When it arrives to mobile app development, the second biggest concern of every entrepreneur relies on how long does it take to make an app? Undoubtedly, the pricing structure of mobile apps remains the foremost concern of every client who is preparing to build an app. Does it carry out 1 month, 2 months, or 6 months to build a mobile app?
It’s not that easy to predict the solution to this query. To understand the answer of this question, we need to consider two distinct criteria to make predictions. First, we can determine the average app development timeline by identifying the specific app type. And next, we can look through the distinct app development phases to accurately calculate the average duration. Let’s first consider the specific app types.
How Long does it take to Make an App in accordance with App Classification?
The Google Play store had 3.55 million apps, while the Apple store held 1.6 million applications as of the third quarter of 2022. So what do you think all such applications have within the same concept? Definitely not; all these applications differ in the manner of specific types.
Some might be heavy in size, some might be basic, and some might be advanced. So usually, the app concepts divide into three types. Such as simple, standard(medium range), & complex. Accordingly, all these three app classifications consist of the following timelines:
- Simple App may endure 2 to 3 months period,
- Standard App may take 3 to 6 months period,
- Complex App consumes around 9 months and more.
App Development Timeline As Per Diverse Phases
Now we will calculate the time schedule by considering the various app development stages, which are as follow;
Market Analysis
Research is a must to create an excellent vision for your product. Without grounded market research, there are very low chances of an app to achieve its desired success criteria. Hence market study takes the first place in the app development stages.
Each app differs in the way of specific types; hence consumers hold varied interests in each concept. Consequently, first ever step will be to research for consumer’s interest. In this way, you can get to know what your consumers love to have within an app. The next is to estimate the amount of targeted audience that holds interest in your project.
Likewise, it is advisable to do a bit of research on competitors as well before diving into the market. By analyzing the competitors, you can get a better insight into the field, which will help you form accurate decisions for your product. That’s how you will be able to form a unique strategy to attract the targeted consumers. Such research is a time-consuming operation, and one has to examine thoroughly the likes and dislikes of the audience.
So it counts mostly 1 to 2 weeks to conduct the market research.
Plan it Out
Based on the concluded market research, the next stage will be to prepare agendas for the development. This phase involves the formation of visions in the right direction. Usually, the planning scenario includes the subsequent statements;
- What will be the size of the app?
- How wireframes will be generated to show the user experience flow?
- What kinds of features will be formed in the application?
- Which platform to target? Android, iOS, or Cross-platform?
- What will be the cost structure to make an app?
- What are the safety criteria?
If product planning is accomplished in the proper way, then it will not create any other barriers to streamlining the further app development process. Therefore it is essential to put on extra effort in this early stage of app expansion. Undoubtedly planning is a critical stage. Hence one has to look thoroughly at each aspect of the project that directly impacts the development environment.
The approximate timeline of the planning will endure around 2 to 3 weeks.
App Designing
To get begun with the app development, the first-ever requirement will be to create wireframes of the app as per product necessities. Wireframing works to validate the fundamental concepts of the app structure in blueprints. Mobile app wireframes are generated to design the app structure and foremost the app hierarchy.
After forming wireframes, the designer will review them with the clients to check if all app designing requirement matches or not. Afterward designer will prepare the graphic user interference of the app, which includes font, colors, themes, and pictures for the application. Also, transitions, animations, and other formatting tactics should be included to make the app more engaging.
Designing is the critical phase of app development that consumes a lot of time. So the timeframe of the designing phase varies from simple apps to mid-size apps and complex apps. Cause all this consists of different design requirements. Possibilities are that sometimes designers have to go back to modify changes in app structure due to the late modification in the project. Now this takes a long to finalize the design.
Usually, the app designing phase will consume up to 1 to 3 months.
Coding Stage
After forging the graphical app flow, the subsequent step is to write codes for the app. This stage involves the development of frontend, backend, and API. The backend is liable for connecting the user interface of the app to the system, which ensures the appropriate functionality of the app.
Backend development involves data storage that works to store data internally, externally, and through stored mediums. When it comes to the backend, there are several key components to consider, including managing users, storing data, integrating data, implementing server-side logic, and ensuring versioning is up-to-date. Typically, the front-end creation takes first place in development, where coders perform to bring the wireframes into reality.
In short, programmers composes codes to build the user interface of the app. Here the app complexity also influences the mobile app development timeline. A more complex app structure will demand more time to finalize the coding procedure.
The estimated period of the coding phase involves 3 to 10 months.
App Testing
The mobile app testing strategy plays a vital role in detecting any misconceptions and resolving bugs in the app. Here the Quality Assurance team handles the overall procedure. The time it takes to test an application can alter relying on various factors, such as the complexes of the application, diverse app functionality, and the testing methodology employed.
In order to assure the quality and reliability of an application, it’s important to conduct testing thoroughly to detect each possible bug. At present, one can make use of Manual testing or Automated testing methodology to measure the performance of the application. The manual procedure consumes more time. Whereas Automation testing is beneficial to conduct the procedure in very less time compared to manual resources.
