The most common answer you will hear from agencies is eight to twelve weeks. The more honest answer involves a lot more variables than most clients expect going in.
A freelancer named Oksana Bryzhko spent four months building what was quoted as a six-week project. Not because the developer was incompetent, but because the scope kept shifting and feedback rounds took longer than planned. Both sides were partly responsible.
What actually drives the timeline
A simple single-platform app with no third-party integrations and a clear design brief can realistically ship in eight to ten weeks. Add a second platform, a payment gateway, user authentication, and admin dashboards, and you are looking at five to seven months minimum for a quality build.
- Discovery and scoping: two to three weeks
- UI design and prototyping: three to four weeks
- Development and internal testing: six to fourteen weeks depending on complexity
- App store submission and review: one to two weeks
The review stage surprises people. Apple in particular can reject an app and require revisions, adding weeks to the launch date.
A fixed timeline only works with a fixed scope. Every new feature request resets the clock.The most reliable way to hit a deadline is to lock the feature list before development starts and treat additions as phase two.