Custom mobile app

In short

• Build an app when the product needs the phone: camera, location, notifications, or offline use.
• Apps go through store review, need developer accounts, and every update ships through the stores.
• Many products start on the web and add an app once the core workflow is proven.
• Cost follows platforms, device features, the back end, and how much has to work offline.

Also called: Mobile app development, Custom iOS app, Custom Android app, Bespoke mobile app.

What a custom mobile app is

A custom app is designed and coded for one product, rather than assembled from a white-label template or an app builder's stock screens. It can be built separately for iOS and Android, or from one shared codebase. Native vs cross-platform apps compares those options. Choie builds mobile apps this way, as real iOS and Android applications rather than wrappers around a website.

The app is usually the visible part of a larger system. Behind the screens sits a back end with accounts, a database, and an API, often shared with a web application that serves the same users on a laptop.

Phone features that justify an app

• Camera. Scanning documents, receipts, or barcodes, or capturing photos and video as part of the job.
• Location. Check-ins, field work, delivery, and anything that tracks where the user is, especially in the background.
• Notifications. Reminders and alerts that bring people back. Web push exists, but on iPhone it only works after the user adds the site to the home screen.
• Offline use. Field teams, travel, and basements, where data has to be saved on the device and synced later.
• Hardware and health data. Bluetooth accessories, health and fitness data, and Face ID or fingerprint sign-in.

If none of these sits at the center of the core workflow, a responsive web app may do the job for less. Being in the stores has value of its own, though. Some audiences expect to find you there, and an icon on the home screen is a daily reminder.

App store review and accounts

Apps reach users through Apple's App Store and Google Play, and both review apps before they go live. You need a developer account with each. Apple charges an annual fee and Google a one-time registration fee, and both accounts should be in your company's name so you keep control of the listing.

Review often takes a day or two, sometimes longer, and a rejection means a fix and another submission. A few requirements catch first-time teams.

• A privacy policy and accurate privacy details on the store listing.
• A way to delete the account from inside the app, if the app lets people create one.
• Real app functionality. Apple's guidelines ask for more than a repackaged website.
• On Google Play, new personal developer accounts must run a closed test with a group of testers before releasing to everyone.

Users also update on their own schedule, so older versions stay in use for a while. The back end has to keep serving them.

Web first or app first

For many products the smallest first release is a web app, because one build reaches every device and fixes reach everyone at once. You learn whether the core workflow works, then build the app for the people who keep coming back. App first makes sense when the job cannot happen without the phone, as with a camera-based tool or a field app used offline. Either way, scope the first version as an MVP. In Choie's prototype week, day one picks the one critical workflow, and where that work happens, at a desk or out in the field, often answers the question before any code is written.

What drives the cost

• Platforms. iOS, Android, or both. A cross-platform framework shares most of the code, but each platform still needs its own testing and store work.
• Device features. Camera, background location, Bluetooth, and health data each add build and testing time, and some draw closer review.
• Offline and sync. Saving data on the device and resolving conflicts when it reconnects is one of the harder parts of mobile work.
• The back end. Accounts, the database, the API, and admin tools. If a web app already exists, the mobile app can often share its back end.
• Upkeep. Apple and Google ship major OS updates every year, and apps need testing and fixes to keep up.

Choie designs and builds iOS, Android, and web apps from $19,000 in four to six weeks, with a written scope and a fixed total before work starts. Once the fees are paid, the designs and source code are yours. See pricing for what is included.

Common questions