Mobile app development
An app installed on the phone earns its place when you need what a website cannot give: an icon on the home screen, notifications, the camera, or working without a network. FastSolve will tell you plainly whether that is your case.
The question to settle before anything else
Four situations lead people to ask for a mobile app, and they do not all call for the same answer.
- Your teams work outdoors, sometimes without a network, and still have to record what they find on the spot.
- You need to send a notification that genuinely arrives, on the lock screen, rather than an email read the next day.
- The use depends on the camera, location, a barcode reader or a sensor in the phone.
- You want an icon on the home screen, because your users come back every day and a link in a browser gets lost.
If none of those four match, a web application will do the same job for far less and without depending on an app store. We will tell you so rather than sell you the biggest project.
Four sound reasons to go mobile
These are the four cases where an installed app genuinely adds something.
1. Working without a network
This is the strongest reason. The app keeps what was entered on the phone and sends it when the connection returns. No website does that properly over time.
Typical case. A team worked in basements with no coverage and wrote everything on paper. Readings are now entered on the spot and upload themselves once outside.
2. Notifying for real
A notification appearing on the phone is read within minutes, an email within hours. That matters when the delay is part of the service.
Typical case. An on-call service alerted its engineers by message, with delays. The notification now lands on the lock screen and the first one free accepts the job.
3. Using what the phone can do
Photographing with location, scanning barcodes one after another, measuring, recording: these uses are far smoother in an installed app than in a browser.
Typical case. Stocktaking was done with a scanner wired to a laptop. Scanning by phone removed the hardware and let several people count at once.
4. Being present every day
For daily use, the icon on the home screen changes everything: it keeps the tool visible, whereas a bookmarked address disappears. For monthly use, that argument does not hold.
Typical case. A company had an internal tool consulted several times a day, opened in a browser. The installed app lifted usage without anything else changing.
What a mobile app will not do
It is the heaviest service in the catalogue, and the only one we often try to talk people out of.
- It does not download itself. Getting an app installed is a real obstacle: for occasional use, most people do not clear it.
- It does not stop at delivery. Operating systems change every year and force updates, on pain of removal from the stores. It is a commitment over time, not a one-off purchase.
- Publication does not depend on us alone. The stores review every app and can refuse it. We prepare the submission, we do not decide in their place.
- It needs input from you. Developer accounts are paid and annual, and must be opened in your name, with identity checks we cannot carry out for you. That is why this service carries a star on our home page.
The gain is in the uses a browser does not allow, not in visibility, which does not come from being in a store.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need an app?
Often not, and it is the first thing we look at. If your users do not need to work without a network, receive immediate notifications or use a phone sensor, a web application installable from the browser gives the same service for a fraction of the cost, with no store and no review. We would rather save you that budget than sell you the heaviest project.
How much does a mobile app cost?
It is the most expensive service in the catalogue, for three reasons: two operating systems to cover, testing on real devices, and a publication process. On top of that come developer accounts, paid annually straight to the platforms. The price is set after scoping and appears on the quote, with recurring costs shown separately. As a guide, excluding VAT, most mobile applications fall between 8,000 and 15,000 euros. An application with offline mode, camera and several roles can reach 25,000 euros.
Does everything have to be built twice?
No, in most cases. We build a shared base that produces both apps, which avoids paying for two developments. Some functions tied closely to the hardware still need specific work, which shows up during scoping.
How long until publication?
On top of the build time comes the store review, which generally takes a few days but can stretch if changes are requested. That delay is not ours, so we do not promise it as though it were.
What if the app is refused?
Refusals are common and rarely final. The stores give their reasons, we correct and resubmit. That back-and-forth is planned into the project, not billed as an extra.
Once published, is it finished?
No, and that is the point to understand before starting. Operating systems change every year, and an app left without updates ends up being withdrawn. A maintenance subscription covers that watch, or you entrust it to somebody else, but it cannot be ignored.
Tell us what your users will do with it
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