Mobile applications development: 7 factors that affect time to build a mobile app
When deciding to build an application, here comes the question: which factors are the drivers of custom mobile app development time?
This is the issue of high concern for customers. Wishing to encourage their business growth and revenue increase, they want to know they will receive the results. In other words, when the project will be made.
Time for mobile applications development is affected by lots of factors: the number of features, their complexity, design creation, quality assurance…
In this article, you’ll know the key ones that should be considered while calculating time and budget. About money matters, you can read in our previous post “8 factors that influence custom mobile app development cost”.
Factors that have a great impact on building a mobile software solution:
1. Functionality – features involved & complexity
The number of features involved in the app is one of the principal factors that influence mobile applications development time. The more features your product has, the more time design, development, and QA take.
However, it’s more preferable to start with the minimum viable product (MVP) which has several main functions. Building such an app allows customers to optimize expenses and save the time needed for the development process, test their ideas on the target audience, and then move to application enhancement.
How, you can learn from our post about successful software product development.
Functionality complexity has a greater impact on custom mobile app development time in cases when a client chooses a convenient MVP option. The complexity of each feature strongly affects the time for creating a mobile app.
For instance, a function that enables users to search for a product price using a photo is more difficult to build than one using looking for the same product using a text-based search.
Probably, one of the most complicated features are ones that need the involvement of new technologies. Also to implement such functions as in-app payment processing support and voice recognition require great efforts.
2. Understanding business logic
One of the key factors that affect custom mobile app development time is understanding of the app idea, objectives it must meet and operational issues it must solve, so, how the product will streamline client’s business.
Thus, when making the estimation of the timeframe of a project, it’s very important to gather and analyze customer’s requirements, which also takes some time. Nevertheless, this stage has great significance for product success.
3. Application idea validation
After requirements are processed, it’s important to validate customer’s ideas. This stage is vital in cases when a client wants to create an application for his company’s customers (not employees), for example, a fitness app that helps users keep healthy nutrition, do exercises, etc.
So, to estimate the idea it’s necessary to conduct some analytical work. More precisely, conduct competitor analysis, market research, and define the target audience.
These important activities enable to determine the features the app must have to gain success and popularity, and the very peculiarities that will distinguish it among the similar products.
Surely, such preparation work affects mobile applications development time. Nevertheless, take it into account while building your app and calculating project duration.
4. Integration of third-party services
In the case when the application needs to interconnect with other services to support some features, the necessity of APIs implementation appears. Certainly, to find the right way and tools to integrate APIs takes time as well the integration itself.
5. Mobile application design stage
The design is one of the key parts of the entire development process. It starts with creating wireframes that enable to reflect the app structure and features, as well as show screens interaction.
Then comes building a clickable prototype allowing to see mobile application interface design prior to the development. Generally, the design takes up to two weeks depending on project scale and complexity.
Mobile application design according to UI + UX formula is essential for product success. A responsive and user-friendly design that ensures the best user experience is one of the main factors that influence custom mobile app development time.
6. Quality assurance & Stabilization
Testing activities and stabilization process are one of the core factors that affect custom mobile app development time. This product development phase is essential for app success as at this very stage bags and errors are found and fixed.
Once the work is done, a client receives a quality application ready for release. QA and stabilization are integral parts of one process, which generally take about a month.
7. Publishing the app in the store
Once the application has passed the process of testing and stabilizing, the time comes to release it. A product launch can take some time, from a week to a few months.
So, when calculating the time necessary for your custom mobile app development, you should definitely consider the option that publishing stage can last more than you’ve been expected.
Thus, mobile applications development is a complicated process consisting of lots of parts such as requirements processing, mobile app interface design, features implementation, QA, etc. and having various factors that affect the time to launch the project.
If you’ve decided to build a mobile app, for example, to boost sales or automate workflow, and it’s necessary to calculate time, you should take into account all these factors. And we’re always here to help you make the estimation.