Learn How to Build and Monetize Your Mobile App

Mobile App Basics

A mobile app is a software application designed to run on mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. Mobile apps are designed to suit the demands and constraints of such devices and are distributed through various app stores, including Google Play and Apple App Store.

There are three main types of mobile applications:

Native apps, designed specifically for one particular platform (Android or iOS)
Web-based apps
Hybrid apps, combining the features of native and web-based apps

There are also two main monetization models for mobile apps. They are:

1. Direct sales;

2. Indirect sales which include strategies such as:

In-app purchase
iIn-app advertising
Affiliate links
Freemium upsell
Sponsorship
Etc.

How Much Can You Earn?

Once you’ve built a state-of-the-art mobile app, it’s time to start generating revenue from it. The sky’s the limit when it comes to earning on mobile apps. However, there are numerous factors you should take into consideration to get your app off the ground and make it a lucrative revenue stream. They include the category, platform and payment method, the time and effort invested in optimizing and promoting your app and even the name and the icon of your app.

Why Do You Need to Take Mobile App Development Courses?

We’ve already mentioned that the mobile app market is currently booming, and its earning potential is limitless. However, there are also hundreds of other app developers who want to cash in on building and selling mobile apps, and the competition is constantly increasing. For this reason, it is vital to develop professional, top-quality apps and learn all the ins and outs of mobile design, promotion and marketing, if you want to succeed in this niche. Fortunately, the internet abounds with online courses, guides and tutorials on all the aspects of mobile app creation.

Developing a Mobile App

Developing a mobile app

This is the most crucial and the most discouraging stage for novices who want to create an app. Luckily, there are numerous online courses and tutorials which can teach you to make a mobile app from scratch and help you start off on the right foot in this sphere. We’ve chosen the best ones for you.

The List of Free Courses

1. Digital Skills: Mobile

Digital Skills: Mobile is a Futurelearn course which covers the foundations of mobile technology and explains key development and design approaches, which will allow you to make a successful mobile app. The course includes a test to validate your learning, and you’ll get a Certificate of Achievement if you pass it.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Basics of mobile technology
Advantages of mobility in the digital context
Main mobile design concepts
7 basic principles of designing a good app
Key development approaches
Internet of Things, its pros and cons

2. Build your first Android app

Build your first Android app, by Android developers, is a guide on how to build a “Hello World” project with Android studio and run it

What Topics Will You Cover?

The algorithm of creating an Android Studio project
Running your app
Using the Android Studio Layout Editor for creating a layout
Application fundamentals
The overview of app resources
App manifest file overview
Permissions overview

3. Build your very first iOS app

Build your very first iOS app is an EdX self-paced introductory course by Curtin University which provides an overview of the basic tools, concepts and techniques necessary for creating an iOS app from scratch.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Using Swift and Xcode for building an app
Variables and data types
Interface Builder
User Interface Development
Controllers and navigation
Using Model View Controller design pattern

4. CodeWithChris

CodeWithChris is a video tutorial for novices in app development which will teach you to make an app even without any coding experience.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Making an iOS app in 10 lessons
Swift programming and building your app
Using XCode to build iPhone apps
Playing sound in your app
Making a YouTube video app
Building a shopping app with Moltin
Solutions to programming challenges
App store optimization and the marketing of your app

The List of Paid Courses

5. Building a Mobile App: What you ABSOLUTELY need to know!

Building a Mobile App: What you ABSOLUTELY need to know! is an introductory course which will provide you with basic knowledge on how to build a mobile app.

What Topics Will You Cover?

How to create a convincer
How to undertake the SWOT analysis of your app
Creating paper prototypes (templates provided)
Developing an app
Testing an app
How to market your app and provide support

6. The Complete Android Developer Course: Beginner To Advanced!

The Complete Android Developer Course: Beginner To Advanced! is a comprehensive course for those who are eager to start creating Android apps. The course offers a certificate of completion and can be accessed from a mobile device or displayed on TV.

What Topics Will You Cover?

