iOS-only app development in the US typically costs $25,000 to $250,000. Native (Swift) builds run 1.5-2× cross-platform (React Native) builds.
App complexity drives most of the variation. A simple utility app with one core feature lands at $25K-$50K. A consumer app with subscription, social features, and a backend lands at $80K-$180K. Apps with on-device ML or AR can cross $250K. The single biggest predictor of where a specific engagement lands is scope discipline, operators who lock the spec in the first two weeks save 20-40% of total project cost over the next three months. Operators who let scope expand mid-build pay the inverse penalty. Either way, the $25K to $250K range is descriptive, not prescriptive: it reflects what a competent US vendor charges in 2026 for the work as scoped, not what a finished engagement has to cost.
| Component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
Discovery + IA | $3K | $15K |
Design (Figma) for iOS | $6K | $30K |
Frontend build (Swift / SwiftUI) | $12K | $100K |
Backend (if not existing) | $6K | $60K |
Subscription + payments (RevenueCat or Stripe) | $2K | $8K |
App Review submission + ASO setup | $2K | $8K |
Analytics + crash reporting + observability | $2K | $8K |
Discovery + IA
Design (Figma) for iOS
Frontend build (Swift / SwiftUI)
Backend (if not existing)
Subscription + payments (RevenueCat or Stripe)
App Review submission + ASO setup
Analytics + crash reporting + observability
Every 'small addition' that turns up in week three is a real change order. Operators who lock scope in discovery save 20-40% of total project cost.
CRM imports, redirect maps, third-party API wiring, and content migration are the most underestimated line items in dev projects.
Conventional design is fixed-bid territory. Custom motion, bespoke components, and editorial illustration push costs up 30-100%.
Senior US engineers cost 2-3x junior engineers but ship 5-10x faster on non-trivial work. Cheap teams are usually expensive in retrospect.
Sites where the client writes all the copy ship faster and cheaper than sites where copy is in scope. Most projects underestimate this.
We build native iOS apps from $50,000. Most native engagements land at $80K-$160K. We use React Native + Expo for 80% of our mobile builds, if you specifically need Swift, the proposal reflects the cost premium. The premium over the floor of the market reflects scope we don't itemize, measurement infrastructure, post-launch stability, and a documented handoff that survives whoever happens to be on our team six months from now. Our proposals are itemized line-by-line so you can see what you're paying for; we'd rather lose the deal on transparent pricing than win it by hiding the math.
From $65K
fixed project
iOS and Android apps users actually open more than once.
Full Mobile Apps breakdownReact Native + Expo for $30K-$120K. Identical user experience for 90% of feature sets. Native only matters when you need on-device ML, AR, BLE-mesh, or low-latency audio. The honest framing: cheaper vendors exist at every tier, Fiverr at the bottom, offshore agencies in the middle, established US-based mid-market shops at the top. The cost-quality curve is real but rarely linear. Going from a $5K vendor to a $15K vendor usually produces a meaningfully different outcome; going from $15K to $45K often produces a refinement, not a transformation. Where you sit on that curve depends on the cost of being wrong, not the budget you have available.
Build cost ÷ (iOS-attributable monthly revenue)
$100K app driving $35K/mo subscription revenue + $20K/mo in-app purchases = $55K/mo. Payback in 18-24 months on subscription, faster on transactional apps.
We'll send back an itemized proposal, scope, line items, timeline, and the team that would actually run the engagement. No discovery call to schedule a discovery call.