(Photo courtesy of Grape Ape Apps)
You’ve been daydreaming about your idea for weeks, if not months. It consumes your thoughts. Interrupts your workday. Wakes you in the middle of the night. Who hasn’t had a fabulous app idea? When you bring up your idea with friends or colleagues, your pal whips out his or her phone, ‘Oh, so your idea was like this new app, right? Yeah, it’s a great app – they just raised $10 million to reach every college campus!’ Meanwhile, the blood drains from your head as you know you can take your big idea and turn it into a mega app, too. You don’t have to let those big fish get away. For that next one, we can build it for you.
After all, mobile app usage is huge and continuing to grow at unprecedented speed. More than 85% of smartphone use involves some sort of mobile app. So let’s face it, a large, mobile active population understands the enormous benefit of a cool app. But now you feel stuck with your idea. How do you take this amazing vision, turn it into a reality and at what costs?
As a mobile app development agency, this is above all the most common question we hear. And it’s like asking a construction company how much it costs to build a building. Are you looking for a single story or high rise? Do you want a building made of straw, sticks, or brick? Do you want high end features or basic office space?
Just like an office building, the variables in developing an app are infinite, and the answer to the question varies depending on these variables. Before we can offer a solid estimate on the cost associated with building an app, we must first outline the desired qualities. Here’s how to get started:
BEGIN WITH A STORYBOARD
The first place to start is understanding what you want your mobile app to accomplish. An easy way to do this is to ‘storyboard’ your app. The storyboard, or wireframe, is like the blueprint in the building analogy. The goal for developing a wireframe is to capture functionality and flow. This is not the time to worry about the actual aesthetics of the finished project.
It’s crucial to start from the beginning, which is when a user first launches the app. Think about what the first thing they see will be and what options they will have going forward. On the home screen, if they tap the first menu selection, what happens next? Continue this line of questioning throughout the application and think about how a user will navigate the app.
To create wireframes, some mobile app designers use a design tool called Balsamiq. You can also download this PowerPoint template, which you can use to create a digital wireframe with PowerPoint’s drawing tools or print it out and draw the design by hand.
IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS
Beyond the storyboard, there are other factors that will impact the development and cost of your mobile.
For instance, whether or not you need to assimilate your mobile app to an existing backend or develop a completely new backend is important to keep in mind. The good news- several features that used to be expensive to develop, i.e. push notifications and mobile commerce, can now be affordably added to the app. Remember, bells and whistles do generally equal greater costs. Are you wanting an ‘upsell’ somewhere in the app to recoup revenue? All items to be considered before an adequate quote can be delivered.
LASTLY, GET AN ESTIMATE
Ask the app developer for a ballpark quote based on your wireframe and get it in writing. Be sure to ask questions about the app development agency’s policy regarding additional costs/fees. Don’t be surprised if quotes vary vastly from agency to agency. A good rule of thumb is to ditch the highest and lowest bids. Additionally, if you feel protective about your idea, it’s appropriate to ask the developer to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ultimately, the answer to ‘how much does it cost to develop a mobile app?’ is ‘It depends.’ If you are considering developing an app, take some time to create an in-depth storyboard. Just like the blueprint of a building helps construction developer’s estimate the cost of a project, the wireframe will help you strategize your vision and will greatly assist a mobile app developer in providing a solid quote for your application.
For more information, contact Michelle Hart, Co-Founder, www.grapeapeapps.com, @ 541-977-7797 or michelle@grapeapeapps.com
