How To Build A FinTech Mobile App

Interested in how to build a FinTech Mobile App?

In this blog post, I will provide a step-by-step guide on building a fintech mobile app and answer all the most interesting and exciting questions about financial websites and mobile app development: How much does it cost to develop a financial app? How long does it take to build a FinTech app? What is the best framework for FinTech app?
Keep reading!

How much does it cost to develop a Fintech mobile app in 2024?

The cost of Fintech mobile app development can vary between $35.000 to $250.000-$350.000 and higher, depending on the size, complexity, and Fintech app features.

In this article

1. The bullish market for FinTech mobile apps
2. An example of a good FinTech app
3. Building a FinTech mobile app
4. Frequently Asked Questions on how to build a FinTech app

This is a huge market that is growing by leaps and bounds and is now quickly branching out into cloud-based PaaS, SaaS, and BaaS offerings.

The bullish market for FinTech mobile apps

If you are still wondering whether the market for FinTech mobile apps is rewarding enough to build one, then you can put your doubts to rest. Take a look at the following:

• A 2022 report states that the adoption of finance apps has grown to 573.1 million downloads in the United States — up nearly 19% from 481.9 million in 2020. Read “Mobile Finance Apps Report | Inside the Future of Fintech” to learn more about this.
• Most smartphone users use a FinTech mobile app. This report states that “63% of smartphone users have at least one financial app” and shows that two-thirds of American smartphone users use such an app. Read more about FinTech trends in “Biggest consumer fintech trends to watch in 2024”.
• The total value of digital wallet transactions will increase from $9 trillion in 2023 to over $16 trillion in 2028 — rising by 77%.

These figures reflect how personal finances, such as banking services, mobile payments, financial advice, money management, budgets, overdraft applications, etc., are increasingly being managed via user-friendly mobile applications.

Even financial institutions such as traditional banks are increasingly adopting new financial technology that can help improve their customer service. Many of these innovations come from fintech companies that are quickly reshaping the financial services ecosystem.

Examples include Stripe, Paypal, Venmo, Revolut, Chime, Acorns, Robo, Robinhood, and blockchain Fintechs such as Coinbase, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Given the threat that the traditional financial industry faces if it fails to keep up with the latest developments, it is unsurprising that it is one of the biggest investors in fintech solutions such as mobile banking apps, artificial intelligence-driven stock market trading solutions, machine learning chatbots, international payment services, and other digital payments technologies.

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An example of a good FinTech app

Let’s review an example of a FinTech app to understand what you should offer. Credit Karma by Intuit is a good example.

Credit Karma is available via a web browser such as Chrome, Android, and iOS. It offers the following features:

• You can manage all aspects of your finances in one app.
• The app enables end-users to track bills and account balances easily.
• It shows you the payments due along with due dates. You can avoid late fees and penalties since Credit Karma gives you reminders.
• Credit Karma offers tips for budgeting and saving money.
• Users can create their budgets using Credit Karma.
• The app informs users about their credit score and how to improve it.
• Credit Karma has industry-standard security features, including multi-factor authentication.
• You can sync the Credit Karma mobile app with its web app easily.
• The app has a push notifications functionality.

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Building a FinTech mobile app/ Fintech mobile app development

You must meticulously plan and execute a software development project to build a FinTech mobile app. Such a project involves the following steps:

1. Choose the right project methodology

To build a FinTech app, you should first hire a competent project manager (PM), a capable architect, and a team of business analysts knowledgeable in the FinTech sector. You will likely launch a “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) first. Subsequently, you will enhance the app based on client-side market feedback.

Agile is the right methodology for such projects. It supports iterative development, which makes it suitable here, as I have explained in “Waterfall vs Agile: Which methodology is right for your project”.

2. Define the scope of the MVP and the overall app

You ought to methodically define the features to include in the MVP as well as the overall app. Take the following steps for this:

• Define your market with the help of market research. Moreover, research your business idea meticulously.
• With the help of discovery sessions, identify which features you should offer.
• Prioritize these features using tools like “Pain and gain map”, prioritization matrix, etc.

I have explained these steps in my tutorial on “5 tips to create a sleek MVP”.

I recommend that you define the MVP scope as follows:

• Offer a web, an Android, an iOS app, and possibly a Microsoft Windows app or a hybrid app.
• Include the features that Credit Karma has as well as any other of the latest mobile and web technologies.
• Support English-speaking users and any other languages your research indicated worth investing in.

