How do I build a mobile app?

Do I need an app, or a website?

A mobile app means a program people install from Apple's App Store or Google Play. A website that opens in the phone's browser is not that, and it is the better first product for most beginners. Build an app when the job is repeated on the phone: a login, the camera, offline use, or a notification.

Write the job in one sentence before you pick a tool. If the sentence is "read this" or "contact us," make the site. If it is "open this every day and update a record," an app may be the product.

How do I make an Apple app?

Apple's own path is a Mac, the Xcode app, and the Swift language. SwiftUI is Apple's current way to lay out iPhone screens. You install Xcode from the Mac App Store. A Windows PC cannot run Xcode.

A free Apple Account can install a test build on your own iPhone, with limits. To put the app on the App Store you enroll in the Apple Developer Program. Apple's enrollment page, checked 30 September 2026, lists the membership at 99 US dollars per year. The price can be shown in local currency. You need an Apple Account with two-factor authentication, and you must be the age of majority where you live. Some nonprofits, schools, and government bodies that publish only free apps can request a fee waiver in the countries Apple lists. A normal beginner pays the fee.

How do I make an Android app?

Google's own path is Android Studio, which runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and the Kotlin language. You can test on an Android phone or on the emulator inside Android Studio before you pay anything.

Google Play Console, checked 30 September 2026, charges a one-time registration fee of 25 US dollars. You must be 18 or older. Prepaid cards are not accepted, and the cards that work can differ by country. You choose a personal account or an organization account. Google may ask for a government ID and a card in your legal name. If that check fails, the fee is not refunded.

A newly created personal Play account cannot go straight to the public store. Google's help page says you must run a closed test with at least 12 testers who have stayed opted in for the last 14 days continuously, then apply for production. Do not pay a stranger who sells testers.

What tools are better for a beginner?

Use the store's own tool when you are learning that one phone. Xcode and Swift for Apple. Android Studio and Kotlin for Android. Those are the tools Apple and Google document, and the job ads use the same names.

If one app must go to both stores, Flutter or React Native can share a lot of the code. You still need a Mac and the Apple membership for the iPhone version, and a Play account for Android. A no-code builder can ship a simple app. It does not remove the store fee or the review. Pick the tool after the screens are written, not before.

What should the first version include?

One path a person can finish, including what happens with no network. A home, the work screen, and a way to save or send the result is enough. Accounts, payments, and a second platform can wait until someone has used the first path on a real phone.

Both stores review the app. Read the current App Store Review Guidelines and Google Play's policy before you submit. A broken login, a misleading description, or content you do not have the rights to use is a common reason for a rejection.

Frequently asked questions