How Much Time Does It Take to Build an Android or iOS Mobile App?

As a technology with the potential to disrupt almost any industry, mobile app development has become increasingly popular in recent years. With more people accessing the internet on smartphones as their primary device rather than desktop computers, opportunities for businesses to develop and market mobile apps have grown exponentially. If you’re considering developing an Android App or iOS mobile app for your business — the first question you might want to ask yourself is: Do I build it myself or hire someone else for me? While it may appear like a lot of work upfront, hiring an agency or outsourcing this part of your business to another company may benefit significantly. There might be a hundred youtube videos telling you that you can manage it on your own, but that’s not even close to easy, and we have curated a guide to understanding the app development process. 

While there is no single answer to this question as it depends on several factors; on average, an app takes up to two months to develop. However, it’s essential to consider the complexity of your project, the type of functionality required, the platform (Android or iOS) you want to develop for, the budget you have for the app development, and the experience of the team you want to hire. All these factors affect the duration of app development.

• Research and Planning
•  App Strategy and Mapping
• Prototyping
• Design and Development
• User Testing
• The Launch

App development often takes months, if not years, from initial client contact to the delivery of the finished product. For app developers to understand what you hope to achieve with your app, they need to understand the business and analyze the market. In addition, we emphasize validating the uniqueness of the idea behind the app. That’s why planning and research is the first step and take approximately one week to complete the task.

This phase includes mapping the journey of the product, estimating the cost, and framing a timeline. It describes your target audience and needs, the business model for the app, collects details on the idea and lays down the desired functionality. This step as well consumes nothing less than a week. 

Here, the information gathered during the app strategy phase is used to create a prototype of the app. The prototype acts like a trailer, helping you visualize how the app will work. We develop multiple prototypes for different business scenarios using UX/UI tools. The clickable prototype usually takes up to a week to complete. Once the prototype is approved, the most crucial development phase of the app begins. 

(Point to note: Prototypes are not full-fledged apps, they only act as mockups.)

This is the most pivotal stage of coding, which consumes the highest time and can run from 2 weeks to months solely depending on the app’s complexity. Here are the factors involved in development and design:

• The size of the app and the number of features it requires highly influence the complexity of the project. 
• A good UI (User Experience) for visual appeal helps attract users, eventually leading to higher conversion rates.
• An app requires frontend and backend engineering. The frontend is how users interact with the app, and the backend is data integration, where the developer connects the app’s system with UI design to make the frontend meaningful.
• Design and development go alongside, but the latter usually takes longer. 
• Design involves concept sketching and ideation, where we experiment with various ideas. Then the aesthetics of the design are reviewed to compliment the app’s functionality. 

This is the phase where all the pieces are finally put together to create the app the business wants. Create App for your Own Business

Once the app is built, it is tested with a sample group of real users. The test runs might seem unnecessary, but they are crucial to know if the app is practically capable of running in order to avoid issues later. After that, necessary improvements are made based on the feedback for the final output.

Once we have completed the research, concept idea, user journey map, prototype, and finally, the development and design of the app, we reach the ultimate stage of app launch where officially, the app is made live for end-users.

We use many strategies to speed up the process of building an app. Here are some of them: 

1. Clarity on the app’s functionality— This is crucial because it helps us understand the project better and prevents your business from facing challenges later on. 
2. Selecting the right strategy— Every app doesn’t work the same way, so it requires unique methods, systems, and techniques that help achieve the app’s desired functionality and save you much time. We have a dedicated team who are experts in outlining the right strategy for an app. Check out how we make it happen for you! 
3. Engaging team members— To speed up the process, we ensure that everybody is on the same page. Therefore, we conduct regular brainstorming sessions and meetings to engage our team members and discuss their roles and responsibilities to avoid confusion.    Read our guide to choosing the best team for your app. 

Conclusion

Building an app is a challenging process. It requires a lot of planning, designing, and hard work from the team. Apps can take weeks or months, and even years to develop. If you are looking to build an app, it’s crucial to understand the process and challenges involved in it. You might want to read the list of 8 common mobile app development mistakes to avoid any chance of trouble. If you’re going to launch your app, you have to start with a clear plan that takes all of these factors into account. We have a proven track record and a decade of experience in this app industry. Having developed more than 200 apps for both startups and enterprises, we are a creative, dedicated, and reliable team, always committed to our client’s success. You get a full-fledged app service if you hire us— from idea to launch. Let’s get started!