How To Estimate A Mobile App Development Cost?

Before mobile app development, you should always evaluate the project according to two criteria: how much time it will take to create it (duration) and how much effort it will take the developers to implement it (effort). 

Suppose you want your app to be a catalyst for business success rather than dead weight. In that case, you must consider all the factors that affect the development process.

This includes identifying functional and non-functional requirements, defining key features, design, and testing scenarios. 

In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at the critical stages of mobile app development that you should keep in mind to accurately and competently estimate time and budget for product implementation.

1. Function Variety & Complexity

There is a direct correlation between the number of features you want to implement in the application and a project deadline. The more features you need, the more time the team needs to implement them and the subsequent testing.

It’s the reason why mobile app development, including the MVP stage, is becoming a more and more popular approach.

An MVP is a workable product that offers customers the most basic features immediately upon release. A product acquires additional functionality through further updates.

Also Read: 9 Reasons To Outsource Mobile App Testing

2. Defining Business Logic

A clear understanding of the product idea, its goals, and objectives is one of the critical factors that affect the mobile app development time for the better or, the worse.

When you estimate the timeframe for launching the project, it is crucial to collect all the requirements for the application, both functional and non-functional.

Who and how will use them, what task they will solve with the app, etc. The more detailed and thorough this stage is, the higher are the chances that the application will be successful. 

3. Evaluation of the Application Idea

After the business logic is clear, an important step is to evaluate the product idea from a market and business perspective. It’s a crucial stage of the mobile app development cycle, especially if you plan to promote your product in the market.

To assess the efficiency and viability of your business idea and improve its weaknesses, you need to conduct a detailed analysis of competitors and industry leaders and accurately determine the target audience, i.e., who the users of your product will be.

4. Integration of Third-Party Services

In most cases, the application interacts with third-party services to use some features mobile platforms don’t have. APIs provide access to such features.

Given the many different integrations that solve the same problem in different ways, you’ll have to spend time finding the best solution and integrating it into the application.

5. Design

Creating an application interface is half of the entire mobile app development process. It all starts with creating design layouts, where the elements look like simple geometric shapes. After that, the designers create a static design of each component.

And the last stage is the creation of prototypes. It’s a finished interface, showing how the different elements interact but without code in the background.

6. Testing & Debugging

The testing process is one of the main stages of the mobile app development cycle. In addition, testing is not a quick process, which can equal or sometimes exceed the duration of development. Always budget more time than you think.

There is no such thing as unnecessary testing. This stage determines what quality the application users will receive.

Also Read: 15 Weird Apps You Won’t Believe You Can Download

7. Releasing the App

After testing and fixing the bugs found, the product finally hits consumers’ phones, or more precisely, on mobile marketplaces. It is worth noting that the launch of the project is not a 5-minute event. It can take from a week to a couple of months.

There may be urgent bug fixes, or lengthy approvals by online stores’ side, etc. So make sure you have enough time for the release.