Apps for iOS and Android

Do you really need an app?

Not always. An app costs more than a web application, because it's more work. Whether that pays off depends on your goal and your budget. An app makes sense if people open it every day, or if you need the phone's camera or location. An app nobody opens is mostly a pretty icon.

Sometimes we recommend building a web application in phase 1 and the app later, once you know what users really do. Not sure yet whether your idea will catch on at all? Start with an MVP.

Native or cross-platform?

Native means building a separate app for iOS and one for Android. Cross-platform means one app that runs on both. We go cross-platform by default: it's more efficient, and native is rarely needed. When there's a good reason for native, we build native. Either way, we publish your app on the App Store and Google Play.

What sits behind the app

Behind the screens sits a backend that stores data and handles logins, plus an admin portal where your team manages content and users. We build both.

For StatieApp, the backend talked to a hardware partner's platform, and checked with Statiegeld Nederland whether a barcode belonged to a product with a deposit. For Mamamoon, we set up the admin portal so the founder could keep all the content up to date on their own.

From first conversation to App Store

• Introduction and analysis: in an introductory call you tell us what the app should do and who it's for. We then work out the best route: app or web first, cross-platform or native. That research is on us, and you get a plan setting out what each phase delivers.
• Design and visual prototyping: we design the screens around your wishes, so you can see how the app works, screen by screen, before any development starts.
• Building in phases: phase 1 covers the core features. After each phase, real users test what's there, and their feedback shapes the next one.
• Launch and support: your users get going with the new app, while we keep an eye on things in the background.

Trying to get everything right in one go doesn't work, so nothing is set in stone from day one.

The first six months after launch include full support. After that, a maintenance package of six hours every six months keeps your app up to date: software updates, security patches and monitoring. Every app is covered by our Sentry monitoring, so if something breaks, we're alerted straight away and fix it at no cost. We take care of hosting too; where and how, we decide together.

What does an app cost?

The price depends mostly on the number of features, the size of the backend and admin portal, any integrations with other systems, and whether native is needed.

The biggest lever you control is the first phase: start with the core features, put them in front of users, then decide whether to continue.

Apps we've built

Impackt shows that an app doesn't have to be the first step. It started in September 2021 as a pilot in one HEMA store, and only after that came the consumer app, which let people earn points for packaging that carries no deposit. At its peak it ran in over 75 stores, and more than 100,000 packages were scanned and recycled.

At Mamamoon we acted as technical co-founder, responsible for all IT and product development. The concept had already been tested with a clickable Figma design. We turned it into iOS and Android apps plus a web application, in English and Dutch, which brought in the first paying users.

StatieApp, a spin-off of Impackt, was built to pay out deposits in places like stations and parks. We built the consumer app for iOS and Android and the payments behind it: real money, at an unattended machine, over a network that sometimes drops out. So we built in fraud prevention and a guarantee that every transaction goes through.