"How long will this take?" is the first question every founder asks, and the honest answer is: it depends on scope, not luck. When a build stays inside a clearly defined MVP, six weeks from kickoff to a live, testable product is a realistic timeline — not a number we quote to win the pitch and quietly miss.
Week 1: Discovery and scoping
Before anything is built, we turn your idea into a written technical plan: the screens, the user flows, the integrations, what's in scope for this version and what's explicitly deferred to a later one. This is also where a fixed price and a real timeline get issued — not a range, not a guess. If the scope doesn't fit six weeks, you hear that in week one, not week five.
Weeks 2–3: Architecture and design handoff
Before a single screen gets built, we settle the foundation: the data model, navigation structure, and API design. Decisions made here are expensive to reverse later, so we make them deliberately rather than as a byproduct of whichever feature got built first. In parallel, we translate your designs (or shape the UX with you, if you don't have any yet) into a build-ready structure.
Weeks 3–5: Build in visible sprints
Development happens in short sprints you can test on your own device throughout — not a single reveal at the end where you find out for the first time whether it matches what you had in mind.
- A working build you can install and use, not just a slide describing progress
- A short list of what shipped this sprint, in plain language
- Any scope or timeline risk flagged immediately, not discovered at the deadline
Week 6: QA and store submission
Every build goes through a structured QA pass on real devices before it goes anywhere near App Store Connect or Google Play Console — the same process covered in our App Store submission checklist. If your product falls into a regulated category, that gets checked against current review guidelines here too, not discovered after a rejection.
Why six weeks, and when it's longer
Six weeks is realistic for a focused MVP: a handful of core flows, one or two integrations, no heavy compliance requirements. Add a payment system, multi-role permissions, or a second platform, and the honest timeline gets longer — and you'll know that in the scoping conversation, priced and scheduled up front, not billed as a surprise once you're already committed.