The problem with making an app isn’t about the cost, resources, development, ideas 💡 or anything like that. It’s about not understanding where to start and how to get an app done. Sometimes you can be overpaying because of misinformation or don’t understand how the process may work. This can lead to longer development times, or products that don’t necessarily meet your expectations, which can mean you spent more and got back less. That’s why I made this article, to give you an in-depth view on how to get an app made while understanding some of the technical jargon. This will help you get ahead and speak with developers better.

Being able to understand some of the lingo goes a long way 🆚 not understanding anything.

I want to bridge the gap and help you understand a bit about the process. Moreover getting to know your developers, being apart of the development process early on, and asking the right questions before dumping loads of money into a mildly unexceptional app that doesn’t sell or meet expectations.

“Making apps are costly, but worth it”

Basic and Advanced apps

The word “Apps” doesn’t necessarily mean mobile apps. Generally we have this connotation that apps mean mobile applications found on iPhone 📲 or android devices. This is a bit incorrect because it really means all the above. IE: mobile or desktop, kiosk, devices etc etc.

So when looking for an “App” try to be specific on what your asking for. For instance: Your looking to develop a mobile app and a web app. This means to the developer that your looking for a mobile app / application, and a interconnected web app / application. Both are applications that have shared databases. These may or may not have the same code base but we’ll talk a bit about that later.

Types of platforms

Think on the type of product you want. For instance, if your looking for a tool to help businesses grow, with internal features that help companies scale, but at a higher tier cost. This may be in the realm of SAAS, or Software as a service. These are widely popular platforms that offer subscriptions in order to have free features or paid features that allow more capabilities apart of your account. Think of Netflix. Netflix is a company that sells its software to watch licensed videos on a streaming basis. You have to pay a subscription to watch and stream to your hearts ♥️ content. Another example would be YouTube. It’s a free platform that offers subscription services for streaming and or removing ads. Even to listen to music 🎶 or watch that thing called Youtube TV. Gross!

Some other products include that of fintech apps such as online banking, money management, crypto, blockchain. Some apps include that of PayPal, Webull, Robinhood, Acorns and even Qapital. Fintech is a huge industry due to the financial realm of things. These can also include SAAS features as well where users can subscribe.

Let’s talk a little about code base or code languages that define your app and infrastructure. Coding is widely used across various platforms and even non computer platforms like kiosk, vehicles, gaming platforms and even NASA computers (IE: https://medium.com/carre4/what-software-is-nasa-using-in-rocket-works-7c34fe94c299)

Various code languages work as a way to build software and to be the gateway to other API (Application program interface). API’s are essentially to let one software communicate with another piece of software. This can mean building a feature in your app and connecting another feature some other company across the world has and integrating that same said feature into your app. Maybe this said feature has tons of capabilities that would otherwise take your app or developers months to develop.

For web apps

Websites can be built with multiple code languages and / or a single code base. These are applications built and launched within desktop browsers like (Chrome, safari, edge etc). Depending on what you want, developers will need to understand how to build said feature and determine what is needed to build your app with all its features.

For mobile apps

Code is wide and expandable. You can have one code base to build your app, and be successful. However, want to connect other features and you might be looking at two or three code bases for your app. This can have its advantages and obvious disadvantages. These code languages doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have one or two, it just depends on what your looking for. For example, if your looking for an iOS (iPhone app) your target code language would essentially be swift / Objective C. Swift was developed by Apple 🍏, and heavily derived from Objective C. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ideamotive.co/blog/swift-vs-objective-c-which-should-you-pick-for-your-next-ios-mobile-app%3Fhs_amp%3Dtrue) Objective C is however slower and an older framework that Apple used in the past and even still uses today. Swift being more fluid and faster to run off of. On the other hand, you have Java, or Kotlin, and even C++ to build android apps.

Moreover, some practices and industry standards are headed towards single code bases that build multiple applications in one. When using a single code base, the benefit of this is that instead of integrating multiple code languages to build one app or maybe two that require knowledge of two separate code languages, this allows you to use one ☝️. This is great because for instance, if your looking to make an iPhone app and an android app, you can utilize one singular code base to build both apps. Essentially making development slightly more fluid and optimized. There are some disadvantages of this of course. One disadvantage of this is that sometimes these single code bases are not as optimized and will require more development best practices to implement. Another ks you post likely won’t be able to utilize the operating systems framework. This means you won’t be able to utilize Apples robust Swift code language that offers fluid and exceptional features to build upon. With that said, you’d be looking at React Native, and / or Flutter. React Native which is a development kit or code base in which was developed by Facebook / Meta 😕 to facilitate the development of their mobile app and web app. Flutter, developed by Google to be a huge open source development kit to build a wide robust array of apps.

