Day by day, millions of mobile apps are being developed, promoted, sold and becoming even more and more popular. It is expected that in the next two years, revenue from mobile apps will reach more than 200 billion USD, and the number of installs will increase to 360 billion dollars.
In this regard, many businesspersons who are familiar with this area want to know: how long does it take to build a mobile app and how much effort it required. Let's figure it out together.
Table of contents
Phases To Make A Mobile App From an Idea to the Plan Define Features and Functions Let the Specialists Do The Job Last but Not Least: Tests Time Estimates Final Thought
Phases To Make A Mobile App
These days, there is enough information on the Internet about the approximate development time of a mobile application: from a month for a simple app, to ten for something way more complicated. However, in fact, these numbers rarely involve preparatory work and many additional points.
The app making process is an “iterative” action in which you can seamlessly navigate between the different steps (from starting research work, to coding, testing, customization, and the product release). Therefore, it will be helpful to consider and take into account all stages of app development to understand how long does it take to create an app.
From an Idea to the Plan
At the very first step of work on creating a mobile app you need to find answers two main sets of questions:
Why do I want to make this application? Why should it exist? What benefits will the world bring? Do people really want to use it? Who is our target audience?
What similar applications do I know? Who are my future competitors in the mobile market? How will my application be unique, and how it could be better that others?
So, at this point, the most important things in terms of strategy occur business planning, defining and collecting the basic conditions, getting to know all similar projects that are highly popular; potential issues and future competitors; have regular interviews with experts. First of all, it is necessary to understand your target audience, to find out the main features that you want to include and even create a useful “storyboard”.
You need to conduct extensive research on mobile market demand and customer needs, being sure that:
you have identified and justified the needs of the client, and also have thought through the model of monetization of the project;
estimate the size of your market;
you have confirmed the idea of your product.
Time: Up to a few weeks.
Define Features and Functions
If you already analyzed everything written above (from understanding user needs and determining the volume of demand in the mobile sphere), it is time to form the functionality of the future product and ascertain its key feature.
What questions do you want to solve with your application? At this stage, you need to understand what functions you want to include, and how the future system will interact with the data. Will it collect data directly from people, or pull it from other resources?
You also need to develop “use cases”. These are patterns in order to understand how people will interact with the application. Remember one rule: “the more functions you will add, the more complex your product will be, and the longer it will take to implement your project”
The number of platforms will be another decision that needs to be made at this stage. This means we will need to choose one or several operating systems that will be supported by applicatio. Will your application be native? Are you going with native apps, for example, on iOS and Android? Or maybe you prefer cross-platform applications? You should weigh the pros and cons.
Time: From 3 to 5 weeks.
Every day, mobile app development as a modern type of service becoming increasingly popular. This is due to the fact that more and more people are deciding to use mobile devices according to the dynamic and rich rhythm of life.
Our company monitors changes in the direction of mobile app and web development constantly, and we can offer our customers the newest and most effective solutions for iOS and Android platforms. Just write to us, and we will help you to figure out how long does it take to create an app for iPhone.
Let the Specialists Do The Job
So, you decided how the application will work and what you expect from it. Next, you need to make sure that these features and functions can actually exist and work accordingly. In simple words, you and your technical team must be sure that you can guarantee that all the features are possible to implement, and to ensure back-end and front-end compatibility.
The coding stage is one of the most difficult phases of creating mobile apps. At this stage, UI / UX designer, back-end coder, and project manager begin to work. The latter helps to form the correct technical task.
Job
Description
How long does it take to code an app
UI/UX Design
Forming task list, developing mockups, and working on UI/UX design
2 weeks - 2 months, depending on project complexity.
Front end
Development of the application according to the provided designs, and connecting it to the back-end.
Small project: 5 weeks.
Back end
Creating API, server architecture, source storage, data integration, database management.
Small project: 3 weeks.
Time: At least 1-2 month
Last but Not Least: Tests
The final stage associated with the creation of your application (except for the actual launch and related marketing activities) - testing and refinement.
Testing involves three aspects of the product:
Convenience of the interface, it is usability;
Front end testing;
Back end testing.
At this stage, in a sense, testing is an element of the development phase, because programmer and tester will constantly try to “break” your application, find the weak spots in it, in order to find and correct errors in the code before launching.
There are several different types of testing: functional, user testing, integration testing, and device testing, error correction.
Time: Up to 4 weeks
After the application has been beta-tested on several devices, a number of changes will certainly occur. This may also take some time. You should be ready to revise the design and user interactions on the screen. Everything else should be worked out so that the changes are minimal.
Upon completion of testing and all additional work, the project is ready for deployment on the server and full-fledged work, effectively and consistently performing the business functions assigned to it.
Time Estimates
Summing up the time for steps to develop an app described in this article, we identified how long does it take to develop an app. The time limit for creating is at least 4–5 months.
Tasks
Average Time
1
Find out the main goal of the development (brand promotion, increase sales, simplify the buying process or update information about new products in the company).
Up to a few weeks
2
Choose the main features and platform on which the mobile application will be placed. This could be Android or iOS. Start developing process on a prototype of the interface and agree on the design.
3 – 5 weeks
3
Working on wireframes and user interface design.
2 - 8 weeks
4
Application and server development.
1 month, or more
5
Final testing, polishing, and release.
Up to 4 weeks
Additionally, development time can be increased by:
Multiple platforms. Developing an application for more than one platform always takes more time. There is evidence that developing an application on Android takes 20-30% more time than developing for iOS.
Design improvements. There is a possibility that after launching the client will want to update or improve the design.
Social media. If your application integrates with social networks, you need to add up to two weeks to the development to add the minimum necessary options such as login and sharing.
According to the GoodFirms’ infographic, you need to spend about:
4 months for easy, user-friendly apps like Periscope and Tinder.
4.6 months for apps like QuizUp and WhatsApp.
6.5 – 7.5 months for complex apps like Uber.
After all, we can see that creating an application is a rather long and complex process that requires a lot of preparation, patience, and dedication in order to do everything properly.
How many hours does it take to build an app depends on how complex and detailed the requirements are. A good project manager should help to operate the whole process. He must establish a specific timeline and focus on it. It is always better not to change your mind or change something halfway. The manager should help to meet all deadlines carefully.
Do not expect your first release will be perfect. Moreover, the project may collapse because you are trying to make your product as ideal, with spending resources and delaying the time. It is always better to give access for real users as early as possible, when the product is good enough.
Final Thought
In our time, mobile apps have become very popular among owners of smartphones and tablets. The main task of the application developing is to automate business processes, improve the company's image, and increase profits from the business, thanks to the popularity of this online product.
Creating mobile apps is still not as easy as it may seem to someone who is not engaged in such work. Nowadays, when almost every new app is connected to the Internet, the process consists of more than simple IOS / Android programming. You should have powerful server support, designers and a good PM. Each of these specialists is able to help you achieve optimal results at the lowest possible timing and cost.
The development of mobile apps gives rise to tools that greatly simplify the needs of people in their daily lives and help them in education, medicine and business.
If you have an idea and want to transform it into reality, mova.io specialists are ready to help with the project! We are responsible, well-coordinated team of highly professional mobile app coders that offers you a wide range of services related to mobile devices and will consult you about how long does it take to make an android app.
Have a question? Just write to us at:
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