Six months to a year is the average time to develop a business application . The range is large because all projects differ in type and scope of work.
Projects with standard functionality are created quickly: ecom with sections “Catalog”, “Promotions”, “Favourites”, “Cart”, “Payment”, “Personal Account” without complex technologies (AR, gamification) takes three to four months. A complex project with a large number of integrations and different user roles may require more than a year.
But even having a rough idea of what needs to be done, developers cannot tell the client the exact time frame for developing the application during the first conversation. To specify them, it is necessary to conduct a detailed assessment of the work at the stage of pre-project analytics .
How work is assessed
The project is created in several stages: analytics, design, coding, testing. At the stage of pre-project analytics, having collected application requirements from the client, the account manager goes to analysts, developers, designers and testers so that the specialists themselves estimate how many hours the work will take them.
The resulting assessment includes risks. The account manager prepares an estimate, tells the client the timing and cost of development. In the process, the terms may extend or decrease, as well as the price. For example, if a feature turns out to be easy to implement, we will make it faster and cheaper. If you need an assessment of your project, write or call us 7708889555. We will guide you on price and timing and help you with development.
Developing your own mobile app today? Contact us for mobile application development services to develop your Mobile app.
How long does each development stage take?
1. Pre-project analytics
Duration of the stage : 1–2 months.
What should be done? The client contacts the developers to talk about their project. The studio studies the requirements, prepares a commercial proposal and estimates. The client decides to cooperate. If it is positive, he signs the contract.
Why so long . Before choosing a contractor, the client needs to study what the market offers. He calls several Mobile application development company and talks about his project. Studios conduct pre-project analytics, prepare estimates, and present a commercial proposal to the client.
According to our observations, this communication takes about a month. The stage may be drawn out due to the lengthy preparation of the contract. To avoid this, we made a clear template with transparent conditions. Download it and write to us to get started on your project
2. Analytics and design
Duration of the stage : 1-2 months.
What should be done? Specify requirements, think through sections, application capabilities, write technical documents, develop a prototype.
Why so long . The duration of the stage depends on how much the client imagines what kind of application he wants. If you already have a technical task or brief, then we will close the analytics stage faster. If you come with an idea, we will need more time to flesh out all the functionality.
Recording application capabilities in documents and drawing up a prototype will prevent us from getting lost in the jungle of technical solutions and will help us act according to a pre-thought-out plan. We will know what to do, and you will know what will happen in the end.
3. Design
Duration of the stage : 4–6 weeks.
What should be done? Agree on the “appearance” of the application. Develop a design concept and style all screens from the prototype according to it.
Why so long . We develop a design for your brand book or create a completely new style. To understand that we are doing what you need, we select the style of elements, colours, illustrations for the main screens of the application and present a design concept – an example of what the project will look like in the end. If you like the design concept, we will style all the screens from the prototype to match it. If not, we accept the edits and finalise it.
4. Development and testing
Duration of the stage : from 3 months.
What should be done? Develop a server part, or backend. Write code, program and layout application elements. Connect integrations. Test the code, fix bugs and check that after the fixes everything works correctly and no new errors have appeared.
Why so long . The development stage is the longest, because it is here that the main, most resource-intensive part of the work is performed. Specialists write code, connect third-party services, check how it all works, fix errors and check again.
5. Release on the App Store and Google Play
Duration of the stage : up to 1 month.
What should be done? Register a developer account, prepare marketing materials, post assemblies on the site.
Why so long . An assembly is a file with a ready-made mobile application that needs to be published in stores. To do this, we upload the assembly to the store’s personal account and send it for moderation. In the App Store, verification lasts up to three days, and in Google Play – up to five. If everything is good with the application, then it is published. If it does not comply with the regulations, the assembly is rejected, and the attempt to re-release is postponed until the developers correct the shortcomings.
In terms of timing, we estimate this stage to be about a month, because registering an account, preparing marketing materials and finalising the application takes additional time. If you want to learn more about this process, read our articles about publishing to the App Store and Google Play , in which we detailed how to publish a build to get reviewers to approve it.
Post-release support
After the release, a new phase of the project life cycle begins – Support and development. Without it, it is impossible to maintain the healthy functioning of the application. If you already have a ready-made project that needs modifications and development, write or call us at +7708889555.
If you are looking for mobile app development solutions, do not hesitate to contact us. We are ready to assist you in bringing your mobile app idea to life.
What prolongs the application creation time
We have named the approximate time frame for mobile development, and now we want to tell you why it can take longer.
1. Development of the server part on a third party
Business applications are projects that have a server side, or backend. The presence of a backend allows you to connect systems to the application that will help it work: record, transmit and save data about clients, payments or the operation of the company’s website.
When we write the backend ourselves , we can be responsible for its operation and predict risks. But if someone else is doing the backend, then writing the application can take longer due to communication and coordination of work with a third party.
