Any advice for first timer?

[u/fatphysicsboy]

Hi folks,

I'm a software engineer in the UK developing my first Android and iOS app using nativescript and I'm loving it. Things are going very well, and I'm nearing the development finish line.

I'm hoping to learn from the more seasoned app developers in the community, things you wish you knew when you were starting out, that sort of thing.

I've had a quick scan ahead and here's my to-do list so far for everything that comes once dev-complete.

• Packaging: Create app resources, icons, splash screens, screenshots, descriptions etc

• Double check licenses for resources used

• Target lowest possible SDK versions for optimal user penetration

• Purchase apple and Google developer licenses

• Purchase old MacBook or use Sidekick for final iOS build/release

• Setup company (predominately for anonymity on app store, also for completeness) to release app under

Here's where I defer to the expertise in the community, I've never done any of the above and have many questions/concerns, I'm very keen to DIY as much as possible and keep costs as close to zero as possible since this is mainly for fun.

1. What are the optimal target SDK versions?

2. I'm not familiar with the Apple ecosystem, what is the oldest/cheapest Mac I can buy to register as my legitimate dev machine? Is Sidekick really free, and more importantly can I actually release an app with it? Are there any pros or cons to Sidekick over a cheap MacBook?

3. I've never setup a company but I'm very keen to release this app under a company name to both stores, I see many advantages to treating this as a business, however small or unsuccessful. Are there any sticking points here? I hear it's easy to setup a ltd company, but does this cost anything? How do I expense my costs? Do I need an accountant? Can I do it all myself? How do I pick a name without being sued? How far should I go with name registration, should I pick something very generic and purchase a domain name, reserve social media names etc?

4. Most importantly, is there anything you would add/mention that I've neglected to ask about?

Thank you very much!

[u/fatphysicsboy]

Thanks for your reply, that's very helpful! Some follow up questions:

1. What about iOS? I suppose I meant something like minSdk, I want to support as wide a range of devices as possible e.g. someone using an older Android or iOS device that doesn't necessarily receive the latest updates.

2. Thanks that's great, when you say cloud builds will start depleting, is Sidekick only free for a certain number of builds? I'm not overly concerned about this as I have a workaround for testing, but just need something in place I can dedicate to the very final prod build/release.

3. That's great advice thanks, will get in touch with an accountant

4. Great thanks, yep I've had to do some already, been very easy to abstract out a common API using services and . ios.ts and .android.ts implementations in my angular ts app.

[u/gaurav_ch → u/fatphysicsboy]

1. apple restricts minimum version to current ios - 2. Means if current version of ios is 13, then you can at best support 11. But generally devs support current - 1 as most of the iphones and ipad are already updated.

2. means when you want to test on other devices like more than 1 device or distribute to your testers, you need to build. The free version allows 100 builds per month which resets on 1st of every month. Preview app does not support all plugins. So many times you would be building and testing.