Service
Mobile app development
iOS and Android apps built from one React Native codebase, designed to feel native and shipped to both stores.
- Scoped per project
- UK based
- Founder-led delivery
We build mobile apps with React Native and Expo: one codebase, two platforms, and an app that behaves the way people expect an app to behave rather than a website in a wrapper.
The reason to build cross-platform is not that it is cheaper, although it usually is. It is that a small team can keep both platforms at the same quality. Two native codebases owned by a small studio tend to drift, and one of them quietly becomes the neglected one.
We ship our own app this way. FAM is on Google Play with iOS in progress, which means we have been through store review, release management, push notifications, and the specific misery of getting a build signed correctly. That experience is the part you are actually buying.
Included
What you get
Every engagement includes all of this. None of it turns up later as an extra.
One codebase, both platforms
React Native and Expo for iOS and Android, so features ship to both at once instead of one platform waiting its turn.
Interface design that respects the platform
Navigation, gestures, and typography that feel correct on each platform, rather than a desktop layout squeezed onto a phone.
Offline behaviour and real-time sync
Apps get used on trains and in basements. State that survives a lost connection and reconciles cleanly when it comes back.
Push notifications and deep links
Notifications that route to the right screen, wired properly for both platforms including the permission flows that people get wrong.
Store submission and release
Store listings, screenshots, review responses, and staged rollouts. Apple and Google require the publisher accounts to be in your name, so we set those up with you and then do the rest ourselves rather than handing you a build and wishing you luck.
Analytics and crash reporting
You launch knowing what is happening in the app, not guessing from review scores.
In detail
How we approach it
When a mobile app is the wrong answer
A lot of app projects should be websites. If your users interact with you occasionally, discover you through search, and do not need notifications or offline access, an app adds an install step between them and the thing they want, and installs are the most expensive user action in software.
Apps earn their place when usage is frequent, when notifications drive real value, when the device's hardware matters, or when offline is a genuine requirement. We would rather tell you that on the first call than deep into a build.
The store submission problem
Getting an app built is roughly two thirds of the job. The remaining third is certificates, provisioning profiles, privacy declarations, data safety forms, store listings, screenshots at the right sizes, and review cycles that can reject you for reasons that are not obvious from the guidelines.
It is the part that surprises first-time app owners and the part most quotes leave out. We include it, because an app that is finished and not in the store is not finished.
Designing for people who did not choose the app
Consumer apps are usually adopted by one enthusiastic person and then have to survive contact with everyone else. Building FAM taught us to design for the reluctant member: the person who did not want a new app and will abandon it at the first moment of friction.
In practice that means the shortest possible path to first value, defaults that are right without configuration, and at least one way to use the app that requires almost no learning. In FAM that was voice commands. Whatever it is in your product, it needs to exist.
Process
How it runs
Four steps from first call to launch. No surprises, no disappearing acts.
Call
One focused call to understand what you need, who it is for, and what success looks like. You leave with a clear, written scope and a proposal.
Prototype
You are clicking through a working prototype with most of the core features live, early in the project. Real screens in the browser, not static mockups.
Refine
We shape the prototype into the finished product, folding in every amendment you ask for. Nothing ships until you have confirmed the final build.
Deploy
We take it live on the hosting provider and domain of your choosing, fully wired up, and stay close after launch to keep it running smoothly.
Proof
Projects built this way
Case studies with the reasoning, not just a screenshot.
FAQ
Mobile Apps questions
Do you build native or cross-platform apps?
Cross-platform, with React Native and Expo. That gives you iOS and Android from one codebase, which keeps both platforms at the same quality and the same version. For the large majority of apps the result is indistinguishable from native to the person using it. If your product genuinely needs platform-specific native work, we will tell you.
Is store submission included?
Yes, and it is not quoted separately. An app that is finished and not in the store is not delivered, so developer accounts, signing, privacy declarations, listings, screenshots, and review responses are part of the work rather than an extra at the end.
Do you handle App Store and Google Play submission?
Yes, end to end: certificates and signing, privacy and data safety declarations, store listings, screenshots, and responding to review feedback until the app is live. The one thing we cannot do for you is the developer accounts themselves. Apple and Google require the publisher to be the business that owns the app, so those are registered in your name and we walk you through it.
How long does app review take?
Apple review is usually one to three days once the submission is correct, and Google Play is often faster, though both can take longer for a first release or for apps in sensitive categories. We build the submission requirements into the schedule so review is not a surprise at the end.
Can you take over an app someone else built?
Frequently. We will audit it first and give you an honest read on whether it is worth continuing or worth replacing, along with what each option costs. Inheriting a codebase is normal work for us, not a special case.
Do I need a web version too?
Not necessarily, but most products benefit from at least a marketing site that explains the app and gives search engines something to index. App store listings alone are a weak search presence. We usually build the two together.
Related
Other services
Next step
Start here
Tell us what you need built. You will get a written scope and a proposal before any work starts.
Usually within one working day