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How long does it take to develop an app: timeline breakdown, examples & tips
May 22, 2025
Development time is a critical factor in application projects, as it significantly affects overall costs and determines how soon organizations can start realizing value. However, there’s no simple answer since app development is a complex multi-step process and many factors can impact its timeline.
A provider of application development services with 25+ years of experience in multiple industries, Itransition has handled a great many software development projects and have a clear understanding of both their typical duration and what impacts it. Let’s explore how much time an app development project takes and what strategies can help accelerate app delivery.
App development timeline: in a nutshell
On average, the time required to build an application ranges from 3 to 7 months according to our observations. The precise timeframe depends on the app’s type, the number and complexity of its features, technologies used, and the expertise of specialists involved in the project.
Simple apps | Medium complexity apps | Complex apps | |
|---|---|---|---|
Development time | Several weeks to 3 months | 3 to 7 months | 7 to 12+ months |
App examples |
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App development time by stages
The app development process consists of multiple stages, each with a distinct set of tasks and activities that influence the project’s overall timeframe. By getting a clear understanding of the intricacies of each development stage, companies can create a realistic roadmap and accurately estimate their project’s duration. To illustrate this, we provide a breakdown of a typical app development process and specify average duration for each phase.
Average time for app development: 3 to 7 months
1
Business analysis
Average duration: 1-2 weeks
The app development process starts with the elicitation of business requirements from stakeholders. During this stage, business analysts define the future app’s target audience and study the needs and pain points it should address. If it’s a commercial software product, it’s also common to conduct market research and competitor analysis to determine how your app can stand out among similar software products. Based on the collected information, business analysts outline functional and non-functional app requirements, high-level project scope, and deliverables.
2
App design
Average duration: 2-4 weeks
The design process involves creating the app’s technical and visual blueprints. Solution architects design the structure of the entire application, including detailing its functional components and non-functional attributes, define how its parts interact, and plan its integrations with other systems. They also select the tools and frameworks to use for the app’s delivery.
In the meanwhile, UX/UI designers work on the app’s user interface and user experience, creating wireframes and mockups representing the look of the app and delivering interactive prototypes to visualize user experience early. UX/UI design usually requires several cycles of feedback and refinement, so it's essential to allocate enough time for multiple design iterations in the project’s timeline.
3
Planning
Average duration: 1-2 weeks
Once the app design is complete, it’s time to plan development activities, including their scope, budget, timelines, and communication workflows. At this stage, the company also assembles a team to work on the project, selects the software development methodology, and has a detailed app development roadmap that outlines key project milestones and iterations created. Companies additionally establish a risk management strategy identifying potential project threats and create a mitigation plan to prepare for any technical and operational issues that can potentially prolong the development time.
4
Development
Average duration: 1-4 months
Typically the most time-consuming stage, development involves writing code to build frontend (user-facing) and backend (server-side) components, bringing the app’s design to life.
In addition to coding, programmers perform regular code reviews and debugging, which extends the development cycle yet lowers the risk of later reworks and potential project delays.
5
Quality assurance
Average duration: 2-4 weeks
This stage of app development involves performing various types of tests, including functional, performance, compatibility, and security ones, to detect and fix issues and ensure the app meets all project requirements. Testers can implement automated testing to streamline repetitive QA tasks, significantly reducing the time spent on this stage.
6
Launch
Average duration: 1-2 weeks
After your app is built and tested, it is deployed to the target environment (e.g., in-house servers or cloud platforms) and made available to users. Sometimes, companies choose to perform beta testing before the final release, which involves making the app available to a limited audience to gather feedback from real users, fix hidden bugs, and test the app’s performance under real-world conditions.
Examples of app development timeline
We provide several practical examples to illustrate how development times vary for different types of applications.
Ecommerce apps
The development time varies greatly based on whether you want to build a simple online store, a feature-rich ecommerce portal, or a multi-vendor marketplace.