How to install Java JDK and Android Studio
The basics of Android
Activities and States explained
Widgets, pixels and layout
Handling events in Android
App design and buttons
How to create an overflow menu
Intents and threads

7. iOS Development for Creative Entrepreneurs Specialization

iOS Development for Creative Entrepreneurs Specialization is an all-embracing course which will help you master the skill of building iOS apps and earn a certificate to share with prospective employers.

What Topics Will You Cover?

The basics of Objective-C programming language
Security in iOS applications
Developing sophisticated user interfaces for iOS
The secrets of creating networked games
The fundamentals of the Swift programming language

8. Google: Associate Android Developer (AAD)

Google: Associate Android Developer (AAD) is a course which will prepare you for the Associate Android Developer Certification exam and provides you with all the knowledge and skills necessary to build productive and profitable Android apps.

What Topics Will You Cover?

The fundamentals of Android applications
Android tools and testing
How to manage Android App data with the help of SQLite
How to leverage the power of the Android platform

Promoting and Monetizing a Mobile App

Promoting and monetizing a mobile app

In the past it used to be really simple to monetize your app. It just had to be innovative, top quality and provide some value to consumers. Nowadays, however, the global mobile app market is uber-competitive, and it takes much more effort and dedication to market a mobile application. Below, we’ll list hands-on courses which can teach you the most effective up-to-date monetization and promotional mobile strategies.

The List of Free Courses

1. App Monetization by Google

App Monetization by Google is a self-paced course taught by industry pros which will teach you how to develop and implement a sustainable monetization strategy for your app.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Various monetization models and profit margins
KPIs
How to acquire and retain consumers
Monetization strategies for different platforms such as freemium, subscription, e-commerce, etc.
Setting up tracking to monitor the effectiveness of your monetization strategies
Google Analytics and other tracking tools
Re-engaging consumers in case your strategies fail, etc.

2. Monetize your Android Applications

Monetize your Android Applications course is a part of the GalileoX Android Developer MicroMasters Program. This is a six-week course which explains how to tweak your mobile app for success and start generating considerable revenue from it.

What Topics Will You Cover?

App markets and distribution models
Providing value to consumers
Monetization strategies
The important metrics of app monetization
Android analytics and reporting
Notifications
The basics of Admob
Banner and Interstitial ads in an app

3. Monetize your app

Monetize your app is a PlayAcademy course which aims at teaching learners how to develop a monetization strategy to earn on Google Play.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Managing your app’s price

Managing orders
How to analyze and boost your monetization strategy
Setting up subscriptions
Growing your subscriptions

The List of Paid Courses

4. The Complete App Marketing Course

The Complete App Marketing Course will reveal secret ASO strategies to boost your app’s performance and increase your revenue.

What Topics You Will Cover?

The importance of app marketing
Validating your ideas
The difference between iOS and Android monetization strategies
Optimizing app store listing
Hacking techniques for app downloads
Getting your app features on the App Store
ASO
Driving downloads through paid advertising
Getting 5-star reviews
Implementing Google Analytics to retain users
White Hat techniques vs Black Hat techniques

5. Hands-On App Marketing Course: Learn How To Monetize Your Apps

Hands-On App Marketing Course: Learn How To Monetize Your Apps is a course including 57 lessons, you’ll learn how to build high-conversion mobile apps.

What Topics Will You Cover?

XCode projects
Initializing Chatboost in XCode with code
Adding framework and dependencies
SDK
Getting the Android developer license, etc.

6. Mobile App Marketing Masterclass

Mobile App Marketing Masterclass is a comprehensive course which will help you leverage the most powerful strategies for marketing an app.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Keywords selection
Most popular monetization models
Creating additional customer value
Maximum marketing investment per new user

Testing, Debugging and Analyzing Your App

Testing, debugging and analyzing your app

The main aim of every developer is to provide a painless and pleasant experience for their consumers. To achieve this, you have to invest a lot of time and effort into testing, debugging and analyzing your app. The following courses and guides will teach you the basics of these processes.