2. Scale of integrations
Connecting a corporate website, various payment systems, CRM systems, SMS notification systems and other services to the backend is called integration. Each system has its own integrator – “provider” of services. Without it, it is impossible to implement some functionality. So we will not be able to make a payment in the ecom application without connecting a bank to it that will process payments.
The more integrations a project has, the longer it may take to connect and configure them. Again, due to the need to negotiate with a third party. If an error occurs at this stage, we cannot guarantee timely edits. We need to wait until an integrator who collaborates with other clients has a slot for our task.
3. Multiple testing iterations
When writing code, bugs inevitably arise , like typos when writing. This is a normal process that developers are prepared for. But when one feature is corrected, another one associated with it may fail. Therefore, after fixing bugs, you need to check how the entire system works as a whole. This way we will make sure that what was already working is not broken. This type of testing is called regression testing .
4. Abundance of custom elements
Custom elements are those elements that were developed specifically for your application, for example, a pop-up pop-up, a new mechanic for scrolling the hour drum, or gamification elements that were not originally built into the system.
Custom elements can make an application stand out from its competitors – this will bring the business more user attention and, therefore, increase its KPI. But these elements need to be written from scratch. And the more complex they are, the more time it will take to develop.
5. Long approval process
To make development flexible, we break design work into mini-stages, or iterations. Each iteration includes its own set of tasks. We complete them and then send the finished work to the client for approval. The client must make sure that everything is fine and close the work acceptance certificates. But sometimes approval is delayed for various reasons: the client’s team goes on vacation, the product manager quits, or some personal, unforeseen circumstances arise. There is another option – on the client side there are several decision makers who have different visions for solving certain problems, so they negotiate for a long time.
6. Inexperience of the manager on the client side
We have encountered situations where the client entrusted the management of the project and communication with the development studio to a novice manager. The person has recently joined the team, so he does not yet have the skills and competencies to determine the vector of product development and correctly set tasks. Our book on developing a mobile application for business helped correct this. In 70 pages, it teaches you to understand processes, helps you find a common language with developers, and turns anyone who reads it into a savvy customer.
7. New ideas
As development progresses, the client may realise that it would be great to add additional functionality. This is a normal and useful process, but a new idea always requires extra time to implement it. If we work using Time & Materials or provide the client with outstaffed developers , then it is easier to introduce such changes, but the development time is still extended because specialists have new tasks.
How to speed up development: myths VS methods that work
We will look at three popular market myths about reducing development time. At the initial stage, they can indeed be profitable, but these methods take savings from the future. Improvements will require more time, effort, and money than full-fledged development.
Myths about how to reduce development time
- Make it cross-platform . A cross-platform application does not need to be developed separately for each platform – it can be written once and installed on iOS and Android. Native development takes longer if you are developing an app for both platforms. Maintaining and adding new functionality to a cross-platform is more difficult. If in the future you want to develop new sections or seriously change the application, it will be easier to write it again.
- Make an application for only one platform . Yes, developing an application only for iOS is faster than for iOS and Android, but by developing it only for one platform, you lose users of another. You can first make an application for one platform and then write code for another, but this will take 1.5 times longer than parallel development.
- Create an application using the designer. A boxed solution is an option that will only help you try out what is called real development. With its help, you will see how the audience will react to your service/product. But it will not be possible to build full-fledged communication with the user – the “box” does not have the tools for this. It does not have the functionality that would help to reach the user and interest him. If you want to grow your mobile business long-term, you need a handwritten application.
5 Ways to Really Speed Up App Development
Instead of the solutions described above, we offer you five other ways to make your mobile application faster—tested and working.
- Come with a thoughtful idea . If you come to a mobile application development company knowing what you need from it and having clear ideas about how the application should work, then the analytics stage will be shorter.
- Start backend development earlier . We start developing the server side when the application is still at the design stage, because iOS and Android specialists cannot work without data from the server. If you launch development in parallel, then mobile developers will have to wait for backenders.
- Decompose the project work . It is better to divide large tasks for a project into several small ones in order to work on them in iterations. If we see that some decision is unsuccessful, then it will be faster to replace or correct it.
- Do not delay approval . In order to launch the project on time and get the first profit faster, it is better to allocate a separate person to manage the project – a product manager, whose work processes include time for communication with the development studio and decision-making.
- Do everything according to the instructions in the stores . It takes no more than a week to check the application in stores. But if the assembly is returned for revision, then this process is delayed. There are publishing rules for iOS applications and for Android . Follow them to pass the test the first time.
Timeframe for creating an application in Sparkout Tech
Four months is the minimum period for developing applications in Sparkout Tech. In less time, we simply cannot make a high-quality product that will meet the needs of your customers and benefit your business. Call 7708889555 or write to us so we can estimate the time it takes to create an application for you.
