Right now, mobile apps are the need of the hour. Why? Because every task that is performed by us in our day-to-day routine is somehow related to these mobile applications whether directly or indirectly.
Let’s have a look at a few examples from our daily activities like booking a cab, ordering food online, sharing some important documents with family or friends. Each of these tasks is implemented by using the web and mobile applications by following an approach that is less-timing consuming and cost-effective.
This high amount of exposure to applications has somehow made us dependent on them for performing our daily errands. By looking at the importance of mobile apps and the intensity of how a customer is affected by them; more and more companies and brands have decided to come up with their own applications.
That’s where a great question arrives: What are the real costs of building an Android and iOS mobile application? But before, we can jump straight to the part of cost estimations of a mobile app development process. There are some factors relating to costs that you need to have an understanding of.
The need for a Mobile App
There are a ton of reasons why your business needs a mobile application and some of the most important ones are stated below:
- Adding Value: With the help of mobile apps, you can easily add more value to your brand by serving customers in a number of ways. For example, by offering promotional deals/discounts, providing detailed information on services, enabling instant customer support to solve the end-user queries etc.
- Increasing Engagement: It doesn’t exactly come as a complete shock that brands can increase user engagement for their business through the means of a mobile application. One of the main reasons why management is higher in apps is due to the ability of real-time user interaction.
- Collecting Insights: Another crucial reason why you need a mobile app for your business is to collect valuable customer insights. This customer information will offer a great deal of data related to user behavior, including demographics and other psychographic details about customers.
Now that we have understood the reasons behind the need of having a mobile app for your business. It’s time to move to the platform comparison section which will clear your doubts about Android and iOS app development platforms.
Platform Comparison: Android vs iOS
The choice of picking the best mobile application development platform can be a little overwhelming, so to make the decision less complicated have a lot at the basic differences between both of the platforms.
Android Platform
The Android platform dominates the market share by covering approximately 80% of the total mobile applications available in the market. Other than that, the majority of applications on the Google Play Store are either free of cost or have significantly less cost per install in comparison to that of an iOS app.
One of the main concerns with the android app development procedure is that its very time consuming and takes almost 2 to 3 times longer than the iOS application development process. Another thing that bugs app developers about Android is the issue they face due to the fragmented devices.
iOS Platform
In comparison to android mobile applications, the iOS apps are quick as well as cheaper to develop. And that’s the reason why many budding startups decide to choose the iOS platform rather than the Android for their initial app launch. Also, the app user’s lifetime value is considered to be higher in the Apple App Store.
But the iOS mobile app submission process is very long and has strict guidelines for the apps that need to be followed. Due to this, the chances of your mobile app getting approved by the app store are reduced.
Cost Estimations for a Mobile Apps
The cost estimations for developing a mobile app on platforms like Android and iOS are as follows:
|
Complexity Level of App |
Price Range for Android Mobile App | Price Range for iOS Mobile App |
|
Low Complexity |
$20,000 to $30,000 |
$1,000 to $10,000 |
|
Average Complexity |
$40,000 to $75,000 |
$15,000 to $55,000 |
| Higher Complexity | $65,000 to $150,000 |
$25,000 to $130,000 |
As you can see in the above mentioned, there is a noticeable gap between the cost estimations of Android and iOS mobile apps with respect to their level of complexities.
But don’t opt directly for a platform that looks more cost-efficient to you, first initiate a proper market research by studying your target audience behavior. Ask yourself, ‘What is your first priority: Is it to have a better audience reach or to earn higher ad revenue from the app?’
Cross-Platform Apps
If you are someone who wants to cover the audience of both platforms including iOS and Android, then cross-platform mobile applications are a great fit for your business.
Not on cross-platform mobile app development will be cost-effective but there are also several other advantages to it. Some of them are:
- No need to write a separate code: The cross-platform development process allows you to have a common code that can work smoothly on various platforms.
- No requirement for extra resources: As there is only one app that is being built instead of two, you need a single team of app developers, designers, and testers.
Cross-platform application sector is rapidly expanding and in the upcoming years, many more companies will favor cross-platform development instead of Android/iOS development procedures.
Conclusion
The cost of building a mobile app and the time duration in which the application is completed highly depends on the level of complexity of your mobile app. Both Android and iOS platforms have their own pros and cons, the choice of picking an app development platform depends on your project requirements.
You can even save yourself from the trouble of choosing a potential platform for developing your app and go for the option of cross-platform app development.
