Process and timeline

Every app we build starts the same way: a discovery call to understand what the app needs to do, who it's for, and, honestly, whether an app is the right answer at all. A surprising number of discovery calls end with us recommending a well-built mobile website instead, because it covers the need without the ongoing cost of app store maintenance and developer fees. We'd rather tell you that up front than take on a project that isn't the right fit.

If an app is the right call, the next stage is scoping: wireframes for the key screens, a clickable prototype you can actually test with real users (or your own team, for an internal tool), and agreeing which plan level fits. This is deliberately the stage where changes are cheap: reworking a wireframe takes an afternoon; reworking a built feature takes considerably longer, so we'd rather iterate here than after development begins.

Once the plan is agreed, development proceeds in visible stages rather than disappearing for months and reappearing at the end. Because we build on a shared codebase with your website where relevant, a lot of the underlying logic, design system, and data already exist; the app work is often extending something real rather than starting from a blank project, which shows up as a faster timeline than building an app in total isolation.

Testing happens throughout, not just at the end: on real devices, with real network conditions (including patchy connectivity, which matters more for mobile than most people initially assume), and ideally with a handful of real users or staff members before launch. Store submission to the Apple App Store and Google Play follows, which has its own review process and timeline largely outside our control; we flag what to expect there during scoping rather than leaving it as a surprise.

After launch, an app doesn't stop needing attention: OS and SDK updates, store compliance checks, and crash monitoring are ongoing work, and they are included in every app plan, so the app doesn't quietly fall behind as Apple and Google change their requirements over time. Typical timelines run from a few weeks for a small internal tool to around ten weeks for a fuller customer-facing app with store submission; we confirm a realistic timeline once you have chosen a plan, rather than a generic range that doesn't reflect the actual work.