How To Invest In Mobile Apps

Get Quick Access To Analytics

Another significant benefit of mobile apps for small business is that it eases the process of gathering user data and gaining insights. In simpler words, it provides businesses with heap of data regarding how customers interact with their app, what they like the most and what not, how much time they spend on their platform on an average, etc. These insights further help them with planning their marketing strategy wisely and enjoy the best results from investing in mobile application development.

How We Make Money

The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.

Rapidly Growing User Base

Heres a good one: since 2017, the Robinhood app one of the most popular commission-free trading apps has been growing by 4 million users each year.

From 2 million users in 2017, they grew to 6 million in 2018, and then to 10 million in 2019. In the first four months of 2020, their user base had already topped 13 million users. Thats nearly 2x of their normal growth.

A few other facts of the rising demand for trading apps:

• Merrill Edge saw trading volume rise 184% and new accounts up 13% during the second quarter of 2020
• Ameritrade added 661,000 new funded retail accounts in the second quarter of 2020

Read Also: How To Invest In Real Estate With Low Capital

The Real Reasons Businesses Should Invest In Mobile Apps

As consumer behaviour continues to evolve, businesses need to adapt their strategy to be where their customers are. As a result, companies are moving rapidly toward making mobile apps commonplace as business tools and assets.

One of the key questions in business is how you can give your brand a competitive edge. The answer mobile apps. Industry leading companies are designing holistic experiences that leverage the personal nature of mobile. While there is still some hesitation surrounding mobile apps, it is important to understand that a native app isnt just a mobile version of your website but rather an engaging and experience-driven environment crucial for creating a cohesive customer journey. A mobile app can be used to build a strong mobile presence, that results in far better engagement for your investment.

A mobile-first approach is imperative for successful businesses, yet many still are behind in adopting a mobile app strategy. Where mobile web can help raise awareness and increase traffic, mobile apps, on the other hand, allow you to foster the customer relationship and increase retention. Without a mobile presence, significant marketing opportunities are missed.

Related Why Do Businesses Need a Mobile App?

How To Pick The Best Investing App

The best investing app for you will depend on your investment style. Do you want one that does the work for you, or would you rather be in control? Do you want a passive portfolio made up of lower risk funds, or would you rather build an active, riskier portfolio consisting of individual stocks?

Those wanting a more active approach to investing may opt for an app like Robinhood . Meanwhile, those looking to just put their investments on autopilot and forget about them may benefit more from a robo-advisor like Betterment.

Keep in mind that not all apps offer the same investment assets to choose from. For example, Acorns only offers ETFs, so if you want to trade individual stocks, this app wouldn’t be the best fit. Make sure you do your research and understand everything the app offers before you sign up.

Don’t Miss: Where To Invest In Safemoon

Day Trading Vs Investing

Another prominent trait of such applications is that some are more suited for day trading while others are more optimized for long-term investing.

Some trading apps like M1 Finance dont allow users to trade the same stock more than once per day, making day trading with such solutions in effect non-existent. Instead, users may pick such apps for investing.

Other apps like TD Ameritrade or E*Trade are ideal for day trading while also combining the features youd expect from user-friendly apps focused on long-term investments. So be mindful of your customers needs when you make a stock app, e.g., consider adding commission-free trading or short-term e-trade options for precious metals.

What Is The Best Investment App For Beginners

In most cases, the best investment app for beginners is a robo-adviser that customizes a portfolio for you based on your goals and risk tolerance while keeping costs low, such as Fidelity, Acorns, or Ellevest. If you’re just starting out investing, we don’t recommend trading individual stocks and funds, unless you have guidance from an expert or a high capacity for risk.

Read Also: Broker Dealer Vs Investment Advisor

Ways To Monetize Mobile Apps

• Display ads in mobile apps
• Let users buy it once
• Offer a subscription
• Include paid features on top of freemium

Any investor should make money from mobile apps to make sense of investing in them. To achieve this, a business has to focus on such aspects as expansion of the target audience and delivery of new features. On the other hand, mobile app developers may earn a living by developing apps directly or holding stock options in the company specializing in app development.

Direct and indirect methods of revenue generation from mobile apps constitute the primary income sources from mobile apps. A business would need to decide whether they want a template-based app or a custom app, and the former is usually cheaper and faster to develop but lacks many custom app features.

Outsourcing an experienced team of developers guarantees quality and post-development support. The decision to create mobile apps requires companies to decide on the app type, business model, and market size. Dont worry, weve got your back: from business analysis and to the actual launch.

