Last year, app downloads from the App Store and Play Store crossed 175 billion. We are at the middle of 2024, and at this point, it has become integral for a business to have a mobile app. In fact, it has become as obvious as eating or even breathing. As per StatCounter, mobile internet traffic successfully crossed desktop traffic globally in 2016 itself, while comScore states that mobile devices are now accounting for 65% of the total amount of time spent on digital media. Another research from Smart Insights has that 90% of this time is actually spent using mobile apps.
Thus, it is no more a surprise that around 62% of businesses are having a mobile app already or are in the process of building one with the help of a mobile app development firm.
While most businesses today already own a mobile app, the local businesses also have begun to make a shift in their business strategies and own customer-friendly apps so to interact with their customers and increase engagement.
Not as easy as it sounds, the idea to hire the best mobile app developer in the town may sound intriguing, however, it is no less than a daunting task and it may disturb the business entrepreneur, in case they are not familiar with the process involved. The development of an app requires immense knowledge and professional resources. How to choose a mobile app development company would always be a herculean task to accomplish.
Thus, even if you have a business concept, you might be concerned regarding where to find or hire mobile app developers from, what are the factors that may impact your choice, and what would be the results. In case of such immense confusion, you also need to make a call to choose a local app marker, offshore development partner, or freelancer that would only add to your confusion further.
So, here is where this blog will come to your help. It’ll prove useful in working through general practices and astute consideration for how to choose the best mobile app development company for your next app project. Before we proceed with the details, let’s first discuss why do you need to outsource your mobile app development project.
Recommended Read: Cross Platform Mobile App Development Company
Why Do You Need a Mobile App Development Partner?
Several significant reasons urge us to hire a mobile app development partner as things are impossible otherwise. The creation of an app is a complex process involving a number of crucial steps and this is why it is vital to hire the right app development partner, boasting of highly skilled developers, UX/UI designers, testers, etc., to make the most out of their ability to create impressive and unique Android applications.
The major reasons to hire a mobile app development team are:
Making Business Awareness
When you select an android app development company for your project the development team gets involved in chipping away at your application, you can get a devoted business application to advance your business, items, or services carefully. A general study on the same suggests that practically 85% of the mobile users lean toward mobile applications over mobile sites. With the assistance of an on-demand mobile application, you can show your clients that you care about the products and services you offer.
Maintain Credibility in the Market
When it comes to talking about developing a mobile application for your business, you may choose to hire an in-house development team. What after the product is ready? Once you have your mobile application, the team would be done with their task and you would have to fire them. This hiring firing cycle would throw a bad impression of your business in the market.
Add Value for Customers
At the point when you hire application development firm, you can work with them to dispatch novel and inventive missions to offer more worth to your clients as they have better information on the most recent application patterns and procedures. A famous method to do this is by offering dedication reward focuses to your clients when they utilize your application. With this, your clients would gather focuses for utilizing or shopping from your portable application and the focuses can be recovered for their next buy.
Read Also: Effective Guide to Hire a Dedicated Developers Team for your Company
Managing Business Reputation
While struggling with how to choose the right iOS app development company, make sure you are not reaching out for just a product but to build a brand reputation too. Expanded application traffic, number of revisiting guests, more profound commitment, and higher ROI are a portion of the top. With a mobile application, client issues can be tended to genially before they bring about any serious harm to your standing. Attempt to answer to all audits, great and terrible, that your application gets from the App Stores and you can likewise assemble a part on your site where clients can survey your items, administrations, and business. Allow others to see that you care about your clients and application clients and this would help your business at various levels benefit from such devotion programs.
Offer a Unique Experience to Your Customers
This is one of the most important tips for choosing a mobile app development company. A devoted development application is an incredible source for a business to offer one-of-a-kind experiences to clients. At the point when you employ devoted versatile application engineers, they’ll utilize trend-setting innovations to assemble your application. For example, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two advances that are moving in the realm of portable applications.
Enter with an Aesthetically Strong Application
One of the most important reasons why you need to hire a team of experts for the development process is the fact that they know what sells. They exactly know how the audience would react and what would be the pain points. Our experts help you build solutions that are aesthetically strong and can easily be navigated throughout.
Technically Ahead of Competition
Outsourcing your mobile application development task would make it easier for you to enter the market with some interesting solutions. The developers with the outsourcing firm would be updated with the latest technology trends and can offer you future-ready solutions. Technology is evolving every day, and if you want to stay ahead of your peers you need to make sure you use the latest technology to your users.
