Build Your App

Whether you have a detailed spec or your idea on a napkin, we work with you to flesh out the concept, prototype the design, and build and test the final product, all the way to the release to the app store or direct to your users.
Let’s build your app
Leverage Our Experience
Lexicon Systems is a recognized leader in mobile app development using Xamarin Platform. We have authored the best-selling Xamarin book on Amazon entitled Xamarin Mobile Application Development and build award-winning mobile apps using Azure Mobile Apps and Xamarin.

Founded in 1999, we also consult to firms in building up their own Xamarin teams.

Projects include a cross-platform IoT app for Thermo Fisher Scientific which won a W3, a Davey award, and was a finalist for a Xammy award, as well as a Xamarin.Forms drone app featured in MSDN Magazine.

Clients include Microsoft. Fidelity Investments, Computerworld Magazine, and a number of successful startups such as OrthoBullets.

Develop with Us
We build award-winning Xamarin apps based on our clients’ vision and requirements for Android, iOS, and cross-platform.

We supply development and design staff who can work independently or as part of your existing team. The development process typically includes the following:

  • Create a vision
  • Tell us about your vision with a Discovery
  • Plan the project
  • Develop your app
  • Test your app
  • Deploy to your users
  • Use analytics to track your app
Create a Vision
There are many ways to form your vision. You and your team may have considered dozens of ideas for great mobile apps. Run them by your staff, and even by a few trusted users. Then pick the top three. Ask yourself which one of those would make your users ecstatic and commit to it. Innovation in mobile often has to do with taking advantage of unique phone capabilities, like GPS, camera, voice, integration with other systems and objects, real-time notifications and updates, or simply the fact that the user takes the device wherever they go. Trends in mobile innovation involve the quality and depth of information available to the mobile user via Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).
Once you’ve done all that (or maybe you already have) you’re ready for the next step.

Migration
If you’re a business with a suite of mobile apps, you have an advantage in the mobile game. You already have a product direction. You also have a technology foundation. The trick is determining appropriate directions for mobile apps which leverage these assets. What to mobilize? Here’s how to migrate from the web to mobile.

Tell us about your vision with a Discovery
Discovery is the process in which we come to understand your goals and ideas. Some of your thoughts need to be put down on paper as requirements, if you haven’t done so already, and some need to go into wireframes or mocked-up screens. Although there’s no magic in these methods, the questions we ask and the way in which we conduct the discovery may illuminate your strategy in ways you hadn’t considered. Our clients find that we capture their vision accurately, in a way that is practical to execute on, and even help them avoid problems before they arise in development.
Plan the project

Once you’ve communicated your vision, planning the execution of that vision is next. Our best clients understand that software development is as much an art as a science. Even so, our attention to detail results in estimates of high accuracy which is unusual in this industry. We create a roadmap outlining each step of the journey towards your app completion. Inspired by Agile founders, and having authored the little gem of a book entitled Agile in .Net, we deliver every piece quickly for your prompt review and feedback. The biggest benefit of an agile approach is that divergences from your vision are brief and the project stays more easily on track.
Develop your app
You need your app built quickly but built well. You’re sophisticated enough to understand that tough decisions and tradeoffs will need to be made in that effort. We’ve won enough awards and received sufficient commendations to have demonstrated that of all the development consultancies you might talk to, we are in the top ten percent. When you also consider our published books, articles, and public speaking on the topic of Xamarin app development, we’re in the top one percent. Although we do know of a few brilliant Xamarin devs and partners in the community, we don’t want to get too full of ourselves. You get the idea. Our thought leadership doesn’t give us license to tell you what to imagine, but it gives you the foundation to dream big.
Test your app

App testing will determine the success of your effort (unless it’s a prototype). Regardless of the brilliance, timeliness, or business savvy of your app concept, if the user encounters bugs and crashes, the app is sunk. Ratings will plummet, and no one will download it from the stores anymore. And using case testing isn’t sufficient. Most apps need to work on a dozen or more iOS operating devices and several operating systems and for Android the number shoots up to hundreds of devices and many OSes. Your app will be run through our gauntlet born of years of experience, to swat bugs, fix formatting issues, and address device and OS diversity in a way that is cost-effective and scaled appropriately to your needs.
Use analytics to track your app

An app in the wild with no analytics is like driving at night with your headlights off. Wildly successful apps have one thing in common: frequent releases based upon performance in the field. We measure performance several ways, but the first two are store reviews and analytics. Analytics tell us how many crashes there were and what caused them. They can tell us the number of downloads and subsequent level of engagement. Did they use the app repeatedly? Did they keep using it or did they set it aside? Advanced analytics can describe the users’ exact path through the app as well as specific buttons pressed, purchases made, or other conversions. This feedback helps you measure success and gives clues for how to improve the user experience or results. Analytics help us to steer the app even closer to your guiding vision. You might consider Visual Studio App Center (VSAC) for your mobile analytics, and we can help you with that.

Deploy to your users
App distribution has changed quite a bit with mobile. If you don’t distribute your app yourself then you need the stores. But before you get it in the stores you need to send it around to your test team. That’s a deployment in and of itself. Our approaches to app builds and releases are agile as well and make excellent use of the best tools available. Version tracking, quick release turnaround times, and thorough preparedness for store submissions are all necessary for efficient and wildly successful app deployments. Many of our clients’ favorite words are, “Your app made it into the store!”

DevOps
Do you want to talk about Mobile DevOps? We developed the Mobile DevOps video course for Microsoft’s edX DevOps series. Let’s talk about how Visual Studio App Center (VSAC) is a path to Continuous Happiness (CH).

It’s time to build your app