Best Investment Apps For Everyday Investors

While there are a number of beginner-friendly options, apps have a lot to offer investors of all skill levels and portfolio types. Whether you are interested in stock trading or overall portfolio management, there is probably an app for that. The following are some of the best investing apps available:

Recommended Reading: How To Invest In Stocks From Your Phone

What To Consider When Choosing An Investment App

When it comes to investment apps, think about how youll plan to use them. Do you need an educational tool or are you looking to actually trade and invest? Some apps charge fees that can eat into your investment returns, while others have very low costs and offer commission-free trading. If youre interested in trading things like cryptocurrencies, youll want to make sure thats a feature offered by the app or broker not all brokers offer crypto trading.

Types Of Funding For Your App

Now that youve fleshed out your idea some more and have a better understanding of the funding process, its time to start talking to investors. “Investor” is an overarching term for different individuals interested in supporting your app. Whether theyre family and friends or venture capitalists, theyre considered investors because they are making an investment and holding a stake in your idea. They have faith that your idea could see success and want to be a part of achieving success. So lets dive into the different types of investors you may encounter.

Jump to:

• Personal Network

You May Like: How To Invest In Debentures

Develop Your Elevator Pitch

Investors are very busy people and before they even consider penciling you into their schedule, you need to have an elevator pitch ready to go. Much like a personal elevator pitch for a job fair, your startups elevator pitch is the key to getting in front of investors.

For a quick review, lets go over what an elevator pitch is. Your apps elevator pitch is how you describe it briefly and concisely. For example: Youre on your way to a business meeting and you take an elevator all the way up to the 21st floor. A potential investor walks into the elevator and you strike up conversation. You have 30 seconds or so before the elevator door opens and you walk out to your meeting. In those 30 seconds, you have to be able to describe your app idea, what features your app has, and the problem that your app is solving. This is the hook to getting another meeting where you can go more in-depth about your app and other details for the development process.

If you cant describe your app concisely in 30 seconds, then you probably need to go back and do some more research. You have to be able to describe your app enough to hook investors, but without taking up too much of their time. Once theyre hooked, you have a little more time in the future to sit down and discuss more specific information, like budget needs, features, etc.

Security Problems With Stock Trading Apps

A report came out in 2017 that many stock trading apps have security holes. Many vulnerabilities were found in smartphones that exposed accounts to hackers who could steal money, sell off stocks, and get into personal details of the users accounts.

So, even when it comes to the best apps to trade stocks, you can still run into vulnerabilities. New investors need to keep this in mind when shopping for the best app.

This 2017 report also found that about 19 percent of the stock trading apps exposed user passwords in clear text. Other apps did not even verify the SSL certificate .. Its best to check the apps security beforehand by checking customer reviews, looking at any data breach news, and checking if they have two-factor authentication.

Don’t Miss: What Is The Best Gold Stock To Invest In

Customer Service & Support

According to SalesForce, 70% of purchases are influenced by the customers experience alone. Mobile apps offer a more efficient channel for your customers to get in touch and engage with your brand. From simplifying online purchases to providing easy-to-access information, mobile apps can significantly improve your customers experience and satisfaction. When customer satisfaction increases, ultimately sales do too.

One strength of the mobile experience is that it can build the feedback and support loop into the app, providing customers with an instant, easy and responsive way of contacting and interacting with your brand. The readily accessible and intuitive nature of mobile apps make it the ideal customer service channel that can significantly improve the customer experience. For example, having a messaging or help desk feature within your app can really make a difference in the way you communicate with your customers.

Project Management Approach For Investment App Development

Scrum is a well-known iterative development technique within the larger body of Agile methodology. I recommend this technique for this project. The PM acts as a Scrum master, whereas a Product owner provides the features or requirements in a document called the Product backlog.

The scrum team estimates the features, and the scrum master plans Sprints, i.e., iterations based on this estimation. The team first builds the Minimum Viable Product , and then enhances it in further sprints. During the project execution, the scrum team conducts a Daily stand-up meeting. This meeting is to discuss the project status, additionally, the scrum master uses it for issue resolution.

When the features are ready, the scrum team conducts a Sprint review meeting. Features are demonstrated in this meeting, which enables the project stakeholders to approve the features. The team also conducts a lessons-learned exercise, and its called the Sprint retrospective meeting. You can find more information about this technique in our guide How to build a Scrum development team.