However, we can say that testing can take place from 1 month to 4 months, depending on the testing strategy you choose for.
Prepare To Go Live
Finally, we are ready to go live. See, it’s not as straightforward to build an application as we assume. So when next time you suffer from the dilemma of how long does it take to make an app, consider the before-mentioned steps to calculate the schedule. After weeks of researching, planning, designing, coding, and testing, an app gets ready to go live. The app launching strategy divides into different stages – one is an alpha release, and the next is a beta release.
The alpha release is an early pre-launch version that is performed by QA engineers within the organization. Whereas the beta testing is conducted by the end-users. Simply beta refers to the final app launch on the app stores. A big part of the pre-launch operation includes the app submission and review strategy. So it’s essential to follow all the guidelines to submit an app to the Google Play Store and Apple Store to get the reviewing process done on early basis.
Well, both app stores have different strategies for reviewing the submitted application. Apple follows a detailed reviewing methodology; on the other hand, Android Store utilizes an algorithm to analyze the product. Consequently, reviewing procedures can consume more time, depending on the concepts.
- Particularly Android store may take 7 days or more,
- Apple App Store may take around 2 days or more for review.
Factors Causing the Slower Development Cycle
There are several elements that influence the concept of how long does it take to make an app. Let’s overview some of them;
- One of the significant facets that impact the overall technique is the complexity of the concept. The intricacy of the application refers to the complicated structure and tech stacks you are adopting for development.
- In other ways, if you have any distinct requirements for the assignment, such as third-party incorporation, chat tools, and some other modern attributes such as push notifications, payment gateways, maps, etc., then it will take a lot of time.
- Besides, the availability of resources to possess throughout the process, such as funding and equipment, can impact the app publishing schedule.
- The design of an app as well affects the mobile app development life cycle. A straightforward design will consume a lower app development timeline. On the contrary, a complex design requires more time to complete.
- Finally, any unexpected issues or setbacks during the procedure can also cause delays. It’s important to execute proper agenda for app development to ensure successful and timely project completion.
After examining factors that cause slower development procedures, let’s look out for some solutions as well that will help you to speed up the development procedure.
Tips to Speed up the App Development Timeline
You can consider the subsequent tactics to achieve the rapid mobile app development timeline.
MVP
Entrepreneurs and developers often make mistakes by launching a fully developed app on first bases. Whereas the first priority should be to focus on Minimum Viable Product development. MVP simplifies the smaller version of the app with the most crucial components to experiment in the real market.
By launching the MVP first, you can test up the business’s concept and gain consumers on early bases. MVP takes nominal time to craft in comparison with the fully functional app; this way, you can save much more time.
Cross-Platform Strategy
In today’s scenario, we all know that Android and iOS both hold onto a wide spectrum of consumers. Hence this causes a big headache for entrepreneurs to choose between Android and iOS app development. So the mid solution to this confusion is to go with cross-platform app development.
This strategy refers to building an app with cross-platform comparability using a single codebase. By following the cross-platform development strategy, you can obtain results in very less time by saving more on budget.
Prefer Outsourcing
The best way to speed up the development is to prefer outsourcing so that you can make sure your project is in the right hands. No doubt, gathering an in-house team is a good strategy. But the best way is offshore software development to receive all the advanced and complex results.
Mobile app development company retains the majority of resources to conduct specific tasks. Under the in-house projection, you have to find professionals for specific tasks. But by partnering with a professional offshore team, you can leverage the professional services under one roof, which will save a lot of budgets, and the development speed will be increased.
Set Up Automation Testing
With the higher availability of advanced technologies, many people overlook the importance of automated testing in mobile app development. Automated testing involves running several tests during one run, which saves time plus improves security. The automation testing approach uses various strategies to accelerate the testing procedure and provides error-free results. Hence by setting up automation testing, one can easily accelerate the app development timeframe.
In Summary
Surely for all businesses, mobile apps are a prominent medium to achieve a great array of consumers. So when the thing comes to crafting an app, the universal question comes into existence how long does it take to make an app?
Well, to predict the answer of this difficult question, we have looked through different app development stages. Along with some factors influencing development procedures. With these, we have noticed a few tactics as well to come over the slower app expansion process.
So now we can terminate the precise mobile app development timeline that ranges from 2 to 9 months and can be more depending on the necessities.
If you want to save from mismatched outcomes, then must plan everything out before the start of development. After the planning, when you have enough resources, then go for the design and development stages. Stay true to your goals and try not to make any sudden changes during the coding stage. With this step-by-step method, you can achieve satisfactory outcomes in your pre-set timetable; hope this helps.
As an entrepreneur, if you are not quite sure about the development field, then you can hire mobile app developers from Elluminati to get an instant solution for your project. Our developers have served myriad corners of the industry and have served clients to streamline their businesses.
