Difference Between iOS and Android App Development

We are all engaged in using powerful mobile apps that have dominated our everyday world like never before. Mobile apps have become so ubiquitous it is almost impossible to imagine our life without fiddling with our smartphones. All credit goes to well-designed and furnished social networking apps such as Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as well as ecommerce lifestyle apps.

On a digital landscape, iOS and Android apps especially have captured the huge chunk of global audience. It is not exaggeration to believe that the mobile app users across the globe are split between iOS and Android. However, we should never forget what iOS and Android developers invest as they build gorgeous mobile apps. It is therefore important to discriminate between iOS and Android app development from developers’ perspective.

Here we are going to see it all from the eyes of developers. Check out a few distinctive technical differences and disparities between iOS and Android app development process.

Which is Harder iOS or Android Development?

Answering this question is not quite simple as it seems. Importantly, there will be different perspectives to consider before we could choose one over the other.

The major fundamental difference between iOS and Android is that Android has Java for building apps whereas iOS programmers depend on Objective-C and Swift to create software and mobile apps.

The language does not place much pressure on developers since both have enormous size of active community ready to assist whenever a difficulty in development hinders the progress.

However, in case of iOS development, users must have an original Apple MacBook to gain perfect understanding of iOS programming.

On a different perspective, developers claim that Android takes a development time of at least 30 to 40% longer when compared to iOS. Programming languages used for Android development usually come with high readability whereas that of iOS is easy to get around. That may be the reason why some beginners go for iOS development that usually comes with a shorter learning curve.

Difference between iOS and Android App Design

Simplicity, compactness, and minimalism are three major pillars of mobile app design, and both iOS and Android offer incredible features that seem to fulfill the typical expectations of UI appearance.

Apple’s elements (icons, buttons, and pictograms) flow is generally minimal and concise. Android designers also practice almost similar design structures with peculiar icons, massive buttons, and lines.

  • Basically, iOS is inclined to Human Interface guidelines and Android follows the Material Design language. In case of units, the Android application is designed in dp and iOS application in pt.
  • In iOS, the multitask windows are kept separate and diminutive whereas Android prefers interchangeable tabs that cover a major portion of the device screen.
  • Both platforms contain a variety of button styles: Android has floating buttons whereas iOS comes with a simple, controlled yet aesthetically elegant, and modern design with lines that are kept quite thin.
  • The visual styling of components and interaction patterns are the other key difference. Android titles are always towards the left and iOS titles are designed to be in the center.

iOS vs Android Security

Security and privacy are two pillars every user will look for when installing an app on their device. The initial versions of both iOS and Android had limitations on security aspects and both have corrected and improved it over the period.

  • At this point, one could undoubtedly say that iOS platform is the most secure as Apple have extremely strict policies in place regarding this. Data is always encrypted in iOS and Apple never reads user data.
  • Even the security aspect is much better in Android now, privacy is still on compromise mode. Google digs user data to present more personalized ads while using apps which can always result in a security and privacy breach. With an open-source code, there is no strict regulations over Android apps.

iOS and Android App Development Software

Android Studio is undeniably fresh, more sophisticated, and efficient development environment though it is often labelled as being the least mature mobile app development tool among available IDEs.

Areas where Android Studio may need certain improvements boil down to:

  • Platform performance
  • Testing
  • Editor
  • Languages

Even in gaming, Android Studio has room for improvement. XCode on the other hand surpasses in the game, scoring a little higher than Android.

App Development Environment

It is a combination of software, hardware, and/or computing resources that is necessary to build software applications. It is meant to offer an application development or interface, integration, troubleshooting, testing, deployment, and maintenance services.

When it comes to the mobile app development environment, both iOS and Android utilize different tools. Google’s Android has launched a more powerful multifunctional Android Studio, the IDE which is superior and more accessible than the old Eclipse ADT. Android Studio is highly capable of optimizing the platform-specific development processes.

Apple’s XCode on the other hand has proven its consistency over years, helping iOS developers extract the best out of its frequently updated versions. Apple’s latest supports the most advanced iOS coding language Swift.

Processing Delay in Distribution

After successful completion of the development, the next crucial step is to publish the product and launch it in the online market. In the case of iOS app, you will be compelled to wait for at least a few days before the approval.

