Custom mobile app development services for your unique business needs

Custom Mobile App development is a process during which a development team creates a tailormade mobile application for companies, startups, or other organizations.

Businesses looking to add a mobile application to their offer can choose from:

• Out-of-the-box solutions – these apps are generic and offers limited customization options,
• Custom Mobile Apps – tailor-made solutions that are created to match the unique requirements of your business.

In contrast to custom solutions, off-the-shelf mobile apps offer a broad platform designed to match the needs of as many companies as possible. These apps offer the same design and performance to companies regardless of their business goals. Such apps are often sold as SaaS (Software as a Service), with companies having to pay regular pricing for application usage.

While the initial cost of an off-the-shelf mobile app is lower, a custom solution usually brings a higher ROI in the long term. That’s because it’s designed to fit the specific needs of your business.

This is also why the process of Custom Mobile App development involves specialists from many different areas, such as Product Developers, Project Managers / Scrum Masters, Business Analysts, UX/UI Designers, Frontend and Backend Developers, Quality Assurance Engineers, and more.

Companies that want to establish their presence on the mobile landscape and engage their customers in new ways rarely choose off-the-shelf solutions. Why do they invest in Custom Mobile App development? Here are a few good reasons.

Full customization

A mobile app made from scratch matches unique business needs and customer preferences. It delivers the exact features, functionalities, and experiences your target audiences are looking for.

Competitive advantage

By focusing on the requirements and expectations of your target users, you can build a Custom Mobile App with features and capabilities that the apps of your competitors don’t offer. This way, a mobile app can help differentiate your brand from others and make your product stand out from the crowd.

Personalized user experience

Custom Mobile Application development is the only way to ensure that users have a satisfying experience thanks to personalized features and design. That’s because you develop the app with a particular audience in mind. Better customer engagement will bring you a higher ROI.

Greater productivity

If you’re building an app for internal users, custom mobile application development is the best choice because you get a tool tailored to your needs, processes, and workflows. Such a solution will help your employees become more productive and streamline their collaboration. Instead of investing in a few separate apps, you can build a tool that integrates various functionalities and allows cross-team accessibility.

Greater ROI

Custom Mobile Apps are also an excellent channel for revenue generation. You can add any features you want to create new places for your customers to spend money, establish strategic alliances with other businesses, and try out different app monetization tactics, from in-app purchases to advertising.

Scalability

A custom application can grow together with your business and adapt with your constantly evolving needs. Smart development teams know how to include scalable infrastructure into custom mobile apps to allow unlimited expansion.

Higher security

Depending on your business needs, you can choose from different ways of storing sensitive data. But in custom mobile app development projects, security can be easily assured with tailor-made features such as different levels and modes of authentication.

The mobile app market is thriving, with more than 2.7 billion people use smartphones, and 1.35 billion people use tablets today (July 2020), in practically every corner of the world.

Both the smartphone penetration and app usage are growing at a steady rate, and there are no signs pointing to any slow down in the foreseeable future.

People use their mobile devices more than ever. Research shows that the average American checks their smartphone every 12 minutes. And around 10% of people check their phones every four minutes.

What exactly are people doing on their phones? The vast majority of mobile time is spent on apps – one study pointed to a smashing 90% of the time spent by users. This tendency is especially true among younger generations –21% of Millennials open an app more than 50 times per day.

No wonder businesses are now more interested than ever in developing Custom Mobile Applications. Mobile apps generate an estimated $189 billion in revenue by 2020.

Today, the Apple App Store offers 2.2 million apps available for download to its users. Moreover, there are 2.8 million apps available for download on the Google Play Store. And this is just native apps – not counting the sheer number of cross-platform or hybrid apps that are available to users with mobile devices.

Today, more than half of all digital media usage comes from mobile apps (57%). And the average smartphone owner uses 30 mobile apps each month.

These statistics show the potential mobile market holds for business owners looking to engage their customers in brand-new ways.

Custom Mobile Apps play a critical role in digital transformation initiatives launched by companies of all sizes, especially enterprises.

A well-designed mobile app can have a massive impact on the company’s digital pathway. Organizations looking to provide the best possible customer or employee experience take advantage of mobile platforms today.

When mobile applications enter an organization’s processes and employees use them at their jobs, we can talk about enterprise mobility.

Enterprise mobility allows the staff to enter the core processes and tasks outside of the office, improving their experience and productivity. An enterprise mobility strategy is a key component of digital transformation initiatives.

• According to Strategy Analytics, the enterprise mobility market is going to reach $2.2 billion by 2022.
• In one survey, 67% of CIOs and IT experts said that enterprise mobility has a massive impact on their business.
• Companies that invest in a feature-rich enterprise, Custom Mobile apps, register 35% of business ROI.

What kind of benefits does mobility bring to companies looking to launch a digital transformation program?

