Mobile App Development

Our mobile development team all based in the UK (we don’t outsource any of the development) has been actively developing apps for our clients in the US and UK for the last 5 years. Working closely with our UI / UX team and our project delivery managers, we scope, design and develop leading mobile apps that scale as you grow.

Most of our projects have taken an iterative approach, developing core functionality first and then adding additional functionality in later releases. This approach allows for the natural ebb and flow of ideas and requirements throughout the project.

Most of our apps have some standard feature sets for instance, logging in, user management, password reset, authentication, API integrations etc.

Some of the more bespoke functionality we have built includes:

Of course there is nuance and uniqueness to each of our app development projects, but they all typically follow this process.

As Albert Einstein (probably) said "If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it".

We think if its good enough for Einstein, then it’s good enough for us.

We invest heavily in the up-front planning stage. Scratching beneath the surface of the problems you are facing. Using our experience of working with other clients to very clearly define the problem that needs resolving.

Once the ground work is complete, we then look at how best to visually present your app. Taking in to account the core functionality (MVP) and, importantly, how your users are going to interact with your app.

We’re sticklers for considering every click, pinch and scroll. Attention to these details makes the difference between average and exceptional.

Next, our in-house app development team roll up their sleeves and get to work. The code groundwork is put in place and then features are added on top. As soon as we can, we provide you with a rough test version so you can get an early feel for how the app is going to function.

This rapid development approach allows us to quickly test functionality and usability across a wide user base.

During the development stage we are regularly releasing features which are being tested. However, before we can deploy to the app stores, we go through a complete battery of tests to make sure the app is delivering perfectly.

We use a blend of automated unit tests and manual QA testers to iron out any niggles there may be.

Once we are all happy with app we package it up and submit to the apps stores (or you can do it if you prefer). From experience, the time taken to get an app through the app store process can vary widely, but we are on hand through out the process to help.

The short, and quite unhelpful, answer is - it depends.

From our experience, the time taken to develop an app is dependant on two key things:

More complex app functionality can include integrating with secure payment gateways, developing a social networking element, connecting to different data sources.

Are the APIs and data defined and in development? Is there documentation for the APIs? Have they been tested?

Assuming you’re looking for fairly standard functionality, and any data source and API is good to go, then we would typically look at somewhere between 3 and 6 months to develop.

Of course an app development project is going to take some investment - both in time and money. We’re keen on lessening the risk involved by taking a milestone delivery approach to the billing for the project. The first step though is the Discovery Phase.

This is the first paid ‘chunk’ of the project - typically around 20% of the total project cost.

During this stage we have meetings with you to fully understand the intricacies of the project and the problems you’re trying to solve. Normally after an initial half day meeting, we will go away and do some deep thinking, before coming back with more questions over a period of a week.

Ultimately we get to the point where we create a very detailed project development document which covers absolutely everything that the project will involve. Once this is presented to you and agreed, we can then start development (remember that Einstein quote 😉)

We've been lucky enough to work on some really interesting app projects over the years. Quite a few of them have involved vehicle tracking for a major European car manufacturer (displaying mileage, vehicle status, battery charge, windows open etc in the app) and others have been used as internal job management tools for thousands of installers out in the field.

Like most agencies, we're bound by NDAs which mean we can't publicly talk about most of our work. However, if you arrange a free initial consultation we can provide some more examples.