But the delay is worthy as it minimizes the scope of errors, bugs, and offensive content if any that might spoil your app and App Store reputation.

In case of Android app, it takes only a few hours for your product to get uploaded to the Play store. Though it seems to favour Android developers and app creators, it is precarious, less assuring, and risky, especially to Android users.

However, Google has recently brought in place a special automatic bouncer system that searches and removes Android software that is likely to potentially harm or invade user’s system when accessed.

Platform-Specific Registration Fees

It may come as an unexpected blow for independent developers as they need to pay some money to successfully upload the app to a distribution platform such as Google Play Store or Apple Store, even if the app looks promising. Google Play Store usually demands $25 towards registration fee for Android developers.

Apple on the other hand levies as much as $99 for your iOS app to be recognized by the world of iPhone users. So arguably, iOS app development seems a little less economical compared to Android platform as you need to be ready with $99 and a dedicated Mac system to develop apps for iOS platform.

Updating Online Mediums

Releasing updates seem tough and time-consuming if you are fond of building iOS apps. The standard process may impregnate strategic plans of creators and developers, ultimately delaying the update launch date.

There are hardly any beneficent frameworks for software development that help expedite the process and evade Apple’s stringent policies.

On the other hand, Android’s ecosystem allows developers to update their software products in a matter of a few good hours. The team with seasoned Android testers can therefore gain more favours from Android app development.

Difference Between Android and iOS Application Testing

Mobile application testing is one of the very crucial stages in the development stage to make sure that there are no bugs. Unlike in the past, testing is now getting tougher as assessment must be done with diverse hardware and software platforms and a range of network connectivity conditions.

  • Being a closed-source OS, testing is comparatively easy in iOS than Android with an open-source operating system.
  • Regarding types of devices, iOS products are from a single manufacturer whereas Android mobile phones are designed by several manufacturers across the globe making the deployment process lengthy.
  • Even though Google play store is the official place to download Android apps, they could be downloaded from other websites, as well. On the other hand, there is restricted access to iOS apps as they can be downloaded from the Apple store only.

How To Make an App for Both iPhone And Android?

Both iOS and Android platforms have their own merits and demerits. To take advantage of the plus points of both platforms, it would be a great idea to make an app for both iPhone and Android.

  • The simultaneous design process is always complicated and therefore the skill set of the developer is the key here.
  • Firstly, find the commonalities and differences to build the core structure of the app for iOS and Android which will simplify the transition process.
  • Enough testing time should be planned in addition to design and development phase as it will be crucial to test its efficiency on both platforms.
  • In addition to writing codes for both, updates with new features must be made simultaneously on both platforms.

However, now there are possibilities of developing a cross-platform app through a single code base through amazing frameworks like Xamarin and Flutter.

For instance, Xamarin apps are developed in C# which eliminates the need to write separate codes for iOS and Android. Still, it gives the feel and looks of the real native apps. This puts forward the scope of being a cross-platform developer.

Read also : Top 11 Challenges Faced By Mobile App Developers

iOS vs Android Developer Demand

Interesting reports have noted that out of every 11 minutes of mobile time, most people engage with mobile apps for about 10 minutes. Almost 200 billion mobile apps were downloaded each year recently and close to US$120 billion were spent for apps and related purchases annually.

This clearly shows the demand for mobile apps and thus the developers. iOS and Android apps being dominant over other platforms, the major chunk of the demand reaches iOS and Android developers.

However, assessing which one among the two has more demand is quite a difficult task. Since Android devices hold almost 80% of the market share while iOS holds only 15%, one may blindly say Android developers are more in demand.

But considering the demand and supply, i.e., the Android and iOS developers who applied for a job and those who got placed, we can see that the figures are more or less the same. So, we could say that it is a win-win situation for both.

Do Developers Prefer Android or iPhone?

This is a very tough question to answer in a simple straightforward sentence. Still, there are a few crucial factors that gives an edge to iOS. Let us have a look.

