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Are you looking to hire mobile app developers or a mobile app development agency to build and scale an innovative mobile app?
If yes, read on as I’m about to cover a lot of valuable information on hiring mobile app developers in 2025, including associated costs to find the best developers, the top 5 mobile app development companies, examples of industry-focused app developers, IOS, Android, and cross-platform developers interview questions and answers, and a mobile app developer job description template.
Read on as I will show you how to do it!
In this article:
- Mobile App Development Trends & Statistics
- Types of Mobile App Developers
- Industry-Focused App Developers
- Cost to Hire a Mobile App Developer?
- App Development Cost 2025
- How to Hire a Mobile App Developer: 5 Steps
- Top 5 Companies to Hire App Developers
- Defining Your Mobile App Features
Mobile App Development Trends & Statistics 2025
Google Play and Apple App Store are the largest marketplaces for mobile apps in the world, hosting over 5 million applications. Google Play users downloaded 25.6 billion apps in Q1 2024, while Apple’s App Store users downloaded 8.4 billion apps.. However, only the best apps succeed if you partner with the best mobile app development company and app development team; your app could be one of them.
AI is poised to revolutionize mobile app development entirely. Gartner recently reported that “by 2026, generative AI will significantly alter 70% of the design and development effort for new web applications and mobile apps.”
Types of Mobile App Developers
There are three main types of mobile app developers: 1) Android app developers, 2) iOS app developers, and 3) cross-platform app developers (also known as hybrid developers).
1. Android App Development
An Android app developer is a professional who designs, develops, and maintains applications for Android devices, such as smartphones and tablets. As well as prepare apps for deployment on the Google Play Store.
Native Android app development involves hiring Android developers. Most Android applications are written in just two languages: Java and Kotlin. You will most likely need an Android developer who is familiar with one or both.
Java programming language enables Android app developers to write modular and reusable code, thereby speeding up the development process.
Kotlin was released in 2017. It is a modern programming language that offers interoperability with Java. It is already extremely popular and may one day overtake Java to become the number-one Android app development language.
For companies looking for Android app developers, please check out our additional resources to help you hire:
- 37 Android Developer Interview Questions and Answers for 2025
- Android App Developer Job Description Template
- 22 Java Developer Interview Questions and Answers for 2025
2. iOS App Development
An IOS app developer is a professional who designs, develops, and maintains applications for mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. As well as prepare apps for deployment on the Apple App Store.
Native IOS app development involves hiring IOS developers. The two main languages are Objective-C and Swift.
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Objective-C was the primary language used for iOS app development until the release of Swift. Many Objective-C developers have now learned Swift. The Objective-C programming language is typically used to maintain and enhance existing iOS apps, rather than to develop new ones.
Swift is Apple's newest programming language. Introduced in 2014, it's modern and powerful. Experienced Swift developers can create virtually any iOS app imaginable.
For startups and businesses looking for IOS app developers, please check out our additional resources to help you hire:
- 30 iOS App Developer Interview Questions and Answers for 2025
- IOS App Developer Job Description Template
- 25 Swift Developer Interview Questions and Answers for 2025
3. Cross-platform (Hybrid) App Development
The cross-platform app development approach enables you to create mobile apps that run on multiple operating systems, such as Android and iOS, using a single codebase.
Cross-platform apps have pros and cons compared to Native apps. The primary advantage is the time and money savings achieved by developing a hybrid app with a single codebase. The main disadvantage of cross-platform apps is that they may hit certain platform-specific limitations. For example, specific Android or iOS features may not be available, and hybrid apps are generally slower than native apps.
The most popular frameworks for cross-platform app development are React Native and Flutter. Flutter and React Native are both excellent frameworks for saving time and money when launching iOS and Android mobile apps simultaneously.
For companies looking for the best cross-platform app developers, please check out our additional resources to help you hire:
- Mobile App Developer Job Description Template
- General Mobile App Developer Interview Questions and Answers
- React Native Developer Interview Questions and Answers for 2025
Backend Mobile App Development
Your mobile app will work with a specific backend and server. That means you will also need expert backend developers skilled and experienced in setting up server environments and coding the mobile app backend. 
