7 hidden costs to be aware of before creating an app

Anyone can create a mobile application, but the project can turn out to be expensive, and it is common to spend far more than initially planned.

In this article, we will share the unsuspected costs to consider when you have a project to create a mobile app. Here is what you will discover:

How much does it cost to create a mobile application?
Before talking about hidden costs, let’s see what makes up the cost of a mobile application. Mobile development is based on the following factors:

• functionalities;
• design;
• the average hourly rate of your developers (AHR).

The most influential factor on the cost of an app is the average rate of the developers working on the project.

It often depends on the geographic region. For example, a mobile application designed in Ukraine will cost almost 5 times less than the same application developed in the United States.

The price of developing a mobile application depends on the country of origin of your developers. Choosing technologies like Flutter can also influence costs, as this framework allows for simultaneous development for Android and iOS with a single source code, thereby reducing the necessary time and resources.

Furthermore, by opting for outsourced development, it is always possible to access qualified skills at lower rates, whether for native development or with frameworks like Flutter.

The different types of hidden costs

Hidden expenses during mobile application development can be divided into 4 categories:

• operating costs;
• administration costs;
• infrastructure costs;
• and IT support costs.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these categories.

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Operating costs

These represent the cost of implementing the desired functionalities. In order to set up a particular feature, you may need to subscribe to a service that provides it.

The number of services used per application varies, and sometimes the list is very long. As a result, the bill for all these services can climb quickly. Here are some examples of paid services:

• SMS messaging: to integrate this service, you can opt for Twilio.
• Push notifications: it is hard to imagine an app that doesn’t use them. These notifications promote user interaction with your app and push them to take action, such as making a purchase. If you need this service, look into WonderPush or Airship.
• Social media integration: you can use this to encourage sharing and rating of your content. If you want interactions between users of your app, you will likely need a private or group chat and even a bot.
• Emails: it is possible to integrate email functionality into your app, and several services are available for this.

Administration costs

Administration services guarantee continuous access to data so that you can update your application’s content without resorting to IT assistance.

The cost of these services is difficult to predict and depends largely on the type of application you are developing.

These fees add up and must be paid on a regular basis. Here are some examples of paid administration services:

• content management tools,
• audience analysis tools,
• data segmentation tools.

Infrastructure costs

These costs include expenses for application hosting, storage, and data transmission.

Backup servers are necessary to guarantee that your app stays online. Obviously, this has a price. Here are some elements of infrastructure costs:

• Servers: this is where your application will be hosted. In a way, it is a service provider. It shares its resources with other machines and thus allows access to your application.
• Content Delivery Networks (CDN): these are computers linked together via the Internet. Each network cooperates to deliver content to users. The delivery is based on the geographic location of the user and the origin of the content. Imagine you have users all over the world and they can only access your content from a single location; that is not feasible.
• Data storage: your application will collect a significant volume of data. It is important to understand how and where this data is stored.
• Image data: applications generally use a lot of images. You will need storage space to download, process, and deliver these images.
• Development tools, support, and libraries: if you use paid tools like IBM MobileFirst, Kinvey, Appcelerator, or Kony, you will be required to pay for subscriptions for the entire lifespan of your application.

IT support costs

It is impossible to talk about a high-performing application without IT support. Continuous technical support represents a large part of application maintenance.

The only issue is that the cost of this assistance can increase over time. Here are some examples of actions carried out by IT support:

• submitting application updates;
• iOS and Android updates;
• API maintenance;
• bug fixing.

7 hidden costs during mobile application development

Publication in App Stores

When publishers develop an application, they keep app store requirements in mind. However, this shouldn’t stop you from asking them questions.

Ask if they handle the placement of your application in the store. Not all developers do.

Regarding store fees, they are not excessive. App Store and Amazon will charge you €99 per year, while Google will charge you a one-time fee of €25.

When you publish an app in a store, you must comply with its rules. Its conditions can change with updates, and your application will also need to be updated. Understand that these changes generally involve new expenses.

If you develop an application intended exclusively for your company, Apple will charge you an annual subscription of $299 under its Apple Developer Enterprise Program. Google Play does not charge for this service.

Here is the list of information you will need to provide when submitting your application to the stores:

Some of these components will cost you nothing, while others can be quite expensive. For example, copyright and privacy policy take time and money for legal services.

How much will it cost to publish your app on a store with the help of a development agency? It will depend on how much time it takes them, since they bill you based on time spent on the project.

Additionally, Google Play Store charges a service fee of 15% to 30% if you sell products via your app or if you offer in-app purchases or subscriptions.

As you can imagine, submitting your app for publication in stores implies an approval process. This can take time and generate new development costs.

If your application does not meet the publication conditions or does not comply with store rules, it will not be approved.

Consequently, this rejection will lead you to make modifications and corrections so that your app can be accepted.

Note that some development agencies accompany you until your application is approved, while others do not.

Marketing: creating an app also means promoting it

Developing your mobile application took time, but finally, the moment comes to publish it in the store. People wait a long time to see their application published, but they also expect it to succeed.

But even if a product is well-designed, it still has to beat the competition. In fact, 25% of applications are launched only once after installation.

The cause? A flawed marketing strategy. You must therefore ensure that your target audience can see, try, and appreciate the application.

Planning quality marketing strategies and campaigns is vital to inform your audience about your application and increase your sales. Of course, this has a cost.

