The number of global smartphone users has reached 6,567 billion in 2022. It means that 83.32% of the world’s population is wired to these smart and compact devices. In addition, the number of global mobile app downloads increases constantly. For instance, downloads made were 230 billion in 2021. Another study suggests that mobile users have growing appetites for paid content and premium services within mobile apps, and they eagerly spent around 33 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2022 on mobile apps. Data shows that the custom app development industry is going to generate more than 613 billion dollars in revenues by 2025, making it a lucrative domain for many entrepreneurs and companies.Whether your business is built around making money from marketing services and products through custom mobile apps or monetizing app content, these figures mean that if you still do not have a mobile application or have a poorly built one, you miss tremendous opportunities for your company.
Delving Into Custom Mobile Application Development: Details for You to Know
Investing in the development of mobile applications is something businesses of all sizes and across different industries should consider. However, with so many applications available on the market, it’s getting harder to break through the competition noise and showcase the true value of your digital product to your audience.
But competition is not the verdict. When you do things the right way: study what your audience needs, estimate your capabilities, and hire dedicated mobile app developers who know their business, you will get a digital product destined for success.
So, before you make any moves toward building a custom mobile app, let’s make it clear what the process of building a custom mobile solution means and what value it will bring.
What Is Custom Mobile Apps Development?
According to Microsoft, custom business app development is designing software applications to fulfill specific business needs of users in a particular organization. While this is a general interpretation of the development process, it can be applied to mobile development as well.
IBM defines custom mobile app development as the process of building software for smartphones and digital assistants, usually on Android and iOS operating systems. These apps can be preinstalled on the device, downloaded from the app store market, or accessed through a web browser.
The HebronSoft custom mobile app development company interprets this process as designing and building a digital product for an Android or iOS mobile device according to your individual requirements.
To build a successful mobile application, a custom app developer may use programming and markup languages such as Java, Swift, C#, and HTML5. They will also refer to mobile app development frameworks like:
- React Native
- Flutter
- Ionic
- Xamarin
What Are the Advantages of Mobile App Development?
There are many reasons that may encourage you to look in the direction of custom mobile development:
- Extension of your tech ecosystem. – If you already have a custom-made app, the desktop or web version, a mobile application will give more flexibility and mobility to the users.
- Added value to customers. – Deliver better customer experience to your clients or buyers by letting them learn, obtain, or order your services via a custom mobile application.
- Enhanced security. – Custom mobile app developers will empower the application with the latest and the most reliable security features (two-factor authentication, blockchain, data encryption, and more) to ensure data safety.
- Improved scalability. – Properly built custom mobile applications will sustain stable and consistent performance, no matter how many people use them at the same time.
- Simplified development. – With the use of up-to-date custom software mobile development tools and frameworks, developers deliver applications faster and with less coding.
- Higher competitiveness. – As your custom app will have unique customization options, include an exclusive set of features, and deliver a one-of-a-kind user experience, this will increase your odds on the market and give your business a competitive advantage.
- Compliance with industry regulations. – If you aim to build an app for a highly-regulated sector, your tech partner will perform healthcare or custom logistics services mobile app development to ensure your app doesn’t violate the law and strictly follows all standards.
How Long Does It Take to Create Custom Mobile Apps?
Without a doubt, custom app building may take some time. This process involves setting your goals, establishing requirements, thinking of what features to add to give maximum value to your users, building an MVP, designing the interface, writing code for the modules, integrating third-party or other custom applications, testing, and more.
Usually, it takes around 2-4 weeks for setting the requirements and setting the scope of the project. Then, the project moves to the planning stage where tasks are laid out. Generally, the project is broken down into sprints or other sections to let custom app developers and designers work on assigned tasks within set timeframes. Undoubtedly, the largest amount of time is spent coding the application, which usually lasts 3-4 months. Testing is an essential part of app development, and it may require allocating extra 3-6 weeks. In total, it takes 6-9 months to deliver a ready custom app for mobile.
Most companies follow the Agile methodology, which makes the custom business application development process more flexible and time-efficient. The use of frameworks like Flutter also adds to the ability to cut the development time, so experienced custom web and mobile app development companies will deliver a ready application with moderate functionality within around 4 months.
