The mobile industry has grown increasingly as most people are now using their phones daily to accomplish tasks other than calling and texting others. Smartphones are now becoming more than phone and almost small personal assistants on which you can plan your day, look something up online and play any kind of games. Now that the market is highly competitive, most apps are starting to provide similar services with similar features. It is therefore necessary for app developers to come up with innovative and cutting-edge ideas to take a share of the market.

But developing innovative apps with features that will attract the masses come with a price. While app development is generally not cheap (especially if you would like to have more developed features), understanding what goes into the price for a mobile app will go a long way and will help you a lot with the planning and app development process.

Firstly, it is important to consider the costs of developing an app. Indeed, mobile app development is a multi-stage process and each stage requires multiple tests to ensure quality and proper functionality but also specialization.

Secondly, you need to remember that business apps are developed to cater to the specific need of their fields. Your application and its functionalities will depend on the type of applications you will need. Here is a small list of the type of applications to consider:

Basic functionality: these types of apps improve the usability of your mobile devices Database-driven functionality: they will allow you to organize your files and your programs
Games: These types of apps involve some of the most complicated processes in the mobile app development industry.
Enhancement or modification: They are designed to improve and enhance specific functions on your mobile device.
Fully dynamic: These types of apps are data driven. However, they are dependent on external information.
Custom utilities: They allow you to format content in whichever way you’d like.

Knowing which type of applications you would like to develop beforehand will fasten your app development process but also prevent you from having to change things once the application development process has started.

Four stages of app development:

Idea: After deciding which type of application you would like to focus on, the next step to take is to work on your app idea.
Functionality layout: This stage will allow you to work more on your idea and turn it into a more tangible and feasible concept. The software developer will create wireframes based on how the app will function, and you will then be able to

• Design: These stage includes the two development phases (backend and frontend) involve the management of users, server side logic, customization of UE but also things like integration, catching and synchronization of data, UI design and finally development and testing schedules.
• Launch: You can get ready to go live once the software development team approves the application and decides that it is ready to launch. Make sure your application have the built-in codes necessary to be featured in the App Store or Google Play Store if you would like the most people possible seeing it.

Costs of building a mobile app:

Once you have identified who is going to be your target audience, what kind of app you would like to build and what will be the features and the solutions your app will provide, it will be time for you to choose on which platform you will want your mobile application to be on and whether you will want it to be on iOS or Android.

But in order to choose wisely, you will need to understand first what are the differences between building an app for iOS in comparison to Android:
iOS apps are quicker and less expensive to build It takes two to three times longer to build an Android app than it does an iOS one Research have shown that iOS users tend to spend money more freely and thus quickly allows developers to see whether or not an App would be successful and whether or not it is even worth it to develop it for an Android platform.
It is also important for you to understand that your target market has a big impact on which platform you should choose to launch your app on. Geographical factors should be taken into account as well. Indeed, while iOS is more popular than Android in the US, Android takes the lead in others markets such as Asia, South America and Africa.

Your app development team:

The price for your mobile app will also need to take into account the cost of having an app development team. In order to develop the app you always wanted, you will need to have an application development team of talented people all specialized in a different area of expertise to ensure that your application gets the best, most well-rounded development possible.
project Manager: Will oversee the entire app development process
UI/UX designer: Will develop the app’s impressions of the user
Coder: Will develop the application’s hidden structure and code.
QA Engineer: Will oversee all of the testing protocols

The cost of the team will depend on the level of complexity it will take to develop it. While simple apps can take around 10 weeks to be built, more complex apps will take around 28 weeks, and the design will need around 370 hours as well as up to 2,200 hours for backend development.

Estimated costs for iOS apps:

Simple app: $1,000 to $4,000
Database apps: $8,000 to $50,000
Games: $10,000 to $250,000

Estimated costs for Android apps:

Elementary apps: $25,000 to $35,000
Standard apps: $45,000 to $55,000
Complex apps: $55,000 to $100,000
High-tech apps: $75,000 to $150,000

There will also be some additional chargers you might have to also take into account:
Web services:$1,000 to $5,000. So that you can update your app with XML files instead of changing the raw code.
Game center: $1,000: So that Apple can integrate your app with the SDK
In-app purchases: $1,000 to $3,000: So that your users can buy content from your app or unlock full versions and other services.
SDKs: $50 to $200: Will help you track your app and find ways to monetize.

Because there are so many factors into play, it is therefore very important for you to research well about your product, your market and the people you want to work if you want to find the price for a mobile application development.