Productivity and efficiency

By providing employees with access to enterprise applications on the go, you help them keep an eye on business processes from anywhere and at any time. They no longer have to sit at the desk to get their job done. Moreover, flexible schedules and remote working options are very attractive to younger professionals who power digital transformation programs.

Transparency

Thanks to mobile apps, employees can get real-time updates and make smarter, better-informed decisions. Mobile collaboration increases the level of transparency in teamwork as apps can track the completed tasks and even show the real-time location of employees.

Workflow optimization

Mobile apps allow teams to formalize workflows and analyze their performance easily. Such tools can be integrated with project management methodologies such as agile or the Scrum framework. Custom Mobile Apps often come with powerful analytics engines that help in identifying process bottlenecks or roadblocks.

Organizations that fail to enter the mobile scene will make their digital transformation more challenging through the lower quality of asset data and higher costs of maintaining assets.

Wondering how to get started? Read this article about enterprise mobility to get some practical tips. 

Custom Mobile App development cost is a complex issue because the ultimate cost of a mobile application depends on many factors, for example:

• The number and complexity of features,
• The method of building your app (in-house team, freelance developers, software development agency),
• The geographic location of the development team,
• Platforms on which your app will be available,
• Development team setup
• App maintenance costs.

So, how much does it cost to develop a Custom Mobile App? In short, based on our experience:

Basic Custom Mobile App for 1 platform costs $30,000 – $50,000

The development team (developers, QA Engineer, Scrum Master) will log around 560 – 930 working hours. The development will take around 6-11 weeks (up to ~ 3 months).

Medium-complexity Custom Mobile App for 1 platform costs $50,000 – $75,000

The development team (developers, QA Engineer, Scrum Master) will log around 930-1,390 working hours. The development will take around 11-15 weeks (so ~ 3-4 months)

Complex Custom Mobile App for 1 platform costs more than $75,000

The development team (developers, QA Engineer, Scrum Master) will log more than 1,390 working hours. The development will take at least 15 weeks (so more than ~ 4 months).

If you’d like to learn more and discover how to reduce the cost of Custom Mobile App development, have a look at this article: App Development Cost: How much does it Cost to Develop a Mobile App in 2020?

Are you wondering how to develop a Custom Mobile App? Here are the key stages of the Custom Mobile App development process.

Stage 1: Planning and discovery

During this phase, you need to define the experience that your app will deliver to users. The idea behind this stage is to develop a solid product roadmap that will serve as your guideline during the Custom Mobile App development process. Building an app without establishing these basic elements first is risky.

Craft a strategy

First things first, you need to understand the requirements of your business:

• What are your business objectives?
• Who is your target audience?
• Which features of your app are a priority?

By specifying this information, you will get closer to finding the product-market fit for your app. As a bonus, you will also avoid the risks of building a Custom Mobile Application nobody needs or wants to use.

Concentrate on user experience 

Next, consider the user experience (UX) that you want your app to deliver:

• What problem will the app solve?
• What goal will it help to achieve?
• What are the common pain points of your target audience?

In this step, you need to deliver a solid architecture of your app that includes a well-defined user journey and sketches of the user experience as delivered screen by screen. It’s smart to invest in this step and create high fidelity mockups and prototypes that can be tested before the development phase starts.

Build a product roadmap

Before starting to build your custom mobile app, you need a detailed technical requirements document, including the UX specification.

A product roadmap includes everything you need to create your Custom Mobile App. It’s essential for estimating the work required to complete the project accurately. It also sets the direction for short- and long-term development.

Note: The stage of planning and execution needs to be carried out by a cross-functional team that includes business analysts, UX/UI designers, QA specialists, and product development experts who will help you to crystallize your app idea and find a product-market fit for it. Check out our Product Design Workshop.

Stage 2: Development

Once the planning stage is done, you’ll have a well-defined product roadmap and some early designs in the form of mockups or prototypes. Now it’s time to build your app.

The development team writes the code by following their Custom Mobile App development process. The duration of this stage depends on the number of features and complexity.

For example, if your app just offers users some information and provides them with a couple of interactions, you might be able to build it within one month. More complex apps that feature geolocation, dynamic content, social login, and user database will take much more time.

This phase isn’t only about development, but testing as well. The team needs to start testing the app as soon as possible. Involving Quality Assurance specialists right from the start of the project helps to remove bugs at the early stages of development, so they never become huge issues down the road.

Stage 3: Maintenance, support, and further development

Once your app is ready, it’s time to publish it in the app store of your choice. This is mainly dictated by which platform you chose if you developed a native mobile app. If you developed a hybrid app or web app, you don’t need to publish them in app stores.

However, in either case, it’s the time for the launch! Your app will finally be used by real people, so make sure to listen closely to their feedback. This is essential for deciding which features to build next or what to change in your app so that it delivers an even better experience. Implement the practice of ongoing testing to make sure that the app works correctly.

