Mobile phones have become a new constant today, as they are used by the majority of us for many hours a day. Of course, to thrive successfully in today’s digitally dominated lifestyle, mobile applications have continuously become a more focused development objective that actually helps in growing the aspiring businesses.
Though mobile app development is emergent across diverse sectors of the world economy, no one can ignore the cost and quality factors associated as declared by different app development companies.
However, there remain a number of tasks for the developers, app developers, and tech consulting companies to complete before creating an effective and successful mobile application. In fact, they also have to go through multiple phases of developing the app before it is finally created. No matter which part of the world you belong to, the cost and other factors affecting the process of development are different globally.
In this article, we are going to review how it affects the cost of app development in the UK and what factors contribute to it. Like others, UK-based businesses also rely on the development of mobile applications for the promotion and success of their businesses. Best quality apps are developed and supplied to the startups and agencies by the top app developers in the UK to the companies wishing to enhance their market potential and present the digital products that are capable of engaging their right type of audience towards their business.
Still, a community of experts believe that the cost of developing a mobile app in the UK is directly proportional to the hours dedicated by the developers to code the programs of the app. However, this is just one side of the coin, and the majority of things depend upon the cost factors associated with the product. But, before that let us check out what apps are trending in the UK’s tech market.
Trending Apps in the UK in 2023
It is a fact that 86.6% of the audience follows Whatsapp and 78% follows Facebook,the two popular social media giants. Google Maps, mobile social media, messenger apps, and e-mail services are the most popular categories of smartphone users in the country. As per the key statistics revealed by Statista, 1.96 million iOS apps and 2.87 million Android apps are available for download in the Apple and Google Play Stores respectively for UK-based users in 2023. It is the time when mobile app developers are investing more time and efforts to integrate 5G capability into their mobile applications. This ultimately enhances their user experience to combat their competitor businesses.
These findings, facts, figures, and information are enough to assert that the customers substantially rely on fulfilling a number of activities like trip booking, grocery ordering, shopping, goods exchange and so on using their mobile phones. Hence, if you have understood the primary concerns related to mobile app development prices, you would definitely be able to make the most of the cost-effective options available for developing the choice of mobile app you want. If you want to get the finest return on investment you made, you should strictly stick to the budget. Let’s review further about the factors affecting the cost of developing a mobile app in Britain's tech market.
Factors Influencing the Cost of Developing Mobile Apps in the UK
As per a recent report from IDC, International Data Corporation, 87% of the IT decision-makers and 90% of the developers in the UK believe that the future of mobile app development will mostly rely on the integration of the apps into enterprise data sources.
As an effective traffic generator, advertiser, sales, and business growth enhancer, mobile apps are always introduced by the businesses. However, app development is not an easy task, nor is it cheaper to quickly motivate a business to enter into the mobile app industry. So, to bridge the gap between a project taking a long time and higher cost of development, we figured out some factors and solutionary measures that help the businesses in the long run.
Here are some factors that influence the cost of mobile app development in the UK
#1. The Type and Size of the App - Small, medium, and large - there are three main categories in which the price of developing the mobile apps is split and these categories are decided based on the size and complexity in the development process.
Apps with a single platform, minimal functionality, and typical user-interface components are small apps that are free from the requirements of backend development and API integration. Medium-level apps are also built on the single platform, but are supported by the customized user interfaces and payment options. These apps can also be created using more than a single platform, but they are less complicated in nature.
Large apps are highly complicated. They are more functional than the other two types involving third-party integrations, custom animations, professional design, multilingual support, and so on.
#2. Operating Systems - iOS vs. Android - The programming languages deployed in the development process of mobile apps is another significant measure to find the subtle difference in their development costs. For example, hiring a Swift or Objective C - based iOS developer is costlier than hiring a Java or Kotlin - based experienced developer.
Also, Android apps are much more capable of device fragmentation than the iOS apps. Android is compatible for multiple devices and available for different screen sizes. Whereas, iOS supports only 20 different device types and versions of operating systems.
Surprisingly, selecting a cross-platform framework like Flutter helps to save you 40% on the costs of app development along with making your app available on Android and iOS devices.
#3. Platforms and Devices - It is true that the cost of app development is highly influenced by the device and platform on which it is built. App designing on a single platform is not that expensive than developing one on multiple platforms. The companion app development for linked TV and wearables will make the cost of development higher than other general apps.
The cost to develop mobile apps for iOS, Android, and other platforms differ and device generation makes another crucial thing to be considered in this category. However, apps supporting older devices need more time and effort to design, which brings the cost of developing a mobile app higher .
#4. The Location and Structure of the Development Team - The cost of developing a mobile app may also vary when you deal with a prominent mobile app development company, a specialized mobile app development agency, or an independent development professional.
