How Long Does It Take to Build an iOS and Android App?
Taras Pavlyshyn
· 8 min read
It depends on scope, and an honest date only exists after someone has read your spec or designs. The timeline is set by the number of distinct flows, the backend, integrations, design readiness and how fast decisions come back. Store review is rarely the bottleneck: as of October 2026, Apple reviews most submissions within a day or two.
Why can't anyone tell you upfront?
Because "an app" can mean three screens over an existing API or a marketplace with payments, chat and an admin panel. "Users can book and pay" can hide one screen or a dozen edge cases: cancellations, refunds, failed payments, notifications.
A team that names a date on the first call is guessing. A useful estimate comes from breaking the app into flows and pricing each one, which takes a review of your spec, designs or existing app, not a questionnaire.
What are the phases of building an app?
Four phases, and each one should leave you with something you can look at.
| Phase | What it produces | What decides its length |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping and design | A list of flows and screens, the architecture, designs, a module list with a price for each | How clear the idea is; whether designs already exist |
| Build | Working features in your repository, released as test builds | Number of flows, backend, integrations, decision speed |
| Testing on devices | Bugs found on real iPhones and Android phones, fixed | Range of devices and OS versions you support; hardware features |
| Store review and release | The app live in the App Store and Google Play under your accounts | Review times, account setup, how complete the submission is |
In a well-run project the phases overlap: testing runs on every build, not at the end, and store accounts, signing and listings are prepared while the app is still being built.
What makes an app take longer?
Six things move the timeline more than anything else.
1. The number of distinct flows. Sign-up, onboarding, the main task, payments, settings, notifications — each flow is its own set of screens, states and errors. Screen count matters less than how many different journeys a user can take. 2. The backend you need. An app that talks to an existing API is mostly client work. An app that needs its own server, database, admin tools and user accounts is two projects. 3. Integrations. Payments and subscriptions, maps and location, Bluetooth Low Energy devices, health data, video. Each brings its own SDK, platform rules and testing on real hardware — BLE cannot be tested properly on a simulator. 4. Design readiness. Finished designs for every state — empty, loading, error — let the build start straight away. Designs that are still being decided turn developers into designers, which is slower for everyone. 5. Decision speed. Every open question ("what happens if the payment fails?") blocks a piece of work until someone answers it. A team that waits days for answers loses days. 6. Store review. Often short, but it is not under your control, and a rejection costs a fix and a resubmission.
How long do App Store and Google Play reviews take?
Usually not long, but plan for it. Apple says App Review typically reviews at least half of all submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48, and warns that an incomplete submission may be delayed (Apple Developer: App Review, read 27 October 2026).
Google does not publish a typical time. Its help page says that for certain developer accounts, and for certain apps, review may take "up to seven days or longer in exceptional cases" (Play Console Help: Publish your app, read 27 October 2026).
There is a bigger trap on Android. Personal developer accounts created after 13 November 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers, opted in continuously for at least 14 days, before they can apply for production access (Play Console Help: testing requirements for new personal accounts, read 27 October 2026). If you register a new personal account the week before launch, that alone pushes the date back.
On iOS, account setup can take time too: an organisation enrolling in the Apple Developer Program needs a D-U-N-S Number (Apple Developer: enrollment). Start both accounts at the beginning of the project, not at the end.
What a review rejects most often, and how to avoid a second round: the App Store rejection checklist.
Does building for iOS and Android double the time?
No — with one Flutter codebase, most of the work is done once. Flutter is, in its own documentation's words, "designed to allow code reuse across operating systems such as iOS, Android, web, and desktop" (Flutter architectural overview). The screens, business logic, state management and API code are written once and run on both platforms.
Some work is still done per platform:
- permissions, push notification setup and signing for each store;
- platform-specific code where an integration needs it (the same overview notes that apps can "interface directly with underlying platform services");
- two store listings and two reviews;
- testing on both iPhones and Android phones, because they still behave differently.
So two native apps mean most features are built twice; one Flutter app means they are built once and checked twice. How the options compare in more depth: Flutter vs native vs React Native.
How can you shorten the timeline honestly?
By building less first and removing waiting, not by asking the team to hurry.
1. Start with the smallest useful version. Pick the one job the app must do well and release that. What is often called an MVP should be the smallest version real users would keep, not a demo. The rest follows in updates. 2. Have designs ready. At least for the core flows, with empty, loading and error states. 3. Answer within a day. Name one person who can decide, and agree that questions get an answer the same or next working day. 4. Set up accounts early. Apple Developer Program, Google Play Console, the closed test if your Play account needs one, the domain and email the app depends on. 5. Install every test build. Problems found in week two are cheaper than problems found at the end. 6. Freeze the scope of the current module. New ideas go into the next module with their own price, rather than into the one being built.
What does not work: adding more developers to a late project, skipping device testing, or submitting an incomplete build to "see what review says".
What are the red flags in a timeline quote?
A timeline is a promise about work nobody has looked at yet, unless the team has scoped it. Watch for:
| Red flag | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| A confident date before anyone has seen your spec or designs | It is a sales number, not an estimate |
| One total with no breakdown into modules or flows | You cannot see what is included, or what is cut when time runs out |
| No test builds until the end | You learn whether it works when it is too late to change course |
| No time for store review, accounts or device testing | The "finished" date is not the release date |
| Scope changes with no new quote | The overrun lands on you later, as one big surprise |
A good quote does the opposite: lists the flows, prices them separately, and shows progress as builds you install on your own phone. More questions to ask a team before you hire it: how to evaluate a Flutter developer.
How we estimate and build an app
DriveCode builds iOS & Android apps, Flutter-first. We do not name a timeline before we have seen your spec, designs or existing app. We review it first, then split the work into modules with a fixed price for each, agreed before any code is written. The code lives in your repository from the first commit, and you install regular test builds from TestFlight and Google Play yourself, so you see progress without waiting for a status report. If the scope changes, the change gets its own quote. Projects start from $10K. How it works in detail: building a new iOS and Android app in Flutter.
Already have an app that needs work rather than a new one? Start with fix, refactor or rewrite.
Questions people ask
Can an app be built in a few weeks? Some can, if the scope is narrow, the designs exist and the backend is already there. Whether yours can is a question for the scoping, not the first call.
Is it faster to build for one platform first? With Flutter, rarely by much: most of the code is shared, and the extra work is per-platform setup, testing and a second store review. With native, building one platform first does save time — and leaves the second app to be built later.
How long does App Store review take? As of October 2026, Apple says it typically reviews at least half of submissions within 24 hours and 90% within 48 hours. Google Play says review can take up to seven days, or longer in exceptional cases, for some accounts and apps; and new personal Play accounts first need a 14-day closed test.
Why does the first release take longer than later updates? The first release includes everything set up once: developer accounts, signing, store listings, screenshots, privacy disclosures and the review of a brand-new app. Updates reuse that setup.
Can I see progress before the app is finished? You should. Ask for test builds as soon as the first feature works. As of October 2026, TestFlight lets you add up to 100 internal testers from your team (Apple: TestFlight), and Google Play's internal testing track takes up to 100 testers (Play Console Help: set up a test).