Time
How long does it take to build an app? After kickoff, not after the first email
Short answer
Mobile MVPs at RR Tech often ship in 1–2 weeks after kickoff. Broader iOS, Android, or web builds are scoped individually. Public examples on this site run from 2 weeks (InspectAI MVP) to 10 weeks (Fantasy Cricket Hub in production). Kickoff is not the enquiry — it is after vision, scope, and a technical roadmap are aligned.
“How long” is the sibling of “how much.” Both collapse until you name the job. A timer-and-block-apps loop is not a live sports-data client. A morning inspection dashboard is not a dual-platform production habit app.
What “after kickoff” means here
The studio process is four phases: Discover, Design, Build, Launch & Scale. The week-counts we publish describe the build we put on the site — not the days you spend gathering brand assets or waiting on an App Store account. If Discover is rushed, Build inherits every unspoken assumption.
- Discover — vision, user journeys, scope and milestones, technical roadmap. You get a proposal, not a vibe.
- Design — wireframes through high-fidelity flows for the primary loop, reviewed with the people who will build it.
- Build — sprints with QA in the cycle, not a big-bang test week at the end.
- Launch — store submission or production deploy, analytics setup, handover. Store review clocks are Apple’s and Google’s.
Published calendars on this site
Only timelines we actually print
| Work | Kind | Weeks | Platforms we name |
|---|---|---|---|
| InspectAI | MVP | 2 | Mobile (field client) |
| CraveNow | MVP | 2 | Mobile · maps as a listed capability |
| WaitlistAI | MVP | 2 | Mobile · SaaS in the stack label |
| Ghost Mode | Production | 4 | iOS and Android · KMP core |
| BrainSync AI | Production | 6 | Kotlin, AI, Cloud — OS not separately named |
| Fantasy Cricket Hub | Production | 10 | Android · Kotlin · Firebase |
Ghost Mode is 4 weeks and labelled in production — outside the typical 1–2 week MVP slice: a complete focus loop, not a throwaway. Fantasy Cricket Hub is a different object again — a production Android app organised around live fixtures and form.
What stretches a timeline
- A second native client without a shared core. Dual-platform is doable — Ghost Mode did it in 4 weeks with Kotlin Multiplatform for the product rules. Two unrelated codebases for the same rules will not stay 4 weeks.
- Live feeds and honesty in the UI. Colour-coded form rows and graphs are fast to scan and slower to get right than a settings screen. FCH’s 10 weeks bought that kind of product, not a longer standup.
- AI features that need real data. Adaptive session lengths and wait-time bands only make sense if the product already records the behaviour. See the AI guide.
- Scope that pretends to be an MVP. If v1 needs Schedule, Records, Stadium, Profile, and a dual-platform AI second brain, you are not in the 2-week column.
- You. Delayed decisions, missing store accounts, and redesigns after Build has started are the usual silent adders. A fixed-scope slice assumes you can answer in the same week we ask.
Web vs mobile clocks
Public case studies on this site are mobile products and labelled MVPs. Web and web-application work uses the listed JavaScript stack (Next.js, React, TypeScript, Node.js, Tailwind). This marketing site is the live web example. We do not invent a web-app week-count we have not published. Web MVPs are scoped individually.
A practical way to estimate before you call
Place yourself on the map
- One job on the first screen, one platform → start in the 1–2 week MVP conversation
- One job, two platforms, shared rules → still possible in that band if the loop is small (Ghost Mode is the public proof)
- Live operational data plus several jobs users already expect → you are closer to a production-app conversation (FCH is 10 weeks)
- Need a number of weeks in writing → that is the proposal, after Discover, not this article
Is your job a 1–2 week MVP or a 10-week product?
Tell us the first screen. We will say whether a 1–2 week mobile MVP is realistic, or whether you are actually scoping a longer production app.
If this matches the brief: custom app development · typical first-version delivery
Work Fantasy Cricket Hub (10 weeks) · Ghost Mode (4 weeks) · InspectAI (2-week MVP)
Related guides How to Build an MVP · How Much Does It Cost to Build an App · iOS vs Android App Development