A company will need 3 to 4 months to build a cross-platform app with basic product listings, a shopping cart, checkout, and order history, while developing a large-scale online store with advanced product filtering, wishlists, user reviews, and loyalty programs can take from 5 to 9+ months.
For example, Itransition created a large-scale hybrid mobile B2B commerce app with native iOS and Android features using Kotlin and Swift, while also enhancing the performance of the existing online store’s mobile version, within 11 months.
Food service apps
Ranging from simple apps for menu browsing and ordering food to complex food delivery solutions with voice search and real-time order tracking, food service solutions take from 3 to 9 months to develop.
Itransition spent 4.5 months building a Kotlin-based kiosk self-service application that enables restaurant visitors to make orders and payments through kiosks and functions as an advertisement banner when the menu is deactivated.
Social media apps
Social media apps with limited functionality like instant messaging, real-time notifications, or photo sharing require approximately 3 to 6 months to build. However, to incorporate more advanced features like live streaming or AI-powered content recommendations, developers can spend up to 12 months.
Modern technologies have in-built capabilities that help developers ensure the effective handling of large data volumes and support of constantly growing user bases, which are particularly important in social media apps, while also speeding up time-to-market. For example, Itransition’s team used Node.js to deliver a social media app for artists, their fans, and event managers with ticket purchasing functionality within 6 months.
Healthcare apps
On average, it takes 6 to 9 months to develop a healthcare application. This type of app generally needs to comply with HIPAA and other relevant regulations, which adds complexity to the development process and extends the project timeline.
Itransition delivered a complex HIPAA-compliant telehealth solution for psychiatric assessment within a year. Built using the .NET platform and React framework, the application supports multiple user roles and provides functionality for medical case processing, patient data management, psychiatric assessment, and coordination of patient placement in facilities.
Elearning apps
Building an average eLearning app can require from 5 to 10 months. For an educational content delivery app equipped with multiformat content management, instructor-student interaction, and progress assessment features, the development process can take around 8 months. In the case of a corporate training system that features multiple user roles, employee performance analytics, and HR system integration, the estimated time from conceptualization and idea validation to launch can take up to 9 months.
Since there’s a wide range of pre-built education software, companies can also utilize ready-made solutions to speed up app development like we did for one of our clients. By building an elearning portal on top of an out-of-the-box content management system and integrating it with a learning platform, we delivered a feature-rich solution for teaching users about cyber liability threats within just 3 months.
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4 factors that influence app development time
When estimating the time required to build an application, consider the following aspects to set realistic expectations.
App type & complexity
The development time primarily depends on the type of application and the complexity of its features.
Basic apps like task management apps and expense trackers require fewer UI screens, minimal user interaction flows, and simple backend logic. Consequently, the UI/UX design, coding, and testing takes less time and effort, between several weeks to 3 months.
In contrast, the development process can extend up to a year or more in the case of large, feature-rich applications like ERP systems and finance apps that often need advanced functionality, easy scalability, and integrations with multiple third-party systems.
Team size & expertise
The composition of the development team and the skills and experience of its specialists impact how long a software development project takes to complete. A team that lacks specialists or has skill gaps is likely to complete tasks more slowly, which can lead to project delays. By outsourcing entire projects or their parts to a reliable software development services company, businesses can outsource specialists or whole dedicated teams with the required expertise to help build an application within a shorter timeframe and ensure successful app delivery.
Tech stack
The choice of technologies can also influence the development time. For example, using older, more verbose programming languages adds complexity to the coding and debugging process, extending the development phase.
A well-chosen developers' toolkit, on the other hand, helps them streamline workflows and increase productivity, which contributes to faster app development. For example, automated testing tools enable developers to detect bugs early in the development process, reducing manual effort on debugging and saving time.
Mid-project changes
Frequent changes in requirements when the project is underway can result in scope creep and the need to modify the already written code. This adds to the team’s workload, increases the chance of errors in the app, and lengthens the overall project duration.
