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Mobile App Development
Your users live on their phones, but a pinch-and-zoom mobile website asks them to work harder and quietly forget you exist. Mobile App Development is the design and engineering of a native-feeling application for iOS and Android, built from a single cross-platform codebase so one team ships to both stores at once - with location, push notifications, and offline behaviour treated as first-class, not afterthoughts.
In short
What is Mobile App Development?
Mobile app development is the building of applications for iOS and Android, usually from one cross-platform codebase, for teams who need to reach users on the device they actually use. Metaborong builds these end-to-end with one senior team. We shipped Breayz, an app that turns live air-quality readings into dynamic, location-aware NFT collectibles.
What we deliver
Concrete artefacts, not capabilities
- 01
A cross-platform app published to the Apple App Store and Google Play.
- 02
One React Native and TypeScript codebase serving both iOS and Android.
- 03
Native device integration: location, camera, push notifications, and offline storage.
- 04
A backend with your data model, API layer, and authentication.
- 05
Store listings, assets, and the submission shepherded through to approval.
- 06
Full source in your repository, with IP ownership transferred at handoff.
Key concepts
Key terms, defined
- Cross-platform development
- Cross-platform development is the practice of building a mobile app once, in a shared codebase, and running it on both iOS and Android rather than writing two separate native apps. Frameworks such as React Native render real native components, so one team ships both stores while keeping a near-native feel.
- React Native
- React Native is an open-source framework that builds mobile apps using React while rendering real native UI components rather than a web view. It lets a single codebase target iOS and Android, and drops down to platform-specific native code whenever a feature needs the extra performance.
- Push notification
- A push notification is a message a server delivers to a device even when the app is closed, through platform services such as Apple Push Notification service and Firebase Cloud Messaging. It is the main channel for re-engaging mobile users without relying on email or them reopening the app themselves.
- Over-the-air update
- An over-the-air update ships JavaScript and asset changes straight to installed apps without a full store review, using tooling such as Expo. It speeds up fixes and small features, while changes to native code still go through the normal App Store and Play submission process.
How we work
Engagement phases
Architecture lock
We open with a one-week architecture review. Two senior engineers decide the cross-platform approach, the navigation model, and how the app talks to device hardware and your backend. For Breayz that meant designing how live air-quality readings from public APIs would map onto generated, location-aware collectibles before a single screen was built.
Vertical slices
We build in two-week sprints, each ending with a build you can install on a real device. We ship vertical slices - onboarding, the core screen, then the supporting flows - so the app is testable in your hand from sprint two. You run it on real data and feed the backlog directly before anything is locked.
Device and platform work
Next we wire the parts that separate an app from a web page: location and sensors, push notifications, offline behaviour, and the platform store rules. On Breayz this meant fetching air quality by location, refreshing a collectible’s metadata in one tap when the user moves, and a marketplace for minting and listing them.
Store submission and handoff
The final sprints are release work - performance profiling on low-end devices, store-listing assets, privacy disclosures, and the App Store and Play review gauntlet. We submit on your developer accounts and shepherd both apps to approval. At handoff you receive the repository, the accounts, and a v1.1 backlog ordered by cost-of-delay.
Tech stack
What we build on
- React NativeFramework
- ExpoTooling
- TypeScriptLanguage
- Node.jsBackend
- PostgreSQLDatabase
- FirebasePush & Analytics
- FastlaneRelease Automation
- GitHub ActionsCI/CD
- React NativeFramework
- ExpoTooling
- TypeScriptLanguage
- Node.jsBackend
- PostgreSQLDatabase
- FirebasePush & Analytics
- FastlaneRelease Automation
- GitHub ActionsCI/CD
Scope
When this fits and when it doesn't
| This fits when | This doesn't fit when |
|---|---|
| Your users are on their phones and a mobile browser experience is costing you engagement. | A responsive web app would serve your users fine - start with Web Application Development instead. |
| You want one codebase shipping to both the App Store and Google Play, not two separate builds. | You need a graphics-heavy 3D game - that is a specialist native engagement, not the work we do. |
| Your app needs device features - location, notifications, camera, offline - the web cannot match. | You already have a live app and need v2 or maintenance work - write to us at /contact instead. |
Related services
Adjacent engagements
- Product Studio
Web Application Development
Production web apps in React and Next.js, accessible and fast from the first deploy.
- Product Studio
UI/UX & Web Design
Product UX and web design your team owns - shipped as a living, token-driven system, not a static file.
- Web3
NFT Marketplace Development
Custom marketplaces with royalties, lazy-mint, curated drops, and multi-chain support.
Frequently asked questions
Mobile app development is the design and engineering of software that installs and runs on a phone or tablet, for iOS, Android, or both. It covers the screens users tap, the backend that stores their data, the device features the app draws on - location, camera, notifications - and the store submission. Most modern builds use one cross-platform codebase to serve both platforms at once.
For most products, cross-platform wins: one React Native codebase ships to both stores, costs less to build and maintain, and feels native to users. Fully native (Swift or Kotlin) only earns its higher cost when the app is graphics-heavy or leans on bleeding-edge device APIs. We default to cross-platform and tell you honestly when your case is the exception.
A focused cross-platform app typically runs ten to eighteen weeks from architecture lock to both stores, depending on the number of screens, integrations, and device features. Cost tracks scope and seniority rather than headcount. We give a fixed range after the one-week architecture review, before you commit to the full build, so there are no surprises mid-project.
Yes. We submit on your own Apple and Google developer accounts so you own the listings, then shepherd both apps through review - privacy disclosures, store assets, and the rejections that often come on a first submission. You keep full control of the accounts and the source code; we hand over the repository and a release runbook at the end.
Build a mobile app when you need what only a phone gives you: reliable push notifications, background location, camera and sensors, offline use, or a home-screen icon users return to daily. If your product is mainly read-and-click and works fine in a browser, a web application is faster and cheaper - we will tell you which one your idea actually needs.
Last reviewed · Reviewed by Metaborong engineering team
Tell us what you are building.
We build what large agencies under-deliver and freelancers can't architect, across Web3 protocols, AI agents, and SaaS products. Tell us what you are building. We will tell you how we would approach it, no pitch deck, no fluff, no commitment required.