The top backend server providers are:
1. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers a wide range of great mobile app development tools, including some of the most cutting-edge AI tools in the marketplace, i.e., Google Gemini. Google Compute Engine allows developers to run their code in Google’s cloud infrastructure. Backed up with Google’s Cloud Source Repositories tool, which allows developers to save and easily access different versions of their code, Google Cloud Platform is a top choice for mobile app developers.
2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is another top backend service provider. It allows developers to store and run their latest mobile apps safely and offers a powerful set of development tools via the highly customizable AWS Amplify. This great tool helps to speed up both your mobile application development process and the performance and reliability of the final app.
3. Microsoft Azure’s cloud platform offers a range of excellent backend services for mobile app developers. It supports a range of programming languages and frameworks, including Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, and Node.js, among others. Azure offers excellent tools that facilitate the creation of various functionalities, including push notifications, payment gateways, and AI chatbots.
Industry- Focused Mobile App Developers
Mobile app developers are creating hundreds of mobile applications that cater to various industries, enabling businesses, from startups to established enterprises, to deliver cutting-edge digital solutions. Mobile app experts are building apps for all industry segments:
AI and ChatGPT app developers: AI developers and ML engineers have created numerous industry-leading artificial intelligence and ChatGPT apps that have helped transform the companies that utilize them.
Fintech and blockchain app developers: Fintech mobile app developers create software solutions that offer efficiency, security, and simplicity for a variety of uses, including trading, international payments, and staying current with market developments.
Mobile banking & wallets app developers: You can significantly enhance the banking experience you deliver to your clients by developing mobile apps that offer secure, practical tools for account management, money transfers, and payment processing.
The development team can help you build state-of-the-art mobile banking apps and digital wallets that provide trustworthy, fast, and secure financial transactions, allowing your clients to have total control over their money at their fingertips.
Expert engineers create cutting-edge mobile apps for other industries, including: Business Stock Exchange Apps, eWallet/Crypto Wallet Apps, Agriculture Apps, Telemedicine Apps, Hotel Booking Apps, Augmented Reality (AR) Apps, Delivery Apps, Fitness Apps, Travel & Hospitality Apps, Construction Apps, Food & Restaurants Apps, and many other industries.
Cost to Hire a Mobile App Developer?
The cost to hire a mobile app developer in various regions worldwide, as well as the cost of hiring developers on a full-time basis in different parts of the USA, depends on their experience level. Explore our cost guide; this way, you will know what you can afford.
A new report shows that the estimated average salary for a Mobile App developer in the USA is $120.000 per year as of 2025.
If you live in the United States, make sure you hire from a US-based company; otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to ensure you can exercise your legal rights as per your contract should anything go wrong. Added to this, working with people from the same culture goes a long way when you work on innovative, complex mobile apps.
Cost of Hiring Mobile App Developers in Different Regions Worldwide:
Hiring app developers in the USA (San Diego, Chicago, New York, Miami):
Mid-level and Senior App Developers: $55 - $300 per hour, or $10,400 to $48,000 per month, $124,800 to $576,000 per year, depending on whether you hire experienced app developers from a mobile app development agency, in-house employees, freelance app developers, or a space-rocket expensive San Francisсo based agency (yep, $300/h or $48K/mo per one developer on a full-time basis).
Hiring app developers in Western Europe (UK, Germany, France):
Mid-level and Senior App Developer: $45 - $200 per hour, or $8,000 to $32,000 per month, $96,000 to $384,000 per year full-time, depending on your hiring source.
Hiring app developers in Eastern Europe (Estonia, Poland, Serbia, Czech Republic):
Mid-level and Senior App Developer: $35 - $150 per hour, or $5,600 to $24,000 per month, $67,200 to $288,000 per year full-time.
Hiring app developers in India (Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai):
Mid-level and Senior App Developer: $10 - $65 per hour, or $1,600 to $10,400 per month, $19,200 to $124,800 per year full-time.
Cost to Hire Mobile App Developers in the USA:
Mobile app developers in California (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco): $124,800 to $284,000 per year
Mobile app developers in Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs, Greenwood Village): $111,000 - $124,000 per year
Mobile app developers in Illinois (Chicago, Buffalo Grove, Deerfield): $106,228 - $123,440 per year
Mobile app developers in Maryland (Fort Washington, Baltimore, Annapolis): $90,001 - $115,000 per year
Mobile app developers in Massachusetts (Boston, Worcester, Springfield): $112,500 - $113,875 per year
Mobile app developers in New York (Albany, New York, Brooklyn): $112,500 - $166,400 per year
Mobile app developers in Texas (Austin, Houston, Dallas): $93,917 - $121,811 per year
Hire app developers from a reliable app development company based in your home country, wherever possible. It will save you a lot of headaches if you end up with substandard freelance app developers.
