Design and build for iOS and Android, then the part most people underestimate — structured testing on real handsets, accessibility, store listings, review submission and the release itself. We only recommend an app when a mobile website genuinely cannot do the job, and we will tell you when it can.
Diagnosis first
We do not quote until we understand what is actually going wrong. The first conversation is free, and it ends with a clear recommendation and a realistic figure — not a sales follow-up.
An app costs more than a website. Sometimes that is worth paying.
Two platforms, store review, a hundred handsets to account for, and a user who has to be persuaded to install it and then keep it. Worth every penny when you genuinely need the camera, offline use, notifications or real speed. Not worth a penny for content someone reads once.
The second thing people underestimate is release. An app is not finished when the last screen is built. It has to pass review, carry a store listing, hold a privacy declaration that matches what it actually collects, and be signed with certificates held in accounts your organisation controls rather than a former contractor’s. Getting that wrong is where launches slip by weeks.
So we start with the question of whether you need an app at all, then with the release path if you do. Store accounts, developer organisation verification, testing groups and a privacy declaration are set up early, not the week you hoped to launch. And your build is checked on a bench of real handsets across screen sizes and OS versions, because a simulator will not show you what a three-year-old mid-range Android does with your interface.
The work itself
Store accounts and signing certificates are held in your organisation’s name wherever the platform allows it. Source code and design files are yours at handover.
Before design: what the app is for, who uses it and whether a responsive web application would do it for a fraction of the cost. We would rather lose the larger project than build a native app you did not need.
Bespoke design that respects each platform’s conventions instead of forcing one layout onto both. Designed for one hand, poor light and an interrupted user, at the text sizes people actually set.
Built to the agreed design on well-supported technology, with the plumbing done properly: authentication, storage, offline behaviour, background sync and notifications that are useful rather than noisy.
A structured beta rather than a note asking people to have a look. Real handsets across sizes and OS versions, a defined test script, a route for testers to report problems, and every finding triaged and closed.
Screen-reader labelling, dynamic type, contrast, touch-target size and reduced motion — tested with VoiceOver and TalkBack rather than assumed from a checklist.
Developer accounts and organisation verification, signing and certificates in your name, privacy declarations that match reality, store listing and screenshots, submission, review responses and the release itself — then the update cadence afterwards.
You may already have an app — built in-house, by a previous supplier, or by a developer who has since moved on — and no clear route onto the App Store or Google Play. We take it from wherever it is and get it live: hosting and backend running properly, developer accounts opened and verified in your organisation’s name, and the app submitted, reviewed and released. The accounts and the listing stay yours.
Stage by stage
Every stage ends with something written and a decision that belongs to you. Nothing proceeds on an assumption we have not put in front of you.
The full seven-stage delivery method, with the deliverable at each stage
Ownership
Everything we make is handed over in full — the files, the code, the accounts, the documentation. Most clients stay with us because the working relationship earns it, not because anything is held back.
Before you email
Answered plainly, so you can rule us in or out without a meeting. If the answer you need is not here, ask — we will give you the same straight answer by email.
A website unless you need the camera, offline use, notifications, background activity or genuine native speed. Installation is a real barrier, and an app that gets deleted after a week costs more than a page that loads instantly. We will give you the comparison with figures before you commit.
Usually one maintainable codebase for both, with the interface following each platform’s conventions rather than forcing them to look identical. Fully separate native builds are the right call for a small number of projects, and we say when yours is one.
You do. Accounts are created in your organisation’s name with your organisation as owner, and signing keys are handed to you and documented. If a supplier holds these, you do not really control your own app.
Google Play is commonly a matter of days; Apple review varies and can require responses to specific queries. What causes real delay is unprepared groundwork — unverified developer organisations, privacy declarations that do not match the build, or missing store assets. We set those up at the start.
We run the device-bench testing. From you we need a small group of real users on both platforms, and a couple of weeks. You get the test script, the findings and the fix list, not just a message saying it works.
Apps need maintenance regardless of who built them — OS releases, store policy changes and certificate renewals. We will quote for a maintenance arrangement, and your team or another developer can take it on from the documentation instead.
Yes — this is one of the most common things we are asked. We review what you have, tell you plainly what is needed to pass review, then open and verify the developer accounts in your organisation’s name, set up hosting, prepare the listing and take it through submission. If it has been rejected before, we deal with the reason it was rejected.
Yours, always. The Apple Developer and Google Play accounts are opened in your organisation’s legal name, the signing keys and certificates sit in your control, and the hosting is in an account you own. We can administer all of it for you under a support arrangement, and you can remove us at any point without the app going anywhere.
Send a short outline of the work, your timeline and a budget range if you have one. We will come back with a written scope, an honest view of the risks, and a price.
Got a problem to solve? Tell us in a sentence — we reply within three working days.
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