What to expect during mobile app development timeline

Developing a mobile app can take quite a lot of time. From the conceptualization process to the launch of the app, there are several steps involved to ensure a good user experience with proper functionalities. The timeline of mobile app development has the following phases: 

Conceptualization

Every app begins with an idea. With thorough market research, defining your target audience and conducting competitor analysis you will be able to define your idea with more clarity. This is the stage for identifying gaps in the market that you can focus on addressing. Conceptualization can take about 30 days but can extend based on your commitments to market research. 

Planning

After your app concept is ready, it’s time to plan. The complexity of the features can affect the cost and time required to develop the app. This is an important step during which you need to keep budget constraints in mind and only plan based on your budget. During planning, consider the resources required, the time required and the budget required. With proper research, you should be able to come up with a decent plan that meets your requirements. If you’re outsourcing the development aspect to software vendors, these should also be a part of your contract so that you don’t drain your budget. On average, it takes about 3 weeks to plan a project properly. 

Designing

With the concept and plan in place, the next step is to design the user interfaces (UI) and define the user experience (UX). This is an integral step as it’s what the users see and love/hate. Design experts create wireframes or mockups to create the design for the app. This would include the screens, buttons, actions, interactions, animations, etc. that the app would have. This defines the structure and features of the app. The design phase usually takes about 2-3 weeks to complete, depending on the complexity of the app. 

Development

Now is the time to actually create the functioning app. This includes developing the front end and the back end, which is usually done parallelly by two sets of developers. This also includes the setting up of servers, databases, hosting, etc. Based on the complexity of the features and the number of people working on this, the development of a mobile app can take about 3-6 months. 

Testing

After development, there will be multiple rounds of thorough testing before launching the app. This is when testers use the app to identify bugs and to see if the features act as per the requirements. This can go for several iterations where issues are reported to the development team, fixed and tested again. Proper testing can take 3-4 weeks. 

Launch

Once all the issues are fixed and the app is in working order, it is ready to be launched on the app stores. During this phase, it is also necessary to implement App Store Optimization (ASO) so that the app ranks better in the app store search results. Launching an app takes about 3-5 days. 

 
Launching an app can take several months from conceptualization to finish. With the help of the right app development company, a lot of the development time can be reduced. At WeSquare, we have all the resources, knowledge and experience required to help you in your app creation journey.