Getting a mobile app built
One codebase for iOS and Android. I write in Flutter; Ritmood was built this way too. If a backend is needed, I build that as well.
First, let us ask: do you really need an app?
For a share of the requests that reach me, the answer is not a mobile app. An app is something that has to be installed; the customer goes to the store, searches, downloads, gives up space. Nobody does that for something they will use twice a year.
Work that is shown to a customer once — a menu, a catalogue, a booking form — works better in the browser. Our QR menu is not an app for exactly this reason.
An app makes sense when: the same person will use it several times a week, notifications are needed, device features like the camera or location are essential, or it has to work without an internet connection.
How it goes
- We write down what it does and who will use it. Screen by screen.
- I lay out the screen flow; before any code is written it is clear what goes where.
- A first working version — few screens, real data. You install it on your phone.
- We grow it on feedback.
- Store release: accounts, certificates, privacy policy, the review process.
The store side
The Apple Developer and Google Play accounts are opened in your name. If the app sits in my account and we fall out, moving it becomes a hard job; opening them in your name from the start removes that risk.
A rejection on the first submission is common: a missing privacy policy, no account deletion flow, permission explanations that are not good enough. These are process matters; handled knowingly, they cause no delay.
Frequently asked
- Does one codebase for two platforms really work?
- The whole interface comes out of one codebase. Platform-specific work — notification permissions, in-app purchases, some hardware access — needs separate attention. So the work is not halved, but it is far less than writing two separate apps.
- How long until it is in the store?
- Once the app is ready, Apple’s review usually takes a few days and Google’s side is faster. The real time is not the review; it is preparing the documents and texts the first submission needs.
- What happens after the app is published?
- The operating systems are updated every year and the stores want an app compiled against the new version. So publishing is not the last step; at least one maintenance round a year is needed. I say this at the start so it is not a surprise later.
- What does it cost?
- A number given before the scope is clear only misleads; a five-page brochure site and a system that takes orders are not the same job. Write down what you want, we settle the scope together, and we talk about price after that.
- What happens if I want to carry on with someone else?
- The domain, the server accounts and the code are in your name. If we stop working together there is nothing for me to hand over — it is already yours. I do not keep anyone technically locked in.
Tell me your idea
Write what the app will do and who will use it. If I think you do not need an app, I will say that too.
write to me