How to reskin an app in 6 steps

If you are interested in this question, you’ve probably heard how much time or/and money it takes to make custom mobile app. But what if we tell that you can spend ten times less money on reskin app and get a fine income from it. Intriguing, isn’t it?

What is an app reskinning

Probably, we should start from the very basis.

Reskinning – is making a new app using existing source code and different design. You can also make some small modifications to that code or develop it a bit, but the main sense is in saving money on a ready piece of strings.

Here is a good example of what we are talking about. In 1950s American producer Roger Corman came with a profitable idea. He quickly identified what audiences wanted and used one actors crew and even the same movie sets to make cheap films. While bigger companies where only working on their movies, Roger was gathering fast money in cinemas following trends. Maybe his work wasn’t а masterpiece but he managed to earn some capital.

In our case a process is almost the same. You take a trendy code, e.g. Multi-Lined Slot Machine game, create new design for it or even a few game versions and get profit. But let’s look at real examples.

Best reskin app examples

While surfing app stores you can notice many familiar apps you’ve never even used. It is very easy to find such examples in games. Candy Crush Sagas, Doctor games by George CL, Deer Hunter, Temple Run and many other can be found in the TOP charts of different app stores. They can have up to ten clones or similar apps with look-a-like names  but at the same time those are not duplicates. They are reskins.

The main goal of reskin apps is getting new audiences by using popular themes and designs.

• King’s sagas

Different Candy Crush Sagas, Farm Heroes Saga, three Bubble Witch Sagas, Pet Rescue Saga and other were downloaded hundreds thousands of times. And people don’t get bored with that games!

• Flappy series

Original “Flappy Bird” game turned into dozens if not hundreds of similar apps. People just like the idea and good design makes the rest.

• Runtastic

Not only the games can be reskinned. Good example of it are series of Runtastic apps.  They are described as ideal health and fitness partners for different sportsmen. Runners, bikers or even pedestrians – all of them can download personalized app, both free and pro versions.

This list can be very long so we propose you to look for other examples in app stores by yourself and pay more attention to app strategies. Think what best can be repeated in your own apps and what unique can be brought into that sphere.

Benefits of reskinning apps

Reskinning is all about saving. It can reduce your spending of time, money and people.

• Time

Period of creating your reskin app can vary. It depends on many factors like quality of bought code, amount of graphic elements and sounds, your concept etc. For example, if you have chosen complicated theme you’ll probably need to work on it longer. However if you only need to change a few graphic elements it will be fast.

But the main advantage here is in fact that you mustn’t work on code from zero. Purchasing a source code you avoid many dangers like working on wrong idea or paying incompetent developers.

• Money

Buying ready code is far more cheaper than developing it. At app marketplaces you can find  prices like $49/app. The same money you would pay for an hour (!) work of an average Ukrainian developer.

Besides working on reskin scheme you can decrease your expenses by turning one successful code into 10 smaller projects. Each of them would use the same code and your spending will divide into ten. Meanwhile each app can target various audiences and bring you money from several demographic groups. In some cases reskin app can even become more popular than original version.

[quote_share]You can invest $50-100 in ready source code, while the same app development would be worth more than $6,000.[/quote_share]

• People

Human capital in this case can be regarded as separate option cause some entrepreneurs manage to build reskin app empires on their own. Good example of it is John Hayward-Mayhew. Just in four years  that  iOS developer managed to produce more than 600 different apps and gain 25 million downloads. And he didn’t even know how to code!

So that you can also work on your own, or hire a professional designer. Sometimes developer’s help can be needed but even so your spending can’t be compared to the lasting and costly process of complete app development.

6 steps to make a reskin app

After looking at that great and successful series of reskin apps you could think of doing  something similar on your own. Believe it or not, it is possible to make with really little amount of money, time and dedication.

For creating successful reskin app you must have two main things: good source code and qualitative design. Sometimes entrepreneurs or amateurs forget about that and don’t get expected results. Please, do not repeat that mistakes.

1. Start with the basics

Even if you are not going to reskin any app on your own it is a good idea to get acquainted with main development tools. The process will be a bit different accordingly to chosen operating system.

– iOS

While creating a reskin app for Apple you’ll need to use some special soft, in this case – Xcode. It is an integrated development environment (IDE), that works for OS X and iOS. Obviously you’ll also require a Mac laptop or PC.

Xcode is not harder in understanding than Microsoft Word so you’ll learn to use it or understand properly after some tutorials. Plenty of them can be found just using Google. The program is adapted to not very skilled users and has quite easy interface.

– Android

If you’re going to create reskin apps for this operating system you’ll need some special programs too. In this case we’re talking about official IDE called Android Studio. It gives you the same possibilities as Xcode.

Besides Android Studio is not so hard to understand too. On the web you’ll find many video and text tutorials that describe working with it. By the way Google has own video lessons for amateurs. You’ll find not only good advice but also code examples in it.

Just a little understanding of reskin app principles will help you to get better communication with your developer and designer. It is especially crucial when you are employing people on hour-paid basis. Your knowledge of IDEs will help to save money by putting right tasks and explaining precise requests.

Also at this point it’s good to find out popular trends in programming and actual prices for developer’s work so that you wouldn’t pay too much for outdated code.   

