Need advice on developing a mobile app for the lowest cost.

[HandheldM]

Hi everyone,

I believe I have a great idea for a mobile app.
I have done my research and there are no other apps or websites that solve the problem.
They don't exist because there is no database built with this data.
I can build the database myself by hand.
I have spoken to a few mobile app developers and a few "do it yourself" mobile app tools.
The developers have quoted me 5-50k for development (all over the map).
The do it yourself tools are not able advanced enough to do API calls from a database etc.
I have spoken to a few potential "partners" who are in a position to finance the development while I build the database but they do not share the same vision or passion for the idea itself. I am ok with that.

I am looking for some advice on where to go from here. Does someone know the most inexpensive route to go to have an app like this developed for iOS and android?

Also I have found a domain that would be IDEAL for the app and it is for sale and there is no current US trademark with the name. I have been toying with the idea of naming the app something very literal like "blah blah finder" vs buying a cool domain that is a play on words and branding that. The domain itself is not expensive relative to what I am doing. Any advice there?

Is there any point in using a NDA to explain my idea to a potential business partner or is that just a turn off and basically just a useless, unenforceable document?

I would also like to know how hosting a database/app works.

Thanks!

 

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[HandheldM]

I have reached out to a whole bunch of developers on Fiverr.com and they are all quoting around $3500 for each platform.

 

[ruzara5]

there any point in using a NDA to explain my idea to a potential business partner

It is a formal document. Not a lawyer. They are usually best utilized when the 'idea' is in 'motion'. By that it is meant. You have gotten a market sample. People in the market have been 'surveyed' and they would 'pull' alot to have your 'golden service or product'. Otherwise a NDA is usually been delivered to me as a 'gentlepersons agreement'.

 

[AfterWind]

If you need an app that a simple app creator can't create and it can be really complex I highly suggest into either looking for good programmers (which can be quite difficult to find) or build it yourself if you have some experience with programming.

Building the app yourself is by far the best choice... but if you don't have the background in computer science, it's really time consuming, the industry changes fast, what you learn now will not be available 5 years from now and so on. So, the next best choice is hiring good programmers.

By good programmers, I mean, the ones that understand the problem, the ones that are not vague and the ones that don't guarantee you that they will get everything done in time. Woa there. How can you trust someone that doesn't guarantee you an app?

Well, you see, in the world of programming things can be very ambiguous, the libraries, frameworks and APIs we use can sometimes make false promises and not work exactly as you want it to... and that will lead to lots of unexpected waste of time from the programmer (but not really his fault) which will create an ambiguous time period for which the app is made.

1) The ones that do guarantee you that will do the job either:

a) Don't undestand the difficulty of the app at all and won't do a good job
b) Do understand the difficulty and have the confidence​

2) The ones that don't guarantee you that will do the job either:

a) Don't undestand the difficulty of the app and don't have enough confidence
b) Do understand the difficulties they might encounter and have the skills, although, due to their confidence and the ever-changing world of programming, they can't 100% guarantee the delivery of the app​

Both 1a and 2a are bad choices. For your interest, 1b might come a bit too expensive. My advice is: look into the people falling in the category 2b. It will be difficult to find these people... just don't ditch the ones that don't guarantee you everything and look out for ones that fall in the 1a category.

 

[AdamMaxum]

Find someone on upwork with good reviews and communicates back quickly. Hope on a call and discuss things. Create a job and invite developers (don't wait for them to apply). The cheapest will be India/Pakistan, but you'll run into issues and have to babysit them very closely all the time. You'll also need to repeat yourself a lot.

I paid 11-12k for both ios/android app on upwork from a team in Armenia. Ukraine usually has a good supply of more reliable and quality developers too. This is your best bet unless you do it yourself or you partner with a dev for a piece of the business.

