Importance of improving app performance

Introduction

According to a report by Kleiner Perkins, more than 15 % of internet traffic worldwide is due to mobile apps. There are around 1.5 billion mobile users globally. Hence, high-performing mobile apps are highly significant for your enterprise.

Mobile App is analogous to an online salesperson for your enterprise. As an ill-performing salesperson can be detrimental to the prosperity of the business, a mobile app with unsatisfactory performance and multiple user experience issues can defame your business to a great extent.

A poor-performing app can undermine your company’s prospects and degrade its reputation.

Here is why app performance optimization is of utmost importance.

• 36 % of users agree that a slow app produces a “lower opinion of the company.”
• 49 % of e-commerce customers expect the page to be loaded in 2 seconds or even less.

Importance of app performance

In fact, in just half a generation, technology has completely redefined the word ‘app.’ More than six million mobile apps currently crowd the Google Play Store and the Apple app store – the repo(s) from where most users download apps.

Statistically, reports show that around 70% of mobile app users will desert an application with a high loading time. A delay in response of as low as 1 sec can cause nearly 7% of loss in conversion. Almost 1 in every two apps gets uninstalled within its initial month of download.

These statistics confirm the notion that App performance has an indispensable impact on its user experience. Performance is synonymous with the measure of the success or failure of the app. Both user retention and prolonged usage of an app depend on its performance.

Also, reasonable people who constitute more than 40% of users will use the app created by a competitor if they encounter a poor mobile experience with any app. Simultaneously, the scenario has an even more severe impact than just uninstalling the app for lousy performance — customers are inclined toward the competitors to solve their needs. Hence, optimal app performance is highly significant.

Ways to improve App Performance

It is a common misconception that performance is usually synonymous with only the front-end or the UX. Optimal performance is based on both the back-end and front-end of the app.

For example, consider a situation where the app initially gets loaded quickly, and the user can navigate through it smoothly — until a specific time when the user needs to make a payment. Suddenly at that moment, the app crashes; the app crashes at the peak of user activity. This is also regarded as a performance problem. Performance issues encompass many kinds of stuff like

• how slow or fast the app loads
• When and why the app crashes
• How seamlessly certain features (like checkout) run

and many more.

Although inadequacy to offer an optimal user experience is the fundamental reason for ill-optimized front-ends, these are not the only measures of app performance.

Optimizing mobile apps using performance testing tools requires device and system at peak performance levels. Given below are a few hacks to improve app performance by optimizing both the device and system:

1. Check network performance
   When it comes to mobile apps, understanding their functionalities in various internet connections like Wi-Fi or 4G, or 5G is to be primarily considered. After checking this using performance testing tools, how the existing performance can be enhanced should be taken up next. Given below are some quick ways to improve app performance.
   1. · Deploy an optimum back-end server with high performance to enhance the app response time
   2. Maintain a native database that guarantees the safety of user data even if the server goes down
   3. Decrease the URL redirects as much as possible on your screen
   4. Try to avoid app crashes by all means
   5. Reduce or limit server requests by an app to complete the user request
   6. Have a backup server for users to access your app even if the primary server is down

2. Check device performance

Although the consequences are manifested through the front end, the actual mess lies in the back end. Apps that are glitchy and contain bugs often consume battery life and memory. Unambiguously, they are in urgent need of optimization. However, starting by evaluating the device itself is a good practice.

• Optimize screen rendering times

It is true that users want speed, but not at the cost of rendering the app well. It is useless if the pages or the app opens fast, but users cannot engage or interact with it quickly. Hence for an optimal rendering of the app, developers should consider the following:

1. Is the app rendering accurately on multiple screen sizes or operating systems? This should be kept in mind that a page created for a computer screen will not render correctly on a mobile and vice-versa. Hence developers should scale the image appropriately for various OS and screen types and sizes
2. Developers should also check the consistency of the images and font sizes. It is one of the primary ways to improve screen rendering times.

• Limit memory and energy consumption

Battery life and memory are crucial aspects of a mobile device. Hence, an app with less memory and battery drain result in a better and improved user experience. For implementing this, the following can be considered:

1. Push notifications and memory leaks can increase memory consumption.
2. Incessant app usage drains battery life quickly. Therefore, developers should restrict unnecessary energy drains while fabricating the app. Also, users must be alerted to turn off GPS and Bluetooth when not in use. This will help preserve battery life and portray the app as user-friendly and consumer-minded.
3. Even after achieving optimal user experience, the app’s back end should always be considered for further enhancements.

End Thoughts

In the current overcrowded app market, mobile app monitoring and its performance optimization play a pivotal role in the strategy for enhanced app revenue. To construct a faster and lighter app, the mobile app development engineers must continue optimizing it regularly for improved performance and user experience.