App Development

[metrx1]

Hello fellow fastlane forum members. If this is not the right place to post I apologize, hopefully admin can move it to the right subject. Anyway

I hope you're all doing well. I have an exciting idea for a mobile app and I'm eager to bring it to life. However, I'm unsure about the process of having an app created. I would greatly appreciate your guidance and advice on the following questions:

1. Finding an App Developer: How can I find a reliable and skilled app developer or a development team to work with? Are there specific platforms or resources you recommend for this purpose?
2. Cost Considerations: What factors should I take into account when determining the budget for my app development project? Are there any industry standards or general guidelines that can help me estimate the costs involved?
3. Defining Project Requirements: How can I effectively communicate my app idea and requirements to the developer? Are there any best practices or tips for creating a clear and comprehensive project brief?
4. Ensuring App Quality: What steps can I take to ensure the quality of the app during the development process? Are there specific testing methodologies or practices I should be aware of?
5. Intellectual Property Protection: How can I safeguard my app idea and intellectual property during the development process? Are there any legal considerations or measures I should take to protect my concept?
6. Project Management and Collaboration: Do you have any recommendations on how to manage the app development project and collaborate effectively with the developer or development team? Are there any project management tools or communication platforms that have proven helpful?
7. App Store Submission: Once the app is developed, what is the process for submitting it to app stores (e.g., Apple App Store, Google Play Store)? Are there any specific guidelines or requirements I should be aware of?

I would be incredibly grateful for any insights, personal experiences, or resources you can share regarding these questions. Your guidance will undoubtedly help me navigate the process of bringing my app idea to fruition.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance!

 

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[RobbyMe]

Hello fellow fastlane forum members. If this is not the right place to post I apologize, hopefully admin can move it to the right subject. Anyway

I hope you're all doing well. I have an exciting idea for a mobile app and I'm eager to bring it to life. However, I'm unsure about the process of having an app created. I would greatly appreciate your guidance and advice on the following questions:

1. Finding an App Developer: How can I find a reliable and skilled app developer or a development team to work with? Are there specific platforms or resources you recommend for this purpose?
2. Cost Considerations: What factors should I take into account when determining the budget for my app development project? Are there any industry standards or general guidelines that can help me estimate the costs involved?
3. Defining Project Requirements: How can I effectively communicate my app idea and requirements to the developer? Are there any best practices or tips for creating a clear and comprehensive project brief?
4. Ensuring App Quality: What steps can I take to ensure the quality of the app during the development process? Are there specific testing methodologies or practices I should be aware of?
5. Intellectual Property Protection: How can I safeguard my app idea and intellectual property during the development process? Are there any legal considerations or measures I should take to protect my concept?
6. Project Management and Collaboration: Do you have any recommendations on how to manage the app development project and collaborate effectively with the developer or development team? Are there any project management tools or communication platforms that have proven helpful?
7. App Store Submission: Once the app is developed, what is the process for submitting it to app stores (e.g., Apple App Store, Google Play Store)? Are there any specific guidelines or requirements I should be aware of?

I would be incredibly grateful for any insights, personal experiences, or resources you can share regarding these questions. Your guidance will undoubtedly help me navigate the process of bringing my app idea to fruition.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance!

I'm a developer - so if you have a good idea, then I recommend breaking your idea down to an MVP. To find a developer for the MVP, you could search on Upwork. I would take only one person at the beginning, two for testing. To make your app could be with Frameworks like Flutter or React Native for both platforms, depends on your idea and requirements

To put it on Google Play Store is easy, the Apple App Store is more complicated, due to the first process to get through takes sometime.

After the MVP is successful, then you could throw away the code and make it new, or take your MVP, build on it. Don't waste your time to make your idea 100% perfect.

 

[metrx1]

I'm a developer - so if you have a good idea, then I recommend breaking your idea down to an MVP. To find a developer for the MVP, you could search on Upwork. I would take only one person at the beginning, two for testing. To make your app could be with Frameworks like Flutter or React Native for both platforms, depends on your idea and requirements

To put it on Google Play Store is easy, the Apple App Store is more complicated, due to the first process to get through takes sometime.

After the MVP is successful, then you could throw away the code and make it new, or take your MVP, build on it. Don't waste your time to make your idea 100% perfect.

Sorry to be naïve on this but what do you mean by "breaking your idea down to an mvp" What is an MVP?

 

[Tau Ceti]

Sorry to be naïve on this but what do you mean by "breaking your idea down to an mvp" What is an MVP?

There are already many threads on this in the forum related to the topic of outsourcing app development to developers on Upwork. I recommend you read them all before you start hiring someone for this project.

An MVP stands for minimum viable product which means to build the most basic version of your product.

For example imagine you want to build a competitor to Google Maps in your country. You don't start by adding user accounts, reviews, suggestions and all that stuff. No, you make an app that takes people from point A to point B.

That's it. That's your minimum viable product.

Now, as for your questions in your first message:
- if you have never worked with developers before, you'll have a bad time.
- if you have never written tech specs and JIRA tickets before or worked in some capacity as a PM or BA in a software company, you will have a bad time.
- if you are not good at communicating every single requirement/step for a task, you will have a bad time.
- if your don't have access to $USD 50K right now, you ll have a bad time.

Another thing to consider is that most likely your timeline will blow up. If a developer quotes you for a job that is supposed to last for 3 months, double the time estimate and you'll be closer to the true time required to deliver the product.