Building both with no-code solutions. We spoke a little about native code and some single code base code. There is no-code which is a term or phrase referring to a platform that can essentially build your web app or mobile app with no code. No developer required because you can technically take a few months to learn the logic and develop your app, launch it, and set sail. Platforms like Webflow can develop clean fast and fluid websites on their platform. Apps like Adalo can develop web and mobile apps with an interconnected database. Use this if you have time to learn some logic and also want an easier way to manage and update your own app through no-code software.

To sum this up, you might be looking at a cheaper development cycle going with a single code base. App development and ongoing development can be expensive and you want to gauge the development process before making your payment. Reason why is because the industry is going towards single code bases and you don’t have to worry about hiring other developers who know other languages to be able to build your app. Try to aim with a. Single code base. However, to emphasis this again, single code bases do have their advantages and disadvantages. Optimization and singularity over native. You choose. No pressure! 😂

Scope creep and MVP

When you want an app or website you always have an idea or outcome of what you want right? Maybe 🤔 some extravagant idea you have is so good you know exactly what your going communicate to the developers.

Scope creep is not about having a ton features for your product, but having to much non-valuable features that also wouldn’t be able to be built within an allotted time frame. With that said, you should think of features that provide value for your end users and your business. Features that align business or platform goals in terms of growth or functionality etc. These features can also get built later on. Moreover MVP (Minimum viable product) helps outline features that are within scope and are built against the market needs. This is good because it helps you launch a product that meets enough value for end users, investors, and the like.

Discuss with your developers or team on what makes sense to build first and develop later. For example, I want to build a chat based app that allows businesses to communicate with other businesses. One feature is one-to-one live video chatting. Another feature allows AR (augmented reality) capabilities of playful and fun characters to show on screen. To determine what makes sense for the business goals and to reduce scope creep, we tend to create a feature prioritization matrix. This helps outline what makes the most sense to build out and determine cost effectiveness. This is more for a tram based exploration. Very helpful for yourself and maybe a business partner? We would determine that the cost of an AR feature would be a bit pricey given developers labor cost and time that it takes to build. However, it would be smart to build a live video chat feature as we think our business would benefit our customers in the short term and long term. That said we would build this first and prioritize the AR feature in a later build.

Who and where to look for (Dev)

There are plenty of resources to outsource developers for your project. You first want to ask yourself how much are you wanting and willing to spend on your project. That plus a few other things you need to take into consideration. Time (Depending on who you go with, the time it will take to fully develop your app. If you bring on one developer who knows how to do it and can align your business objectives that’s great. But that one individual is looking to build your entire app. That’s front end, back end, services, and integrations, and maybe even database stuff.

What is a UIUX designer and why you need one ☝️

A user interface / user experience designer 👨‍🎨 (UI / UX Designer) is somebody who evaluates your idea, understands your problem your trying to solve, and designs a solution out of that while adhering to:

Accessibility, platform specific requirements, experience best practices and visual design best practices. Not only that, but they are finding ways to keep your end- user content while accomplishing goals across your app(s).

Why hire a designer first or have a UXUI designer in the conversation? You asked huh…. Well to put it short, developers who code don’t necessarily know good design, or good visual design or even best practices. So your final product may look like Facebook when it first launched their app in 2012 vs what it should look like in 2022 when this article was written. Another aspect is developers can build your app, all its functions, and it’s capabilities but not really consider a good visual design. Something that is pleasing to the eye.

Experience designers also take into consideration why users will want to use your app and consider retention. For example, if your app is an online Fintech app, and your end-users are managing their subscriptions and credit cards with one of their goals being to pay their credit card bill for this month. For example, developers can create this experience allowing your user to find their card, set the amount to pay, and pay. 💰 In this case, it takes your end user 5min to pay off the card. Not really an ideal “experience”. Your end-user like most of us trying to pay our bill, while taking 5-minutes to pay it will get frustrating, or want to leave. This leads to users falling off and using a competitor, bad reviews on the app stores, and even loss of money for your business. This is why it’s essential to bring on an experience designer. They can potentially turn that bill pay into an experience that can take less then 30 seconds. On top of that, you’ll have a competing app that fits in the market.

