specifically, you may have to initially ensure that the product meets relevant regulatory requirements), full-fledged development will be the only viable option. We can also offer you an incremental approach, implementing a basic set of features but creating an architecture ready to scale.
2. Planning and Specification
The pre-development planning, as the stage of the app project lifecycle, is the transition from hypotheses to specific user stories and technical tasks with criteria to assess the quality of their execution. To do this, teams usually create a product requirements document, a backlog with an estimate in story points, etc.
Feature scoping and roadmap
Scoping is a technique aimed at prioritizing features in the context of business goals and KPIs that are most critical. We also use RICE/ICE/WSJF for ranking and form a project roadmap with milestones. The artifact of all these actions is a release plan with a clearly defined scope for the first product launch in stores.
Wireframing and architecture decisions
Wireframing allows us to work out the UX from the very beginning and correctly split the project into components, which will then be handed over to the performers. Also, within the stage, we create an architectural diagram, choosing between a monolith or microservices, REST or GraphQL, and also determining what databases will be used, whether offline mode and caching are needed, etc.
Choosing the right tech stack
The choice of tech stack is always based on the acceptable time to market and budget. We also consider the need for real-time features, ML/AI integration, interaction with the hardware of devices, etc. In general, in most mobile projects, we use Flutter as the main tool, although everything ultimately depends on the client’s individual requirements (in latency-sensitive solutions, it’s always better to choose a native stack).
3. UX/UI Design
Mobile UX/UI workflows determine both the visual appeal of your solution and how quickly and easily (i.e., without unnecessary cognitive load) users can perform target actions within it. That is why it is so essential to build a design system, choose accessibility standards, and form motion guidelines.
Visual design aligned with branding
The visual should correspond to the brand book of the business, but, at the same time, be adapted to the mobile environment. That’s why even if you have a ready brand book with a color scheme and typography, we’ll additionally coordinate (and, if necessary, optimize) it, taking into account accessibility.
Prototypes for testing and feedback
Prototyping and wireframing allow us to conduct usability tests on 5-10 users and, thus, measure task success rate and time-to-complete, as well as gather qualitative insights. Ultimately, it reduces the likelihood of costly edits after coding begins.
4. Development
It includes coding, continuous integration, testing, and deployment. We don’t separate all these app development phases, so we involve QA and DevOps specialists for each of them. Here’s more detail about how it’s performed.
Agile sprints
We work in 1-2 week agile development sprints with unit tests, code review, integration tests, and documentation. At each iteration, our clients receive a potentially shippable increment to adjust the roadmap if necessary, based on the assessment of the work done.
Backend and frontend coordination
We usually follow the API-first principle, starting with choosing an API connection scheme and moving on to synchronous development of the frontend and backend. We also build CI pipelines to automatically check the compatibility of changes and, thus, minimize the number of integration bugs.
Integration with APIs and databases
Integrations often become a bottleneck, although they are necessary – let’s take in-app payments, push notifications, analytics, CRM, etc. To avoid potential issues, we build idempotent endpoints, implement retry mechanisms, and ensure SLA monitoring. Regarding databases, we form migration/backup/replication strategies.
5. Quality Assurance
Although testing is already underway, we still need to check the mobile application for compliance with the brief and readiness for use in the field.
Functional, UX, and performance testing
Now, we start testing the functionality to make sure it works correctly; we also analyze the UX to make sure the user path is intuitive and convenient. Finally, we conduct performance tests to ensure the stability under a large number of simultaneous sessions.
Device and OS compatibility checks
The mobile software must work correctly on different smartphone models and OS versions – to make sure of that, we test it in various environments, including old and new devices.
6. Deployment
Publishing is a complex process that must take into account technical and legal requirements needed for app store submission. In this regard, it consists of several stages.
Apple App Store and Google Play requirements
Both the App Store and Google Play have unique rules and quality standards for apps, including design and security nuances, which we consider in advance to speed up moderation and avoid rejections.
Marketing and ASO
After the software is uploaded, it’s important to ensure that it doesn’t get lost among dozens of others. To do this, we use the best practices of ASO, thereby increasing visibility and the number of installations.
7. Post-Launch Growth & Support
As part of the mobile application lifecycle, we support it after its release, adapting it to changing market conditions and new user needs. Here's what it takes.
Analytics and user feedback
During the development process, we integrate post-launch analytics to track user behavior and identify points of user churn. As a result, this eedback becomes a fundamental aspect in prioritizing improvements.
Feature iteration
Using analytical data, we form a list of new features to implement, thereby ensuring stable growth and maintaining its competitiveness.
Bug fixing and optimization
Finally, we refine performance and adjust the product to new OS versions/devices, thereby ensuring a consistently high-quality UX.
Why Lifecycle Thinking Is Crucial in 2025
In the context of dynamically changing mobile trends and regularly updated operating systems, continuous work on a mobile application implemented within its lifecycle becomes the basis for its long-term viability. In particular, regular feature updates and iterations help maintain its wide compatibility, eliminate vulnerabilities, boost UX, and, therefore, maintain high positions in the stores’ ratings.
How WEZOM Supports the Full App Lifecycle
The WEZOM team is ready to take on the entire app lifecycle management and implementation. Our processes are aimed at ensuring that each SDLC stage brings the highest ROI and can boast unprecedented transparency. For this, we use advanced analytical tools and implement data-driven refinements.
Conclusion
Nowadays, the mobile application’s success is both about implementing high-quality development and its competent management. If you would like to receive full project support so that it remains relevant and profitable for many years, feel free to contact us. Also, be sure to check our portfolio here.