Focus on Business Idea
As the development team takes care of the product your team can focus on the core business. There might be various aspects of your business that your team is involved in and adding an extra operation would do no good.
Instead, let the dedicated development team bother about your product and focus on your core business.
Take Time to Build Marketing Strategy
Since you aren’t involved with the development process, you can plan your marketing strategy. LEt people know you too are joining the digital spree and are interested in entering the business with some interesting solutions.
Other than this, there are a lot more factors to consider while hiring a mobile app development company. These factors decide if the organization you are about to partner with can deliver the results that you expect from them.
Read More: Why Hire Android App Developers in India?
Where Should You Find an App Developer?
As you come up with an app-based business idea and need a mobile app development team to make it a reality, the first thing you will be doing is head to Google to find the best mobile app developers or in case you are little known, you might type in the best iOS developers. However, there is one thing you may be unaware of, which is that the mobile app development companies on top of google results are not always the best one out there, or for that matter, even good. Rather, you can find the best possible information about the app development companies at some of the reputed platforms connecting the world’s best mobile app developers, namely:
- Clutch.co
- Goodfirms.co
- Businessofapps.com
- Extract.co
- Toptal.com
These platforms have proven to be of immense help to a number of businesses seeking the top app development companies. Do they offer company and app developers ratings & reviews cost to hire dedicated android developer and also allows to filter the search on the basis of number views, demographics, pricing, etc Besides, there are online web services as well, such as ProFinder, Fiverr, Guru, Upwork, Quora, etc, where you can find world-class app development resources in a freelance model?
Eventually, it all depends on your needs. Like, whether you are looking for a freelancer or an app development company, what platform application will use – iOS, Android or a cross-platform one, your budget, and your preferences in general.
What are the factors to consider before hiring a Mobile App Development Company?
While every continent is having its hand in the mobile app development pool, still Asia is reigning in the arena, with about 32.9 percent of all software developers are in Asia, compared to 29.7 percent in Europe, and 29.4 percent in North America.
Hiring a mobile app development company is a different deal altogether.
You may think that just reaching out to a random name from Google is easy, but the fact is it isn’t. There are a lot of things that you need to take care of when searching for the right tech partner. If they have worked with similar clients, can support your business idea, are well equipped with human resources, the communication channel, etc. Once you are all set and convinced then consider these crucial factors too while choosing an app development firm:
Freelance vs. Professional Agency
It is often difficult to choose between a freelancer and a company owing to the lack of understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each option. For big-sized firms, it is suggested that they go with an app development firm over freelancers, as the former are up-to-date with new trends and technologies, offer tuned development workflow, diverse experience, no legal hassles, constant updates, and support. However, in the case of freelance app developers, they might just disappear, and then not every freelancer cares about product quality, confidentiality issues can also occur, organization skills may lack, and they don’t offer further maintenance. Hence, it is always better to prefer a professional agency owing to the many advantages that come with it.
Ready-to-Use Vs Custom Apps
Well, ready-to-use apps might be good for small-sized firms, but still they can never compete with the brilliance offered by custom apps. Custom apps offer:
- Personalized experience to the users;
- Allow the business to add specific features as per their business requirements;
- UI, features, & functionality are designed in accordance with the users’ needs and business goals;
- Offers an appropriate level of security;
- The apps feature unique functions not available in ready-made apps, which is a strong competitive advantage;
- Dedicated technical support available;
- And much more.
Hence, custom apps should be preferred for a great app experience.
Native Vs Hybrid Mobile Apps
In the case of small-sized businesses, they can opt for Hybrid app development owing to its portability (one code base, multiple platforms), however, for medium-sized and big-sized firms, the Native app works the best. It offers a better user experience, access to device hardware/software (GPS, location, shake, calendar, etc.), easy to discover in app stores (Google’s Play Store & Apple’s App Store), and also Native UI allows users to quickly learn the app. This way, there are a number of advantages associated with Native apps and this is why it should be preferred by large-scale businesses.
Related Blog: What Are the Best Frameworks for Hybrid Mobile App Development?
Mobile App Platforms
Next, it is time to choose Mobile App Platforms. Well, the decision here is made as per the demographics. Like in the UK, USA region, iOS is given preference as its base is large over there, whereas, in the regions of Asia, Android wins the race with more Android users over there. This way, choose the mobile app platform for your business on the basis of the region you are in and which platform is prominent in that zone.
