Native iOS and Android apps, cross-platform builds, and the App Store and Play Store
submissions that go with them - every project scoped and quoted individually.

eCommerce mobile app development for online stores Responsive mobile web app development Hybrid mobile app development for iOS and Android Native iOS and Android app development

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How a Mobile App Project Runs

Every app we build goes from idea to launch through the same five stages. Knowing what happens in each one makes it much easier to judge a quote — yours or anybody else’s — and to spot where a project is likely to lose time.

1. Scope and specification

Before anything is designed, we write down what the app has to do: who uses it, the screens they move through, what has to work offline, and which systems it needs to talk to. This is the stage that decides the budget, and it is the cheapest place to change your mind. A vague brief is the single most common reason app projects overrun.

2. UX and interface design

Screens are laid out and agreed before code is written, because moving a button in a design file costs minutes and moving it after build costs days. Phones also carry platform conventions — navigation, gestures, system fonts — that users expect an app to respect. If the app has to carry your existing identity, our logo and branding work feeds straight into this stage.

3. Development

The build itself covers the app on the phone and, in most projects, the server side behind it: accounts, data, payments and whatever admin screen your team uses to run the thing day to day. Whether that is one cross-platform codebase or separate native builds for iOS and Android is a decision made in stage one, on the basis of what the app has to do rather than fashion.

4. Testing on real devices

Simulators miss things that real hardware finds instantly: older phones, small screens, patchy mobile data, permission prompts, interrupted payments. Testing across a spread of real devices and OS versions is not an optional extra at the end — it is what stops a launch-day one-star review.

5. Store submission and launch

App Store and Play Store submissions are reviewed before they go live, and both stores reject builds over things that have nothing to do with code — a missing privacy policy, unclear data disclosures, screenshots that do not match the app, accounts with no way to delete them. Preparing the listing properly is part of the job, not an afterthought, and it is why the store paperwork in our FAQs below is worth reading before you start.

What Actually Drives the Cost of an App

For the full picture, including 2026 market ranges and the running costs most quotes leave out, read our guide to mobile app development cost.

App builds are scoped and quoted per project rather than sold from a fixed package, because two apps with the same description can differ tenfold in the work they need. These are the five things that move the number more than anything else:

  • How many screens, and how much logic sits behind them. A five-screen catalogue app and a five-screen booking app are not the same project once schedules, availability and payments are involved.
  • Whether it needs a backend. Accounts, stored data, notifications and an admin panel are a second system to build and host, and they are frequently the larger half of the work.
  • One platform or both. Shipping iOS and Android from a single cross-platform codebase costs far less than two native builds — both to build and to maintain for every year afterwards.
  • Integrations with other systems. Payment providers, delivery partners, a CRM or an existing database each bring their own rules, testing and edge cases.
  • What happens after launch. Store fees, hosting, OS updates and maintenance are ongoing, not one-off. An app is a running service, closer to a subscription than a purchase.

Our published price list covers web design, logo and marketing packages; app builds are quoted from your specification instead. If you are budgeting an app and a site together, the same forces apply to both — our breakdown of what a website costs explains why quotes vary so widely. Send us what you have through the contact page and you will get a written scope back.

Contact us now to discuss

the scope of your mobile app.

Mobile App Development FAQs

The practical questions worth settling before an app project starts.

Native apps or one cross-platform build — which do we need?

For most business apps a cross-platform build is the sensible starting point: one codebase serves iOS and Android, which keeps both the build and every future update cheaper. Native development earns its extra cost when the app leans hard on the device — heavy graphics, background processing, tight integration with the camera, sensors or platform-specific features that appear on one OS first. The honest test is what your app has to do on the phone, not which technology sounds more impressive.

What does it cost to publish an app, on top of building it?

The stores charge their own fees, separate from development. The Apple Developer Program is USD 99 per year and has to stay current or the app is eventually pulled from the App Store. A Google Play developer account is a one-time USD 25 registration fee. Publishing as a company rather than an individual also means extra paperwork — Google asks organisation accounts for a D-U-N-S number, and new personal Play accounts must run a closed test with twelve testers for fourteen days before they can go to production. Budget time for that, not just money. (Store fees are set by Apple and Google and can change.)

Do we still need a website if we have an app?

Yes. An app store listing is not a substitute for a site: almost nobody searches an app store for a service they have not heard of, and the pages that win search traffic are ordinary web pages. In practice the website is where people decide you are worth downloading. If you are costing both up at once, our guide to website costs is a useful starting point, and you can see what we build on our web design services page.

What happens after launch?

Apps are not finished the way a printed brochure is finished. iOS and Android each ship a major release every year, libraries get deprecated, and store policies change — an app left untouched for two or three years will usually start failing review or breaking on new devices. Plan for a maintenance budget alongside the build, even if you add no new features at all.

How will people find our app once it is live?

Rarely by browsing the store. Most downloads come from somewhere else entirely: your website, search results, paid campaigns, email and social. The store listing still matters — title, first screenshots and the opening lines of the description do the convincing once someone arrives — but the traffic has to be sent there. That is what our digital marketing services are for, and current package options are on the pricing page.

Planning the rest of the build

An app almost never ships on its own. Most projects also need a marketing site or an admin dashboard behind it, which is where website design and development comes in, plus a plan for getting installs once the app is in the stores — that is what our digital marketing retainers are for. If the app is the mobile front of a shop, the web store usually comes first, and our ecommerce website design service is where that starts.

App builds are scoped and quoted per project rather than sold from a fixed package, so you will not find an app price on the price list. Tell us what the app has to do through the contact page and you will get a written scope back. Finished work from all of our teams is collected in the portfolio.