Contents
01The question before the quote
An app earns its cost when it is opened often, works without a connection, or uses something only a phone has: the camera in a workflow, background location, push notifications people actually want. A field crew logging work in a basement with no signal needs an app. A B2B dashboard reviewed once a month does not.
We turn down app projects that should be a mobile web page, and it is on the short list of work we decline publicly. Saying yes to all of them would be easier and would cost the client a year.
02Where the money goes
Four areas account for most of the difference between a $30,000 app and a $300,000 one.
- Offline behaviour. An app that works without a connection and reconciles later is a different product from one that shows an error.
- Payments and subscriptions, which bring store rules, refunds and tax handling with them.
- Integrations with what you already run, especially systems with no usable API.
- The number of distinct user roles. Two roles is a feature. Five is a different application.
If a quote does not say which of these four it assumes, it is a number without a scope attached.
03The cost that arrives every year
Apple and Google change their operating systems annually, and both remove apps that stop meeting current requirements. Budget for releases that exist only to keep the app in the stores, plus developer account fees, crash monitoring and the support load that comes from people who cannot update.
A reasonable planning figure is 15 to 25 percent of the build cost per year, lower for a simple app, higher for one with payments and background work. A client who was not told this in advance discovers it in month fourteen.
04Cheaper routes that are not a compromise
Three options genuinely cost less and fit more cases than most people expect.
- A fast mobile web page, installable to the home screen, for anything that does not need hardware access.
- One platform first. If the audience is split, ship for the platform that holds most of them and judge the result before paying twice.
- A cross platform build when the app is forms, lists and notifications, which covers most internal tools.
05How we scope it
Discovery is fixed price at $2,400 and takes three working days. It produces the screens, the integrations, the offline rules and a price band with the factors that move it. If the honest outcome is that you do not need an app, that is in the document too, and you keep it either way.
Questions
Native or cross platform?
Cross platform for forms, lists and notifications, which is most internal tools. Native when the app leans on the camera, background location, heavy graphics or deep hardware access. The honest decision depends on what the app does, not on what is fashionable this year.
How long does a first version take?
For a focused app, usually eight to sixteen weeks including store review, released in stages. Store review itself takes days and occasionally longer when payments are involved, so we plan releases around it rather than promising a date it does not control.
Do we own the app and the store accounts?
Yes. The developer accounts are registered in your name and the repository sits on your account from the first commit. That matters most on the day you change contractors.
Where we can help