How Long Does It Take to Develop a Mobile App?

Mobile applications have become a popular industry over the past decade. As smartphones evolve from tech luxuries into our necessities, various businesses are starting to focus on mobile apps as a way to keep in touch with consumers, improve their operations and make sales. But if you want a mobile application for your business you may ask yourself, how long does it take to develop an application? In this segment, we will discuss the factors that influence the time needed for creating a mobile app and the time scale of the app development exercise. If you are searching for mobile application development services in the USA, our offerings in Dallas can cater to your business needs.

Establishing the Objective and Scope of the Application (1-2 weeks)

The very first stage is planning, and it’s the gnarliest, the toughest. This is where you chart out the objectives of the application, its functions and the issues that it seeks to address. Regardless of whether your app is designed for entertainment, education, e-commerce or productivity, at this stage, you will be able to refine your goals, and your target market, and outline the essential features your future app will possess.

Steps in this phase:

Determine the application problem.
Describe briefly the application’s key features and functions.
Identify your main competitors and your potential users.

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Wireframing and User Interface (UI) Design (2-4 Weeks)

As soon as you have a well-defined idea, it is necessary to begin the wireframe design process. A wireframe is a basic visual guide that captures the app's skeletal framework — comprises its basic elements and their arrangements. This phase minimizes potential confusion and makes it possible for all stakeholders to understand the app’s intended designs plus its features.

Steps in this phase:

Wireframes are made: Use these sketches to visualize the arrangement and movement patterns of your app.
Make an Interface Design: This is where decisions about the incorporation of visuals such as colors, icons and fonts.
A prototype can be made: Making a clickable version of your wireframe is useful when you need to evaluate the basic operations of navigation.

The period required in this phase is governed by how complicated your app’s design is. In cases where your app will feature specific motion patterns or special design aspects, expect this stage to be dragged out as well.

Building the Back-End and Front-End (2-3 months)

The next step is the development of the mobile application. Inter alia, development is the most prolonged step of getting the mobile application up and running. Here is where all the technical work comes in and the application begins to take form. The term consists of two Mac stages, back-end development and front-end development:

Back-end development: Here, the apportioning out of constructing a server, databases and APIs (the backend that comprises the deep logic for the app and data storage) comes into play.
Front-end development: This phase concentrates on the overall look and feel of the application. These are the actual people who develop layouts, animations and even ways of navigation to the users so that the application is both functional and attractive.

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Incorporating Geolocation features, integrating with camera apps, and push notifications among others (1-2 months)

In case your app needs additional features such as geolocation capabilities, mobile payment options, instant messaging capabilities, or augmented reality (AR), these will need extra time in the deployment stage. Perfection in the execution of advanced features enables seamless and secure operations.

Some of the advanced features that are likely to increase the development period:

Geolocation and Mapping Services: Quite beneficial for travel, delivery and social applications.
Payment Integration: Highly needed in e-commerce applications however extremely demanding for compliance measures.
Push Notifications: Good for re-engagement but all the attention to detail is required during implementation.

Quality Control and Application Testing (QA) (3-4 weeks)

Quality control (QC) and the subsequent testing of the app is a critical stage in the mobile application development lifecycle. Testing is what ensures that it is indeed the desired app that has been deployed for clients and the target audience and an efficient interface is enjoyed.

Types of testing:

Functionality Testing: This ensures the app works as intended according to the specifications and requirements.
Usability Testing: This aims to evaluate how user-friendly the app is and its level of simplicity.
Compatibility Testing: This guarantees that the app is functional on various types of devices and operating systems.
Performance Testing: This involves testing the speed and responsiveness of an app under different conditions.

QA testing typically lasts up to a couple of weeks but in instances where serious design problems are detected, the phase may take longer.

Launch Preparation and Deployment (1-2 Weeks)

Now that testing has been completed, the focus is on the preparation for the launch. The next important step in marketing the app is creating an app store listing by writing up descriptions and adding screenshots and relevant keywords. The app has to comply with the norms of the Google Play and Apple App stores.

Steps in this phase:

In the first stage of this phase, an app store listing has to be done containing app descriptions, keywords, and visual elements.
The app has to be uploaded and presented for review.
Any additional problems identified by the reviewers have to be solved.

Most apps are able to make it through the app review process in a matter of a few days although some apps featuring certain functions may require longer time for approval.

Ongoing Maintenance and Updates (Continuous)

It is crucial for app developers to bear in mind that their tasks and responsibilities do not cease once the app goes live. New operating systems, devices or user suggestions can mean that updates will regularly be required.

Updating the app on a regular basis involves:

First, resolving problems that users have reported.
Second, modify the app in accordance with the most recent operating systems.
Third, incorporate additional functions that have recently become popular in the target market.

Factors that Affect the Development Time

In the instance of mobile apps, several factors may play a critical role in determining how long the gap between the publishing and the actual launching of the app probably would take, such as

Start with the Category of App: If this is your first time creating an app, know that the app complexity is one of the main determinants of how much development time is needed. A simple calculator app, or a to-do app, will take less time to develop because fewer features and less coding is needed. However, as a general rule, if there are more complexities to tearing the app, it will take a longer duration to develop.
Member of the Workforce and the skills possessed: The numbers and skills possessed by the developing team, also contribute a lot to the time it takes to finish the app.
Budget Constraints: Another idea that may affect the development time is the budget. The scope of work may be influenced by the client’s finances. In other words, if the client does not have enough funds they may cut corners on the quality or delivery of the project which may result in extending the duration for completing the project.

Conclusion

There exists a rather wide variation in the timelines taken to develop mobile applications owing to the mobile application features, resource requirements, and the complexity of the app. The simplest apps can take three to four months to complete while the more sophisticated ones would need six or more months to complete.

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