  • Earning the potential of iOS is far better when compared to Android
  • In most cases, new apps are released first on iOS and later only on Android.
  • The chances of getting caught up with a bug after release is very minimal as it undergoes stringent assessment before it is approved
  • Users opting for paid apps is a common phenomenon in iOS platform unlike Android OS and thus impacts the revenue
  • As there are limited Apple products and almost the same screen sizes, developing apps and updating them is comparatively an easy job.

iOS vs Android Development Future

With many numbers of Android and iOS apps already in the store, developing a mobile app that is successful and collecting millions needs a lot of effort. But with the exponentially growing industry, it is indispensable to keep your sleeves up and make an impact.

As mentioned earlier, with about 85% market share at present, Android is always in the game, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.4%.

With 10% more users making in-app purchases, the revenue per user is almost 45% more for iOS apps that make it equally important. If you are going for game apps, going for iOS and Android is always going to be profitable in comparison to web design & development.

With the emergence of 5G technology, expansion of AR, AI and VR Technology, IoT Applications, possibilities of M-Commerce, Custom Android App Development, and Blockchain Technology, Android developers can expect a greatly satisfying career with a competitive income.

iOS developers can also eye for a great future with many plans of improvements and innovations in the portfolio. Apps for foldable phones, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, Wearable apps, IOT-Enabled mobile apps, AR&VR, Beacons Technology and Swift5 Programming are a few to name.

Android Developer or iOS Developer, Who Will Have More Scope?

When you assess the scope of developers, one of the important aspects lies around monetization options and profitability. iOS app developers tend to generate more revenue out of their investment and end up receiving regular income flow, unlike Android developers. This is mainly because iOS device users mostly belong to the group whose living standards are defined by a strong economy.

Android solutions creators can also have an opportunity to earn steady revenue from their applications as there are a great many numbers of Android device users scattered across Asian countries which contributes to higher Android smartphone sales.

Mobile companies like Vivo and Samsung are releasing new gadgets every year with new updates which improve the scope for Android development. Being an open-source platform, Android can attract a huge market and get high returns with low investment.

Asian economy has immense power to impact the app downloads in Google Play and Apple Store. However, it is true that common people in developing countries do not have a proclivity to eye on slightly expensive iOS apps.

Google is now focusing on rich markets like Europe, UK, and the USA to benefit from their extravagant mobile app users and reap more profit. This opens a great opportunity for Android developers to explore more global markets and thus enhance their scope of job opportunities and income

Final Words

Although there is a constant intense race between iOS and Android apps, mobile app developers have equal opportunities for learning and monetization on both platforms. The above briefing of the key differences can help you to choose what would work best for you, depending on your goal, vision, and future career prospect.

Going by many survey reports, it is more likely for developers to make the choice by considering the key factors of technical challenges, process ease and availability of resources. Being a developer is really challenging as one needs to keep themselves updated and upgraded based on the constant changes in the digital arena and bring in key strategies to stay in the game.

What all mobile app users seek is an excellent, well-conceived and perfectly designed mobile app they will never regret using. So, more than their career scope, it is an added responsibility for developers to design amazing apps to meet the expectations of end-users and make them crave more.

How To Create an App For Your Small Business

Mobile apps have not only changed the communication, but it has also subtly disrupted the economy and society in general. In last decade, Mobile app development technology has evolved so exponentially that it is almost impossible for us to survive a day without the use of digital devices. With every smallest requirement being fulfilled by mobile apps, businesses of all scales have an ocean of opportunities to take advantage of these digital solutions used by millions of customers.

Due to its burgeoning use and ubiquitous accessibility, Mobile apps have become the powerful resort for small businesses who wish to enhance customer engagement and acquire new customers. Mobile offers a compact digital platform where small businesses and startups can discover utmost potential to launch their products, display promotional offers and advertise their services.

Considering its endless benefits, here is how a small business can reach more customers and grow revenue gradually.

1) Define and Discover the Competitive idea

It all begins with a lean idea. Mobile app is all about carving your own niche and finding the comfort in the idea you wish to expand. It is therefore important, before you ever start building your app, to discover the bright idea that you want to work out.

The market is already over populated with innumerable successful mobile apps, each having its unique potential to stand out among the crowd. In order to hit the market in its early stage, it is vital for a small business to research through the heap of established mobile app businesses to scavenge the most auspicious one and start testing.

2) Where Does You Audience Fit?

