Free tool
How Long Does It Take to Build an App?
Pick a complexity tier, a platform and a start date to get a dated, phase-by-phase plan from discovery to launch, with your earliest and latest launch dates.
The short answer
- A simple app or MVP (Login, profiles, basic CRUD, push notifications) takes about 6–10 weeks from discovery to launch.
- A mid-complexity app (Payments, real-time chat, GPS, social features) takes about 13–22 weeks.
- A complex app (AI/ML, video, multi-role access, offline sync) takes about 26–39 weeks.
How the plan is worked out
Total time comes from the tier timelines in our mobile app development cost breakdown. It is split across our standard phases: discovery (1–2 weeks), design and architecture (2–4 weeks), build and launch (1–2 weeks). The build phase gets the remaining weeks and is never shorter than 4 weeks. For the detail on each stage, read how to build an MVP in 8 weeks and our MVP development guide.
Frequently asked questions
What slows an app project down?
Scope that keeps changing after design is signed off, slow feedback or approvals, unclear requirements and late third-party integrations. Settling the hard decisions in discovery and design, before engineering starts, is what keeps the build phase on schedule.
Can an app be built faster?
Yes, by cutting scope rather than cutting steps. A focused MVP with only the core features sits at the short end of the range. Adding more developers does not always speed things up, because of coordination overhead.
Does cross-platform development save time?
It saves building the same app twice. A Flutter or React Native app ships to iOS and Android from one codebase and costs 60–70% of two native apps, so you launch on both stores without two separate builds.
What happens after launch?
Monitoring, bug fixes and new features based on how real users behave. App Store and Google Play review can add a few days before release, and ongoing maintenance typically costs 15–25% of the build per year.
Is this timeline a quote?
No. It is a planning estimate based on our published timelines for each complexity tier and on our standard delivery process. A fixed timeline and price come out of the discovery phase.
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