You should also consider effective project management tools for this project. Zoho is a good option. You can find more choices for PM tools in our guide The 10 best Agile project management tools.

Don’t Miss: The Best Online Investment Platform

Best App For Active Investing And Saving For Retirement

Who’s this for? Similar to Robinhood, Webull offers commission-free trading on stocks, options, ETFs and crypto, with no minimums required. Users also have access to IPO and fractional shares.

While Robinhood and Webull are both great investing options for active traders, only Webull currently offers IRAs so users can manage their retirement funds along with their stocks all in one place.

Webull offers users a customizable desktop version of its platform if you prefer to trade on a bigger screen and investors have extensive extended trading hours before and after the market closes: 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET and 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.

Webull’s app is available to download for free in both the App Store , where it has 4.7/5 stars, and on Google Play , where is has 4.4/5 stars at the time this article was written.

Investing In A Mobile App Is A Smart Move

Mobile apps offer a significant competitive advantage for businesses that want to build a loyal customer base and offer a fantastic experience to their target audience. Its impossible to take a business to the next level without the help of technology. And mobile apps are one of the best strategies for helping companies to reach their full of potential.

Read more: Mobile app development cost how to estimate a mobile app development project

Are you looking for a team of expert mobile developers who could build a functional app for your business?

Reach out to our consultants we have helped companies across different sectors make the most of their presence on the mobile scene.

This may interest you:

You May Like: Roth Ira Invest In Stocks

Tastyworks: Best App For Options Traders

Tastyworks does not suffer from a lack of focus. The brokerage is very focused on options traders, and this focus has allowed tastyworks mobile app to unseat Interactive Brokers in this area. While Interactive Brokers is still the standard for active traders, traders who are mainly using options strategies will find tastyworks app a better fit.

The tastyworks mobile workflow is designed for options order entry, making the process quick and intuitive. Options traders use drag and drop to choose the legs of an options spread, eliminating keyboard entry. Despite this ease of entry, the tastyworks mobile app is better thought of as a short-term substitute for the desktop platform. While you can enter new positions and exit existing ones, the app lacks some of the features available in the desktop platform for researching and analyzing trades. For heavy options trading, it is difficult to match the full feature set and extra visual space that comes with the desktop platforms.

• Traders can use a drag and drop selection for options legs in the tastyworks mobile app.

• The tastyworks app is streamlined for options trading. There are no unnecessary features and nothing to distract from the core function.

• Tastytrade video feed is available through the mobile app.

• You cant open an account through the tastyworks mobile app.

• The app wont replace the desktop for heavy traders, but it can be used to monitor and exit existing positions.

How Much Funding Do You Need For Your App Startup

When it comes to how much funding for app startup is required, there isnt any fixed figure to achieve. The exact number will depend on your app idea, the complexity of the app, the team, and other factors. For instance, a simple MVP with minimal features can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000. A more complex cross-platform app with APIs, on the other hand, can cost anywhere between $50,000 to $200,000.

But dont worry, we have already discussed the options to raise money for your startup. However, before going to the app investors, work with your full-cycle app development company to figure out the estimated cost of developing your app, functionalities, and primary purpose of the app. Without any budgetary plans in place, you risk making a monetary miscalculation that can cost you your dream.

If you receive less funding, you wont be able to even start the app development process. On the other hand, if you receive more funds than you need, you may end up giving away your owners share or even your company to mobile app investors.

Read Also: How To Invest In Stocks Below 18

Best For Beginners: Acorns

Acorns is a mobile-first brokerage and banking app offering creative funding options, including recurring transfers and round-ups for purchases made with connected cards. The brokerage offers ETFs, and it generates specific recommendations for you, based on a survey you fill out when signing up for an account.

The biggest downside of Acorns is the fee structure. $3 per month for investing, retirement, and checking and $5 per month ” for all the features of Personal plus investment accounts for kids. A couple of dollars a month may not sound like much, but it could be a big percentage of your balance on smaller accounts. For example, a $1 monthly fee equals a 12% yearly fee for a $100 account balance.

The Best Mobile Apps For Investing Of 2022

Investing can be very intimidating to get started with.

With so many investment options, its hard to know what to choose.

Worse, you might be worried about your investment losing value.

Weve put together this list of apps that can help first-time investors get started.

Whether you want to learn, save a few pennies at a time, or get into stock trading, theres an app for you.

Recommended Reading: How To Invest In Akoin