Moreover, UXUI designers will only provide you with wireframes, mock-ups, or even comps. There is also low-fidelity mid-fidelity, and high-fidelity. Don’t worry, these are just some of the industry terms that are somewhat the same. Let’s talk about it for a second. ⬇️

Wire-frames are just screens that get an idea of your product pages or components or just UI elements across each page. This can be simple all the way to detailed screens.

Mock-ups and comps or short for compositions is also another term for more higher end detailed screens.

Low-fidelity is less detailed. Mid-fidelity is more detailed screens that get the idea across. These are usually grayed out and don’t display anything related to the brand. High-fidelity is definitely what it sounds like. Higher end screens that show everything.

When communicating with UXUI designers, make sure to give them details about your project, your potential end user, your end goal and your business end goal. They will construct this into something feasible.

Client meeting

This will be the first thing you need to do when talking with your developer. Client meetings should be detailed and concise. What your looking for and how much are you going to pay to get what you need to get done. Listing out features your expecting and even ideas you have. What’s feasible and what can’t be done. Bring a list of ideas of specific features and a list competitors if you have any.

Keep an open mind, sometimes your ideas will get tossed around and potentially put into a later release due to complexity. That means other features will get prioritized over others. That is just apart of the process and the reality of development. Some developers don’t know or have an answer for a specific feature or have never done it before. This also doesn’t mean they won’t figure it out. This is typical for a developer. If they don’t know how to build a feature, they will figure it out and find a solution. Generally after the client meeting the developer will spend a few days too a few weeks defining the scope -(Defining features and what is feasible within a given timeline, and developing ideas and / or frameworks on how to combat your ask or project), timeline, and budget of the project.

Make sure to have an NDA for your developers to sign before giving out all your ideas. 💡 just to stay safe. Try to not have a “Non-compete” in your NDA. As this will give you 👀 weird looks. Your bringing your idea or product to developers who build ideas into functional digital products for various clients. Nine-times- out of ten they are also building similar products of the same nature. For example, one client wants a mobile banking app which has the ability to pay off house 🏡 and utility bills. You on the other hand want to build a mobile app in which pays off card and auto bills 💸. This is why Non-compete doesn’t look good. Your developers won’t have free room nor legal leg room to breath and to flourish as a company. Trust me this happens all the time and its not the best route for developers / agencies. Its also happen to me before. The client has an expectation that they don’t want you as the designer / developer to work on competitor apps. The reality is that most apps literally copy each other from UI elements to experience and even ideas. This is why it’s not useful to get a patent for a digital product. You’d be wasting money on something that is easily copied. Look at Uber and Lyft apps. These two apps have the exact same app UI experience but with some differences. Look at Instagram, and TikTok, you’ll notice areas that are similar regardless of the concept of the app. Look at Uber eats and Doordash. A better example of this would be the clubhouse app. As soon as this app got bigger, other companies bought on to the idean by taking the entire concept and implementing it their app. Speaking about Twitter with their “Spaces” tab. It’s literally the same thing.

Business goals (IE: Getting paid)

Your app can make loads of money. It just depends on how you want to execute it within your app.

We spoke about SAAS products earlier in the article. This is a great way and a common way for apps to make money. Provide more features apart of the free features to individuals who want access to more. Give more to those who want to do more right.

You can also provide advertisements within your app. You’ll automatically get paid passively through ads as they are present. These advertisements will automatically play or be manually prompted at certain times the end-user taps on something, finishes a goal, or even just sitting there and it prompts up. Your developers will find ways to incorporate these Ads within the experience. Moreover, this is an opportunity for you to provide a one-time fee or a subscription fee to remove the ads.

Another form is through providing a market of some sort or services you or others can provide. A market can be an online store 🏬. A service provided can be teaching or mowing a lawn. You put up the services within the app, somebody pays you and Voila!