What’s the Cost of Custom Mobile Application Development Services?
The upfront cost of building custom mobile apps for business can vary, so we can give you a rough estimate of what to expect when you find yourself in the market for a new mobile app.
Custom mobile app development pricing will come down to a few things such as:
- The number and complexity of screens (both design and function)
- The complexity of features (APIs, geolocation, phone sensors, IoT, etc.)
- The complexity of the admin app
- App development process (what stages it involves)
- The platform choice (whether it’s a native or multi-platform app)
- Ongoing maintenance (server costs, bug fixing, or OS upgrades)
- The development team
The average cost to outsource mobile app development and get software capable of fulfilling its designed function is around $80,000. But it’s better to reach several mobile app custom development partners and see what it will cost you to build software with each of them.
Important!
You may be tempted to go with low-cost mobile app development. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as developers may use frameworks and technologies that cut the development time, and, thus, reduce the cost of the application. In this case, double-check that you’ve selected a trusted service provider.
Cross-Platform App Development As a New Approach
When you want to create a custom app for mobile that is not tied to a native functionality of an operating system, you should consider cross-platform development.
What Is Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?
When we talk about cross-platform custom mobile app design and development, we mean creating a software application that is compatible with multiple mobile operating systems. In other words, developers write a shareable code for an Android and iOS application that will run identically on these operating systems.
Benefits of Cross-Platform Custom Mobile App Development Services
If you need some good reasons to consider this approach for mobile app development, here are some of the most prominent advantages that will catch your attention:
- Reach a wider audience.– You don’t have to choose between Android or iOS audiences as the application will be compatible with both, maximizing your reach.
- Simple cloud implementation.– These apps are compatible with cloud platforms, and developers can take advantage of plugins integrated with the cloud settings.
- Fast time to the market.– With the use of a single codebase and customizable widgets, plugins, and extended libraries, developers build custom business apps and launch them much faster.
- Cost-efficient.– Cross-platform mobile solutions reduce the development cost by up to 30%.
- Reduced coding time.– A single source code for multiple platforms can reduce development efforts from 50% to 80%.
Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools and Frameworks
To achieve greater savings without sacrificing software quality in cross-platform development, software engineers use cross-platform app development frameworks. They contain pre-built elements like compilers, debugging tools, widgets, APIs, and more so that developers could create applications with less coding. Below, you will find some of the best-performing frameworks used by custom web and mobile app design or development companies.
1. Flutter
Flutter is an open-source development framework from Google that provides developers with effective tools to build applications for desktop, web, Android, and iOS from a single code base. It enables the creation of natively-compiled mobile software that is fast, productive, and scalable. This framework has an extended library of customizable widgets, APIs, adaptive designs, hot reload, and other features, allowing it to target six targets and ship features faster with less coding.
2. React Native
Even though React Native from Facebook has extended native mobile app development capabilities, it also serves as an accessible cross-platform development framework for crafting Android and iOS mobile apps. It provides reusable elements and enables setting interaction with third-party extensions. Also, this framework supports component-based GUI creation for front-end apps.
3. Ionic
Ionic is an open-source mobile UI framework for delivering cross-platform mobile applications from a shared code base. It supports React, Vue, and Angular mobile app development. Ionic holds a huge library of UI paradigms for a smooth user experience like sliders, alerts, chips, toggles, checkboxes, input, and other elements.
4. Xamarin
Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned open-source mobile UI framework for building Android and iOS apps with .NET and C#. This toolkit will help you maintain a consistent look across various platforms your audience uses or maintain a native look and feel, just whatever your preference is. Xamarin offers fifty platform-specific APIs including sensors, geolocation, device information, and more to let developers effortlessly assemble an application that will run on iOS and Android.
5. NativeScript
NativeScript is an open-source framework known for enabling the ability to build native apps on iOS and Android platforms. However, it also has capabilities for cross-platform development. It lets developers use JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular, React, Svelte, and Capacitor to build cross-platform mobile applications that communicate directly with mobile native APIs. Angular and Vue.JS engineers will find it especially handy as it allows converting existing web apps written with Angular or Vue.JS to mobile.