The List of Free Courses

1. Mobile App Testing Tutorials (A Complete Guide with 30+ Tutorials)

Mobile App Testing Tutorials (A Complete Guide with 30+ Tutorials) covers various topics of mobile testing from defining basic testing concepts to getting a job in testing.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Android and iOS testing
Overcoming mobile testing challenges
Field testing for mobile
Phone model vs OS version
UI testing
Mobile testing services
Blazemeter for testing mobile apps performance
The most effective mobile testing tools
Mobile automation testing.

2. Test your app

Test your app guide by Android developers aims at making the testing process as simple as possible by explaining its fundamentals and peculiarities.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Test types and location
How to run a test
Viewing test results
Running tests with Gradle and ADB
How to use the am instrument command
Implementing Espresso Test Recorder for creating UI tests
Stress-testing applications with the Exerciser Monkey.

3. The Android Studio Debugger

The Android Studio Debugger is a part of Android Developer Fundamentals Course which will help you find and fix errors and unexpected behavior in your code.

What Topics Will You Cover?

The basics of debugging
How to run the debugger
How to use breakpoints
Stepping through code
How to inspect and modify variables
How to set watches
How to evaluate expressions
Other tools for debugging

4. Mobile App Analytics Fundamentals

Mobile App Analytics Fundamentals by Google Academy is a video tutorial which will teach you how to implement analytics to tweak your app for success.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Marketing and analysis tools
App revenue models
Acquisition channels
High-value users
Screen and event tracking
Identifying roadblocks to revenue
How to re-engage existing users and remarket to new ones.

The List of Paid Courses

5. Mobile App Analytics for Developers

Mobile App Analytics for Developers is a course which describes how to leverage analytics for making your app more productive and increasing conversion rates.

What Topics Will You Cover?

The reasons for implementing analytics
Google Analytics for Fireboard
Dashboard
Adding Firebase to the app
Auto-collected events
Predefined events
Custom events
User properties
Sessions
StreamView
Conversion events
Funnels

6. Mobile App Testing-Android/iOS App Test Automation with Java

Mobile App Testing-Android/iOS App Test Automation with Java is a complete course on advanced mobile apps testing using Java.

What Topics Will You Cover?

The fundamentals of mobile testing
Tools for mobile testing
Android mobile testing
Leveraging Java for mobile testing automation
Changing user agent
Mobile automation on Gmail

7. Effective Android Testing for Mobile Developers

Effective Android Testing for Mobile Developers is a project-based course which will teach learners how to implement testing in the development process.

What Topics Will You Cover?

The reasons for testing
Local vs. on-device
Code coverage
UI testing
Hermetic environment
Robot pattern
Model-View-Presenter
Testing with MVP

Other Courses for Boosting Your App’s Performance

Other courses for boosting your app’s performance

The List of Free Courses

1. Advanced Android Developer Course

Advanced Android Developer Course provides you with a series of codelabs and will teach you how to integrate advanced features into your app.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Fragments and fragment communication
Creating an app widget
Getting sensor data
How to add language support to your app
Exploring Android accessibility and creating accessible apps
Device location
Google maps
Creating and drawing on Canvas objects

2. Enrich your iOS apps with dynamic content and advanced presentation

Enrich your iOS apps with dynamic content and advanced presentation is a course which will uncover the secrets of creating engaging and high-conversion mobile apps.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Getting ready for development
Developing an interactive app skeleton
Creating dynamic content

3. Mobile Design and Usability for iOS

Mobile Design and Usability for iOS by Facebook for developers is a course which explains how to implement the user-centered approach into mobile development and build user-friendly apps.

What Topics Will You Cover?

Conducting user research
Defining user types
Guiding prototyping with the data you’ve collected
Usability testing methods
Guide a feature redesign with the insight gathered from users

The List of Paid Courses

4. Android App Development: Localization and Internationalization

Android App Development: Localization and Internationalization is a course which will teach you the basics of internalization and localization to help you expand your app and reach consumers worldwide.