You will receive the 1st app demo within 7 days from the project kick-off.

Yes, we will always sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) when a client wants it. We can do it at the very beginning before we even discuss your custom project in any detail, or at another stage of the process. It’s completely up to you.

Here are a few expert tips if you’re looking to develop a successful Custom Mobile Application.

1. Craft a mobile strategy

If you’re planning to develop a Custom Mobile App, it’s key that you create a mobile strategy first. By doing that before development starts, you’ll never miss any critical steps along the way and avoid making mistakes that often end up costing a lot. The strategy will help you understand what questions you need to answer before building your app and identify the results you should achieve at the end of the app development process.

2. Research your competition

Check whether there are any similar apps available on the market. Identify your direct competitors and see what unique selling propositions they offer to users. Note that your competitor doesn’t always have to be another mobile app. It could be another type of online digital product or even a spreadsheet.

3. Consider the costs

How much does a custom mobile application cost in 2020? It’s smart to ask this question before deciding to build a mobile app. The answer largely depends on who you hire to develop your app and where developers are located. This is a complex topic and we explain it here: App Development Cost in 2020

Remember, that the development is just part of the costs. You should also identify expenses for support and maintenance. You can then compare that amount of money to what you expect to earn via your app (subscriptions, in-app advertising, registration fees, in-app purchases, and others).

4. Identify the goal of your app

If you fail to formulate your objective right at the start, your business strategy will lack a foundation. When investing in Custom Mobile App development, it’s best to rely on a clear vision and goals.

You’re probably building a digital product to serve a specific purpose – for example, help your users solve a particular problem. Your business goal should reflect that. Avoid focusing on beating a certain competitor or building the next Instagram – instead, focus on serving your target audience best.

5. Define key metrics and KPIs

Consider the metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you’re going to measure to know whether you’re on the right track. By keeping an eye on your most important metrics, you’ll be aware of your app’s performance on the right level of detail.

What metrics should you consider measuring? Consider metrics such as:

• Total number of downloads
• Number of monthly active users
• Daily active users
• Churn rate
• The number of sessions
• Daily or monthly sessions

6. Plan how to incentivize users to keep using your app

The main struggle of Custom Mobile App owners is engaging users once they download the app. It’s easy to use an app once and then forget about it. That’s why you need to activate your users and inspire them to use your app on a regular basis.

You can do that by using notifications to inform users about special deals or time-limited promotions. Also, focus on your sign up and onboarding experience, as it could make a real difference.

Even if a Custom Mobile App offers a lot of value through its features and is free of any bugs, it will never become successful if it doesn’t offer a great user experience. And this can only be achieved with proper investment into Custom Mobile App design.

Here are a few key reasons why good design is so important in custom mobile app development.

1. It saves time and costs in the long run

If you implement the best UI/UX practices from the project’s beginning, you can be sure that your app won’t require as many updates later on. Dedicating time to UX research will save you a lot of money and time you’d otherwise need to spend on adjusting the app to the preferences of your audience.

2. It attracts users

There are more apps than ever on the market, competing for users’ attention. Outstanding design is something users see before they discover the app’s features. That’s why it’s so important for building the initial impression and, once users download the app, for delivering a great experience that motivates people to keep on using the app.

3. It builds a strong brand

An app works like a business card for your business. It’s a key branding element, and its design needs to reflect your brand well. If a company with a good reputation published a poorly-designed app, it risks losing its image. That’s why design plays such an important role in branding.

4. It sets your app apart from the competition

Great design brings apps higher on the lists of the most popular mobile apps that are based on ratings and reviews by satisfied users. If your app gets featured in the top list of any category, it will bring you much more traction.

5. It helps to build customer loyalty

Attractive apps bring in more users – and keep them close over months and years. The most popular apps on the market invest a lot in their design to attract more users and keep them satisfied. Great user experience also increases customer loyalty and helps to benefit from marketing channels such as word of mouth.

At Droids On Roids, we have ample experience in building Custom Mobile Apps for sectors ranging from healthcare and retail to finance and e-commerce. Have a look at our profile at Clutch.co to read the verified reviews of clients who experienced our development process and worked with our experts.

What you get when you team up with us:

• 1st app demo in 7 days
  You will receive your first working demo within seven days from the project kick-off.
• Transfer of IP
  You will be the owner of Intellectual Property rights at all times.
• Risk-free trial
  Try our services for two weeks and retain the rights to your code if you decide to stop our collaboration.
• Direct contact with the development team
  As the Product Owner, you’ll have direct contact with each member of your development team. We use tools such as Slack, e-mail, and videoconferencing to keep our clients up to date. You can drop by our office or participate in Scrum meetings.
  The smooth and transparent communication without a middleman increases efficiency, gives you full control over the project, and guarantees that the product will fit your expectations perfectly.

Your Custom Mobile App project deserves top skills and expertise. Get in touch with us to see how we can help you realize your vision.