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Mobile App Development Cost 2025
The cost of your mobile app development and the number of skilled developers you need will be determined by the complexity of your mobile application.
First, are you looking to build a cheap mobile app prototype to test the technology or users’ interest, an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to release publicly, or an enterprise-grade software solution to modernize a complex business process?
Let’s clarify the difference between various project scopes with a few mobile app examples, i.e., a prototype, an MVP, and an enterprise mobile app. Below, I will include the number of mobile app developers required, as well as the general app development cost and timeline for each example, to help you better understand where your project may fit. 
1. A simple mobile app prototype to test the technology or users’ interest in such an app.
The app development costs for this type of hybrid or native mobile app prototype can range from $5,000 to $50,000, depending on the app’s features and technical complexity. It can take 1 to 3 expert mobile app developers between 1 to 8 weeks to build it.
If you plan for a bare-bones mobile app prototype, no QA (Quality Assurance Engineer) or designers may be required. A good example of this kind of project is a mobile app that generates GIFs from any picture. A professional mobile app designer can design all the app’s screens and a landing page in a few days.
After that, one expert mobile app developer can create the complex GIF generation technology that powers the app in 3 to 4 weeks. This technology will allow the application to create GIFs from any uploaded picture in seconds. The goal of this prototype iOS application is to test the social media market to see if creators and consumers are interested in such a product.
2. A mobile app MVP development for a startup or enterprise
An MVP-stage mobile application can cost anywhere from $ 50,000 to $ 250,000 and take between 1.5 to 6 months to complete, depending on the features. The development team required can consist of 2 or more mobile and backend developers, depending on the complexity of the features and whether AI, blockchain, or other technologies are needed.
Don’t forget about QA and DevOps (DevOps engineers help with server setup and other code management tasks). This product type can be released in stages, allowing you to test new features with early-stage customers as you go. A professional mobile app designer is advised at this stage.
This is an example of a successful mobile app MVP that has over 100,000 paying users. Here are the project details: the founder of a sports supplement business decided to create a new kind of app that would enable users to follow a pre-planned fitness program.
The app needed to include a custom calendar, daily progress pictures, and dietary plans, including required water intake levels, among other features. A team of 6 expert mobile app developers produced a custom native mobile app MVP for both iOS and Android platforms within 6 months.
This involved the mobile app backend developers creating an AWS-based server environment (read about AWS for mobile apps later in this article), as well as a backend and admin panel. This successful project gained over 100,000 paying users within the first two weeks, which led to further mobile app development and the continuous release of new features via app updates.
3. A complex Enterprise-grade mobile app development or a HIPAA-compliant mobile app
A cutting-edge food allergy treatment, care, and research center from Southern California needed to design and develop a HIPAA-compliant mobile application for remotely treating patients.
The application needed to be integrated with an existing database to provide two-way communication on an individual's progress through their food allergy treatment program. I highly recommend reading the entire mobile app case study here.
This type of enterprise-grade solution will cost anywhere from $250K and up and take 6 months or more to launch. The expected design and mobile development team will likely consist of six or more dedicated app developers.
The examples above should give you a general idea of the overall cost of your app development. To define the complexity of the app for your project requirements document, list all the features you want your app to have.
In the first example, the entire app was built around one core feature. In the third example, the app contained several complex features that had to be seamlessly integrated — essentially, it was a custom mobile app development project.
Hire Mobile App Developers: 5 Steps
Now that you know the kind of developers you need for your mobile app development project, do you want the best app developers who you can rely on without risk?
I’m guessing the answer is a resounding yes! So read on for an outline of the crucial steps you need to follow to find app developers that are perfect for your app development project. 
Step 1: Nail your app developers’ and project requirements
The most important project requirement document is a list of your mobile app’s features.
You can split it into the MVP stage and the Post-MVP stage, as well as into different user roles. Let’s consider an example. You have a rental app, and so do end users who rent vacation homes.
