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How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Mobile App Developer?

by Nazar Kvartalnyi COO at Inoxoft

Mobile App Development Market Outlook in 2021

It’s 2021, and people are going more digital around the world. Everything considered convenient, like the internet connection and mobile devices, are in great demand today. And, it’s no wonder. According to DataReportal, in April of the current year, there were 4.72 billion internet users and 5.27 billion unique mobile phone users in the world.

In comparison with April 2020, the global digital growth rate of new internet users was +332 million (7.6%) and unique mobile users + 97 million (1.9%), which is a significant increase over the year. The Ericsson Mobility Report on smartphone usage predicts a 25% increase in mobile traffic by 2025.

And what about mobile apps? The number of applications downloaded on mobile devices was almost 250 billion in 2020, is approximately 270 billion downloads in 2021, and is projected to reach 300 billion up till 2023, as Statista suggests.

Who’s to give credit to for mobile app production and release? Of course, mobile application developers. Based on the mobile usage analytics, it is evident that these professionals are highly demanded in the software development market.

Things to Know about Mobile App Development

Business News Daily defines mobile app development as the process of software creation. The created software is meant to run on mobile devices and be optimized with unique features and hardware. Smartphones of today have Bluetooth, NFC, gyroscopic sensors, GPS, and multiple high-quality cameras. They can be used almost anywhere and do lots of things instead of their owners with the help of different apps: e.g. virtual or augmented reality, barcode scanning, and more. Oracle has produced a report, where millennials were said to spend 90% of their mobile time in apps and only 10% in web browsers. Mobile apps utilize a whole range of smartphone features and are divided into several types. The applications developers create on mobile platforms are of four types:

Native Applications
Hybrid Applications
HTML5 (Web) Applications

Native App Development

Native apps are usually created for iOS or Android platforms with the help of specific development languages and tools applicable to each OS. For instance, the iOS platform requires the use of Objective-C/Swift in Xcode, while Android prefers Java/Kotlin in Android Studio. One of the pluses of native apps is that developers can utilize the device to its full potential, create unique applications that include smart home device management, integration of wearables (smartwatches and trackers), IoT sensors, smart screens that are popular and beneficial only for particular businesses. All the Latest Trends in Mobile App Development can be found by following the link. One of the minuses of native apps is that their development costs and time are extremely high. The fact is that the apps have the highest performance and best user experience, but also have to be redeveloped, supported, upgraded on every platform to be equally accessible for every OS user.

Hybrid App Development

Hybrid apps are a combination of native apps and web apps (HTML5, JavaScript, CSS). The hybrid app is practically a web app that includes add-on native features. Hybrid applications work across multiple platforms but behave like native ones. Among the pluses is the simplified codebase as it is single for every OS, it is easier to upgrade apps and scale them making minimal customizations. The minus of hybrid apps is that their performance loses to native apps performance and, sometimes, the apps’ consistency is altered due to specifics of each mobile device: the features that can be implemented on Android might not work on iOS and vice versa.

HTML5 App Development

An HTML5 app is a web page that can function on a smaller screen (a mobile screen), i.e. it is optimizable for mobile devices. HTML5 apps are accessed through the browser of any mobile device, can send desktop notifications, and trigger interactions through email and other means. Their biggest plus is in having better functionality and interactivity than the whole website. Also, due to the single codebase, the development process of web apps is easier. The minus is that these apps cannot be downloaded like the native ones and might also lack available features to promote their functionality, and cannot use mobile device features other apps use. Web apps potentially require an excellent internet connection as they reload every time users click on something they’d like to see or read more precisely.

The process of Mobile App Development

Any software development project, which requires building a mobile application has, but is not limited to, six main steps, which break it down into smaller parts.

Clearly defined Project Idea

Before starting your project with a concrete idea, do research the market for its existence and demand. It is vital to understand, what problem would this app solve for its end-users? Who will be these end-users? What features are important to include and why? Are there any competitors you need to outsmart?

User-friendly and seamless UI/UX Design

After the idea is being researched at it has a strong potential to be popular among its end-users, it is necessary to think about a pleasant user interface (UI) and a smooth user experience (UX), which will ease up the app’s navigation for the end-user and make a good impression of the app itself.

Application Development

This process requires code writing and testing the code for flaws. The more accurate your code will be the better. And initiating testing at this point will not only allow us to receive valuable development tips from testers but also achieve a great output from the start.

Application Testing

Testing the mobile app you’re deploying will showcase to you its quality, possible malfunctions, and locations that have to be improved. Testing is an irreplaceable process that makes the mobile app seamless in its functionality and design for the end-users. The better the testing process is conducted the lesser malfunctions the app will have or will have none at all.

Launching the Mobile Application

After the testing phase shows that the app is ready to be released and has no potential bugs, you publish it on the Apple App Store and Google Play, which are the most famous mobile marketplaces. Publishing your app will allow users to download it and use it daily. As for you, you’ll start receiving mobile application metrics you should be measuring. If you have no clue what metrics to measure, read the corresponding material here.

Mobile application Marketing Campaign

Unless you have a marketing strategy, users won’t have a chance to get to know your app. Nowadays, everything revolves around commercials and ads, which light up user interest and make them want to buy or download something innovative. Users, who will like your advertising will surely download the mobile app you deployed and leave positive or constructive feedback on how to improve user engagement.

Mobile app development is a prospective business, which is projected to reach $407.31 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 18.4%, as Allied Market Research estimates. Thus, it is best to consider where to find mobile app developers and how much does it cost to hire someone to build an app.

How much does it cost to hire a mobile app developer?