Your customers are going to make a brand out of your small business company. Hence, be religious about finding the target audience, the people who are most likely to fit in your mobile app idea. As users are going to interact with your business through the app, try to know what customers are likely to use your app.

Mobile apps generate unparalleled traffic which is of different grade from the normal web community due to its ability to offer distinctive user experience and immersive features that result in higher engagement. Track down this audience anticipated to devote their interest to your mobile app content.

3) Create an Appeal From the Design

When you are building an app to reach your target market, you must know what message it conveys, what you intend to sell and whether the product contains required appeal for users. The best way to influence the customers is to create the best appeal, and for this create the best design including the right  colors, logo, font and navigation.

Read also : How To Create a Hybrid App With Android Studio?

Then comes the content which makes your small business mobile app quite interactive, lively, and above all, real. Be creative about introducing an expressive appeal to your mobile app. For this, the content within your app plays a significant role. To enrich the concept of content, you can integrate it with video contents like YouTube channels or popular trending blogs.

4) Prepare For an MVP

Mobile app development is filled with great challenges from design to launch. To minimize the risks, it is better to first build a Minimum Viable Product, a kind of solution that many companies prefer with limited set of features. MVP is the initial compact version of the mature app purposed around measuring the performance and success prospects of your actual business idea.

Evan Spiegel, the co-owner of Snapchat, first launched the app to allow students to share images and messages that can be automatically deleted in a few seconds. The idea then went on to scale up and became an irresistible brand today for many existing apps.

This goes to say that MVP helps you analyze the potential and worth of your business goal and plants a scalable vision to your future endeavors. Later, you may think of adding more polish and features to interest more users. Bear in mind that you MVP comes out clean, easy-to-navigate and uncluttered so that it can be easily judged and evaluated by users.

5) Find a Developer

To develop an MVP of your conceived design, you need to move from ideation to reality. For that you need a technology partner, a team of specialized mobile app developers who can dedicate their talent and experience. You will stumble across a handful of versatile online marketplaces where businesses seek and meet freelance developers who can help with  your project.

However, such purely virtual model of collaboration does not feel tangible and often turn out to be lethargic, inflexible and uncommunicative. To prevent your projects from suffering unexpected delays, you need to source an established, agile and highly seasoned mobile app development company that owns relevant exposure in mobile app projects.

6) Outsourcing or in-House Development?

Though it is a matter of taste, trust and suitability, the outsourcing model of mobile app development involves a lot of ease and flexibility. Companies that prefer their own in-house team may not be specialized or versed in various technologies used to build a flawless mobile app. They can’t always keep with latest trends and practices.

Therefore, it is advisable to outsource your mobile app projects to a dedicated professional mobile app development firm who is resourceful enough to deal with technical matters involved in the project. Additionally, hiring a team of agile mobile developers is economical and consumes lean time span and always remain accessible.

7) Communication & Testing

Having quick and clean communication is the key to bringing the desired output in minimum time. Using most advanced tools for collaboration can help eliminate any rapport-blocking barriers. To maintain the integrity and consistency, weekly meeting and conducting verbal Q & A sessions can help in  monitoring the ongoing progress.

Read also : 24 Best Business Apps of 2021

When the developers have completed the job, its then time to test the product thoroughly for bugs/other issues using creative use cases. To make sure the app fulfills your expectations, launch it in App Stores only when you are completely satisfied with its performance and functionality.

8) Market and Fund Your App

Now comes the step of marketing the app and generate fund for the job. Small businesses can look to crowdfunding sources as a solution to garner enough funds. You can look up online to find several options for crowd-funding platforms for you.

Having a good support from financial resources helps small businesses resolve budget issues and save a lot for marketing partners. You may invest some of your resources in driving customer acquisition and loyalty through push messages, rewards, influencer marketing, ASO, paid ads, or any other means.

9) Monetize It

When the  app becomes popular enough and receives great response, you can embark on monetizing your small business app. In-app monetization, is the best option to create a consistent revenue stream. To make your app a success you need to try in new features that even include paid ones.

Instead of charging users for downloads, you can also divide your apps in both paid and free versions, which is the approach preferred by many iOS app developers. Alternatively, offer in-app purchases (credits, points, vouchers) that enable users to enjoy more features at a small price. In-app advertisements and promotions also can benefit your business.

