A Complete Guide to iPhone App Development Cost

We often receive these two questions from our clients

• How much does it cost to develop an iOS app?
• Or what does the iPhone app development cost?

Therefore, we have decided to write an article to address these queries. If you are also looking to know the cost of developing an iOS application, then read this blog.

As we all know Apple is a well-known brand around the world, and people prefer to use the iPhone because of its offered security and reliability. This is the reason appreneurs and startups look forward to building mobile apps for iPhones.

In fact, Apple devices cover a large market size in the mobile phone segments. As per the StatCounter survey, the iOS operating system has a 27.68% share worldwide.

Source: StatCounter

So, with the help of our experienced mobile app developers, we have given a detailed app development cost breakdown in this blog post. Let’s dive in.

Before we check the custom iPhone app development cost, let’s get a quick overview of the cost based on the complexity of the apps.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an iOS App? [Quick Answer]

Here’s a quick answer for you:

Check the following table that has a cost breakdown based on the complexity of iOS apps.

This cost range depends on the complexity of the app and several other factors, such as

• The type of application
• Features and functionalities
• UI/UX and design
• Location of app developers

Let’s understand cost of iPhone app development in detail in the next section.

Do you have an iPhone app idea? Want to know the cost estimate of your idea? We can help you. Use this app development cost calculator and easily get an estimation.

iPhone App Development Process and Cost Bifurcation

Mobile application development has four phases. And for each phase, the cost varies depending on the timeline to complete that phase. We are going to discuss all four phases in detail with their cost.

1. Do In-depth Research and Analysis of Your Competitors

Generally, it takes from 8 to 200 hours of work to complete the research on mobile app ideas. In the research stage, a reputed app development company performs several tasks of analysis on your mobile application idea. At this stage, you get to know each and every aspect of your project. It also helps you to avoid the basic errors and make your goal clear that matches your requirements. The planning stage includes:

• Identity similar apps available in the market
• Defining the scope of the project
• Deciding the platform between native vs hybrid apps
• Creating the user journey map for the application idea
• Listing down the app features and goal of the application
• Deciding the tech stack for developing an app
• Creating a prototype of the application ideas to visualize the app
• Deciding project development timeline while creating documentation

In short, the cost of discovery phases depends on the hourly rate and work hours required to finalize the outline of iPhone mobile app development. Let’s know the hourly rate of business analysts who are involved in the research and analysis stage.

Location	Estimated Hourly Rate
The USA	$34 – $43
Canada	$35 – $42

2. iPhone Mobile App Designing

After market research, designers start preparing the wireframe of your mobile app idea. Wireframes of mobile apps describe the app navigation and its look and feel. Demonstration of the whole user journey is mapped into the wireframes. Once you finalize the wireframe, UI/UX designers’ roles come in for creating the base of the app design.

You need to decide the user experience of the application to know how the design will look. The role of app designers is to define a complete structure of an application that is appealing and easy to navigate for the users. Remember, while making your app design appealing, you also need to comply with Apple’s guidelines. Apple has specifically designed a guideline on creating a theme and look for your iPhone app.

Here’s the table that includes the hourly rate of mobile app designers from different locations.

Location	Estimated Hourly Rate of Designers
The USA	$60 – $110
Canada	$65 – $120
Europe	$35 – $70
India	$25 – $50

3. Developing Your iPhone Mobile App from Scratch

For developing iPhone apps, developers need to follow the mobile app development process properly. The development phase includes three stages,

• Planning of Software Architecture
• Backend Development
• API Designing and Integration

Planning of Software Architecture

In this phase of the app development process, you need to decide on the mobile application architecture. Choose the best iOS mobile app architecture that suits your business requirements. Mobile app architectures are as follows:

• Model View Controller (MVC)
• Model View View Controller (MVVM)
• View Interactor Presenter Entity and Router (VIPER)

Architecture	Explanation	Benefit
M: Model V: View C: Controller	MVC is a pattern in software development where the business logic and user interface of the app are kept different.	Faster Development Easy to Scale Easy to Maintain Organize large-size web apps
M: Model V: View VM: ViewModel	MVVM is another type of software pattern that helps to organize the code of the application by separating business logic and graphical user interface. But, here the View is not dependent on a specific Model.	Easy for maintainability of code Easy for separate testing Allows creating reusable code Design a proper structure of your application
V: View I: Interactor P: Presenter E: Entity R: Router	VIPER model as a software design pattern helps to divide the logical structure within distinct layers of responsibility. Also, it is known as clear architecture for iOS apps.	Make a scalable application Add new features easily Simplify complex projects Divide the app components

Choosing the right mobile app architecture helps you to develop a stable and scalable mobile app. You need to ensure that every step of this architecture is followed in a sequence.

Backend Development of Application

Coding the backend of the application means developing the functionalities of applications. And development phase includes multiple operations, such as:

• Integration of features
• User account authentication
• Account management
• Integration with third-party websites
• Customization of the user experience of the application
• Testing functionalities of the mobile application

Then comes API design that helps to connect the front-end and back-end of the application.

