Today demand for mobile apps is spreading rapidly across the globe. Businesses are opting for mobile applications to become more popular and build a strong brand in the market. Everyone is looking for new & innovative applications nowadays and this has increased the demand for mobile app developers in the market. Businesses of today are more app-oriented and consider it as an important factor for their success. As we all know, every business needs the app development that starts by hiring the app developer or Mobile App Development Company and it works towards developing, designing, & delivering the app as per your requirement. Such an app will help you build online visibility and gain huge profits in business. So, now the point is that app development does not happen for free. You need to spend money to build an app and it is an expensive affair. You may try your best to squeeze in the costs, but the hidden charges disrupt everything.
So what are these Hidden Costs of App Development?
Generally, you have an in-house team or hired developers to take care of the App Development. Here they might have a general idea of app development but are not clear about the complete process in detail. This is where your budget gets affect badly without knowing the actual cost of the development process. Of course, developing the app is the main purpose, but then it comes with additional costs such as designing, App UI, testing and maintenance.
1. The Scope of the App Changing
Before sharing the app idea to the developer, you need to pay for the scope. This means that every change in your scope in the between will be charged by the developer.First, you need to decide the main features for your application, the user flow, and the required content. Because your developers must have the idea of your requirement.Always do in detail background check & signup for a fair contract while hiring a developer. Always check the reference first and talk with the former client about their experiences.If you can get your hand on “back door” references, you should go ahead with it. Back door references are nothing but the clients which your chosen App Development Company has not listed on their client list.
2. App Development Costs Increase with Hosting and Servers
Most of the applications in the market required a backend server. A server is a software program that takes up the request, processes it & then returns a response. After developing the app, you can store its information & content in the server.Such a server plays the role of managing app content and user information, retrieve data, and send push notifications. When it comes to cloud hosting, you can make use of mBaaS (Mobile backend as a server) or build your server; many of the engineers prefer to go for AWS (Amazon Web Services).Therefore, if you are technically sound or new to this sector, knowing this will help you save some good sum of money. At least, you can plan to tackle this and you may get it at the cost-effective rates.Here the hosting cost is your own expense that you may not be informed by your development company. They may even not mention this into the NDA documents.Therefore, if you are technically sound or new to this sector, knowing this will help you save some good amount of money. At least, you can plan to tackle this and you may get it at the cost-effective rates.
3. It is Inevitable to have Regular App Maintenance
Building an app is one side of the coin. You need to take care of it for the rest of its time. Here the app maintenance services come in. Whatever takes place after developing the app is included in this section. Because Mobile or web apps and even websites require regular updates, maintenance, and technical supports.Now, this is important for you to know that developers and development companies may tell you or not but app maintenance supports are mostly offered by development companies & it is their responsibility. Some companies offer this service free while some provide paid services, but you need to ensure this in the very beginning.However, the right app developers keep an eye for the OS updates for Android & iOS and also performs system maintenance of the application in every couple of months.
Whereas, the development of your application is not the end of your contract with the mobile app developer. They need to update their servers regularly & also check-in for security updates.Before the App Development commences, you need to also inquire about the app maintenance costs charged by them. This will save you from any surprises later.
4. App Security is Important and not Free
Many times developers are not strongly confident about the security of their code. Here you need to have an effective security plan into your application.
There are a few things that Developers should keep in mind and you should have an idea about and they are:
- Developers have the habit of using codes from others. But don’t go for the codes of third-party assuming them to be safe. It is important to verify the codes from those sources.
- Limit the access permissions in your app. You should not offer unnecessary access to contacts or camera in your app unless it seems to be necessary.
- There should be provision for code reviews within your contract to check whether it can be exploited or not. If this was not planned before, you should include this at the earliest.
- You need to be sure whether the developer has the habit to test code at every step of the process looking for a security gap.
- Just keep in mind that when you look into the points mentioned above, the app process will turn out to be longer compared to what you expected and this will increase the costs too. However, in the long run, this will ensure the app is safe and secure enough for the worth of your money.
- Update is a new trend in the market so your app must manage to evolve with the upcoming new security laws. This means if your app grows bigger with time, then you will need to include in new security features through the upgrade process to ensure the app users are protected.
- There are also chances that you may not have thought about having features that are compliant with the law earlier when planning the app but, with the time you will have to be ready to make payment for the same.
5. App Designing Costs
If you think that the developer will design your app, then you are wrong. The developer develops the code while the designer creates the app to deliver the unmatched user experience.If you want your app to be successful and stay in the market for a long time, you should go for designers. For an app user, the experience is the most important element and so it should be designed without the support of skilled designers. Poorly designed UI/UX with confusing navigation will lead many users to leave the app. Hiring designers may seem to be an extra cost, but it is worth going for.
So, if you have Hired Development Companies, then you need to ensure that the company is going to handle all it’s designing and development part. When there is an individual developer, then you need to make it clear about designing charges.
If you are not aware of this, then you need to know this before you handover the projects. In short, if you are developers, then you may get cost-effective solutions, but at the end of the day, you will find that you have to spend more than you expected. Better, hire developers from an App Development Company to get everything mentioned in the agreement.
6. Cross-Platform Development Costs
When businesses set their foot into the world of Mobile App Development for the first time, they quickly understood that here everything is complex and not the same as building business applications.They have a blind feeling that the developed app will work across all the platforms equally. In reality, things are different. If you want to build native applications to work as cross-platform, you will have to develop separate applications.
Now if you’re going to move from mobile to tablet, the same rule applies here. This means you will have to develop different applications as a single one will not work there.
Generally, there are two dominant platforms iOS and Android and you need two different native apps to run across the two platforms. However, for tablets, you don’t need to make separate apps as a single native app can run simultaneously across different devices from the same OS.
However, exceptions can’t be ruled out as you can see, PayPal for iPhone cannot be functional on the iPad, though it is forbidden by the brand itself. You can get multiple APKs created for single apps. But the things you need to understand is these are remain hidden from the agreement and you know only after you get the project delivered. So, make sure that you have native apps that can run across different devices on the same OS.
Conclusion:
From above its clear now that App Development is not at all a cheap affair. Further, the end cost of development may not be the same as initially discussed. You need to find the right app development partner who can ensure that there are no hidden costs and you don’t get exhausted in the end through app maintenance, updates, and hosting costs.