Conclusion

To launch the small business via a mobile app requires a lot of research efforts and knowledge about features, impactful design, mobile app marketing, optimization and its perfect launch. To make your dream come alive, you need to hire qualified talents and an experienced mobile app development partner.

Redbytes have a wide set of skills and are equipped to follow above steps of development with fair industry compliance. You may send your query to us if you are looking to build a small business app.

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Top 11 Challenges Faced By Mobile App Developers

Mobile apps have been around for almost a decade now, which means technology lovers are highly acquainted with what they are presented with in terms of digital solutions. In order to remain updated, informed and strongly connected at any given place and time, users need smart mobile apps that deliver solutions with minimal interactions.

While futuristic technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and IoT have transformed the conventional face of mobile apps, users are expecting to have even smarter and more evolved mobile applications, tossing more intense challenges down the path of mobile app developers.

Let us take an unbiased glance at all possible challenges mobile app developers are most likely to face in today’s time.

1. Innovative Elements That Beat The Competition

The crucial stage of mobile app consultation is when you have to make a very pivotal decision of winning the target audience and overpowering the competition.

Finding the correct field of interest and ensuring your app will be successful enough to beat the competition is a work of diligence.

In the industry that is known for changing trends and giving rich user experience, developers must have superior talent to outperform the similar products in the App stores.

The challenge is to overcome the pressure of developing the most original, aesthetic and innovative application, the one that people can notice and embrace for lifetime.

2. Optimizing The App For all Devices and Mobile Screens

From Android to iOS and Windows, all devices come with various screen size and resolutions, each offering unique environment and ecosystem for developers to work on. For developers, the challenge is to create apps that perform exquisitely across all device screens.

Each time they build an app, it becomes important to meet the unique requirements of target devices while optimizing the app for different screen sizes.

3. Keeping the Mobile App Clean and Relatable

As there are many applications in Google Play Store and Apple App Store, it is essential for mobile app specialists keep the app as clean and clutter-free as possible.

Here the challenge is to make sure the application should be self-explanatory. In case the app does have certain unknown elements, they need to include quick guide so that end users can get on with your app and jump right in without much time.

Apart from this, it is also advisable to maintain the relevance of the app for the target audience, considering the fact that users want to explore the features that they find highly relatable.

4. Battery Life vs. App Performance

Device battery life is something that has to be considered with utmost sincerity as users don’t want to experience the instances of overheating or overmuch power consumption while they use your app. People who still use previous versions of device OS are often subject to battery life issues.

Developers therefore test battery performance for their app by releasing Beta version and check whether the app drains the device battery too quickly.

Based on the feedback, developers run a second check and tweak the features to ensure the app retains battery performance. The challenge here is to design a bug-free, high-performance app that doesn’t devour excessive power.

5. Simplicity of Design and Use

Users have a general tendency to relate with those apps that are easy to use and understand. Mobile app fanatics would never appreciate heavy complexity of design and will switch to other apps that are simple in use.

Developers are expected to focus on building an app that has simple design yet offers incredible user experience with personalized features and functionality. Thus, combining simplicity with engaging user experience is another challenge for them.

6. Volatility and Limited Lifecycle

The problem with most digital solutions is that it remains predominant and appreciated until a bigger player conquers the mobile app market.

Mobile technology is constantly evolving and so is user behavior, which means there will always be a fair chance that your app has limited lifecycle.

This suggests that developers have to be creative enough to launch a substantial and highly sustainable product that can combat market volatility for similar apps.

7. Changing Mobile Apps Ecosystem

Today’s best mobile technology is likely to become tomorrow’s past phenomenon. This is because along with mobile development technologies, hardware and software ecosystem of digital devices often experience frequent updates in regular intervals.

In this dynamic situation, mobile app developers find it hard to cope with design and testing the app for heterogenous device environments. This poses as another tough challenge for even the most talented mobile app developers.

8. Making it Outstanding

Mobile app stores are deluged with great many numbers of apps. Even the app you are planning to build may already have its hundreds of competitors. More apps keep hitting the online store everyday. How can you make sure your app will end up on users’ mobile screen?