PR management and marketing support can cost several thousand euros depending on your ambitions, the size of your company, the methods used, etc. As an indication, some companies spend up to €100,000 per month.

If you want to take advantage of a free marketing lever, you can use ASO (App Store Optimization) to generate organic traffic.

If you have already managed a website, you already know what SEO is. The concept is the same, except that ASO uses a set of keywords with a description, the product name, and design elements to attract the target audience.

Your application needs maintenance

A mobile application, in the same way as a website, needs regular updates, maintenance, and technical support.

Not all development agencies offer maintenance services. So, before signing, make sure the agency takes care of your application after launch.

Knowing that your cooperation with your application’s developers does not end at the moment of launch, keep in mind that any good developer stays up to date with updates made by iOS and Android.

As a result, keeping your application up to date will involve regular costs. Discuss this with your service provider before the start of your development project.

Companies tend to think that mobile application development is just a one-off project. However, the truth is that it is a continuous process.

To keep an application functional, you will need to resolve bugs, apply security patches, update them with each new version of the operating system, and so on.

The most significant unsuspected cost is that of ongoing application maintenance. Most apps require extra work when new operating systems are launched, when changes are made to the APIs the application uses, or when user expectations change.

This applies to all platforms, especially native applications. These require regular updates for operating systems and device compatibility. This is not the case for web applications.

Application security must leave no room for doubt

Application security is a major concern. Users must be reassured about their data. For this reason, you must have your own security plan.

In the following, a list of points to know before setting up a security plan with your developers:

• If your development team wants to use third-party frameworks and libraries, ask them to ensure their security.
• Request that developers submit the code to as many vulnerability tests as possible.
• Reduce the number of access requests on your application. Only ask for access to contacts and the camera if necessary.
• Ensure that the development team conducts regular code reviews.

If you decide to include all this in your development project, expect it to take more time than planned and cost more.

But in the long term, it will be a guarantee of security. Also keep in mind that your application must comply with current laws.

Hosting and servers

Once your application is functional, you will need a place to store and process its data. This is also a cost of your application development.

Usually, all data (images, videos, locations, etc.) are stored on servers.

Servers run software that receives data, processes it, and returns it in response. Almost all applications have a server-based backend.

However, for data storage, many publishers today prefer to turn to cloud services.

You can use a mobile backend as a service solution (mBaas), such as Amazon Web Services, or create your own cloud service.

Thus, you must take into consideration the cost of your mobile app server. Be attentive to monthly storage fees, which increase as your application grows.

Remember that storage fees are not the only expenses associated with online storage; you may have to pay for certain data manipulations, such as storage management, data transfer, etc.

Cross-platform development

If this is your first time creating an app, you might be surprised that each mobile platform requires its own programming language.

A native iOS application will not work on Android and vice versa. If you opt for native development, you will need iOS and Android developers, and this will increase the cost of your application development.

But instead of creating an Android or iOS application, it is fortunately possible to create a hybrid application (which supports both operating systems).

Changes during the project

Developers base their estimates on initial requirements. However, these requirements change. It is possible to add functionalities, change the design, etc.

Obviously, each modification has a cost. Thus, many companies start the project with a very specific price in mind and are surprised by the final bill.

Normally, development agencies are reasonable, but projects often take much longer because of changes made during the project, which is reflected in the invoice.

The gap between the initial estimate and the final invoice to be paid will therefore depend on the nature and number of these modifications.

As you can imagine, changing the color of a button will cost much less than adding GPS tracking and localization functionalities.

Creating an application: how to prevent hidden costs?

Does your mobile application development budget include the expenses mentioned in this article?

If not, it’s time to update your final budget. Remember that the more your app grows, the more these expenses will increase.

So, is there a way to prevent unexpected expenses? It all depends, in fact, on the number of additional features and services you wish to include.

Here are some best practices to prevent these expenses from increasing as your app flourishes:

Choose a technology suited to your app’s lifespan

The technology you choose for your application will have a lasting impact on its success.

If you have expansion plans in the future, you must ensure that the chosen technology and infrastructure are capable of supporting significant traffic.

Scalability and maintenance can be problematic when working with a large user base.

Ensure you are using a flexible and reliable tech such as React Native or Flutter so as not to limit your scalability.

Target the ideal platform

Do you want your application to be accessible on all smartphones? It’s good to have a global approach and the ambition to cover the entire market, but over time, this can prove to be very costly.

For example, if your audience is American, then developing an iOS application makes perfect sense. Sometimes, it’s wiser to avoid an “all-inclusive” approach, especially if your budget is quite tight.

Obviously, market research is necessary before deciding which platform to choose for your app.

Avoid third-party tools as much as possible

Many people buy third-party tools or subscribe to cloud platform services (SaaS) to improve their applications’ functionalities.

Do not blindly trust these tools. Just because they shout everywhere that they are “easy to implement” doesn’t necessarily make it true.

Even setting up SaaS solutions requires a certain amount of planning, programming, and testing.

Therefore, select the features that will have a direct impact on your application’s results, and only then subscribe to the third-party tools offering them.

In conclusion, developing a mobile application is expensive and time-consuming. The functionalities, project size, and the rate charged by your development team only represent the tip of the iceberg.

As you have seen, there are unforeseen costs that can only be understood if one has been warned.

This is why the Aventique teams offer you their services. If you want tailor-made support to create your mobile application, do not hesitate to send us a message.