App Development Cost Breakdown, by Key Mobile App Features

First on our list is the user login and authentication mode that verifies the user’s identity. The process of logging in and authenticating the user can be made easier by adding an option to register via email or phone number and verifying through a One Time Password. A more user-friendly way of signing-in is using social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This feature collects the user’s public data from the social media site and creates an account on your app using those or authenticates the existing one. It requires around 50-70 hours and costs approx $800-$1000 to build this app feature.

Payment integration with mobile apps is a basic necessity for apps to make the user experience convenient. Whether you want to sell your product, services, or premium membership, you need to integrate payment gateways to complete the transaction within your app. Luckily, payment gateway integration doesn’t take a long time. There are multiple payment service providers to choose from such as Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Paypal, Braintree, etc. It costs around $700-$1000 to build this feature in 50-60 hours.

New users look for honest and relevant reviews and ratings from existing users when deciding whether to install the app or not. Apps with an in-app review and rating feature can increase the chances of receiving ratings from your users. This feature can single-handedly guarantee the quality of your application to new users, making it a significant part of any app.

When you integrate this module in your app, users can rate the app from 1-5 stars and write a short review of their experience on the app store without leaving the app. This will ultimately help the download rates go up and increase app visibility. Building this module costs approximately $300-$500 and takes up to 20 hours of work.

One of the most important app features, chat messaging and chatbots help market your business like big e-commerce, shopping, and food delivery apps. According to your business needs, you can build a person-to-person chat system, group chats, and even support file transfer as well. You can also include features like chat history, saving or deleting messages, offline mode, and sending emojis. It costs $700-$900 to build this feature in about 40-50 hours. Chatbots are great for instant replies to predetermined sets of common questions that your business receives. Basically, this system uses AI and Machine Learning to answer commonly asked questions automatically in the chat box. If your business requires an AI chatbot, then it will cost $1300-$1600 and 80-100 hours to build the feature.

Push notifications can be annoying for a user but the feature is a must-have for your mobile application. Almost 99% of apps nowadays have this feature which means your app is fighting against all apps to get the user’s attention. In such a market, the best way is to follow the trend. Push notifications are real-time updates about the services and activities of the app. It’s a clever way to keep your users engaged and prompt them to use your app frequently. You can choose whether you want just a simple text notification feature or the ones with an image and action buttons. This Feature can be developed with APNS, Firebase messaging service, UrbanAirship, PushWoosh, etc. It takes 50-60 hours to build this feature and costs around $500-$800.

Mostly used by on-demand streaming apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Hotstar, YouTube, Amazon Prime, HBO, and Fox News, audio and video content streaming is high in demand. The feature can be used to deliver audio and video content to users inside the app to keep users on the app. The audio and video streaming feature requires real-time data processing, sending it to the streaming server and finally transmitting it without delays. Factors like file format, server setup, resolution, bitrate, etc influence the cost and time required to build this feature. It can take over 180-270 hours and cost approx $3000-$4500 to develop.

Mobile applications are growing prone to security attacks and data breaches at an alarming rate. This makes it highly critical for mobile apps to build security features while the app is still in development. Data encryption is one of the best security features your app can utilize.

Data encryption means converting information into a code that can only be decoded by the sender and receiver using keys. Communication apps like Whatsapp use end-to-end encryption features to ensure the security of private data and prevent unauthorized access.

Mobile apps and websites use several block ciphers like AES, Blowfish, and RAS to secure end-to-end communication and validate server identity before accessing any databases. This module costs approx $700-$1200 and requires 40-50 hours of work to build.

When you are building an app that contributes to your business majorly, you should build features that add value to your app. Features like user login, payment integration, chat messaging and push notifications are necessary for almost all apps. Now that you have an idea of the app development cost of these features, you can easily calculate how much it will cost to build an app for your business.

Creating a mobile app is an expensive and arduous process. It takes specialized skills and experience to build a successful app. If you are looking for a mobile app development company that will turn your dream app into a reality, we’ve got you covered. Zenia Mobile has the professionals to build innovative and successful apps from scratch. Our portfolio of work and client testimonials speak for themselves. Contact us today to get the custom app development cost estimate for your business.