Mobile apps engineered for the users you keep.

The choice depends on use case. Native (Swift/SwiftUI for iOS, Kotlin/Compose for Android) wins for consumer apps with heavy animation, deep platform-API integration (ARKit, HealthKit, CarPlay, Wear OS), and where the engineering team is already platform-native. Flutter wins for design-heavy apps where pixel-perfect parity across platforms matters; the Skia rendering layer gives consistent UI everywhere. React Native wins where the team is already JavaScript-fluent and the app is data-display-heavy rather than animation-heavy. For most B2B field-ops apps in 2026, cross-platform is the right call. For premium consumer apps, native still has the edge.

Mobile app development costs in 2026 typically range: $20,000 for a single-platform MVP with auth and analytics; $40,000-$60,000 for cross-platform or dual-native apps with paywalls, in-app purchases, and beta cohort testing; $80,000-$300,000+ for apps with AR features, regulated industry constraints (HIPAA, financial services), or complex backend integrations. Timeline scales similarly: 8-12 weeks for an MVP, 12-16 weeks for production cross-platform, 6+ months for complex multi-region launches. Main cost drivers: number of platforms, paywall complexity, beta testing depth, store submission cycles.

Apple App Store review averages 24-48 hours in 2026 for standard submissions, but can extend to 1-2 weeks for first-time submissions, apps requiring export compliance, or apps in flagged categories (health, finance, gambling). Google Play Console review averages 2-7 days for new apps, faster for updates. Both stores reject submissions for: missing privacy labels, broken IAP flows, incomplete app metadata, low-quality screenshots, or behavior that doesn't match the description. The fix-and-resubmit cycle adds 3-5 days each round. We submit with everything reviewers ask for the first time.

RevenueCat is a subscription infrastructure layer on top of Apple's StoreKit and Google Play Billing. It handles receipt validation, subscription state syncing across iOS/Android/web, free trial logic, paywall A/B testing, and subscriber analytics. Manual IAP integration requires building server-side receipt validation, handling restored purchases, debugging cross-platform subscription state, and parsing App Store Server Notifications and Google Real-time Developer Notifications yourself. RevenueCat costs 1% of tracked revenue past the free tier; manual integration costs roughly 2-4 weeks of engineering plus ongoing maintenance. For most apps shipping IAP in 2026, RevenueCat is the cost-effective choice.

Offline-first architecture in 2026 typically uses a local-first database (Realm, SQLite, WatermelonDB, or PowerSync) that the UI reads from directly, with a background sync layer that reconciles changes with the server when connectivity returns. Last-write-wins is the simplest conflict resolution; CRDTs handle harder cases like collaborative editing. For apps with predictable connectivity patterns - drivers in transit, field technicians, airline crew - offline-first should be the default architecture choice from week one. Retrofitting offline-first into an online-only codebase typically costs 4-8 weeks and a UI revisit.