2. Get a source code.

You have two different options to start with. First of all, you can get your own unique code by hiring a freelancer or making a deal with developer company. It can cost you different sum starting with at least $6,000. After getting personal code you can hire a designer and duplicate your app as many times as you want.

But there are much more economical solutions like purchasing a source code. Some of them can cost even $50! However in this case the process works like franchising. You don’t get a source code itself but only its copy. So actually regard it as getting a license for using a source code.

Licenses can have different types, but mostly they are  limited or  unlimited. In case of limited license you can reskin app a set number of times (or even once) and then publish it. With unlimited licenses you may reskin app as many times as you wish.

Usually purchasing a license also does not allow you selling your app to another person. It happens because you don’t own the code itself. So be careful while purchasing a license and better choose well-known seller.

3. Make a research

After getting your code start developing an idea. Making some research before diving into reskin  app would be good decision.

First of all you should visit app stores and look for similar applications or popular trends. Try that apps by yourself, read the descriptions, pay attention to keywords etc. At this point you must understand, what users like and what your competitor’s apps lack.

Also you should pay attention to possible audiences and make sure that your concept matches target demographics. At this point you should choose mobile operating systems you are going to work with too.

4. Start reskinning

In most cases reskin app is about changing a design, not the source code. Though you may want to implement some small changes or improvements into your code and make it a bit different.

So after you’ve chosen needed theme start redisigning. You can do it by yourself or hire a professional. Everything here depends on your possibilities.

If you want to make redisign by yourself, you’ll need some additional knowledge. Sound effects or ID modifications can be changed in IDEs but you’ll also need to make some graphics changes with editing programs like Adobe family (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects), GIMP, Acorn or many other.  

But don’t forget that high-quality design is one of the key moments in creating a successful application.

Original graphic asset ale located in the particular folder of your app. You or your designer must find them and parts of code they refer to. Also pay attention to the dimensions, file size and number of animations for each graphic.

After you’ve got redesigned files be sure that they match original elements. It is important because those graphics will later combine and form one design.

After changing all elements you’ll need to test your app at least a few times.

5.  Sign up for ad networks and developer accounts

First of all you’ll need  developer accounts on Google Play and/or Apple Store.  Memberships at the Apple Developer Program starts with $99/year while signing up for  Google Play Developer account costs one-time $25 USD registration fee.  

After that you must choose one or few advertising networks like Google’s AdMob, Unity Ads, Chartboost, Revmob, AppLovin or any other you want. Don’t forget to change the ID of the project so that you can receive money from advertising. This requires using a software development kit (SDK) and occasionally can be tricky. So you can regard a support of professional developer at this point.

After preparation is done you can upload an app to the stores and work on it’s ASO (App Store Optimization), which means adding your own unique title, description, keywords, nice screenshots, personalized icon and other small but meaningful details. Also later you should work with app reviews and ratings.

6. Marketing

Some entrepreneurs forget about this really important stage of reskinning an app.

It is not enough just to make a brilliant app and wait while it will gain success on its own. You should advertise your new apps in social media, blogs, video channels or any other possible ways.

The more people will try an app the better position it will get in store TOPs.

Case study

What about some more practical example? We imagined being an amateur reskin app entrepreneur and counted his or her possible expenses.

Statistic says that in 2016 mobile users spent 11% of time playing games on Android.  These apps formed almost 40% of all downloads and brought their owners more than 50 billion dollars. So let’s create our own dreamy game empire!

For the beginning, we chose one classic game source code – “Jelly Garden Match 3” and counted our possible expenses on it. It works both on Android and iOS phones, doesn’t require developer experience and even contains pre-installed ad networks. Here’s what we get while making one reskin application. 

	Single license	Multiple License
App source	99	259
Apple Developer Program *per year	99	99
Google Play Developer	25	25
Developers help *2 hours	100	100
Designer work *8 hours	360	360
Total	$683	$843

We added some developer and designer help to our calculation and even so we didn’t reach $1,000 point. And you can make these sums even smaller buying cheaper codes or making your own design!

But let’s count some more. In case of single license it would probably be wiser invest into more expensive and qualitative app, because your spending will not divide. But what about multiple case? What if we make 5, 8 or even 10 apps with multiple license? Let’s take a look.

	5 apps	8 apps	10 apps
App source	259	259	259
Apple Developer Program *per year	99	99	99
Google Play Developer	25	25	25
Developers help *2 hours/app	500	800	1000
Designer work *8 hours/app	1800	2880	3600
Total	2683	4063	4983
One app	$536.6	$507.88	$498.3

We increased expenses on hired workers but still one app’s price is smaller than in case of single license. And the more apps we make, the cheaper they become. Still each of them can bring owner the same profit. Average application can earn $5,000-$11,000 per month worldwide, though most of the developers get less than $1,000.

Of course the tables above are simplified but still they show the main principle of reskin app: the bigger volume of your business is, the better results you get. But don’t forget about quality, of course. If you buy cheap code or make bad design constantly your audience will quickly regard all your products as bad and unpleasant.

Conclusion

Just a few main things you could take from our article.

• Reskinning app – is a process of using one code with various designs.
• Reskin app is many times cheaper than creating an app from zero.
• You can save money by dividing constant expenses into many smaller projects.
• Good code and high-quality design are two main options for getting fine result.
• You can perform all the process by yourself or hire just a few people to help you.
• The more reskin apps you make the cheaper they become.