3. Formulate an effective development approach

Plan for the success of the project, therefore, formulate an effective development approach. I recommend that you include the following building blocks in this approach:

• Use managed cloud services platforms like “Platform-as-a-Service” (PaaS) and “Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service” (MBaaS) smartly. This way, you can concentrate on design and development, without getting bogged down with software development infrastructure management.
• Develop native Android and iOS apps since they deliver the best user experience.
• Decide on an appropriate architecture pattern.
• Design and develop “Application Programming Interfaces” (APIs) to implement your core features, which helps the front-end to access the backend of your application consistently.
• Use 3^rd party APIs for non-core features like push notifications.
• Focus on application security and API security.
• Utilize appropriate tools, frameworks, and guidelines for development.
• Use a mobile device lab on the cloud to enhance your test automation.

I have elaborated on the importance of this approach in “What is the best development approach to guarantee the success of your app?”.

You should design and develop your app keeping the “app internationalization” guidelines in mind, which will help you to support more languages in the future. Follow best practices like keeping the code separate from the content, and learn more about these best practices in “The ultimate guide to mobile app internationalization”.

4. Choose the right managed cloud services platforms

You can boost your web app development efforts by using a PaaS platform like AWS Elastic Beanstalk. PaaS platforms offer many advantages, e.g.:

• A PaaS provider manages the cloud infrastructure, networking, operating system, middleware, and runtime environment. You focus on designing and coding.
• You can easily integrate APIs when using a PaaS platform, moreover, you can add services like databases.
• Prominent PaaS platforms offer matured DevOps tools, moreover, they have auto-scaling solutions.

Read our guide “What are the Top PaaS Providers of 2024?” for more insights.

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Sign up for AWS Amplify, i.e., the MBaaS offering from AWS, using the same AWS account. This helps with your mobile app development in the following ways:

• Amplify manages the cloud infrastructure, persistent storage, etc., therefore, you don’t need to build and manage the mobile backend.
• Integrating APIs is easier with Amplify, moreover, you can easily implement features like user management and push notifications.
• You will be able to scale your mobile app easily when you use an MBaaS platform like Amplify.

I have explained the advantages of MBaaS platforms in “How to choose the best Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS)?”.

5. Form the project team/ fintech development team

It’s time to hire developers! Consult our guide “How to find a good software developer”, and onboard the following roles to form a complete project team:

• UI designers;
• Web developers with Node.js skills;
• Mobile developers:
  • Android developers with Java skills;
  • iOS developers with experience in the Swift language;
• Testers;
• DevOps engineers.

Developing a FinTech app can be complex since the financial services industry is heavily regulated. You should onboard field expert development teams. Such teams work cohesively, as I had explained in “Freelance app development team vs. field expert software development teams”.

6. Organize the team for productivity and collaboration

I recommend that you organize the team as one or more “Scrum teams” since this will foster collaborations. As I have explained in “How to build a Scrum development team?”, scrum teams are important for the “Scrum” technique, which helps to improve the productivity of Agile teams.

Scrum teams have the following characteristics:

• The PM acts as the “Scrum master” and forms cross-functional teams, and these are small teams where developers and testers work together.
• A “Product owner” provides the requirements in a document named the “Product Backlog”, and the team estimates them. The team works with the business stakeholders to schedule them in “Sprints”, i.e., iterations.
• The team conducts “Daily stand-up meetings” to track the project status, and it demonstrates the app in a “Sprint review meeting”.
• Scrum teams also conduct lessons-learned exercises, which are called “Sprint retrospective meetings”.

You should use a modern PM tool like Trello to manage the project.

7. Design and build APIs for the core functionalities

Let’s talk about the core features like tracking bills and accounts, payments, budgeting, etc. If you already have an existing business where you offer these features, then you could use your existing capabilities. You need to build these capabilities if yours is a new business.

Either way, you should design and build APIs to facilitate streamlined and consistent access to the backend from the front-end. I recommend that you build RESTful APIs, which involves the following:

• Utilize the managed cloud services you have already bought to host the API backend.
• Use an effective tool like Postman to develop and test the API.
• Document the API using a tool like Swagger.
• Secure your APIs using techniques like authentication, data encryption, etc.
• Effectively manage development, staging, and production environments for the APIs.
• Use robust database solutions like PostgreSQL, MongoDB, etc. for developing the APIs.
• Design URL paths effectively.
• Create effective rules for API requests and responses.

Our guide “How to build RESTful API for your mobile app?” can help you to design and develop RESTful APIs.

