How Long Does It Take to Create an App?

Software development costs companies substantial amounts of money.

According to data gathered from multiple sources, mobile development costs can range from tens of thousands of dollars to over a million depending on the type of solution:

Source: velvetech.com

Businesses are interested in developing their solutions as quickly as possible so they can save money. They are also able to release their products faster so they start to pay back costs sooner.

In our article, we will tell you how long mobile application development can take in case you plan to develop a solution for your corporate needs. We will also tell you what factors may affect development time.

How Long It Usually Takes to Develop an App

As we have said, app development may cost different amounts depending on the type of solution. Similarly, the type of application directly affects development time.

Let’s find out what the statistics say. To do this, we will turn to GoodFirms since they have rich and revealing data on the topic.

• According to their data, apps such as Instagram take about 4.6 months to be developed:

Source: goodfirms.co

• If you want to develop an app similar to Uber, most likely you’ll have to spend 5.4 months:

Source: goodfirms.co

• “Medium complexity compelling apps” like WhatsApp need around 4.5 months to be finished:

Source: goodfirms.co

• An application like QuizUp will require about 4.5 months:

Source: goodfirms.co

• A Tinder-like solution may need approximately 3.7 months of hard work:

Source: goodfirms.co

• If you want to make a tool similar to Periscope, be ready to spend 4.1 months:

Source: goodfirms.co

Here is a table to make it easier for you to compare the development times of all the mentioned solutions:

As you can see, on average, mobile application development takes about 4 to 6 months. (Source: goodfirms.co)

Our data also confirm that the development of a mobile solution takes about 4 to 6 months on average:

• The development of an E-commerce mobile app required 4 months of work for our team.

Here you can read about this case in more detail.

• Our experts spent about 6 months developing a mobile messaging app.

Here you can read about this case in more detail.

• The creation of a mobile tool for 3D foot scanning required 6 months of work.

Here you can read about this case in more detail.

However, more complex projects may be more time-consuming.

• Developing a transportation cloud-based SaaS app took 9 months.

Here you can read about this case in more detail.

• The development of a complex mobile banking system required a whole year of hard work.

Here you can read about this case in more detail.

It can sometimes be difficult to say in advance how much time it will take to develop a specific solution. In addition to the app’s complexity, there are some other factors that may also affect development time. Let’s look at them in more detail.

Factors That May Affect Project Completion Time

1. Understanding the client’s business

One of the main factors that may influence the time for mobile app development is thinking about the app’s concept, requirements it should meet and business issues it should solve.

In other words, understanding how the solution will streamline the customer’s business.

Thus, before starting the development process, it’s important to gather and analyze the client’s requirements, which may take some time.

This stage is essential to the app’s success, so you must be ready to set aside enough time for it.

2. Validation of the app’s concept

After business requirements are gathered, it’s time to validate the customer’s ideas.

This step may be important when a customer wants to develop a mobile app for his or her company’s clients, not staff.

To evaluate the idea, developers also have to do some analytical work, and the timing of this process may be quite difficult to predict.

For instance, they may have to run a market analysis, do competitor research, and define the target audience.

Source: simplycode.co.in

These critical activities allow defining the features a mobile app must contain to achieve success. This stage also helps the team to ensure that the product will stand out among similar apps.

3. Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)

Starting from the user interface and ending with technical performance, every part of a mobile app must be carefully tested before the release.

All bugs and issues found by the testers must be resolved and rechecked to make sure the program doesn’t crash and works as expected.

Thus, in addition to the development and testing processes, you should consider bug fixing as well. Depending on the complexity and number of bugs, the project timeframe may range significantly.

4. The choice of a platform

Depending on the mobile platform you want to target, your app development process and its timeframe might change as well.

For example, iOS is typically an easier platform for first launching the app, while Android app development and testing may take more time.

Source: 3sidedcube.com

Also, if you want to build apps for both iOS and Android, the completion time and budget of your mobile project may double.

5. The budget

When discussing mobile development timeframes, consider the project’s budget, since it may also affect the development time.

For example, if you plan to build MVP, you will be able to achieve a faster release.

The cooperation model is another point that you should consider in terms of budgeting your solution’s development process. For instance, while a fixed price might seem reasonable, sometimes time and materials or a dedicated team model might turn out to be more cost-efficient.

Thus, you may be able to achieve the same result within the same timeframe at a lower cost.

6. The skills and size of the team

The choice of the right team may also seriously affect the timing of the development process.

Choosing top-notch developers with deep domain experience and rich skill sets may greatly decrease development time, while poor-quality teams might waste weeks on even simple tasks.

You can read more about how to choose software developers with relevant experience in this article.

Also, the size of the team matters.

For example, a freelancer may not be able to complete the project as quickly as a full-fledged development team.

Source: bankrate.com

Also, if you hire several remote contractors, their productivity may be quite low due to possible gaps in communication or a lack of competent project management or coordination.

Conversely, if you choose a dedicated development team with relevant experience, professional project managers, and solid workflow, your project development timeframes may naturally be minimalized.

Wrapup

Mobile app development is a costly affair, so businesses want to make this process go as fast as possible. However, it may sometimes be difficult to understand in advance how much time the development of a solution will take because the time frame depends on the app’s type and complexity.

For example, the development of a simple app with a limited number of features may last about 4 months, while the development of a complex product may require 6 months or even a year.

Also, there are some hard-to-predict factors that may affect the development time of your product. Here are some of them:

1. Studying the customer’s business
2. Approval of the app’s idea
3. QA and testing
4. The choice of a target platform
5. The estimated budget
6. The team’s experience and size

If you want to know how long the development of your mobile solution may take, or what factors may affect it, contact us. Our experts will be happy to answer all your questions.