Budget
With a mobile app development firm, you can get a complete solution as they already have a team of specialists assembled. But keep in mind that they will cost significantly more than your own team of freelance developers. So, you need to keep in mind your budget while choosing the firm, and whether their estimated cost is suitable for your predefined. Only after looking into all these factors will you be able to make the right decision over an iPhone app development company.
How to Calculate a Mobile App Development Cost?
A lot of factors are considered while deciding upon the cost of mobile app development; usually, mobile app development costs differ as per the geographical region, team structure (designers, developers, UX/UI, QA & Testers, etc.), development platforms, and third-party apps. However, most companies charge $25,000 to create a mobile app, while in case of a more complex project, you can expect to pay $100,000.
How do you Hire a Mobile App Development Company?
A myriad of factors needs to be considered as it comes to hiring a mobile app development company. After all, you must make certain that you are choosing the right firm, and this is why ensure these parameters are choosing the firm:
Size & Global Presence
It is vital to look into the size of the app development firm you are planning to hire, like the number of developers, designers, Testers, UX/UI experts, QA experts, working in the company. Also, look out for the firm’s global presence, as it is vital to opt for a reputed and globally recognized company.
Check the portfolio
Another significant factor to look for in order to make the right choice. As you have shortlisted a firm, it’s time to now explore its online presence and find about its products, outstanding capabilities, past projects, and success stories, which are relevant to your app project.
Ask about their experience
While on your shortlist, the experience should be one of the criteria, so that you can decide on a firm with a proven record in the industry. The number of mobile apps they developed is equally important as their quality. Mobile app development is a complex process that requires expertise, a deep understanding of the intended audience, and creativity, and these skills are also acquired with experience.
Ask for Client references
As you hire from other sources and channels, it is important that you request references from the service provider. The best way to do the same is by connecting with their previous clients via phone and gain a comprehensive understanding of their possible vendors.
Meet with the company representative
It is important to meet with the company representative and make him/her understand your viewpoints, objectives and requirements related to the mobile app in-depth. As you get to meet them, talk openly and freely about all the factors, and you must not forget to ask the company representatives about their location. After all, it is good if they can work clearly for your location with your team.
Communication
You definitely won’t like the idea of ending up with developers who just cannot understand you. So ensure that at least one of the developers is fluent in English so that it’s easier to make your requirements understood.
Read Also: Things to Consider when Hiring a React Native App Development Company
Team engagement & hiring models
It is up to you to decide which model is suitable for your app requirements and your budget, like:
Fixed-priced model
Here, you require defining the scope, requirements & timeline and then pay a decided amount of fixed price of the final product. This is a low-risk option for clients and is best-situated for situations when scope & specifications for the project are clear.
Dedicated-hiring model
Here, you can hire dedicated developers for your development purpose and keep the task & project management in-house. You just need to pay a fixed monthly fee for each resource you use. You can choose skilled resources & complete the development process with knowledge retention.
Time & Material Hiring Model
In this model, project & efforts are estimated in terms of execution of time & resources deployed. In case you are willing to invest in the gradual and continuous development of quality app development, then this one is ideal for you. In case, there is any confusion in terms of the selection & engagement model, then feel free to ask your chosen company support system.
Price & Contract
Usually, the cost of a complete Android or iOS mobile app development project is subject to the app’s features, scalability, scope & complexity. It also comprises the amount & type of resources that go into app development. However, it definitely does mean that you should choose the one offering low rates, quality supersedes everything here. At the same time, as you enter into an agreement or contract with the mobile app development company, don’t forget to ensure that it includes provisions, estimated release, the promise of protection, NDA, payment structure, etc. the contract document must offer simplicity to well-understand all the compliance terms and conditions.
Quality Assurance & Maintenance
Once your app is released in the app store, it will be requiring timely updates, maintenance, bug fixing addition of new functionalities & features. This is why it is vital to understand the chosen company’s policy in terms of mobile app maintenance, like for ongoing support whether they charge at an hourly rate or a monthly fee.
Conclusion
You must carry out compressive research before hiring an app development firm and this blog will help you in exploring the basics of the hiring process. After all, it is better to be prepared than to risk it all by giving your project in the hands of just anybody.