What we mean by mobile app development
Mobile app development here means building an iPhone and Android app from one React Native codebase, then getting it through Apple and Google review. The app talks to your own system behind it. We build them for UK businesses whose customers or staff need something a website can't do well.
Many apps should be web apps
A web app runs in the phone's browser and can be saved to the home screen. It skips the app stores entirely.
When a store app is worth it
- It needs the camera, Bluetooth, location in the background or reliable push notifications.
- People will open it daily and expect to find it among their apps.
- You sell digital subscriptions that Apple and Google require to go through their stores.
- It has to work offline for long stretches, on a site or a boat.
Build a web app, or use Glide or FlutterFlow
If people use it now and then, mostly to look things up or fill in a form, a web app does the job without store review or updates to push. For a simple internal app, a no-code builder like Glide may be enough.
What we build into apps
- Sign-in by email link, so nobody has to invent a password on a phone keyboard.
- Push notifications for the events your users care about.
- In-app subscriptions through Apple and Google, kept in step with your own records.
- Camera, barcode scanning and location where the job needs them.
- Offline use, with changes sent when the phone reconnects.
- An admin side in the browser for the office to manage what the app shows.
How an app build runs
Check the risky parts
Anything unproven, like a Bluetooth device or a store billing rule, is tested first in a discovery spike.
Build both platforms at once
One React Native codebase runs on iPhone and Android. You get a test build on your own phone and a demo every week from the second week.
Submit to the stores
We prepare the listings, screenshots and privacy answers, and handle Apple and Google review under your developer accounts.
Keep it current
Phones and store rules change each year. Updates are planned so the app keeps passing review.
The app is usually the small part
Most of the work sits behind the app. Accounts, bookings, payments and the data the app shows all live in a system on a server, and that system often matters more than the screens.
If you already run a system like that, the app connects to it. If you don't, we build it as part of the same project, in your name, with no per-user fees.
Questions about mobile app development
Do we need separate iOS and Android apps?
No. We build in React Native, so one codebase produces both apps. A small amount of platform-specific work is sometimes needed, for things like store billing.
Can you put our app on the App Store and Google Play?
Yes. We prepare the listings and handle review for both stores. The apps are published under your own developer accounts, so they stay yours.
Can we charge a subscription inside the app?
Yes. Digital subscriptions sold in an app usually go through Apple and Google billing, which take a commission, though the rules vary by country and keep changing. We check what applies to you, and connect purchases to your own records so you can see who has paid.
Would a web app be enough?
Often, yes. If people use it occasionally and don't need the camera, background location or push notifications, a web app is cheaper to run and needs no store review.
Tell us what the app has to do
On a free call, describe who uses it and what for. If a web app would do the job, we'll say so before anything else.