20 October 2026
Mobile app development cost in India: Android + iOS explained
Why one app on both stores costs ₹1,00,000 to ₹5,00,000, where the budget actually goes, and how to spot the quotes that look cheap but will cost you later.
2 min read
Everyone wants an app. Few people know what one actually costs. This is the breakdown we show every client who asks "how much?".
1. The honest starting prices
| App type | Build | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Simple utility (listing, booking, delivery) | ₹1,00,000 | 8–12 weeks |
| Marketplace with payments and chat | ₹2,00,000 – ₹3,50,000 | 12–16 weeks |
| Full product (users, payments, offline, dashboards) | ₹3,50,000+ | 16–24 weeks |
These are both stores — Android + iOS — from one codebase. Native-only is cheaper on paper and more expensive over time.
2. Where the money goes
- Design (20%) — Figma, prototypes, two revision cycles.
- Development (50%) — screens, backend, API, auth, payments.
- Testing (10%) — real devices, QA, bug fixes.
- Publishing (10%) — Play Store, App Store, Apple Developer, review back-and-forth.
- Project management (10%) — weekly updates, demos, documentation.
3. What inflates a quote
- A "mobile website wrapped in a shell" sold as a real app. It works for 3 months, then crashes on iOS 19.
- Charging per screen instead of per feature. 20 identical screens with different data is one feature.
- Hiding Apple Developer account fees (
₹8,000/year) and Play Console (₹2,000 once) in month 6.
4. Timeline reality check
Nobody ships a quality cross-platform app in two weeks. Here is a realistic schedule for a ₹1.5 lakh app:
- Week 1 — Interviews, wireframes
- Weeks 2–3 — Design, backend scoping
- Weeks 4–9 — Development
- Weeks 10–11 — Testing on real devices
- Week 12 — Store submissions, launch
5. Ongoing costs
- Apple Developer: ₹8,000/year
- Play Console: ₹2,000 once
- Backend hosting: ₹1,500 – ₹5,000/month
- Push notifications, SMS/OTP: ₹500 – ₹3,000/month depending on volume
6. FAQ
Should I build Android first? In India, yes — most of your users are on Android. But if your users are in the Gulf, UK or US, iOS first often pays back faster. Do I own the code? We hand over 100% of the source and the stores stay in your name. Can one person build both apps? With Flutter or React Native, yes — we use one codebase and ship to both stores from it. What if Apple rejects the app? We handle the back-and-forth, included in the price.
Ready to budget your app? Message us on WhatsApp with a sentence about what the app should do. We'll come back with a realistic quote the same day.