They must be able to perform specific tasks on their mobile app, such as browsing available places, booking them, and making payments. Additionally, you will have a user or administration function for the homeowner who lists the property. They will need features for listing homes, setting prices, approving bookings, and refunding users if needed, among other things.
This list of features, which will be implemented and refined during both the MVP and post-MVP stages, will be the foundation of your mobile app development project.
Once you have a list of features, you can then clarify how many developers you may need and what skills they should possess. For example, you may want to build a simple MVP-stage app using a hybrid solution. In this case, you will likely want to hire developers who specialize in developing Flutter or React Native apps.
Step 2: Choose the right developer hiring company
You have two main choices if you are not planning to hire someone in person, but rather outsource a remote developer or development team.
These are: Hire Expert App Developers from a Software Development Company or Hire Freelance Mobile App Developers from a Freelance Hiring Platform.
Hiring senior app engineers from a reputable app development company is the safest approach, as they pretty much guarantee project success. Let me explain why.
Advantages of hiring professional mobile app developers from reputable app development companies:
- An expert mobile app developer has worked for the app development company for many years and possesses experience in building similar apps to your development project.
- Developers are fully vetted, so you don’t need to do this yourself.
- Cohesive app development teams.
- Complimentary support via your dedicated technical account manager.
- Complimentary quality assurance(QA) on feature delivery and pre-release products.
- Access to powerful project management tools and the app development process.
- Properly structured legal agreements that protect your interests and intellectual property (IP).
- Risk-free one-week trial. So even if you don’t like the developers you get, say, for personal reasons, you get the entire 1st invoice credited towards a new candidate.
The other option is the freelance platform. They have gained increasing popularity in recent years. They offer access to a wide range of cheap freelance developers from around the world.
Hiring app developers from them is a viable option, but it comes with several significant drawbacks. Therefore, perhaps the best thing to do is offer you a few words of caution when hiring freelance mobile app developers.
The risks of hiring freelance mobile app developers include:
- Not dedicated to your development project, as they need to juggle multiple projects at once to ensure a steady income stream.
- You must shortlist, interview, and conduct reference checks on each candidate, including verifying their identity to prevent scams. This can take forever, and if you miss anything, guess what? You are the one who will end up picking up the pieces.
- If your freelance developer gets a better offer, you will have to rush to find a replacement on your own.
- If your freelancer decides to take your idea or code, you may well find yourself gazing at your freelancer on the cover of Time magazine and seeing all your family and friends using your stolen app idea. Believe it or not, some billion-dollar companies have been built this way.
Step 3: Review, shortlist, and conduct a three-step interview process (primary, skills, and final) with all suitable candidates.
If you are hiring from a freelance site, you should post a detailed Android or iOS job description to help you get the right candidates.
If you hire from a software company, your process will be much smoother because they have already vetted their candidates. However, I strongly recommend that you take the following steps. You can’t be cautious enough when hiring software developers.
Initial Screening
The initial screening interview is the fastest way to assess each of your shortlisted candidates, enabling you to eliminate all but the most suitable ones. This interview presents a valuable opportunity to assess each candidate’s personality and work attitude, as well as to evaluate their qualifications based on their level of experience. There are three levels of developers’ expertise:
- Junior app developer
- Middle app developer
- Senior app developer
To help you with your interviews, check out our 30 IOS interview questions and answers, and 37 Android interview questions and answers, split by app developers’ levels. They will be a big help. Once you’re satisfied with your candidates’ basic knowledge, ensure that you discuss pricing and work terms during this interview.
Technical Assessment
The technical assessment interview will allow you to evaluate your candidates’ programming proficiency (i.e., their ability to write clean and performant code), their ability to devise reasonable solutions to problems, such as how to ensure a clean architecture, and how they work with various frameworks, tools, etc.
I strongly recommend that you enlist someone who knows what they are doing to prepare the coding tasks and review the candidate’s submissions with you. Here are some mobile app developer interview questions and answers to help you with this.
Final Interview
The final interview will delve more deeply into the candidate's technical skills, problem-solving approach, and how they align with the team and organization.
You will need to dive deeper into your potential developer’s technical skills, specifically their ability to code functionalities such as payment gateways, that relate directly to your Android or iOS app project. I also recommend preparing several hypothetical examples based on your project requirements to really test your candidate’s suitability.