Strategies for speeding up app delivery
Starting with an MVP
If companies want to launch their software as fast as possible, they can first build a minimum viable product (MVP) equipped with only core features. Such a simplified app version requires less development time than a full-fledged solution while allowing companies to test their idea with early adopters and refine their software based on its real-life performance and user feedback.
Opting for cross-platform development
By following a cross-platform development approach, developers can create a single application for different operating systems instead of several native apps. This helps companies launch applications for different audiences quicker and more cost-efficiently.
Implementing a platform-based solution
Building an application on top of a platform is another way to accelerate app delivery. Such platforms usually come with pre-built modules and features that cover specific business needs, as well as user-friendly interfaces, allowing companies to significantly reduce development time by configuring and customizing existing functionalities instead of building an application from scratch.
Utilizing pre-built components
Certain software development frameworks (such as Ruby on Rails for web app development and Flutter for mobile app development) support code reusability and offer a wide range of ready-made components which allows developers to write less code and speed up the development process. In addition, integrating third-party services via APIs can extend an app’s functionality without the need to build features from scratch.
Applying Agile methodologies
Using the Agile approach for project management, teams can break the development process into 2-4-week sprints and build software incrementally in short iterations, which allows them to quickly deliver app features, receive feedback from stakeholders faster, and identify and resolve issues early in the project. Agile methodologies also promote collaboration within the team and with stakeholders throughout the development process so that development teams can quickly adapt if project requirements change.
Build your app fast with a trusted tech provider
Accurate estimation of an app development timeline allows companies to effectively allocate their resources and align business strategies with the expected app launch. By properly planning the development process and enlisting the help of a skilled development team, companies can minimize the risk of project delays while ensuring the delivery of a high-quality solution. If you’re looking for a reliable technology partner to accelerate your app development journey, consider turning to Itransition, an app development company with 25+ years of experience trusted by leading global corporations and startups.
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FAQs
Programming languages can to a certain degree impact the development project’s timeline due to their innate characteristics. For example, high-level languages like Python, Ruby, and Java are closer to human languages and thus are faster to write and read. Other languages have frameworks with a wide range of pre-built components, which can also reduce the app development time - these include the JavaScript and ReactNative framework, as well as Python and its framework Django. On the other hand, lower-level languages like C++ or Rust are closer to machine code than human language which makes them more verbose, compelling developers to write more code to perform a task.
However, while the choice of the programming can make some difference for the project’s timeline, the development team’s expertise and overall project planning still impacts the application creation speed in greater degrees.
Just like with the app development timeline, the cost of building an application varies greatly, starting from $5,000 for a simple solution with a few screens and basic functionality. App type, the number and complexity of features and integrations, technology stack, and the development team’s composition are among major factors that affect the final cost.
Contact us to get a free consultation on your app development project and a ballpark pricing estimate.
To assess an app’s performance post-launch, you should evaluate several key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect user satisfaction and how effectively the app meets your business objectives. Here are some metrics that help measure app success:
For commercial apps
- User engagement
- User acquisition
- Retention rate
- Customer satisfaction
- Revenue generation
For corporate apps
- User adoption rate
- Error-free performance
- Increased user productivity
- Streamlined business processes
- Employee satisfaction
To keep an application aligned with evolving user needs, it needs to be updated regularly. The frequency and scale of updates depends on the app’s specifics and expectations of the target audience. Commercial apps can be updated more frequently (e.g., every 2 weeks) with new features and UX/UI enhancements to keep current users engaged and attract new ones, while internal corporate apps need less frequent but more focused improvements.
In general, the duration of the mobile app development process is similar to that of web apps. However, mobile applications can take more time to launch compared to web apps because of the need to develop separate solutions for different operating systems and, in the case of commercial mobile apps, submit them to app stores for approval. On average, it takes from a few hours up to 7 days for Google Play store to review Android apps, while Apple’s App Store generally reviews iOS apps within 1-3 days. Adding extra time to the schedule is necessary to prepare for possible app modifications based on the app store’s feedback and its subsequent resubmission.
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