Android Developers for Kotlin-First Apps

Android app development cost depends on feature complexity, backend requirements, and whether you're building for Android only or alongside an iOS version. A focused MVP — core features, one or two API integrations, no complex offline behavior — typically runs between $35,000 and $90,000 over 10–16 weeks. Apps with real-time features, device hardware integrations (camera, Bluetooth, GPS), or compliance requirements in healthcare or fintech scale beyond that range. We provide a detailed scope estimate after a discovery conversation rather than a generic range that becomes meaningless in negotiation.

Cross-platform frameworks work well when your app's primary needs are UI presentation and API consumption, you're targeting both iOS and Android with a single team, and you're comfortable with a layer of abstraction between your code and the platform. Native Android development is the better choice when you need direct access to Android hardware APIs (Bluetooth LE, NFC, background location, camera2), when your app needs to perform reliably on a wide range of Android device manufacturers with custom OS skins, or when Play Store policy compliance in a regulated industry requires precise control. We'll recommend the approach that fits your actual requirements — not the one that's most convenient for us to staff.

We start every project by defining a target device matrix based on your actual user base or market data. For most consumer apps, this means targeting Android 9 (API 28) and above, which covers 95%+ of active Android devices. We use Android's compatibility libraries to backport modern API behavior, write UI tests that run against multiple screen sizes, and execute final QA on physical devices representing the major manufacturers in your target market. Issues specific to Samsung, Xiaomi, or Huawei custom OS implementations are found during development, not in your app store reviews.

A straightforward Android app with defined scope reaches Play Store submission in 12–18 weeks. This includes a discovery sprint, iterative development in two-week cycles, a beta testing phase on Google Play's internal and closed testing tracks, and a pre-submission review against current Play Store policies. Apps with complex features, real-time backends, hardware integrations, or compliance requirements in regulated industries add time to each phase. We provide a detailed timeline after discovery — rushing an estimate before scope is understood produces a number that won't survive contact with the actual project.

Yes — inherited Android codebases are a regular part of our work. We start with a technical audit that covers architecture, dependency age, target SDK version, Kotlin migration status (if the app is still in Java), test coverage, and Play Store account health. From there, we address the highest-risk items first — usually outdated target API requirements that risk app removal from the Play Store — and work through modernization in phases that don't disrupt the live app. We've taken over apps built in legacy Java with no tests and brought them to modern Kotlin, current target SDK, and automated CI/CD without taking the app offline.