 

[HandheldM]

Find someone on upwork with good reviews and communicates back quickly. Hope on a call and discuss things. Create a job and invite developers (don't wait for them to apply). The cheapest will be India/Pakistan, but you'll run into issues and have to babysit them very closely all the time. You'll also need to repeat yourself a lot.

I paid 11-12k for both ios/android app on upwork from a team in Armenia. Ukraine usually has a good supply of more reliable and quality developers too. This is your best bet unless you do it yourself or you partner with a dev for a piece of the business.

Thanks for all the great advice. I was not expecting any kind of guarantee. I was initially looking for a dev who wanted to partner with me but so far I have only found people who "have a team" or "know where to outsource it". I have not met any actual developers who can build it themselves. I assume most of them are concerned about getting paid NOW and probably have a lot of requests for "partnerships" that rarely work out.

Learning it myself is not really an option. It seems a competent programmer will be 7-10K to have both ios/android developed. That is out of my price range right now. I was hoping to find someone from India who might be do this for 1-2k but those people clearly don't exist.

 

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[Scot]

Thanks for all the great advice. I was not expecting any kind of guarantee. I was initially looking for a dev who wanted to partner with me but so far I have only found people who "have a team" or "know where to outsource it". I have not met any actual developers who can build it themselves. I assume most of them are concerned about getting paid NOW and probably have a lot of requests for "partnerships" that rarely work out.

Learning it myself is not really an option. It seems a competent programmer will be 7-10K to have both ios/android developed. That is out of my price range right now. I was hoping to find someone from India who might be do this for 1-2k but those people clearly don't exist.

I was previously in your shoes, trying to build what I thought at the time was a great idea into an app.

I’m putting there here and hope you move on, you won’t find a developer who will partner with you. Anyone worth having as a programmer who you would partner with gets lots of requests to build apps. There’s nothing in it for them unless you’re showing up with 7 figures of VC Capital.

Apps are expensive? Why? They take weeks to months to build. 40 hour days, for weeks. My app was projected to be a 6 week build for my MVP. Plus another month for Android. Let’s look at costs there. A good developer is worth $35-50 per hour. So, let’s go low end, $35/hour. $35 x 40 hour week = $1,400. That times the 10 weeks for iOS and Android app, $14,000. That’s cheap for an app.

If we’re talking overseas, you’re still looking at $5-10,000. It’s peoples time and their skills that are valuable.

The long term if you use a Fiverr outsourced developer is they’ll write garbage code. It’ll work (mostly) but when you start to scale, odds are you’ll have to recreate the entire app because the code will be a mess or you run the risk the used a weird language to code.

But looking for an app for $2,000? Nope. Spend half that on a few good Udemy courses and code it yourself.

I’ve been down this road and wasted a year chasing a budget app. It crashed and burned.

 

[HandheldM]

I was previously in your shoes, trying to build what I thought at the time was a great idea into an app.

I’m putting there here and hope you move on, you won’t find a developer who will partner with you. Anyone worth having as a programmer who you would partner with gets lots of requests to build apps. There’s nothing in it for them unless you’re showing up with 7 figures of VC Capital.

Apps are expensive? Why? They take weeks to months to build. 40 hour days, for weeks. My app was projected to be a 6 week build for my MVP. Plus another month for Android. Let’s look at costs there. A good developer is worth $35-50 per hour. So, let’s go low end, $35/hour. $35 x 40 hour week = $1,400. That times the 10 weeks for iOS and Android app, $14,000. That’s cheap for an app.

If we’re talking overseas, you’re still looking at $5-10,000. It’s peoples time and their skills that are valuable.

The long term if you use a Fiverr outsourced developer is they’ll write garbage code. It’ll work (mostly) but when you start to scale, odds are you’ll have to recreate the entire app because the code will be a mess or you run the risk the used a weird language to code.

But looking for an app for $2,000? Nope. Spend half that on a few good Udemy courses and code it yourself.

I’ve been down this road and wasted a year chasing a budget app. It crashed and burned.

