APP DEVELOPMENT ยท SOUTH WALES
The app you probably do not need
Quoted per project, because no two are the same shape. We have shipped on both app stores, which is exactly why we will tell you when a web app would do the same job for a fraction of the money.
- Shipped on both app stores
- Web first, native when it is needed
- Fixed price before we start
Trusted by businesses across South Wales
Pricing
What it costs
Most of what we do is published to the pound. This is not, because two apps with the same one-line description can be a month apart in work. What is fixed is the process: scoping first, free, then a fixed quote you can take elsewhere.
See all pricesExcluding VAT. Third-party licences are shown as their own line on your invoice, separate from what you pay us.
The day to day
What is included
Everything below is in the price. Anything that is not is listed further down, before you have to ask.
An honest answer about which you need
The first conversation establishes whether you need a native app at all. Most businesses do not, and saying so costs us the larger invoice.
Installable web apps
Works on a phone, installs to the home screen, no app store review and no thirty percent cut. One codebase for iPhone, Android and desktop.
Native iOS and Android when it earns it
Kotlin and Jetpack Compose on Android, SwiftUI on iOS. For push notifications that must arrive, background location, offline-first working or hardware access.
App store submission handled
Developer accounts, listings, screenshots, privacy declarations and the review process. Rejections are our problem to fix, not yours to decipher.
A backend that is not an afterthought
The API, the database and the admin side built alongside the app, hosted and supported by us, rather than bolted on by somebody else.
Built to survive OS updates
Apple and Google break things annually. Maintenance covers keeping your app working through that, which is the cost nobody mentions at the quote stage.
You own everything
Source code, the developer accounts, the signing keys. Published under your company name, not ours, so it is yours if we part company.
Tested on real devices
Not only a simulator. Older Android handsets and smaller screens included, because that is what your staff and customers are actually holding.
Before you spend anything
Most people asking for an app do not need one
It is the most useful thing we can tell you and it costs us money every time we say it. An agency paid by the project has every reason not to mention it.
When native earns its money
Push notifications that have to arrive reliably. Location in the background. Working offline. The camera or the sensors doing something specific. If one of those is genuinely load-bearing, you need the real thing.
When a web app does the job
If what you want is for customers or staff to reach a system from their phone, an installable web app does that for roughly a third of the cost, ships in weeks rather than months, updates the moment you change it, and never waits on app store review.
What it costs
Including the part nobody quotes for
A web app
One codebase, no app store review, live the moment you ship it. Usually a fraction of a native build and weeks rather than months.
Native iOS and Android
Two codebases, two review processes and two sets of devices to test on, which is where the cost difference comes from rather than the app being cleverer.
The second year
Apple and Google change the rules every twelve months. An app nobody maintains stops working, usually without warning. Budget for it from the start or do not build native at all.
How we scope it
A short paid discovery, then a fixed price
A week or two of discovery
What the app has to do, who uses it, and whether the web can do the job instead.
A written scope and a fixed price
Yours to keep. You are free to take that document to somebody else, and occasionally people do.
Build, then the maintenance figure
The second-year number goes in the quote rather than being left for you to discover.
Why we are allowed to say it
We have done the hard version
Thorne Voice is a SIP softphone we built and shipped on both Android and iOS, in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose and in SwiftUI, handling live calls, background audio and push.
Anyone can advise you against native development when they cannot do it. Telling you most projects do not need it while being entirely able to build it is a different statement, and it is the one we are making.
Certified, not just recommending it
We hold Cyber Essentials ourselves
It would be a strange thing to sell and not hold. We take clients through the same certification, start to finish.
Questions
App development, answered
Do I need a native app or will a web app do?
Usually a web app. Native earns its cost when you need push notifications that reliably arrive, background location, offline working, or specific hardware access. If you mainly want people to reach a system from their phone, an installable web app does that for about a third of the price and updates instantly. We will give you a straight answer in the first conversation.
What does an app cost?
It is quoted per project rather than published, because two apps with the same one-line description can be a month apart in work. What is fixed is the process: a short discovery, then a fixed quote you can take elsewhere, never a day rate that runs. A native build costs appreciably more than a web one, for the plain reason that it is two codebases, two review processes and two sets of test devices. Budget for maintenance as well, because an unmaintained app breaks within about a year.
Have you actually shipped an app?
Yes. Thorne Voice is a SIP softphone we built on Android in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, and on iOS in SwiftUI, handling live calls, background audio and push notifications. It is not a prototype or a demonstration.
Who owns the app and the developer accounts?
You do. It is published under your company name on your own Apple and Google developer accounts, and you hold the source code and the signing keys. We will set those accounts up with you rather than putting your app on ours, because an app on your developer account can never be held hostage.
How long does it take?
A web app is typically eight to twelve weeks from the end of discovery. Native is sixteen to twenty-four weeks for both platforms, and add one to three weeks for app store review, which is outside anyone's control. Discovery itself is one to two weeks.
What happens when Apple or Google change the rules?
They will, roughly annually, and an unmaintained app eventually stops working or gets pulled. Maintenance keeps it compliant and working through OS releases. It is in the quote from the start rather than appearing as a surprise in year two.
Can you take over an app someone else built?
Sometimes. We will read the code and the store listings first and tell you honestly whether it is worth keeping. If the original developer holds the signing keys or the developer account, recovering those is usually the hardest part and we will tell you upfront what it involves.
Do we have to be an IT support client?
No. App projects are standalone and most of these clients never buy support from us.
Services that go with this
We cover South Wales from Pembroke and Narberth in the west to Newport in the east, and from Barry up to Brecon. On-site visits are included on the Professional and Advanced support plans, and quoted before we travel on Essential. See the towns we cover
A free review, and an honest answer
An hour of our time, on site. You get a written list of what is fine, what is risky and what is costing you money. If everything is healthy, we will tell you that and leave you to it.