Software is full of unknow unknows, which means that when you start a project you don't know about things that you don't know or haven't even thought you'll need yet.
In practice that means that a one hour task can turn into a week of work pretty quickly.

Basically, the whole thing comes down to how much money you have to spend and and when do you expect this app to start generating revenue?

A good IOS app is expensive, I'd say around $USD 20K to 30K for the first version. Then you need someone on a retainer to fix the bugs as they come. Your first version will have many bugs. That's to be expected.

The more users you have , the more bugs will be discovered, the more developers you'll need to fix the bugs and then you also need to start adding requested features to the app.

Also do you need an Android app? If so you'll need to find another developer to code it from scratch as well which means more money spent.

I am a software developer by trade, this is my standard speech to anyone who wants to venture into this kind of enterprise. As the old saying goes: beware, here be dragons!

 

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[VikVik]

I have been studying the field of mobile applications for more than a year, so I can tell you everything about it))

 

[Hadrian]

Hello fellow fastlane forum members. If this is not the right place to post I apologize, hopefully admin can move it to the right subject. Anyway

I hope you're all doing well. I have an exciting idea for a mobile app and I'm eager to bring it to life. However, I'm unsure about the process of having an app created. I would greatly appreciate your guidance and advice on the following questions:

1. Finding an App Developer: How can I find a reliable and skilled app developer or a development team to work with? Are there specific platforms or resources you recommend for this purpose?
2. Cost Considerations: What factors should I take into account when determining the budget for my app development project? Are there any industry standards or general guidelines that can help me estimate the costs involved?
3. Defining Project Requirements: How can I effectively communicate my app idea and requirements to the developer? Are there any best practices or tips for creating a clear and comprehensive project brief?
4. Ensuring App Quality: What steps can I take to ensure the quality of the app during the development process? Are there specific testing methodologies or practices I should be aware of?
5. Intellectual Property Protection: How can I safeguard my app idea and intellectual property during the development process? Are there any legal considerations or measures I should take to protect my concept?
6. Project Management and Collaboration: Do you have any recommendations on how to manage the app development project and collaborate effectively with the developer or development team? Are there any project management tools or communication platforms that have proven helpful?
7. App Store Submission: Once the app is developed, what is the process for submitting it to app stores (e.g., Apple App Store, Google Play Store)? Are there any specific guidelines or requirements I should be aware of?

I would be incredibly grateful for any insights, personal experiences, or resources you can share regarding these questions. Your guidance will undoubtedly help me navigate the process of bringing my app idea to fruition.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance!

Indie dev here from Ireland... Welcome to the world of App dev... My own personal advice is to learn to code yourself if you have the time 3-5 years as swimming in the shark infested developer ocean is a hell you can't even imagine!

Highly advise reading my thread here before you start: MEETUPS - App Developer Networking Group

PM me if you need any advice...

 

[uhhfeef]

Honestly I had the same questions when I started building and I hired a guy from Upwork (great guy) who I closely worked with to build the first MVP. He was pretty fast and ended up building it within 2 weeks.

Although I was pretty satisfied with the product, I realized I could do all that by myself.

It takes the same kind of effort to find your freelancer, hire them, follow up with them on a continuous basis, build reworks, etc, as compared to if you either learn to do it yourself with the insane amount of resources out there or learn how to use GPT to build it for you.

I've now taken the GPT4 route and I'm honestly really surprised by how much I've been able to build simply by learning and using GPT itself. Takes a while to get used to but definitely is worth the money and effort.

That way you don't have to think about all the questions you mentioned, since you will be the one overlooking and building everything.

I'd say do it yourself first, build the core features, get it validated, then think about hiring.

Otherwise its just a waste of money.

 

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[loop101]

Hello fellow fastlane forum members. If this is not the right place to post I apologize, hopefully admin can move it to the right subject. Anyway

I hope you're all doing well. I have an exciting idea for a mobile app and I'm eager to bring it to life. However, I'm unsure about the process of having an app created. I would greatly appreciate your guidance and advice on the following questions:

1. Finding an App Developer: How can I find a reliable and skilled app developer or a development team to work with? Are there specific platforms or resources you recommend for this purpose?
2. Cost Considerations: What factors should I take into account when determining the budget for my app development project? Are there any industry standards or general guidelines that can help me estimate the costs involved?
3. Defining Project Requirements: How can I effectively communicate my app idea and requirements to the developer? Are there any best practices or tips for creating a clear and comprehensive project brief?
4. Ensuring App Quality: What steps can I take to ensure the quality of the app during the development process? Are there specific testing methodologies or practices I should be aware of?
5. Intellectual Property Protection: How can I safeguard my app idea and intellectual property during the development process? Are there any legal considerations or measures I should take to protect my concept?
6. Project Management and Collaboration: Do you have any recommendations on how to manage the app development project and collaborate effectively with the developer or development team? Are there any project management tools or communication platforms that have proven helpful?
7. App Store Submission: Once the app is developed, what is the process for submitting it to app stores (e.g., Apple App Store, Google Play Store)? Are there any specific guidelines or requirements I should be aware of?

I would be incredibly grateful for any insights, personal experiences, or resources you can share regarding these questions. Your guidance will undoubtedly help me navigate the process of bringing my app idea to fruition.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance!

Do you have any idea how much work you are asking someone to do by trying to answer these questions? There are hundreds of books written addressing each of these topics.