Mobile App Development Company for iOS and Android: What You Get, What It Costs, How to Hire Well

Most people who search for a mobile app development company already have an idea, and the real question is who can turn it into something that runs on a customer's phone, gets through App Store review, and doesn't fall apart three months later. This page explains what that work actually involves, what it costs with us, and how to judge any team you're thinking of hiring, including us.

We're Q Studio, a web and mobile studio in Giza, Egypt, working remotely with clients worldwide. We have four apps live on the App Store and Google Play, and you can download every one of them before you talk to us.

What "an app" usually means in practice

When a client says "I need an app", the project almost always has three or four parts. Knowing them helps you read quotes and spot what's missing.

1. The user app. The iOS and Android app your customers install. We build both from one codebase, mainly with Flutter, and React Native when it fits the project better.
2. The backend. Accounts, data, files, notifications and business rules live on a server or a managed service such as Firebase or Supabase. An app without a backend can only show fixed content.
3. The admin panel. Someone on your side needs to add products, approve users, answer requests and see numbers. This is often forgotten in cheap quotes and then billed as an "extra".
4. A second app, for two-sided products. Rider and driver, student and tutor, customer and service provider. Each side has different screens and permissions, so it is effectively a second app.

Then comes store publishing: screenshots, privacy details, review notes, and fixing whatever Apple or Google flag. A quote that doesn't mention publishing usually means you'll be doing it yourself.

What we have shipped

Two products of ours are good reference points because they are the hardest kind: two-sided apps with live data.

• DriveX is a ride-hailing and delivery platform in Egypt, with a rider app and a captain (driver) app. It has live trip tracking on the map, vehicle choice from cars to tuk-tuks and trucks, instant and heavy shipping, cash or wallet payments, and driver earnings. It's also on Google Play.
• Lawh Academy is a Quran and Arabic e-learning platform, with a student app and a tutor app: course catalogue, lesson progress, session booking, tutor availability and a tutor dashboard.

Both are live on both stores. If your idea looks like either of these, we've solved most of the hard parts before. See ride-hailing app development and e-learning platform development for those specific cases.

Packages and prices

We price in USD. Every project gets a written scope and a fixed price (or clear milestones) before you pay anything.

Two-sided apps start at the MVP tier because they need two user apps plus an admin dashboard. Projects over $500 are paid in milestones, usually 30% / 40% / 30%, and you pay for each milestone after seeing it working.

Your own third-party costs are separate and paid directly by you, in your name: an Apple Developer account ($99 per year), a Google Play developer account ($25 once), and hosting, which for most new apps costs little or nothing at the start. For a fuller breakdown of where the money goes, read how much app development costs in 2026.

How a project runs, week by week

Day 0. A free 20-minute chat or call. Within 24 hours you get a written scope: screens, features, what's out of scope, price and timeline.

Days 1–3. A first working preview you can open on your own phone. Not a slide deck. This is where most misunderstandings surface, while they are still cheap to fix.

Every few days. A new build, a short demo and a changelog. You steer: reorder priorities, cut a feature, add a detail.

Launch. We deploy the backend and submit to the App Store and Google Play under your accounts. Store review usually takes a few days and is outside anyone's control, so we plan for it.

After launch. A bug-fix window is included, with its length written into the quote. Further features are quoted separately when you need them.

The speed comes from using frontier AI coding tools inside a disciplined process: written scope, early previews, code review and testing, with experienced developers making the decisions. If you want to know what that means in practice, we wrote it up in AI-assisted development, explained honestly.

Six things to check before hiring any app developers

Whoever you hire, these questions separate teams that ship from teams that stall.

1. Can I install your apps right now? Ask for App Store and Google Play links, not mockups. Download one and use it for five minutes.
2. Whose name is on the developer accounts? Your app should be published under your Apple and Google accounts, with the code in a repository you own. If a developer publishes under their own account, moving the app later is slow and sometimes painful.
3. Is the admin panel in the quote? And notifications, and publishing? Ask what is explicitly excluded.
4. When do I see something working? Days, ideally. A team that needs six weeks before showing anything is asking for a lot of trust.
5. Who will I talk to? With us you talk to the people writing the code. Elsewhere you may get an account manager, which adds a step every time you ask a question.
6. What happens when Apple or Google change their rules? Apps need small updates over time. Ask how those are handled and priced.

We cover this in more depth in how to choose an app development company.

When we're the right fit, and when we're not

We're a good fit if you are:

• A founder who wants a real, publishable first version in weeks, then wants to grow it based on what users do.
• A business adding an app for customers or staff: booking, ordering, loyalty, field work, learning.
• Building a two-sided product, the kind we've already shipped twice.
• Launching in Arabic and English. We're native Arabic speakers, and right-to-left layouts are part of our normal work, not an add-on. See Arabic app development.

We're not the right choice if:

• You need a team that sits in your office every day. We work fully remotely.
• Your project depends on a niche native technology (deep hardware integration, a custom game engine, specialist medical device certification). A cross-platform studio isn't the best match; a specialist native team is.
• You need a large dedicated team for a multi-year enterprise program with formal procurement. We're a small studio built for fast, well-scoped products.
• The product is in an area we don't take: gambling, alcohol, adult content or dating, crypto or forex trading, interest-based lending, or military use.

FAQ

Do you build native iOS and Android apps or one cross-platform app?

We build one cross-platform codebase that produces both the iOS and Android apps, mainly with Flutter and sometimes React Native. For the vast majority of business apps users can't tell the difference, and you pay for one codebase instead of two. If your app truly needs fully native code, we'll say so in the scope.

Can you work from my existing designs?

Yes. If you have Figma designs we build them pixel-accurately. If you don't, we design the interface ourselves as part of the project, so you don't need a separate designer to start. We focus on product and interface design rather than logos or full brand identity.

Can you guarantee App Store approval?

Nobody honestly can, because Apple and Google make the final call. What we can do is build to their guidelines from the start, prepare the privacy details and review notes properly, and handle any rejection feedback until the app is approved.

Will I own the source code?

Yes, fully. The code repository, backend, databases and store listings are set up in your name from day one, and you get a clean handover with running notes. We're also happy to sign an NDA before you share your idea.

What if my budget is lower than $2,000?

Then we shape the scope rather than discount the price. Often that means a starter app from $400, or a web app first and a mobile app later. Our page on affordable app development explains the trade-offs honestly.

How do I get a quote?

Send us a short description of the idea, even a few lines, and we'll come back within 24 hours with a written scope, timeline and fixed price, free and with no obligation. You can also use the project planner to put together a brief in a minute.