8. Plan to secure the app and APIs

Security is key to the success of a FinTech app, therefore, you need to proactively mitigate application security risks. The top application security risks are as follows:

• Injection;
• Broken authentication;
• Sensitive data exposure;
• XML external entities (XXE);
• Broken access control;
• Security misconfiguration;
• Cross-site scripting (XSS);
• Insecure deserialization;
• Using components with known vulnerabilities;
• Insufficient logging and monitoring.

The “Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) top 10 application security risks – 2017” report can help you to mitigate these risks.

Secure the APIs you design and develop by the following means:

• Established trusted identities and use authentication tokens.
• Incorporate industry-standard digital signatures and data encryption techniques.
• Use quotas, throttling, and gateways.

Read “What is API security?” for more insights.

9. Use a 3^rd party bulk-SMS API solution to implement the push notifications feature

Given that push notifications isn’t a core feature in this app, I recommend that you use a 3^rd party API solution to implement it. Twilio is a robust choice, and you should use its “Programmable SMS” offering.

Read “Messaging services and Copilot” to learn how to implement it in your app. Check out the Twilio pricing plans before you buy it.

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10. Sign-up for a mobile device lab on the cloud for testing

You need to make your mobile app work with all devices, therefore, you need to test it against a wide range of mobile devices. This requires a mobile device lab on the cloud, therefore, I recommend that you sign up with digital.ai.

You can sign-up for the following offerings:

• Its web and mobile cloud testing, which has hundreds remote devices and browsers;
• Its Digital Test Analytics, which provides excellent test reports and analytics.

11. Develop the web app

You need to take the following steps to develop the web app:

• Carefully consider the type and requirements of your web application. Many companies have found Progressive Web Apps PWA are a bridge between mobile web applications and native apps to be faster and more suitable than conventional web apps.
• Design an effective user interface (UI) that takes into mind all the web pages you plan designs you will publish by following this tutorial guidance in “User interface design guidelines: 10 rules of thumb”.
• Use js to code the web app since this open-source runtime environment is suitable for developing performant and scalable web apps.
• Tools such as Github, Ajax, CSS, ASP.Net, PHP, Python, JavaScript, cloud software development services, etc., are designed to help make the process easier and more efficient. Use them!
• You can use Eclipse, the popular IDE for coding, however, you should also use Nodeclipse, a Node.js plugin for Eclipse.
• Integrate your APIs as well as the Twilio programmable SMS API.
• Test your app, and deploy it on Elastic Beanstalk. This is a reliable web server environment that offers great server-side scalability. You can read “Deploying Node.js applications to AWS Elastic Beanstalk” for guidance.

12. Design, code, test, and deploy the Android app

Developing the proposed Android app involves the following:

• You should design the UI for the Android app in line with the “Material Design” guidelines.
• Code the Android app using Java, and use Android Studio as the IDE.
• Integrate your own APIs and Twilio APIs in your code.
• Use Espresso and the Experitest mobile device lab to test the app.
• Publish it to Google Play, by following the instructions in “Publish your app”.

13. Develop the iOS app

Your steps to develop the proposed iOS app are as follows:

• Follow the “Human Interface Guidelines” to design an effective UI.
• Use Swift, the powerful language championed by Apple to code the iOS app.
• Xcode is the preferred IDE for developing apps for Apple platforms, and you should use it.
• Integrate the APIs you have developed for your app, moreover, integrate the Twilio API.
• Test the app using XCTest and the Experitest mobile device lab. Be sure your application server delivers ample speeds during these tests.
• Read “Submit your apps to the App Store”, and use the instructions therein to publish the app to the Apple App Store.

Planning to launch your FinTech mobile app?

FinTech payment apps have a growing market, however, your app must have a competitive edge to do well in this market. You will need to hire remote developers to build your FinTech mobile app development team.

Why not take a moment to contact DevTeam.Space to let us know your project requirements and one of our account managers will get in touch to answer any questions and show you what our expert developers can do. 

DevTeam.Space is an innovative American software development company with over 99% project success rate. DevTeam.Space builds reliable and scalable custom software applications, mobile apps, websites, live-streaming software applications, speech recognition systems, ChatGPT and AI-powered solutions, and IoT solutions and conducts complex software integrations for various industries, including finance, hospitality, healthcare, music, entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, banking, construction, and education software solutions on time and budget.

DevTeam.Space supports its clients with business analysts and dedicated tech account managers who monitor tech innovations and new developments and help our clients design, architect, and develop applications that will be relevant and easily upgradeable in the years to come.

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Frequently Asked Questions on how to build a FinTech app

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