You must delve deep into latest needs and how user behavior is changing in order to create something that stand out from the crowd and receive impressive response. Making the app unique and different from others is a real challenge for developers.

9. Interactive UI

Not every app downloaded by users stay permanently on their mobile screen. This is why professional mobile app developers must gravitate towards the concept of making user interface more appealing. A mobile app with attractive and expressive UI makes for the most usable apps.

Mobile devices have built-in sensors integrating which developers can make the apps more lively and interactive. However, this again swoops down as a challenge on developers’ shoulder as it consumes a lot of time making such features work.

10. Establishing an Instant Connection With End Users

The key to survival in the mobile application market is to release an app that instantly connects with end users. The best way to achieve this goal is to continue to evolve the features and adopt an innovative approach for creating the exemplary features.

If your mobile app fails to connect with users, the entire purpose of investing efforts and money will go in vain. Also, the job of developers involves being accessible and taking in all the comments and feedback shared by users and rectifying the bugs that practically hinder the user experience. Building an unblemished relationship with end users from the beginning phase is a cumbersome process for developers.

11. Mobile app Marketing and Promotion

Mobile app marketing is the key to growing awareness and visibility for mobile apps in the app stores and eventually impacts the app success. Developers need to opt for extensive marketing and promotion strategy to obtain massive response from the target users.

However, for developers to jump into the role of marketer is a great challenge since they need to learn all the principles of SEO and ASO and online affiliate activities.

One easiest way to diminish the challenge is to approach a successful creative marketing and ad agency who can help app development companies aggressively market their new apps and earn thick volume of traffic.

Conclusion

With technology landscape for mobile app development getting mighty hard for developers to keep up with, they must pull up their sleeves to confront intimidating challenges. However, there is no denial that these challenges do present boundless opportunities to build excellent user experience for their mobile app.

Surpassing these challenges with technological insight and versatile skillset gives mobile development experts a strong competitive edge and helps them build expansive user base.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App Like Uber?

Uber is not just an inspiration for startups and aspiring entrepreneurs, its miraculous success is so infectious it provoked many market learners to think of going Uber way. The billion-dollar taxi booking startup Uber was founded by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp eight years ago in 2009 thought they might have felt shocked upon experiencing such a gargantuan success from their joint digital venture.

taxi booking app cost

No wonder young talents are impelled to recreate the same magic by developing Uber-like app for taxi booking. Ola and Grab has already made their mark on the map. Splendid! This is the reason why young startups are fanatically seeking affordable mobile app development companies who can calculate estimate cost to develop Uber clone to join the revolution of unique traveling. Let’s explore how you can approach cost calculation for developing the app.

The main factors that determine app development cost are:

  • Platform choice
  • Basic features
  • UI/UX design elements
  • Target demographics
  • Product maintenance and QA
  • Frequency of security updates

You need to build two separate apps to develop an Uber clone for any given platform. One for drivers and one for users (passengers). Both versions will house slightly different set of features. Check out these common features for both the apps that you can customize later to your requirements:

Passenger’s App: 

  • Register & login: Login and registration via Email or social media accounts, credit cards
  • Booking user interface: An interface on a screen to enter details needed to call a taxi such as pickup address, cab type or a specific driver, etc.
  • Tracker: A feature to track driver’s location and progress as they are en route to rider.
  • Price calculator: To estimate the cost of a ride from point A to point B before finalizing it
  • Payments: Debit and credit card, in-app and cashless, automatic debit, email invoice or directly on phone
  • Push notifications:  To update users on order status, taxi arrival time, cab details, offers and more.
  • Preferred driver: To pick specific driver based on personal experience or ratings
  • Booking history: To view previous taxi booking instances
  • Ratings & reviews: To view and leave personal opinion and experience

Driver’s App: 

  • Register/profile/login authentication: Registration and log in feature with detailed verification (tax number), profile authentication and approval by an administrator and status
  • Booking: Options to accept or deny the incoming booking requests from users, customer location details, and destination of a ride along with plus booking history
  • Push notifications: To receive alerts on taxi booking which includes data’s like  pickup location, payment mode, destination, order updates, etc.
  • Navigation: Use of Google Maps or Location services or iOS Map services to get clear directions to a customer and the ultimate destination, added voice-enabled services
  • Reviews, messaging, route selection

Admin Panel

You need a central control panel to administer and manage all the ongoing activities, requests and processes from a single point. This is called an Admin panel, a web app that facilitates crucial engagement between riders and drivers, and later on processes data regarding ride routes.