This is because all the tasks involved in the development process are handled by separate departments in large organizations that ultimately results in incurring significant expenditures. In contrast, hiring an independent developer or a startup having only one team to do all the tech-chores and provide efficient mobile app development services all at one place can result in lower prices.
The location of the development team or organization matters a lot for your development cost. If the basic development team consisting of a programmer, UI/UX designer, QA test engineer, and a project manager is located at one place, the cost incurred will be lower, but if the team extended and people associated to it are located at different places due to large size and complexity of the project, its cost will be higher.
#5. Mobile App Design - The design receives the first impact from your customers. Hence, your mobile app design should be enticing and pleasant to watch. All the design elements such as logos, wireframes, icons, user interfaces, etc should be put correctly involving the interference of the experienced designers. The design factors that affect the cost of the app are the level of experience the designer holds, his location of working, the platform and the complexity of design of the app.
#6. App Security Costs - Security factor matters a lot when you are creating an enterprise or ecommerce app. As you app is now going to include some crucial information of the customers like employee credentials, customer details, and transaction records along with payment details, it should be secure anyways.
Multifactor authentication and cryptographic technique helps in securing user data along with sanity checking all the relevant models.
#7. App Functionalities and Features - App development for internal users is cheaper than developing it for the external audience as it is in your control which devices and platforms will be supported by the app. Your app’s cost structure will be determined based on the features and functionalities you choose to be included in it. If the number of features and functionalities will increase, the cost will rise high. Hence, you should essentially differentiate between the primary and secondary functions you are including in the app. For example, an editing app does not need a geolocation service, but a meal order app does. Thus, carefully considering all the features in your app is important.
#8. The Cost of Maintenance & Marketing of the App - Maintenance and marketing of the app adds to its additional cost. Maintenance covers issuing new updates to the app regarding its improved functionality, features, and correcting issues if there has been any loophole reported by the users. Other than maintenance, the app also needs promotion to reach your target audience and stand still despite severe competition.
#9. App Development Business Model - Global consumers spend approximately $22.6 billion on getting mobile apps for diverse reasons. Also, the estimated number of mobile app downloads in 2023 is 299 billion, as Statista suggested. These statistics clearly indicate that the businesses are making whooping investment in business app development services including fundamental factors in their apps like target audience, business type, services involved etc. With the time getting elongated, the cost of app development surges higher. After all, the app cost and time taken to develop it is directly proportional to each other.
How much does it cost to make an app?
Now, when it is clear what factors affect the cost of developing a mobile app, it is the time to actually understand how much it costs to make an app.
As earlier discussed, the type, size, and complexity of the app decide majorly about how much it will cost further. The next step is to break down the things into meaningful numbers to estimate the most exact cost.
Generally, the cost of app building incurred by an app building firm starts from £10,000 and the most complex one can go up to £1 million. So, it is obvious that the price range is very vast and there are many conditions and requirements included within the app development project.
Moreover, the average range of developing a mobile app within most of the budding mobile app development companies or startups fall around £30,000 to £140,000. The number of platforms supporting the app development project and resources needed for development matter a lot for determining the cost of developing an app in the UK. Software design, architecture, coding, programming, testing, and integration charges etc additionally add up to the cost of the mobile app development projects in the country.
Breaking Down App Features to Acquire a Better Cost Estimate at Manektech UK
The app development process at Manektech UK starts with writing down all the features and functionalities of the app that should be made by their team. Then the value of the app project is estimated as per the time required for each feature to develop in terms of the development hours.
Manektech UK is a leading software and mobile application development company in the United Kingdom that takes the interests of its customers in the best possible manner. The company works for all types of companies and bridges the gap between a business’ requirements and the company’s ability to meet those requirements. The company delivers effective solutions on the promised schedule and on budget making itself an epitome of a successful dream business for all of its competitors.
Here follows the cost break down of the app development projects the company handles:
- App Design - App design takes around £2,000 - £50,000 in terms of design cost depending upon the customization and complexity of the app.
- Development - £10,000 - £150,000 is charged for developing small to medium sized apps. Whereas, £500,000 or more is charged for developing more complex apps.
- Backend Development - Developing backend may take around £10,000 - £100,000 or more depending upon the complexity of the app infrastructure.
- Testing and Quality Assurance - This covers around 15% to 35% of the total app development cost.
- Maintenance and Updates - This covers approximately 15% to 20% of the initial development cost per year.
Conclusion
As discussed earlier, there are many factors that contribute to the development cost of different types of mobile applications within a company. The only important thing is to find the best development partner that can work on the real jobs that are needed to accomplish the development of best quality apps.