Making an app? Read this...
Three pros bust common myths about app creation.
Code Week is a week-long celebration of coding in Europe, encouraging everyone to learn more about technology and develop essential skills for creating apps that solve problems they care about. For this year’s Code Week celebration, the App Store has collaborated with some outstanding European developers to learn about their experiences of developing apps and inspire future generations of app creators.
What makes a great app? One that’s a well-designed solution to an everyday problem you’ve encountered and has the power to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
After not being able to find an image-editing tool that was accessible to everyone, Matthieu Rouif began working on Photoroom; Aurore Tran co-founded Foodvisor after seeing how students at university were keeping a daily food diary but doing everything manually; and Louis Jeannin co-founded Foxar, a library of 3D models, after he realised in engineering school that he wanted to create something meaningful in the world of education.
They talked to us about their journeys to becoming developers and shared insights into some common myths about app creation.
Myth 1: You need to be an engineer
Matthieu: There’s some kind of imposter syndrome when you don’t have training in computer science and you start developing an app. When I started you needed to program in C and that was computer science. Now it’s getting easier. When you’re not too technical you try to be very efficient to solve problems.
Aurore: As a founder, you don’t need to have a technical background. I’m not an engineer myself, but I think it’s important to surround yourself with people who have the right technical skills, and give them the vision so they can build the app. Nowadays, there are many tools that can help you build something from scratch using AI. It won’t be perfect, but you would be able to create an app.
Louis: Last year I participated in an event for children in middle school, and they managed to create real apps for iOS with Swift. They were really curious and wanted to learn to create new things. The most important thing for me is curiosity and creativity.
It’s important to surround yourself with people who have the right technical skills, and give them the vision so they can build the app.– Aurore Tran, co-founder of Foodvisor
Myth 2: The focus has to be on the technology
Aurore: We started as a research project, so technology was first for us. It wasn’t a good strategy. There were too many metrics and it was difficult for the users. We realised that to create a great product you have to answer a need shared by a large enough number of people and make it easy to use. It’s even better if the technology is completely hidden. For Foodvisor, it took us maybe three years to make that switch.
Louis: You might work for a year trying to solve the technical problems and, when you show the app you created, it’s not useful at all because you didn’t create it with the user in mind. You have to fall into these kinds of traps to learn and understand what’s important and what’s not.
Myth 3: You can’t show your work until it’s pixel perfect
Aurore: Working on a product until it’s pixel perfect is usually lost time. I believe that the most important thing is to know your users, because it’s easy to make mistakes. What you think is true is often times not true in the end. That’s why it’s important to show your product to your users really fast, get their feedback and improve it.
Louis: Being afraid of showing things that are not 100 per cent perfect is really another trap that you should try not to fall in.
Matthieu: Just don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Copy features that are not new or essential to what you do. That makes you go faster especially if you’re not an expert. After the shipping you can add more features super fast.
Myth 4: You need an investor
Matthieu: The beauty of publishing apps on the App Store is that you can find people all around the world who are passionate about your niche so you can monetise early.
Aurore: The ideal model would be not to raise funds because you want to keep control of your company – but it could be complicated unless you have grants from the state. Investors may want to have profits, but for the founders that might not be their first goal. They want to follow their vision and create a great product. On the contrary, depending on the product, raising funds helps you grow faster and allows you to have access to a good network of advisors among your board members.
Louis: Since the beginning, we have our main project about education and, at the same time, we have other b2b projects in which we create custom content that gives us the possibility to earn money to fund our long-term project.
Myth 5: You should never ask for help
Matthieu: Don’t underestimate that people want to help. There are professors and developer communities – find them, be passionate and show that you’ve done your homework. It should be clear that you’ve tried at least for a while before asking for a solution.
Aurore: I totally believe in asking for help, so I do it quite regularly. I reach out to other apps, even competitor apps, looking for advice. The developer community is pretty open and always willing to help. We also help as much as we can anyone asking for mentorship. One great piece of advice is don’t be shy, ask people for help and learn from them, which includes learning from their mistakes.
Apple is proud to support and uplift the next generation of developers, creators and entrepreneurs through its Swift Student Challenge program.
Over the past three decades, thousands of students have built successful careers in technology, founded startups and created organisations focused on democratising technology and using it to build a better future.
If you want to learn more about the Swift Student Challenge, you can find a link to the program website below. You could be the next scholarship winner!