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A practical guide to building and launching mobile apps end-to-end.

Native or cross-platform? MySQL or PostgreSQL? Building an app is paralyzing—too many choices 😵‍💫 Even with the popular options, you still have to find the right permutation.

Opinionated Launch has everything you need to build, launch and maintain a production-grade mobile app.

An App Is More Than Just Building It

App development steps

Everything starts with an idea that you need to validate, followed by actually building it and then launching it 🚀 Once the app is released, you need to keep adding features while ensuring that it’s running smoothly.

This book provides an opinionated approach to going through each phase, focusing on the tech side of things.

Have experience building an app? Check out some of these fun facts from the book to see if the book will still be useful for you (remember, there’s also the backend and the admin portal):

How to share codebase between Android and iOS. And, no, it’s not by bundling HTML pages and publishing it as an app.

How to set up automation so that when you push the code, everyone will have the latest version on their phone in less than an hour.

How to add HD animations that don’t take up much space and can be made interactive. Definitely not by embedding a GIF or movie file, or coding it by hand.

How to force your users to upgrade to the latest version of your app. Nicely.

How your mobile app can use the backend running on your laptop so you can easily test and tweak.

How to have both live and test versions of the app on the same phone, but with different names and icons to tell them apart.

How to distribute your app for testing without sharing APK in WhatsApp groups. If you’re still doing that, please stop. It’s a security risk.

How to design an icon for your app that looks great everywhere. In case you haven’t noticed, app icons in Android are not necessarily square. Or circle.

Talk about icons… How to create favicons for your website that look great on all devices.

How to create great-looking screenshots for your store page on a budget.

How to gradually roll out a feature to select users based on country, age group, or other criteria.

Author’s portrait

About the Author

Hi! 👋 My name is Thomas Wiradikusuma. I’m a software developer turned startup founder turned corporate exec (but still code, hence this book). I’ve worked with a Global 500 company and held senior leadership roles in a major carrier/telco and a large retail conglomerate in Indonesia.

I’m currently a CTO for a venture-backed fintech. Let’s connect on LinkedIn.

What’s Discussed

Architecture diagram

Building mobile apps these days is, ironically, both easier and harder at the same time. Mature tooling, rich ecosystems, and the proliferation of choice make it easier to get started and do more things with less effort.

Unfortunately, with maturity, there are now five ways to send push notifications to your phone, and most of them are outdated 🫠 Choice can also be dangerous—you might end up betting on a dying horse.

This book aims to be the Bootstrap of mobile app building. Your app won’t be Google-scale automatically, but you will get the basics right 😎

Specifically, you will learn:

Part 1: First Things First

What needs to be considered when developing an app, and how each component work together.

Part 2: Development

Development of the mobile app and its supporting systems (backend and admin portal).

Part 3: Infra & Ops

Deployment and monitoring (OpenTelemetry). Infra stuff to support development, such as CI/CD, is also discussed.

Part 4: Security

Security is a broad topic; this chapter will take you through the standard security best practices.

Part 5: Marketing Support

A successful app will have a “support ecosystem” such as a landing page, social media, and analytics.

Part 6: Certifications

Before an app can go live, it needs to tick all boxes. We’ll cover UAT, penetration testing, and ISO 27001.

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Who This Book Is For

This book is for anyone building a mobile app, especially:
🎯

Solopreneurs who can code

Single fighter? No problem, as long as you can code.
🎯

CTOs and technical startup founders

With up to a dozen developers working on the app.
🎯

CEOs and non-technical startup founders

Who want to outsource their app development to an offshore company.

Get the Complete Edition

Digital copy of the book
Practical guide to building and launching mobile apps in PDF, ePub, and Kindle formats.
Companion website
1-year access to the companion website that gives you the following:
Regular updates
Fresh copy of the book every time it’s updated.
Member-only articles
Deep dive into each topic discussed in the book with code samples.
Starter code
Commented with clear instructions, for both the mobile app and the backend.
Project template
Get up to speed with a predefined checklist for Jira and Google Sheets.

Get the Strategy Edition

Need more handholding? Or just a second opinion?

Get a personalized 1-hour call with me to discuss:

  1. The tech stack for your app, tailored to your situation (which can differ from what I suggest in the book).
  2. Project planning for your next launch target (e.g., MVP).

In both of these areas, small mistakes can be very costly.

Preorder Now for $449

Get the Value Edition

Book cover

The budget option (but still great!).

The book is where I spent the most time and effort. The tutorials and starter code are very useful, but let’s not overlook the book itself. You will be referring back to the best practices in this book from time to time.

So, if a budget is an issue, I highly recommend getting the book by itself. You won’t regret it.

Questions?

Why should I buy the book?

Because you don’t want to repeat the same mistakes I made when building my first few apps. Have you built something halfway through and realized you should have taken a different approach? Been there, done that.

Will I learn <fancy tech>?

This book aims to give you practical, up-to-date best practices in building mobile apps. I’m confident you will learn something new, but it’s just a byproduct of the book’s goal.

Which package should I buy?

That mostly depends on your budget. Obviously the complete package is the best, but the book by itself is still hundreds of pages of practical guide that will completely accelerate your app development.

Why should I pre-order?

You will get a steep discount, and get to influence the book’s content as it’s written. You will never see the same discount once the book is published.

When will the book be ready?

The book is sort of done, but I've been working on it on and off for a few years, so it needs refreshing here and there. The final version is expected to be ready by late Q1 2025.

What’s your refund policy?

If the book is not for you, just email me within 30 days after the book is emailed to you, and I'll happily give you a refund.

Are you a 10x programmer?

It may come as a surprise, but I’m not a ninja tech guy who maintains a dozen GitHub projects while having a full-time job. I’m just a CTO who enjoys coding and wants a book to refer to during technical discussions with the team.

How do I contact you?

Let’s connect on LinkedIn.