You’ve got a web product working, or you’re planning one, and now you’re wondering about an app. An icon on the home screen, push notifications, the App Store. Custom app development is a bigger commitment than a website, so it’s worth understanding what you’re signing up for before you start.

If you haven’t built the web side yet, start with how to build your first custom web app, then come back here.

Do you actually need a native app?

Be honest about this one, because it saves a lot of money. You need a real app when:

  • You need device features: camera, location, offline use, push notifications.
  • Your users live on their phones and expect an icon, not a URL.
  • Performance and feel have to be flawless, like a daily-use tool.

If you mostly need “our website, but on a phone,” you may not need a native app at all.

Web app, PWA, or native: a quick decision guide

There are three honest options, and the right one depends on your needs, not on hype.

  • Responsive web app. Works in any browser. Cheapest and fastest. No app store, limited device access. Great for most first products.
  • Progressive web app (PWA). A web app that can be installed to the home screen and work offline. Most of the “app” feel, a fraction of the cost. An underrated middle ground.
  • Native or cross-platform app. Built with something like React Native for iOS and Android. Full device access and the best feel, but more to build and more to maintain, plus app-store review.

A good partner will tell you when a PWA is enough, instead of selling you the most expensive option.

What custom app development involves

Building an app is building the same product twice: the experience your users touch, and the backend that powers it. A typical custom app needs:

  • A backend and database (often shared with your web app).
  • Accounts, authentication, and secure data handling.
  • The app itself, built once and shipped to both platforms with a cross-platform framework.
  • App-store setup, review, and release management.

The smart move is to share one backend across web and app, so you’re not building and maintaining two separate systems.

Cost, timeline, and the app-store reality

A custom app usually takes longer than a web app of similar scope, because there’s more surface area and the app stores add their own steps. Budget for a few extra weeks just for store setup, review, and the first release.

And then there’s the part nobody warns first-time founders about: the app stores keep moving. Apple and Google change their rules and their operating systems every year, and your app has to keep up or it breaks.

Apps need maintenance more than websites do

A website you can mostly leave alone for a while. An app you cannot. Every year brings new iOS and Android versions, new device sizes, new store requirements, and new security expectations. An app that shipped and then sat untouched will start failing reviews and crashing on new phones within a year.

This is the single biggest reason app projects go wrong: someone builds it, disappears, and the app slowly rots. Custom app development without an ongoing engineering team is a countdown, not a finish line.

How we’d build, and run, your app

At Gitkonek we’ve spent 10 years shipping software, and we run our own products long after launch. For apps especially, that’s the whole point: we build your app and then build and run it, keeping it current with every OS update, store change, and new feature, month after month.

If you’re weighing up a custom app, book a free call. We’ll help you decide whether you need a native app, a PWA, or just a great web app, and then we’ll build the right one and keep it shipping.