‘How Long Does It Take to Build a Mobile Application’ is the second most asked question after ‘How to Develop a Mobile Application? There is no doubt that more than 3.96 billion Mobile App users are in the market, which attracts businessmen to develop Mobile Applications to address customer and business operations. In fact, it is projected that the demand and revenue of Mobile applications will reach 613 Billion USD by the year 2025. Therefore, it’s high time to look at the Development process and how long it will take to complete a Mobile Application to Compete in the Market.
Generally, Startups enquire about the process and cost of app development, which is, of course, important but another significant factor is how long it takes to completely build a Mobile Application to enter into the Digital business. Hence, today we are discussing:- How long does it take to Develop a Mobile App?
Usually, the average time to build an App is about 4-7 months, but it also depends on person to person and business to business; there are no exact times to it, so before we discuss the duration, we should briefly discuss the process of App Development.
Key Stages of Mobile App Development Process:-
The Mobile App development process involves various stages, from the planning process to the final launch of the Mobile Application and App Store. All the processes are interdependent on each other and require proper attendance; a delay in one stage causes delays in the whole process of building an App. Different Apps require different times according to their features and size. Each Development stage is discussed below:-
Stage 1 – Planning:
The planning stage involves decisions regarding the configuration of the app, which includes a roadmap of APO development like choosing a design platform like native or hybrid, cross-platform or not in iOS or Android, etc., and various other features of the App and the deadline to complete an App.
Stage 2 – Validation of Idea and Design:-
Test different ideas and get them validated by your team. Develop the design of an App to attract more and more users to navigate your App.
Stage 3 – Development:-
It involves UI, Front end, and Back end to Develop the App. This stage involves coding and designing. This process shows how the app will finally look. The front end shows how the App looks to the user and the Back end shows how the app is working with its data storage, user management, server-side logic, data integration, etc.
Stage 4 – Developer Team:-
Having the Best Development is not simple. You should outsource them with their qualification and expertise and try to get different people to form a group so that you can take individual advantage of their expertise.
Stage 5 – Testing:-
People often avoid testing the Mobile before launching it in the market but after the Development process is finished before launching, the App should be used by a group of people to get their feedback and make changes according to feedback for better results.
Stage 6 – Launch Mobile App on Store:-
After testing the App launch it on various platforms or in a single platform according to your budget. The developer generally launches it on Google Play Store or Apple Store by following their guidelines.
Now, after discussing the stages of development of an App, We will discuss a detailed time breakdown for each step of App Development with numbers and cover the following topics:-
- How long does it take to build an App from a simple idea to a full-fledged App?
- Time-consuming stages.
- How to speed up the App Development Process?
How Long Does It Take To Make a Mobile App?
On average, it takes 7-8 months to complete an App. It involves various stages-
- Research takes around 1-2 weeks.
- Idea validation up to 1 week.
- Product strategy requires around 2 weeks.
- For prototype validation 1 week.
- Development requires 4-6 months.
- Prepare for launch 2-weeks-1 month.
We Will Discuss Each Step in Detail:
Time Required To Research an App Idea
On average, research takes around 1-2 weeks and involves market analysis, Proto personas, Value proposition, CJM, etc. It is an important stage where you deeply study the market and find out the preferences of users and the actual needs of your idea in the Market to ensure to meet the business goals. You can skip this process only when you have already done it, or you have hired an expert to do your work.
Time Required To Validate The Idea
After rigorous research for an idea, the App requires validation from your team requires around 1 week in this time duration team polishes the knowledge gathered during research, in which you should interview potential customers, check hypotheses, test the app flow, etc. Validation complete with improved proto personas, Business Model Canvas, and Market strategy.
Research and Validation are optional. There is no need to spend time, but investing time in research and Validation will definitely be worth it.
Time Required To Create a Product Strategy
product strategy means a Step-By-Step Development plan. It mainly describes your business goals and how you will achieve them. Creating a product strategy basically required 2 weeks, including:-
- Technical Design Document
- Product roadmap
- Time estimation
- Cost estimation
Product strategy provides more clarity to the whole development team and helps them to be on the same page to achieve the goal.
Time Required To Build Product Prototype
We started with researching the idea, then took validation of the whole team, then moved to product strategy. finally, we were ready to build a product prototype. The prototype is not a fully- functioning App. It is a visual Mobile App that aims to test the key features and functions of the Mobile App. It takes approximately 1 week to make a prototype.
Time Required To Validate App Prototype
For validation of the App Prototype, you must test your App with 3-5 users to gather feedback and find valuable data, which includes:-
- How many features do users find valuable and interesting?
- How users interact with the product.
- If they find the product difficult to use.
- If navigation is smooth.
This is called cyclic feedback, and it takes around 1 week to complete the whole process which helps developers to make any additional changes suggested in feedback.
Time Required To Design The App
First, select the design of an App that attracts the user to use it to use your app. App design goes side by side with the development of App design, and development is most uncertain in the Mobile App development process. It is uncertain due to various reasons like a fast-charging requirement and technological changes which change with lightning speed. You can use UX Design, which will help you to design using various combinations of color which attract the user. Design typically takes around 2 to 3 months.
Time Required For Coding
App development itself is time-consuming and coding takes most of the time around 4-6 months.
Factors which affects that the final timespan is:-
- Complexity of App.
- A number of user roles.
- Tech stack.
The time required to code an App mostly depends on the type of App you want to build, not the number of people who code it.
- Simple complexity Apps like Native App require 4 months for iOS and Android.
- Medium Complexity App basically a commercial photos App that requires 5 Months to Fully complete.
- Complex Apps that include 2 or more roles like search & video recording features demand more time about 6-8 months, to Complete.
Product Launch
Finally, after performing all the steps, the App is ready to launch. It is a most existing moment but also some uncertainty as to how it will perform and whether it will be liked by users or not.
Time Required To Prepare Your App For Launch?
Launching an App is usually divided into 2 parts: Beta and Alpha. Alpha means the prerelease version of an App usually used by the Tester of an App in the organization. Beta testing is performed by end-user which will launch in-store like iOS for Apple and Google Play for Android. It requires submission and reviews; that’s why the pre-launch stage may take 2 weeks to 1 month.
Ways To Speed Up The App Development Process?
- Developers Should Devote Some Time to Communication:- Communication plays an important role in the App development process. It is a game-changing way you communicate with your customers, helping to increase the stakeholders of your business.
- Focus on the Core Feature of the App:- You can build an App with all the features you want with minimum work or launch it with the minimum features but maximum quality. Focus on the core feature of an App and always offer customizable features so that users can customize it with their preference.
- Set The Contact Faces:- Instead of involving the whole team in the meeting, set a person responsible for communication, usually a product manager. Who updates the projection status and communicates any changes or delays to basically keep the team on track.
- Meet Business Goals: Everyone in the team is responsible for meeting the ultimate good of business. By doing their duty at the right time and making an extra effort to keep clients in the loop.
Conclusion
Knowing how long it takes to develop a mobile application is important for developers in order to deliver quality results. Different clients have different expectations from developers, and elaborating them the details about development time can help you give a heads-up about the time it is going to take.
There are different factors involved in the development process, and they consume different amounts of time. The information about these processes is discussed above.