App development glossary: terms explained simply

Admin panel: The private part of a product where a business manages users, content, orders or bookings. Often called a back office or dashboard.
API: A defined way for two pieces of software to talk to each other, for example your app and a payment provider.
App Review: Apple's check of every app and update before it appears in the App Store. Usually takes one to three days. See our launch checklist.
App Store Connect: Apple's website for managing apps: builds, store listings, prices, testers and review.
ASO: App Store Optimisation: improving your store listing (name, keywords, screenshots) so more people find and download the app.
Backend: The part of a product that runs on servers instead of the phone: accounts, data, payments and anything shared between users.
Beta / TestFlight: A test version shared with a limited group before release. TestFlight is Apple's tool for this; Google Play has internal and closed testing tracks.
Build: A packaged version of an app that can be installed or sent to the stores. Each build has a version and build number.
Cross-platform: Building one app that runs on both iPhone and Android from a single codebase, instead of two separate apps. See React Native vs Flutter.
Deep link: A link that opens a specific screen inside an app, for example a booking confirmation, instead of the home screen.
Design system: A shared set of colours, type, components and rules that keeps a product consistent as it grows.
Discovery: The first phase of a project, where the problem, the users and the first version are defined before design and building start.
Expo: A toolkit on top of React Native that speeds up building, testing and releasing apps, including over-the-air updates.
Fixed price: A price agreed up front for an agreed scope, instead of billing by the hour. See pricing.
GDPR / AVG: The European privacy law (in Dutch: AVG). It governs how personal data is collected, stored and deleted.
Google Play Console: Google's website for publishing and managing Android apps.
In-app purchase (IAP): Buying digital content or subscriptions inside an app through Apple or Google. Required for digital goods; physical goods and real-world services use normal payments.
Integration: A connection between your product and another system, such as payments, calendars, accounting or a CRM.
MVP: Minimum viable product: the smallest version that is genuinely useful and can be launched to learn from real users. See MVP development.
Native app: An app installed from the App Store or Google Play, with full access to the phone's features. Compare web apps.
Onboarding: The first screens a new user sees, designed to get them to the first useful moment as quickly as possible.
OTA update: Over-the-air update: shipping small fixes to an app without a full store review, within the stores' rules.
Prototype: A clickable mock-up that looks and feels like the app, used to test ideas before building.
Push notification: A message from an app that appears on the lock screen, even when the app is closed.
PWA: Progressive web app: a website that behaves like an app and can be added to the home screen. See PWA or native app.
React Native: A widely used framework for building iPhone and Android apps from one codebase, in the same language as the web.
Rejection: When Apple or Google declines a submission. Paste one into our rejection explainer.
Retainer: A monthly agreement for ongoing work: updates, fixes and new features.
Scope: What is included in a project, and just as important, what is not.
Sign in with Apple: Apple's privacy-friendly login. Required as an option in many apps that offer other social logins.
Staged rollout: Releasing an update to a percentage of users first, to catch problems before everyone gets it.
UX / UI: User experience (how it works and feels) and user interface (how it looks).
Wireframe: A simple sketch of a screen's layout, without colours or final content, used to agree on structure quickly.
White-label: A product that each customer can run under their own brand and domain, like Lorenly.

Glossary.

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