Jun 25, 2021
So you want to develop an app…
Please note the information in this article is not guaranteed to be precise or accurate, though I’ve fact-checked the essentials at the time of writing.
A couple of questions that often get asked of people in the tech industry, particularly software engineers with app development experience, are:
- “Can you develop me an app?”
- “How much does it cost to develop an app?”
Both are reasonable questions to ask, but common enough that they risk falling into the category of the usual queries about websites, printers and Microsoft Office products that most technical folk try to avoid having anything to do with.
Just like the above mentioned clichéd questions it’s actually likely they may not be asked of the right person. Not every developer has gone through the entire process of designing, developing, publishing and maintaining an app. I have been dipping in and out of mobile app development most of my career. I’ve been through the process several times so I thought I would try to go through the key points to answer these questions.
Firstly “can you develop me an app” is quite a big ask of an individual. It’s not impossible to do on your own, but if I transition straight into the “how much does it cost” question it should give an understanding of why it is a big ask.
Developer costs
Let’s assume you want an app that works on both Android and iOS platforms. You will require a developer with the requisite experience to build apps from start to finish on both of these platforms. Generally speaking not all developers have both the native Android and iOS skillsets, nor will a junior developer necessarily have knowledge of the full process. Fortunately there are technologies which will allow a developer to create a single codebase and publish to both platforms which can speed up the process and lower the requirements in terms of skills your developer will need.
If your app needs a ‘backend’ that runs on a server you will need someone with backend skills too. Also ‘front-end’ (user interface and user experience) design flair is very much welcome. I won’t even begin to go into the talent you will need for support and maintenance of the app.
You can probably tell that I’m describing the skills and experience of an entire team here and I know by this point someone unfamiliar with all this may be either switching off or protesting that their app idea is simple. Indeed some apps are quite simple, but it doesn’t stop you needing at a bare minimum what I would describe as an experienced app developer.
How long you will need a developer depends on what your app does, so I’ll put a day rate on here and simply say that you’re unlikely to have an app developed from scratch in anything less than 1 month, and realistically might be looking at several months to years.
1x experienced app developer @ day rate of £400–800
for 1 month
Total guestimate of £12,000
Hardware costs
You (or your developer) will need a development machine, as well as a MacBook because you can’t build Apple iOS apps without one. You may be able to pick up a second hand or reconditioned Mac, but bear in mind as new versions of iOS get released eventually your MacBook will become incompatible. Also it is extremely helpful if not mandatory to have both a physical Android and iOS device. A subscription to a testing platform that allows testing on multiple versions of ‘virtual’ devices is useful but there is no substitute for testing on real devices.
1x Development machine (PC/Laptop) £500
1x MacBook £1000
1x iPad £500
1x Android phone £200
[You could get away with using your Mac as your development machine, but in that case I would recommend buying new, which will equate to similar costs as having a separate development machine]
Total guestimate of £2200
App store publishing costs
You will need a developer account for both platforms, see below:
Apple $99 per year
Google $25
Additionally any payment you take will be subject to a 30% fee.* So be aware of this if you plan to release a paid app or an app with in-app purchases.
*Though Google are now introducing a reduction to 15% for the first $1 million dollars worth of earnings.
Backend costs
Most apps will need some form of backend to access remote services and read/write data to a server. There are so many potential variables that I’m going to leave this out. However you can assume there will be ongoing costs varying from ££— ££££ regardless of the cloud platform or hosting you choose for this. This is in addition to the initial development costs of the backend, which could potentially be in the same region as the cost for the app itself.
In summary
This is a very rough guide to the cost of app development. Cost is not the first thing you should worry about when developing an app. If you are thinking about it with a view to how much money you can reclaim or even make in profit before you have a good idea of what the app will do, you’re starting out on the wrong track.
However it is understandable to want a rough idea of the costs, whether you’re serious about app development or perhaps even if you’re just curious.
At a minimum just to get you off the ground we are looking at £10,000 up front, with ongoing costs per year ranging from hundreds to thousands of pounds. Also if you want to keep your app compatible with new devices, the ongoing costs are likely to include further development.
Support is a whole other kettle of fish that I won’t begin to cover here as costs vary wildly but generally it will be proportional to the number of users your app acquires.
For a straightforward app that you would like to bring to market, with a hope of maintaining it for a year or two all in you could be looking at £20–40k. If you’re hoping to scale it to something with thousands or millions of users the costs can spiral to six or even seven figures. If on the other hand you want to create a basic game to impress your friends for a while or have a very simple concept, the cost could be much less.
A determined person on their own can develop an app with fairly meagre resources — if they are a developer or willing learn the skills. It’s not going to be easy, but it can be done. If you don’t fancy ‘getting your hands dirty’ ultimately the overall costs of bringing in outside help, when you really dig into what is involved, are not excessive in comparison to the development of products in other industries.
Going back to the first question “can you develop me an app?”, hopefully I’ve illustrated why a friend you ask this of might be reluctant to agree. If you’re counting on someone to do this for free, at a discounted rate or in their spare time, you may be disappointed in their answer or the resulting quality of what they produce. But either way this should shed some light on the subject.
Postscript
An obvious question I can see posed here is “if app development is so lucrative does that mean you’re rich?”
Well perception of wealth is relative but in short, no. What prompted me to write this was that some people initially underestimate the costs of app development. There can be an assumption that app development is not as difficult as general software development, however there may be more work involved and it can be more costly in the long term. While there is demand for the skills in the industry, not all customers are willing to dip into their pockets to fund app development, and in many cases would be better off with a cheaper alternative solution.
If people have this perception that apps are simple ways to develop software with potential to make a lot of money, they are likely to be unprepared for the full costs and effort involved which could actually require the resources of a medium sized company. Before you go and commit to that, you need to think about when an app is appropriate.
An app is much more useful if it can take advantage of the portable nature of the devices it is to be used on and the features offered such as:
- camera
- location based services
- near field connectivity (Bluetooth, RFID, NFC)
An app is more convenient when the user is on the move where larger devices are less practical, or they may be working offline. Also if the contexts in which these devices are commonly used strongly align with the app’s purpose.
However despite a world where most people have a mobile device on them at all times, some software just doesn’t fit into a mobile-first approach. Or at least not enough to justify the cost of app development.
Regardless it has been a valuable asset to my skillset that I’ve developed over the years and has kept me employed. Moreover I do enjoy building things that run on multiple mobile devices and the challenges that presents.
