Mobile apps, built as part of the platform

To scope a mobile app we need to know who will use it, the tasks it needs to support and whether it connects to an existing system. Include any designs you have and any requirements for offline use or device features such as the camera, location or biometrics. We use that brief to assess the platform and the development scope. The first decision is the shape of the project: an app store app, a progressive web app, or a responsive web platform. That decision is written down with the reasoning, so it survives a change of stakeholder. We ask whether you need a store app before quoting, because the answer can change the project. The scope then sets out what version one does, on what devices, and what happens when there is no signal. If you already have a web system such as a portal, a store or a booking platform, tell us, because the data model and the permissions already exist.

We do not publish prices for mobile apps, because an app can be four weeks or six months, and a number here would be a guess at your project and not a price for it. What we do is scope it first, as a short paid piece of work, and quote a fixed price against that scope. You get the scope document either way, and you are free to take it elsewhere. Some costs sit outside the build and are worth knowing before you commit. Developer programme fees are yours: annual for Apple, and a one-time registration fee for Google Play. Apple and Google change their requirements on their own schedule, and an app that is not updated is eventually removed. Every fix goes through store review, and users on old versions are a category you will have to support. A progressive web app, which is our default, has one codebase, one deployment and no store review between you and a fix.

Yes, you can start with a web version and add an app later, and it is usually the cheaper route. Building the API first is what makes it possible. On every project we build the API ourselves, covering authentication, accounts, permissions, data, notifications and versioning, and it is built to serve more than one client so the next thing you add is not another rebuild. A well-built responsive web platform lets your customers do the job on their phone without installing anything. A progressive web app goes further: it is installable from the browser, with a home-screen icon, offline handling and push notifications where the platform allows them. If you later need a store listing, we build store apps in React Native, where one codebase produces both an iOS and an Android build and shares language and tooling with the web platform behind it. By then the data model and the permissions already exist, so the work is the interface and the offline behaviour.

You own the code. You get the full repository, including the signing and build configuration. At release we hand over the repository, the build instructions and the signing setup, so you are not locked to us to publish an update. App Store and Google Play submission is done inside your own developer account, in your company’s name, with the signing keys handed to you. We press the button, and you own the listing. That matters because an app published under a supplier’s account is very difficult to move. The developer programme fees are yours for the same reason: annual for Apple, and a one-time registration fee for Google Play. The API behind the app is built by us on every project, covering authentication, accounts, permissions, data, notifications and versioning. If your app needs native Swift or Kotlin work, we do not build that in-house, and we will say so at the first meeting.