6. Node.js
Node.js is a cross-platform, back-end JavaScript runtime environment designed to deliver scalable applications that will perform equally well on Android and iOS. While it is mainly used by web developers, this is also a powerful tool for cross-platform mobile apps. With this platform, developers can target iOS and Android devices by using the same code base. Because of Google’s V8 JavaScript engine, apps built with Node.js are scalable and deliver high performance.
7. Appcelerator Titanium
With Appcelerator Titanium, developers with a passion for JavaScript can create Android and iOS custom-built apps using a shared code base. With this platform, you will get a cross-platform mobile app with an immersive user experience that feels native.
8. Apache Cordova
Apache Cordova, formerly marketed as PhoneGap, is a mobile application development framework that allows building HTML, CSS, & JavaScript mobile apps for various operating systems from one code base. This platform gives access to plugins that unlock features such as GPS, cameras, and accelerometers to offer a mobile native-like interface.
9. Sencha Touch
Sencha Touch has been specifically built for mobile web applications. It serves as a user interface JavaScript library and web framework. Its focus is the mobile interface, so developers use it to create smooth experiences for users of iOS and Android devices.
10. Corona SDK
Corona SDK is a cross-platform framework widely used for delivering apps and games for mobile devices. It contains plugins for all needed to create iOS and Android apps that satisfy the users. This Lua-based framework uses an open-source scripting language for building lightweight, fast, and powerful applications.
How HebronSoft Delivers App Building Services
The HebronSoft company has been providing custom application development services for more than 5 years. We have assembled a team of professionals with a passion for helping businesses reach their ambitious goals and become more efficient with high-quality applications. We deliver a full spectrum of services, so specialize in mobile, web, desktop, hybrid, and cross-platform development.
Along with the mission to enable technology to transform the business landscape, our company also carries a social responsibility. We hold a Hebron Academy, which targets underprivileged youth in Ukraine. We help them pave their way into the IT industry by providing young people with a quality engineering education.
HebronSoft Custom Application Best Practices
Our native and cross-platform mobile app development company has already teamed up with dozens of organizations worldwide and helped them become more tech-efficient with custom-built applications.
For instance, we developed a cross-platform mobile LeadMeNotApp that operates smoothly on iOS and Android. This app helps digitally addicted and distracted people do away with their unhealthy online habits. As our client requested, LeadMeNotApp has plenty of customization. It lets you get personalized recommendations for every user. Our team enhanced the app with multiple user roles, event-triggered alerts, and shared profiles for supervision, all wrapped into an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
Another case, Pathwaypt GPS Tracking software designed for web and mobile use for the All Digital LLC company delivering transportation services for B2B clients. This is a scalable solution that lets managers effectively track the increasing number of truck drivers through an appealing interface.
How the Custom App Development Process Is Organized at HebronSoft
Our services are flexible. Whether we provide custom enterprise mobile app development or custom mobile app development for startups, we will arrange the process that suits your company and our team.
In general terms, we can break down the development process into the following stages:
- Ideation and product design (1-2 weeks). We study your requirements, define the project scope, and build an app architecture.
- UX and workflow creation (1 week). Once we know what goals to achieve, we establish the workflows so that every team member understands their role and gets tasks according to their skill set. Also, we draft a scratch of your future app to show how it will feel and look.
- Development using a Flutter framework (2-3 months). Our developers use the Flutter toolkit to create high-quality native and cross-platform applications. By leveraging the powerful tools of this framework, we cut the development time and cost without compromising quality.
- Testing and deployment (0.5 months). HebronSoft QA engineers run manual and automated tests to verify whether the application is free of errors and corresponds to the requirements set at the initial stage.
- Maintenance and support. When the mobile application is deployed, we will keep an eye on it to ensure it works as it was meant to. On your request, we will release new updates, add features, fix bugs, control servers, and more.
Afterword
In the modern, highly-digitalized world it is hard to imagine a successful business without a mobile application. Whether your company looks for a way to build a native or cross-platform mobile app, it is essential to find a reliable and seasoned technical partner to bring your ideas to reality.