Things to Take into Account While Calculating Your App Development Costs
It is impressive to have an idea for a mobile app. However, do you know the exact cost of the app development? If you are an organization that is finding it difficult to calculate your app development cost, you have landed at the right content piece. Mobile apps are in huge demand nowadays. And we are seeing organizations investing heavily in mobile app development. However, when it comes to mobile app development, it is essential to consider the functionalities, features, cost, platform, UX/UI design, technology, etc.
Today, mobile app development cost is one of the top budget factors in any global business organization. It has already been estimated that more than 86% of users’ mobile time is spent on these mobile apps. No wonder this has made organizations across the globe to increase their investments in app development. Herein, lies the problem of determining the cost of developing an app.
Every businessperson today wants to follow a proper plan and budget for it. Irrespective of whether it is developing an app for a small, medium or enterprise-level client, certain factors need to be considered to determine the exact cost of developing a mobile app.
In the forthcoming sections of this write-up, we will divert our attention to the different factors to be taken into account for calculating your app development cost. We promise after reading this content piece, you will be able to determine whether you need to hire a mobile app developer or outsource the work to a proficient organization.
Determine Whether You Want Internal or External Resources to Execute App Development Process
We all know that every team is different. Hence, the working mechanism for developing an app will be different. Typically, there are four phases involved: strategy, design, engineering, and growth.
Certain clients have internal teams with mobile experience to carry out the different parts of the project. For example, your team can define the app strategy and design; however, when it comes to engineering, they would need assistance from an outside source. Alternatively, it might even be the case that your team would not be good at strategizing, however, the designers have an awareness of handling the UI and UX work before handing over the engineering work to a third-party.
Also, remember mobile app development is a specialized skill set that is evolving as we write. So, in case your team does not have experience in developing mobile apps, you would still be able to take their help to cut down the development costs. For example, your internal IT team might come in handy when it comes to building an API required by the app. However, they might struggle to make the app.
A web development team would be able to create a great mobile website. However, if they were told to create a native mobile app for the very first time they would require more time to develop the learning curve.
All in all, the amount of app development cost will depend largely on the amount of development task that you allocate internally vs. externally.
Selecting the Right App Platform(s)
It is equally important to choose the right app platform while developing a mobile app. Here, the problem of plenty can hurt your selection process. You can go for traditional mobile platforms like Android or iOS for developing the app, virtual assistants like Google Home or Alexa, messaging platforms like Slack or Messenger, IoT products like home automation, smart cars, connected televisions, etc. and even niche applications for virtual reality. These platforms require contrasting approaches when it comes to user experience engineering and design.
Even if you are going for traditional mobile platforms like Android and iOS, they are quite different from each other. The difference comes in the number of users of various devices on Android that can have a significant impact on the development and testing on the platform.
The Way You Build These App Platforms (Native vs. Cross-Platform)
We have already spoken about the importance of selecting the right app platform; however, you also need to determine the best way to build the platform. Some times clients wish to launch their mobile apps on both iOS and Android; this is where a cross-platform development framework like Xamarin can save engineering time. However, there are times when cross-platform technology does not make much sense when it comes to advanced technology like augmented reality and apps that require a sleek user interface or animations. This is where native platforms can be more useful to design and develop a mobile app.
Third-Party App Integrations
Apps consist of a series of features that comes from a variety of sources. If in case an app integrates standard features from the operating system like an app that provides experience based on location combined with the phone GPS, social media like sharing a widget, analytics like MixPanel, eCommerce like Apple Pay, etc. These integrations take a lot of development time and testing.
The best way to follow a lean approach, particularly for the first release. Only include selected number of features and also keep the external integrations to a minimal. It is always possible for you to add integrations as the app’s life moves forward. If you have too many third-party app integrations in the first release, it can amplify your development costs.
Cost of Integrating Animations
Animations help in building an emotional connection with your target audience and make them keep coming back to your mobile app. One of the common ways employed by developers to give a mass appeal to a mobile app is by adding animations to the interface. However, always keep this in mind, every animation that you add on the app can increase the app design and development cost. Novice design teams make the mistake of including too many animations in their app design interface that can have a massive effect on the overall app development cost.
Localization
Source: Google
The number of markets where you are looking to launch the mobile app will also have an effect on the mobile app development costs. And we are not talking merely about support of different languages. Although, language localization will increase the cost of the app development. Every territory that you target will have a completely different app store requirements. This also includes different requirements of how the data is collected and managed. A prime example of that is GDPR in Europe.
Final Thoughts
These are some of the things that you need to take into account while calculating your app development costs. If you wish to create an amazingly creative mobile app for your business, affiliate with a reputed mobile app development company today!