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Design, API, and Data Integration

Once your mobile app design is ready, the iPhone app developer starts integrating UI/UX and navigation flow with dummy information using the tool Xcode storyboard and Hibs.

When the user interface and navigation are done, the client finalizes the actual design; then, developers start working on API integration to show the live data by replacing the dummy information.

Here’s the table that includes the hourly rate of the front-end and back-end developers.

App Developer	Estimated Hourly Rates
Front-end Developers	$35 – $45
Back-end Developers	$35 – $45

4. Testing and Launching of Your iOS App on the Apple App Store

This is the final stage of iOS app development where the QA team tests the mobile application to make it 100% bug-free and ensure the app’s performance is similar on all iOS devices.

So, to develop an iOS app with high-standard code and free of bugs, you need to consult an experienced iPhone application development company like Space-O. Check one of the client’s testimonials named Harry Martin from the USA who was happy with our product development services.



Now let’s discuss how much it would cost you to test your mobile app.

Testing of iOS Apps

Your hired mobile app development agency has a team of quality testers who perform the testing of the application. The developed iOS application is checked thoroughly on various parameters like performance, security, UI/UX, functionality, flow, and memory consumption.

It is essential that your mobile app stands in all the testing phases. So, it becomes less challenging to publish your iOS app on the Apple App Store.

Locations	Estimated Hourly Rates
The United States	$31 – $38
Canada	$31 – $35

Launch of an iOS App

When your mobile application is ready to get published on the Apple App Store, you must ensure that it complies with all the measurements of Apple’s guidelines.

An iOS mobile app takes a few days or a few weeks to get published on Apple’s App Store. Certainly, approval of your mobile app depends on the quality and how well your app is compiled to their guidelines.

We have checked the iPhone mobile app development costs for each phase. But, there is one more factor that falls under the app development cost that you should know.

In the mobile app development process, project managers also play a vital role in managing your iPhone app development. Check the following table to know the hourly charges of project managers from the North American continent.

Estimate Hourly Rates of Project Managers

Level of Project Manager	Average Hourly Rate
Basic	$30 – $60
Intermediate	$60 – $100
Certified PM Practitioners	$100 – $150

As you learned about the iOS mobile app development cost for different phases, let’s move further to check the factors that affect the app development costs.

3 Factors That Influence the iPhone Application Development Cost

If you want to develop an iPhone, you need to know the factors that influence the cost of development. Why? Knowing these factors will help you make the decisions according to your iPhone app development, and you will save cost and time. Let’s check the factors that affect project development costs.

1. Features and Functionalities That You Want to Integrate into Your iOS App

When you want to develop a simple mobile app, it will cost you less compared to a complex app. As said, iPhone mobile app development cost depends on the features you want to include in your mobile application. A complex app has more features, unlike a simple app. It’s because including more features consumes more time for developers, so it results in more cost.

For example, if you want to include more features and complex functionalities, such as payment integrations, Google Maps, or CRM systems, it results in an increase in the duration of app development.

Developing a shopping app that uses AR technology like IKEA or Warby Parker applications would cost you more compared to simple marketplace apps. Let’s check the difference in the cost of both applications.

Type of App	Examples	Cost
Advanced eCommerce App	IKEA Warby Parker	$45,000 – $100,000
Simple eCommerce App	Kijiji Best Buy	$25,000 – $40,000

Using advanced features, our developers have built iPhone mobile apps. Have a look.

On-Demand Delivery App	Marijuana Delivery App
It is a custom ride-sharing application for Virginia, USA. This on-demand delivery app has completed over 5,000 rides. In fact, over 2,000 drivers joined this app. This app allows connecting a driver to a passenger in just a few minutes.	Marijuana delivery app is an app that allows you to pre-order and gets the delivery of marijuana at the doorstep. So far, it has served over 2,000 customers. This solution has partnered with over 500 medical marijuana shops.

2. Geo-location of iPhone App Development Team That You Hire

If you hire freelancer mobile app developers from the USA, Canada, Australia, or India, then the app development cost would be different. The reason is developers from different regions charge hourly rates differently. Similarly, when you collaborate with a reputed iPhone app development company, whether the company is from the USA, Canada, Australia, or India, the cost would be different.

3. Hidden Cost of iOS App Development

Here we are going to check some of the costs that are missed while considering app development costs. These costs are going to matter in your mobile app development project.

• Infrastructural costs of maintaining the server, CDN, and integration with services like Redis
• App maintenance and up-gradation cost – a cost to fix the bugs, improvement in the application, and costs to updating the functionalities for the future
• The cost for third-party integration services like push notifications, geolocation, or payments gateways
• The cost of data storage services to store information of the application on the servers
• The cost of integrating third-party APIs services like Stripe, Square, Shopify, API.video, Zapier, and Forms

Once you are clear with hidden app development costs, you might have a question. For example, what could be the cost of building an app for different app categories? Or how much does it cost to build an iPhone app for different mobile app categories? Let us check the answer to your question in detail.

iPhone App Development Cost for Apps in the Different Categories

The following table consists of iOS app categories. Let’s now check the cost of iPhone apps based on their categories.

