Building a mobile app yourself is an exciting journey, but it can be a daunting task if it’s your first time and don’t have a lot of experience to draw on.
You might be wondering if it’s even possible to do it yourself without a team of specialists to help you. 10 years ago there were very few options for app builders without programming skills, but now in 2025 a lot of tools are available that can help you develop at least a minimum viable product yourself without needing to code.
Choosing the right development path is the first critical step. There are three primary approaches to app development, each with its own tools, skill requirements, and trade-offs.
1. Programming It Yourself (Traditional Coding)
This is the classic approach where you write the app’s code from scratch. This can be done in one of two ways:
- Native Development: This involves using platform-specific languages and tools to build a separate app for each operating system. For iOS, you’ll use Swift or Objective-C with Xcode. For Android, you’ll use Kotlin or Java with Android Studio.
- Cross-Platform Development: This allows you to write a single codebase that can be deployed to both iOS and Android. Popular tools for this include Flutter (using the Dart language) and React Native (using JavaScript).
Native app development
- What it involves: Writing unique code for iOS and Android
- Skills needed: Expert-level knowledge of specific languages (Swift, Kotlin) and IDEs.
- Pros: Highest performance, best user experience, and full access to device features.
- Cons: Time-consuming, requires a deep skill set for each platform, and is the most expensive.
Cross-platform App development
- What it involves: Writing a single codebase with a framework.
- Skills needed: Strong knowledge of the framework (Flutter, React Native) and its language (Dart, JavaScript).
- Pros: Faster development than native, more cost-effective, and easier to maintain a single codebase.
- Cons: May have limitations accessing specific device features and can sometimes have slightly lower performance.
2. No-Code/Low-Code Platforms
This approach lets you build an app using a visual, drag-and-drop interface, with little to no coding required.
- What it involves: These platforms provide pre-built components and templates that you can customise to create your app’s functionality and design.
- Platforms/Tools: Tools like Bubble, Buildfire, and GoodBarber offer comprehensive environments for building functional apps without writing a single line of code.
- Skills needed: A strong understanding of logic, user flow, and design principles. No programming knowledge is necessary.
- Pros: Extremely fast development time, very low cost, and accessible to non-technical users.
- Cons: Limited flexibility and customisation, potential scalability issues for complex projects, and you are locked into a specific platform.
3. Write code with AI – Vibe Coding
This is an emerging approach that leverages artificial intelligence to assist with the coding process.
- What it involves: Using AI-powered coding assistants and generative tools to write code, debug, and complete functions based on natural language prompts.
- Platforms/Tools: Tools such as GitHub Copilot X and Replit Ghostwriter integrate directly into your development environment to suggest and generate code.
- Skills needed: While AI assists, you still need to be a proficient programmer to guide the AI, review the generated code for accuracy, and integrate it into your project.
- Pros: Can significantly accelerate development time and help with boilerplate or repetitive code.
- Cons: The AI is an assistant, not a replacement for a developer. It will likely produce incorrect or inefficient code that still requires a skilled eye to fix.
Beyond the Code: The Full App Development Lifecycle
The coding is only one part of the process of developing an app. A successful app requires a comprehensive plan that addresses every stage of the project. A DIY builder will need to master or at least understand the following:
- Planning & Market Research: You need to define your goals, understand your target audience, and analyse the competition. This involves creating surveys, running focus groups, and studying similar apps. Make sure there is a market for and way of monetising your app before you commit hours to designing and developing it.
- Feature Specification: You must meticulously document every feature, user flow, and technical requirement. This stage is crucial for prioritising the right tasks so you can build a minimum viable product and start testing sooner rather than later. Many apps are never completed, because they keep moving from one new idea to another without ever finishing and releasing anything. Lots of hugely popular apps started out with a simple concept and gradually developed over time.
- Design & UX (User Experience): This is where you create the visual identity and user flow of your app. This involves creating wireframes and mockups to ensure the app is intuitive and engaging. Tools like Adobe XD or Figma are essential here. Knowing the principles of good design, user experience and accessibility are required to make things. Don’t be afraid to fall back on tried and tested User Interface layouts. A beautiful and original design will fail if it’s difficult to use.
- Testing: Before launch, your app needs to be tested for functionality, performance, security, and compatibility across different devices and operating systems. This requires meticulous attention to detail and problem solving. You need to think like a user and a programmer to uncover bugs and confirm that every feature works as intended
- Deployment: You will need to navigate the often-complex submission processes for the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, including paying their fees and adhering to their very specific guidelines.
- Marketing: This includes App Store Optimisation (ASO) to improve discoverability, social media marketing, organic search optimisation and developing a pre-launch and post-launch promotional strategy. Once again you need to know your audience and where to reach them so you can target the marketing channels where they are most likely to see your advertising. You also need copywriting skills to write persuasive copy that will convince potential users that your app is the one for them.
- Maintenance & Updates: Apps require continuous maintenance, bug fixes, and feature updates based to adapt to operating system requirements and the changing needs of your audience. Providing avenues for users to feedback on your app can be a valuable source of ideas on how to improve your system.
Read our recent article for more detail on how to plan and execute an app development project.
DIY vs. Hiring an Agency: When to Call in the Experts
You may be feeling a little overwhelmed at this point. That would be understandable, as building a successful app requires a lot of skills across many disciplines. We want you to be fully prepared if you’re going to take on an app project and avoid some of the common pitfalls, such as:
- Underestimating the Scope: The project can quickly become more complex than anticipated, especially when adding features.
- Lack of Expertise: A single person rarely has the diverse skill set required for every stage, from back-end programming to professional UX design and marketing.
- Poor Quality Control: Without a dedicated team for testing and quality assurance, bugs and performance issues are more likely to slip through, leading to bad reviews and a poor user experience.
- Time and Opportunity Cost: The time spent on learning and troubleshooting can be immense, distracting from other business priorities.
Hiring an app development agency, on the other hand, provides a team of specialists who can handle every step of the process.
The Benefits of an Agency:
- Expertise Across Disciplines: You get a team of experienced developers, designers, project managers, and quality assurance testers.
- Efficiency and Speed: An agency can deliver a high-quality product faster and more reliably.
- Professional Results: An agency ensures a polished, bug-free app with a superior user experience.
- Long-Term Support: Most agencies offer ongoing maintenance, updates, and marketing support.
When should you consider hiring an agency?
A DIY approach is great for learning or for simple apps with a small, defined scope. However, if your project has a large potential audience, complex functionality, or if your business is dependent on the app’s success, a professional agency is the right choice. Signs that a DIY project is getting out of hand include constant delays, persistent bugs, and a struggle to keep up with the demands of design, testing, and marketing. At this point, bringing in professional help is not a failure, it’s a strategic decision to ensure your app achieves its full potential.
If you have an idea for an app and would rather not go it alone, why not get in touch and we’ll show you how we can help. We’ve built lots of apps of varying shapes and sizes for clients across many different industries. We also have a proven process to help deliver app projects on time and budget.