A mobile app developer is a person who deploys mobile applications. According to Stackoverflow, 19.2% of survey responders are mobile developers. These developers report an average coding experience of 8.4 years. The tendency on the job market is that 19.1% of the mobile developers are in constant search of a new job. How much does it cost to hire an app developer according to Stackoverflow? The research results claim that globally the average salary of an app developer is $43 000 annually, while in the U.S. this number is higher when compared to the global developer population - $120 000 of annual profit.

According to Upwork, the software development hourly rate of hiring the best mobile app developers varies from $15 per hour to $75 per hour. Of course, the better the mobile developer meets the requirements, deadlines and the cleaner is his/her code, the more costs will be accrued per one hour. So, while choosing developers it is necessary to understand your budget capabilities and choose either a mobile app development freelancer or outsource one. Or, maybe, even the whole team. The latter seems to be more time and cost-efficient.

How much does it cost to hire someone to make an app?

The cost of hiring includes not only the software developer salary per hour but also additional costs if to speak about outsourcing or team augmentation.

Outsourcing is the practice in the software development business that allows hiring a software engineer outside a company. This engineer has to perform services and create products that could have been performed by the company's in-house employees. However, outsourcing projects makes companies save their budget as in-house developers are costlier.

Team augmentation is one of the outsourcing strategies that evaluate the existing employees and determines additional skills that are required. So, team augmentation may leverage the existing employees in the company or use the outsourced/contract workers.

To outsource a developer, it is necessary to think about the following characteristics:

Type of application to deploy

Is your app an extension or a completely new startup? Will it be simple or complex in its architecture? If you need to dive deeper into what’s a mobile app architecture - find all the relevant information here. What industry should it belong to? Give answers to these questions and you will make the search circle narrower and more focused.

Tech Stack of the application

Now, when you understand what is your app about and how to deploy it, choose a tech stack correspondingly. Is it going to be Flutter or React Native or a cross-platform app? Make a market research and analyze, which technologies suit your business and the chosen industry to disrupt the most.

Communication/Remote work

When you outsource developers, communication becomes a key to your future success. If the communication is open, clear, with notes of respect and trust, the work of the developer and your team of experts will be smooth and productive.

Budget

Costs should be discussed on mutual terms ahead of the development process. Consider spending on design, maintenance, testing, deployment, and other services such as, perhaps, additional hiring. But never choose low pricing over quality as in the end, this choice will be misfortunate. Also, get to know mobile app developer rates and decide whether they meet your budget expectations.

Timeline and Deadline

Discuss what your app should include, how many mobile software engineers are on your team and whether it is possible to meet a certain deadline. Request an estimation of your project and see whether the timeline proposed matches your best interest, and even more.

Developer CV

Look at the cv of the mobile app developer you would like to hire. Are the education, experience, knowledge, English skills of the developer according to your expectations? What about the mobile developer’s code? Look through his/her Github account or through the list of apps he/she deployed. Are they relevant to the one you’d like to develop? And, also, don’t forget to check the salary of a software developer.

Adhere to the feedback

If you have doubts if the developers are the right people, always ask for feedback. The best references can be found on Clutch.co. Also, if you have such an opportunity, ask your business colleagues about mobile software developers you’d like to hire. But this is applicable only if you have colleagues that worked with the same team and have comments to share.

Compatibility issues

Sometimes, in outsourcing time zones, English speaking skills and outreach become the barriers on the road to success. So, speak up about your values, what you’d like to achieve, and how for the team to acknowledge and adjust.

Our Experience: What else defines how much does it cost to hire a programmer for an app?

At Inoxoft, we expertise in providing mobile app development services. Clients from all over the world approach us with their various business needs and requirements to develop mobile applications. Mobile app developers at our company are certified, implement clients’ ideas, and design tailor-made software having years of experience. Inoxoft mobile developers produce bug-free code and practice fast performance. We understand what it takes to choose the best-fit tech stack for the project, what languages to include, and which activities to plan according to the project specifics.

Thus, our mutual road to success with the clients looks like the following:

Requirements analysis
Hiring Process
Team Integration

Requirements Analysis

The first step of the development process requires us to gather as many details about your mobile app as it is possible: e.g. MVP description with minimal visualization, probable team, necessary and agreed on workflow, iterations checking, etc. you don’t need to worry too much about everything as we are here to ensure you we have set a workflow and act accordingly.

Hiring Process

Our People Operations team has an eye for detail and chooses developers that are the best match for your needs. For instance, they are guided by your preferences in experience, hard and soft skills, tech stack knowledge, English skills, interpersonal communication, and Android developer price or iOS developer price that will best suit your interest. If there are no matches within the company, we initiate the hiring process, which takes up to 1 month.

Team integration

Inoxoft acts according to our mutual best interests and has a refined scheme of team integration and work with your in-house team and partners. This way you receive a dedicated team that will be at your service according to the terms and conditions we have agreed upon. Scale with your outsourced team and be one step ahead of your competitors.

Summary

To conclude, the cost of hiring a mobile application developer varies according to the clients’ needs and possibilities. For someone, it is great to hire Upwork freelancers, for the others to hire in-house developers, and for the rest - to outsource a team. In any case, it is inevitable to have an experienced mobile app engineer on your team. The process of hiring is challenging, but yet, if your priorities are set correctly, the process itself will be smooth and easy. Developers and their hourly rates differ according to the country, years of experience, and type of project to carry out. So, we understand that your requirements matter and define every detail in the mobile software development process. If you need expert advice or would like to hire a great team of mobile application experts - contact us right away and let’s discuss the detail.

Originally published at https://inoxoft.com