Thanks for sharing with me in detail. Now I have clarity. What did you end up doing with your idea? Did you code it yourself, pay to have it done, or shelve the idea?

My idea for this app does not involved a complicated app. It is not going to do anything new. It is basically a "finder" that is based on a database. The database does not exist today, no one has made it. It will take months to make the database by hand. Once it is done, I just need the app to display data from the database. As I type this, 2 things cross my mind a) if it is this simple, perhaps I should just learn how to do it myself? b) perhaps there is a developer who has learned how to develop apps but has no good ideas?

 

[Scot]

Thanks for sharing with me in detail. Now I have clarity. What did you end up doing with your idea? Did you code it yourself, pay to have it done, or shelve the idea?

My idea for this app does not involved a complicated app. It is not going to do anything new. It is basically a "finder" that is based on a database. The database does not exist today, no one has made it. It will take months to make the database by hand. Once it is done, I just need the app to display data from the database. As I type this, 2 things cross my mind a) if it is this simple, perhaps I should just learn how to do it myself? b) perhaps there is a developer who has learned how to develop apps but has no good ideas?

The idea is dead. Up for anyone crazy enough to do it haha

If you’re curious to read it play out Progress Thread - First time entrepreneur, here it goes!

If you’re simply doing a database retrieval, it sounds like you’d be able to code the database, build a simple web app and package that into an emulator for native. I’m not a developer or coder, so these are just concepts I picked up trying to get mine developed. But I believe there are platforms out there that simply take a web app and package them to display on iOS and Android.

I’ve moved onto another business that doesnt require anything remotely related to coding. I’m in the food business now and the only thing I need to code is my WordPress page haha

 

[HandheldM]

The idea is dead. Up for anyone crazy enough to do it haha

If you’re curious to read it play out Progress Thread - First time entrepreneur, here it goes!

If you’re simply doing a database retrieval, it sounds like you’d be able to code the database, build a simple web app and package that into an emulator for native. I’m not a developer or coder, so these are just concepts I picked up trying to get mine developed. But I believe there are platforms out there that simply take a web app and package them to display on iOS and Android.

I’ve moved onto another business that doesnt require anything remotely related to coding. I’m in the food business now and the only thing I need to code is my WordPress page haha

That was painful to read Scot. I appreciate your sharing and your enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. the only "partner" I would ever partner with was someone was capable of coding the app themselves and it's not likely i will meet someone.

 

[HandheldM]

How does these courses look to you guys: The Complete iOS 11 & Swift Developer Course - Build 20 Apps and The Complete Android Oreo Developer Course - Build 23 Apps!

For me it says this above one is on sale 91% for 3 more days - does it say this for you too? If so, I should really buy both these courses while they are on sale.

 

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[mrarcher]

How does these courses look to you guys: The Complete iOS 11 & Swift Developer Course - Build 20 Apps and The Complete Android Oreo Developer Course - Build 23 Apps!

For me it says this above one is on sale 91% for 3 more days - does it say this for you too? If so, I should really buy both these courses while they are on sale.

Why not start with youtube it's free. As far as I am aware most apps are coded in java although I may be wrong as I have never made an app yet. That being said there are many great channels on youtube offering tutorials on app development, android studio and java. If you want further reading the book Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel is available for free online and is recommended by many experienced programmers. There are also may good sites such as sololearn although they really only teach syntax and not the reasoning behind programming.
Hope this helps.

 

[HandheldM]

Why not start with youtube it's free. As far as I am aware most apps are coded in java although I may be wrong as I have never made an app yet. That being said there are many great channels on youtube offering tutorials on app development, android studio and java. If you want further reading the book Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel is available for free online and is recommended by many experienced programmers. There are also may good sites such as sololearn although they really only teach syntax and not the reasoning behind programming.
Hope this helps.

I would rather purchase training that I know is updated, has reviews, and more importantly is targetted where I don't have to search youtube to try and find what I need.