This mainly consists

  • Interactive dashboard
  • Customizable capabilities
  • Driver details
  • Manual Allocation of drivers
  • Manual driver alerts

Now, the next process of calculating the entire app development cost involves gathering knowledge about approximate time and development charges for each phase.

We have divided the complex process in an understandable break-up to comprehend the budget estimate easily.

1) Leading Cost Components

Considering the general major aspects of Uber-like app development, we can narrate the most common cost drivers as:

  • Backend development
  • Web development
  • UI/UX Design
  • Third-party service APIs integrations
  • Native experience qualities (Android/iOS)
  • Post-deployment maintenance & Quality assurance

2) Technologies and tools required to build the app

Uber has unveiled its unique API for developers. Hence, if you are planning to clone Uber you must tailor your own version to introduce original elements of server, maps payments. Having a viable server is key to efficiently processing thousands of user requests, driver routes and data everyday.

As for programming languages, we recommend the following:

Backend: Java, Node.js, Python, PHP.

GPS: OpenStreetMap API or iOS and Android

3) Platform-specific APIs for Native use

For Android: Google Maps and Google Location Services API

For iOS: MapKit or CoreLocation framework

4) In-app Payment solutions

Uber has robust In-app Payment solutions for credit cards and Wallet.

For third-party gateway integrations, you can choose Stripe, Paytm, PayPal Mobile SDK, BrainTree

Push notifications: Google Firebase (Android), Apple Push (iOS devices)

SMS notification services: cloud communication platforms like Twilio, Tropo, Plivo, Nexmo and more.

5) Programming the Backend Infrastructure

Writing a perfect architecture of the taxi booking mobile app backend is the foremost goal for the effective functioning of the app. Developers invest extra care and efforts while programming the backbone that creates immaculate poise and connections among its critical backend elements. This is where the story of success if essentially written and managed by enabling all the stunning features described earlier.

The skilled knowers of JavaScript, Python or CSS languages will work their way through building the app’s core and connecting it to UI of both rider’s and driver’s versions of the app. Database system like MySQL, PostgreSQL may come handy for storing crucial app data with emphasis on future scalability.

Domain Similar App How To How Much Our Price
Food Delivery Uber Create an app like uber Uber app cost View price
 

The total amount of time and resources required to shape the entire backend is a little challenging question itself as the job is fairly prone to a lot of brainstorming and successive changes, which makes it an arduous task.

However, on an average estimate, it may consume 100-200 hours feature-wise though the process can be accelerated by putting highly experienced agile developers on the job.

6) Platform-specific estimation: Native iOS/Android

It is a general belief that developing a native app experience for any single platform leads to double the benefits and also helps curb overall cost. An app expressing simplicity with uninterrupted performance like Uber is what you target customer would wish.

Therefore, for your goal to align with end users, you should be clear about opting for iOS and android apps separately as this preference boosts usability of your mobile app.

Software development companies are capable of building native apps with native experience and feel for both platforms. With same backend and functionality in place, your iOS and Android will perform equally well.

Of course, tools and framework technologies used will depend on the target platform. Time taken to address each platform may vary from 200 to 250 hours.

Finally, the total cost

In this section, the entire discussion on how and what factors influence the cost of Uber-like app development gets summarized. Hourly rates are sensitive to country’s respective economy and commerce practices.

For example, in USA, the rate is nearly $100-$200 and $50-$100 in European continents. In Asia, things appear affordable and the development fee may come down to $50 or $40 per hour.

The major cost belongs to the most time-eating phases of app development and QA where driver’s version and admin panel play a dominant role. Finally, to sum up in one sentence, the approximate cost range to develop the most fundamental Uber-like app in India falls to $25000 to $30000 for a single platform, considering $50 of medium hourly rate.

The total cost for developing Uber clone for both apps may boil down to $50000 or a little more depending on the demand and specifications from the client.

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