We know you might want to build an app within budget. Therefore, we have further discussed the tips to reduce the iOS app development costs. These tips will help you to know how you can reduce your iPhone mobile app development cost.

Recommended Reading

• iPhone App Development Tools

How to Reduce iPhone App Development Costs [4 Tips]

While searching on Google “tips to reduce iOS app development costs”, you might get various information on it. But, being a leading mobile app development company, we have listed all the essential tips that will help you.

1. Create Detailed Project Requirements

You need to make a separate list of features that will not benefit your users. Obviously, it is not worth adding features or services into your application that is of no use. Because investment in such features or services could only be a waste of your money and affect your app development budget.

So, to know the exact requirements of your application, you can follow these points. Working on these points will help you decide the exact project requirements.

• Focus on the core purpose of your application
• Decide the revenue model of your iPhone mobile app
• Know the need of your target audience and focus on your identified points
• Decide the platform of your application whether to choose a hybrid or native

So, adding more features or functionalities will cost you more. So, once you have clearly documented the requirements of your mobile app development idea, then approach a mobile app development company to build an iOS app.

2. Choosing for an MVP Version

If you are not sure whether you should go for full-fledged development or not, then opt for an option to create a minimum viable product for your iOS app. It’s a concept from the book called “The Lean Startup” written by Eric Reis.

So, what does MVP in business mean?

Using the MVP approach, you make the initial version of your mobile application with essential features and make it live for your users.

What you need to do is, make a list of features or functionalities that are essential and then approach an app development company to develop an app. Your hired iOS app development team will convert your idea into a successful app as per your requirement.

In the initial stage, when you want to know if your mobile app will be successful or not, developing an MVP for your app idea allows you to test developed apps with essential features.

3. Choose iPhone App Development Company Wisely

Choosing freelancer iOS app developers might seem a feasible solution, but it is not. The reason is that hiring individual freelancers for different development tasks can lead to chaos and disruption.

Instead, hire professional iOS developers could be a proper solution with years of experience in developing mobile applications.

However, an iOS mobile app development team consists of different individuals, such as:

• Project managers
• Business analysts
• UI/UX designers
• Mobile app developers
• QA team

It reduces your interaction tasks with various people as you don’t need to deal with multiple people at a time compared to freelancers.

4. Design Simple UI/UX of an iOS App

The development of an application is the second important step after designing of application. If the design of the product is proper, you get the final result perfectly. This helps to reduce the chances of significant development problems.

If the expectation of the mobile app is clear, then you get the final cost for iPhone app development accordingly. To do so, you must have the wireframe of your mobile app or blueprint of the app. So, you can avoid unnecessary charges for the iOS app development cost.

How to Design a Blueprint of the Application?

• Clear your goals and set feasible priorities for a mobile app
• Layout the details of your mobile app (wireframing)
• Plan the user journey in your application

Preparing a plan for your application helps you reduce the cost of development as you know what you need in your application. Thus, you remove unnecessary features or functionalities, and services from the application and simplify it for your users.

Want to Get Exact iOS App Development Cost?

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Furthermore, let’s check some of the most asked questions in the following section.

FAQ About iOS App Development Cost

Where to find the best iPhone app developers?

To find professional mobile app developers, check the following websites:

• Space-O
• Clutch
• GoodFirms
• Upwork

What are the ways to monetize iPhone apps?

Here are some of the top ways to make money through your iPhone mobile app.

Monetization Model	Description	Apps Examples
In-app Advertising	It’s a great model for sustaining free apps. Using in-app advertising, you serve ads within your mobile app to users who are using the app.	Spotify YouTube Music Instagram
In-app Purchases	Using this model, you offer your mobile app free to use and download. But, you offer premium subscriptions to users who want to use particular advanced features.	PUBG Tinder
Transactional Commission	Charging commission on providing other’s people services or products. You set a certain amount of commission fees on your services.	Uber Airbnb

How much does it cost to maintain an iOS app?

Before knowing the cost of maintaining an iOS app, let’s first check the factors involved in maintaining a mobile app.

• Fixing bugs in an application
• Updating an app to the latest version of the iOS operating system
• Upgrading applications with the use of the latest technologies
• Optimization of the mobile application
• Improving the stability of the mobile application
• Scaling up the server infrastructure of the mobile application as users increase

You can consider up to 15% to 20% of the original app development cost as app maintenance costs.

Get Personalized Cost Estimation for Your iPhone App Idea

We focused on giving you the tentative cost of app development for iPhone devices through this blog. We have shared the cost range of developing an iOS application based on factors and the process of development. Even we discussed tips to reduce the quote of your mobile application.

Interested in developing your own iPhone mobile application? We are a leading iOS and custom software development company. We have a team of a professional team of iOS app developers who have years of experience in developing scalable mobile app solutions. If you want to know the exact iOS app development cost estimate, fill out the form below and get in touch with us.