Pro Tip: When interviewing app developers, ask for a live Zoom call or Zoom recording with a shared screen so they can open their past apps and design tools, and show you the product design materials and app code they recently worked on. If they can’t do it, they are most likely not entirely honest with you.
Step 4: Thoroughly check references
This is a no-brainer, but surprisingly, many companies and startup founders don’t undertake it thoroughly enough. Remember to comprehensively check the verified reviews and references of your chosen mobile app developers.
Step 5: Onboard your mobile-app-development specialist
Now that you have hired the right mobile app developer or developers, it is time to get them up and running. Be sure to cover your expected working practices carefully, plus the following questions:
- Do they use the Agile development methodology, Waterfall, or something else?
- What kind of task tracker do they use, or are they happy onboarding onto your own task tracker?
- Do they use Slack, Discord, or something else for daily chats and reports?
- Will they share their code with you via their GitHub account or your repository?
That’s it! You have now found your mobile app developer. Onboard them and get started.
5 Best Companies to Hire Mobile App Developers
As you now have lots of valuable information about mobile app developers, let’s go over the top 5 companies where you can hire app developers in 2025:
1. DevTeam.Space
DevTeam.Space is a USA-based mobile app development company with a well-managed community of over 60 expert app development teams and 1200 developers from the United States, Europe, and Canada. All developers are supported by an AI-powered Agile process. Since 2016, DevTeam.Space’s mobile app developers have achieved a 99% project success rate thanks to the company’s proven development approach, methodology, and innovative tools.
Companies like Airbus, Disney, NEC, and startups of all sizes hire DevTeam.Space. Its expert developers and professional development teams help clients build their next-generation mobile apps.
However, if your project is small, say below $ 5,000, and you’re ready to spend more time interviewing and risk the quality of your app or money, trying to find a brilliant freelancer among millions of profiles on freelance platforms could be an option. Here are some of the companies where you can do it:
2. Freelancer
Freelancer is an Australia-based general skills freelancer platform. The platform enables client companies to hire freelance mobile app developers from over 100 countries worldwide, helping them fill their human resource gaps.
They have developers with the skills to build most kinds of mobile applications. If you wish to onboard and manage mobile developers independently, Freelancer is a suitable option.
3. Fiverr
Fiverr is a self-described “online marketplace for freelancers” that is based in Israel. They offer a range of freelance services, including mobile app development. Essentially, they operate the same model as Freelancer above, where you register and post a job description and then must interview and hire freelance mobile developers yourself.
4. UpWork
Upwork is the largest freelance platform for general skills. You can hire a freelancer for literally anything via UpWork. The platform has a vast pool of talent from which you can hire a freelance mobile developer who may be willing to work at rock-bottom prices. However, I strongly recommend that you hire expert developers rather than trying to save money by hiring less experienced engineers.
5. Toptal
Toptal is a software-focused freelance platform. It claims to vet all its application developers and only to hire the top 3%, mirroring the vetting model used by professional mobile app development companies. The company offers Toptal mobile app developers for hire for all currently used technologies, designers, financial specialists, and other professionals.
Please check out our guide on the "10 Best Mobile App Development Companies (2025)."
Defining Your Mobile App Features
Your list of mobile app features can include anything from the ability for users to sign up, navigate a map, purchase items from an online store, order a taxi ride, as well as social media integration, camera access, push notifications, in-app search, and offline functionality, among others.
If you are unsure about the features, use this mobile app features template as a guide to understand your budget.
How much money do you have to hire the best mobile app developers to build your app? Is your project self-funded, or are you looking to raise funds? Are you working for a large company or a startup founder?
If you want to raise funds, the best approach is to undertake the design phase. Having a conceptual blueprint of your app will 10x your chances of raising funds on better terms.
Conclusion
Finding the perfect mobile app developer for your project is not hard when you know exactly where to look.
If you want to hire expert mobile app developers to build a world-class mobile app, sign up with DevTeam.Space and get a no-risk trial, exceptional code quality, competitive pricing, excellent communication, and project management support.
After you post the project request, one of the DevTeam.Space dedicated technical account managers will get in touch to arrange a complimentary discovery call.
