It can be hard to believe that smartphones are as young as they are. Only seven years ago, smartphones were used primarily by those in the business world, and their capabilities were extremely limited compared to modern smartphones. In addition to the rise in the number of smartphones that are sold, entire app market ecosystems have emerged as well. These markets have revolutionized how people interact with computer systems, and many businesses are now able to make most of their revenue off of app sales. However, developing an app will take some time; here are some of the most popular types of mobile applications and how long they take to develop.
HTML5 Apps:
While any app can theoretically be developed in HTML5, most of the apps that fall into this category are relatively simple. Many are little more than an app interface to a website, and they often simply retrieve information stored in a remote database. In general, computation is minimal in these apps. When comes to app development, most HTML5 apps take the shortest period of time to develop.
Map-based Apps :
Thanks to APIs provided by Google, Microsoft and other companies, those who want to use a map in their apps can do so without having to create the mapping interface manually. However, these apps tend to be considerably more complicated than HTML5 apps, and the amount of time they take to develop is higher as well. Simple map-based apps can be created in weeks if the work is done by an experienced team, but most will take at least a few months to develop.
Games :
The amount of time it takes to create a game varies greatly, but this category of apps is generally the most programming-intensive. Even the simplest games will require a considerable amount of boilerplate coding, and ensuring compatibility between multiple devices will take a significant amount of testing. More complex games can take even longer, and it often takes a large programming team to develop games in a timely manner. For multiplayer games, the testing phase can stretch on into months, and games generally require constant bug fixes in order to function properly.
Of course, there are other factors to consider when determining how long a particular app take to make. The size of the programming team matters, and the talent of the individual programmers can make a difference as well. When estimating how long it will take to program an app, it is always best to add some wiggle room.
