How much does it cost to develop a native iOS app

With the growing popularity of smartphone apps, every business- big or small- is appointing their services to reach new customers. Apart from being an essential bridge between a business and its customers, smartphone apps are making running a business straightforward as well. Many companies are opting to invest in customized, enterprise apps to make their inner workings more streamlined and simplified.

While no one can argue that these apps have revolutionized the way we do business forever, they are still, at least for some companies, a risky and big investment. There are multiple kinds of apps in the market, but broadly they can be separated into two types- Native apps and Cross-platform apps.

Both apps, have their perks and both of them are not free of quirks. While Cross-platform apps are cheaper, faster to build, and run on multiple platforms, they suffer from weak performance and security vulnerabilities. On the other end, Native apps are costly, they take longer to be built and can run on one platform only, they are robust, secure and visually mesmerizing. So which one you go for? The honest answer will be- Ask your wallet. Assess your needs, draw a blueprint of your business model and figure out if you will benefit with a Native app- which will either run on Android or iOS, or a Cross-Platform app which will work on both platforms but will have many technical issues.

Now if you have decided to go with a Native app, next thing you need to figure out is which platform you want to go for first. Android and iOS are the prime players in the market; both of them have a loyal customer base and both of them, again, have their quirks and perks.

The best way to choose a platform will be to decide if your business will cater to the rich of the society or middle-class people. It is a well-known fact that rich people tend to side with iOS rather than Android and are more likely to pay for your in-app services as well. Developing an app for Android is costly since there are many variations of the platform in the market and your app will be tested for each one of them. Meanwhile, iOS app development is cheaper since Apple has barely a handful of products in the market and iOS apps yield better ROI as well.

If you do decide on developing a Native iOS app, you will have to lighten the weight in your wallet substantially because Native apps do not come cheap. The problem with these apps is that they need to be developed separately for different platforms- i.e. you will need to get your app designed for Android and iOS individually and will have to pay separately for both of them.

So now we know that Native apps are costly, but the next question is, how costly? It is a valid question, and the answer to this question, unfortunately, is somewhat complicated.

The cost of a Native app depends on various factors- the complexity of your app, whether or not you will need a backend server, the platform for your app, and the development firm you have chosen to develop your app- all these factors, and many others, will influence the cost of your app.

Various firms across the globe charge differently; if money is not an issue, then you can hire a high-end firm to develop your app, but if the money is a little tight, then you can always go for offshore developers. Most firms, on top of the complexity of your app, charge on an hourly basis as well.

All and all, there are multiple factors which decide the cost of a Native app, and since we are discussing the cost of developing a Native iOS app, below are some figures related to the same.

MVP: Minimum Viable Product

As mentioned above, many firms, on top of project complexity, charge on the number of hours invested in one app as well. Per hour rate can vary wildly from a small firm to a high-end firm. Below is the data of multiple phases of Native iOS app development and how much hours each one of them usually takes.

Even after all the planning, it is almost impossible to predict the exact final cost of a Native iOS app because there are so many things which can go wrong during the development phase. Furthermore, sometimes once the app has been deployed, some bugs present themselves and other times, some functionalities are not working the way they should be due to some technical oversight. In these cases, the app will require tweaks, and this will further add overhead to your budget.

One of the most prominent fears which loom over Native iOS apps is of not being accepted on the Apple App Store. Apple tends to turn down a large number of apps because they don’t match up to their high-quality standards. You can’t blame them for wanting to provide their customers with the best possible apps only. So even though developing a Native iOS app is a risky job, if you select a good development firm- one who is thorough in its research, uses cutting-edge technology to develop your app and does everything in its power to make sure that your app is in the best shape it could be before deployment- then you shouldn’t have any problem. So choose wisely and invest safely.