Timeline expectations

Development can take time. Lots of time. Like time to design the app, then time to develop the app. Development or coding and implementation can take longer than design. Design typically takes under a month depending on your use case. Use case or specific actions that pertain to a goal in mind. In this “case” your business idea and goals that revolve around this mobile or web app. When design takes place, its about understanding goals, objectives, key results and end users. Keep your developers involved in the process early on too so they can weigh in on the technicality of your features. Sometimes one feature can get built first, then later on (MVP) you can build the next feature depending on the complexity of said feature. Design should take less than a month, with wire-frames and interaction specs delivered to yourself and developers.

Keep yourself involved in the process. Ask to be apart of a client slack channel if applicable. Or WhatsApp messaging group. Stay involved and make sure your developers and designers communicate to you the designs and process. This will help bridge the gap of any end-result work being poor and lack of substance or unacceptable work. Your the client who is spending (X) amount on this app, and so you need to be heavily involved with the work.

App Delivery

When it comes to delivery try to have access to your accounts. For example, you’ll need a google play developer account to launch apps on the google play store. You’ll need an apple developer account to launch apps on the Apple App store. Ideally you’ll want to create these accounts and either (A) Add your developers on as team members or send them your credentials to log in. This might be a bit more risky because they will have access to everything. This is why you have the ability to add team members. Your team should be able to upload and manage the apps on these developer accounts. When it comes to web applications, these are a bit more open because its not technically owned by apple or google. Even though they both have browser applications. You’ll still need to manage how your app is being developed on the web and / or across platforms.

Make sure to work with your developer team if they launch your apps. Most likely they will be able to manage and do ongoing maintenance for your app. Make sure to discuss this beforehand as well. Like how will they do ongoing maintenance, or app updates. Is this a one-time fee or a subscription fee overtime type of ordeal? Also make sure to ask if you own the code. Owning the code means you own all the code and they will transfer the app and its code to another developer. If the project goes bad, or you need better developers or even cheaper developers, you’ll own the code.

Moreover, you’ll be looking at paying $100 / year for an Apple developer account. This allows your to run and maintain one or multiple apps. When you develop an app that has a subscription through “Apple Pay” and / or in-app purchases (Ability to purchase things like badges or in-game items) Apple takes a 30 percent standard commission from your app. Keep this in mind and always pay attention to when apple increases or decrease this. (ie: Look for developer updates from Apple)

Google on the other hand cost $25 and thats it to launch apps on the google play store. That is 15% for the first $1M (USD) of earnings each year, and then 30% for earnings in excess of $1M (USD) each year.

Payment expectations

Lastly, lets talk about payment. Payment is a tough topic because we all have this “Million dollar idea”, but are we willing to risk paying for this “million dollar idea”. I think not. So its best to start off small. Don’t invest in something you don’t know. Understand what you need to build, and communicate your ideas with your developer.

I’d suggest for lower end cost solutions, I’d learn about the tech as much as possible, then hire a small team at around $10k — $20k price range. In all honesty, if your looking for good apps, your cost can range from easily $100k -$300k apps. That is just the industry. Again its billion app industry and you can potentially make over a million dollars from your app. If your looking for something small, on a small budget, and willing to risk more overtime, or in other words lengthy development process, and possibly less quality builds, you can look at spending around under $2k for developing one item like a mobile app and launching it. Overtime you can add more features and ongoing updates if you choose.

Look for upwork resources. These individuals looking to get paid and do work. They can design you an app for a little under $1k and another person can develop your app for under $2-$3k. You’ll find individuals all the up to small teams. Small teams range from $10k — $20k for the full app development. You also have companies like Crowdbotics who can develop your app at a range of $20k+. Crowdbotics also provides ongoing development and business support for your app at the cost of a subscription depending on the complexity of your app(s).

The big leagues your looking at companies like (Clutch list of top tier developers) or Clay. They get your app done with some of the best people in the industry. Expect a cost of $100k+. Id also look at hiring interns who know how to code or design. Interns can go along way in developing your app or even just bits and pieces for a lower cost. Just make sure you see some of their older work.

Nonetheless, you’ll need to take into consideration of any integration support that is needed for your app to get developed. For example, if you want a social platform that allows users to make videos and share photos etc. This takes up space that isn’t housed by apple. Technically its housed on your phone, and over the internet. You need to store this data and information so that other people can watch and view said videos or images. You might need to pay for a third-party database that houses this data. Look at platforms like Vimeos video API, or googles Firebase.

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