Guide · Apple and Google Play documentation quoted, read 13 October 2026
How long does it take to make an app? The work you control, and the waits you can’t skip
Most answers give a range in months for a typical app. Your app’s time depends on two different things: the work of deciding, designing, building and testing, which you can shorten, and the waits that Apple and Google set for accounts, testing and review, which you can only plan around. This guide separates the two and shows how to run them at the same time.
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The short answer. The build itself depends on scope: a single-purpose app with a few screens is a much smaller job than a social app with chat and payments. The fixed waits are the same for everyone. On iPhone: Apple says it reviews “at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours.” On Android, a new personal Google Play account must first run a closed test with “a minimum of 12 testers who have been opted in continuously for at least 14 days”, then apply for production access, where “Review usually takes seven days or less.” Start those waits on the first day of the project, not the last.
What decides how long your app takes
Scope. The number of screens, and above all the number of things that happen off the screen: sign-in, payments, a backend, chat, notifications, offline sync. Each of these adds work on both platforms.
Decisions. Time spent changing your mind after the code is written is the most expensive time in a project. A requirements document and a short spec per feature move those decisions before the build.
Platforms. One platform or two, and whether they are built one after the other or at the same time.
Who builds it. A team, a freelancer, or you with an AI agent. How to hire an iPhone app developer compares the options.
The stores. Account setup, testing rules and review. This part does not depend on your team.
The stages of making an app
1. Idea to requirements. Who the app is for, the one problem it solves, the screens and the data. The output is a requirements document. From PRD to app shows the format.
2. Design. The screen flow first, then the look of each screen. How to map your mobile app covers the flow.
3. Build. Feature by feature: spec, plan, code, tests. This is the stage AI agents shorten most, because they write the code. The decisions in stages 1 and 2 still have to be made by you.
4. Test. Builds on real phones through TestFlight on iPhone and a testing track on Google Play. Testers find what the simulator does not show.
5. Store setup and review. Developer accounts, store listings, screenshots, privacy answers, then review. Parts of this stage have fixed waiting times, below.
The fixed waits Apple and Google set
Apple Developer account. Apple’s enrolment page for individuals says: “If you haven't received a membership confirmation within 24 hours of your purchase, contact us.” A company needs a D-U-N-S Number first: Apple says to “allow up to 5 business days to receive your number from D&B” and then “up to 2 business days for Apple to receive your information”.
TestFlight. Your team can test builds as internal testers without review. For external testers, “The first build you submit requires a full review, but later builds for the same version might not.”
App Review. “App Review works around the clock, typically reviewing at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours.” And: “If your submission is incomplete, review times may be delayed.” A rejection adds a fix and a new review. App Store rejection reasons lists the common ones.
Google Play closed test. “Developers with personal accounts created after November 13, 2023, must run a closed test” with “a minimum of 12 testers who have been opted in continuously for at least 14 days”. The rule is written for personal accounts.
Google Play production access. After the test, you apply for production access: “Review usually takes seven days or less, but can occasionally take longer.” For some accounts, Google says app reviews can take “up to 7 days or longer in exceptional cases.”
For a new personal Google Play account, that adds up to at least 14 days of testing plus the production access review before the first public Android release.
How to make an app faster: run the waits in parallel
Day 1: open the accounts. Enrol in the Apple Developer Program and register on Google Play before you write any code. If you enrol as a company, request the D-U-N-S Number the same day.
First week: put a first build in front of testers. As soon as one screen works, upload it. On Google Play, start the closed test and recruit 12 testers who stay opted in for the full 14 days: friends, colleagues, people from your waiting list. The 14 days then run while you build the rest. On iPhone, send the first build to an external TestFlight group so its full review is done early.
Build both platforms at the same time. If the app needs iPhone and Android, building them one after the other doubles the build stage. Building both from one spec, with the same feature logic, keeps every later change to one decision. Can AI build iOS and Android apps at the same time? compares the tools that do this.
Write the store listing during the build. Screenshots, description, privacy answers and the support URL are ready when the last feature is merged.
Submit a complete build. Apple says incomplete submissions delay review: include sign-in details for the reviewer if the app has accounts.
How long does it take to build an app with AI?
AI agents shorten stage 3, writing the code. They do not shorten the store waits, and they do not make the product decisions. The time you save is the time a developer would spend typing; the time you still spend is on deciding what the app does, checking each feature on a phone and fixing what the agent misunderstood.
Two things keep that second part short. A spec per feature, written before the code, so the agent builds the right thing the first time. And a project structure where a new feature does not break the old ones, so the twentieth feature takes as long as the second.
Modaal works this way. Your own AI agent builds each feature from a spec and a plan you approve, as a native SwiftUI app and a native Jetpack Compose app from the same project, so both platforms are built at the same time. Pro (€9 per user per month billed annually) adds TestFlight and automated App Store publishing; the Free plan covers one project on one platform.
Where the time goes, stage by stage
| Stage | What takes the time | Fixed wait set by Apple or Google | How to shorten it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requirements | Deciding scope, screens and data | None | Write a requirements document before any design |
| Design | Screen flow, then each screen | None | Use the platforms’ standard components |
| Build | Code for each feature, on each platform | None | A spec per feature; both platforms from one spec; an AI agent writes the code |
| Apple account | Enrolment | Confirmation expected within 24 hours; companies first need a D-U-N-S Number (up to 5 + 2 business days) | Enrol on day 1 |
| iPhone testing | Testers try builds | First external TestFlight build gets a full review | Send the first build early |
| Android testing | Testers try builds | New personal accounts: 12 testers for 14 days | Start the closed test in week 1 |
| Release review | Fixing rejections | Apple: 90% in under 48 hours. Google production access: usually 7 days or less | Submit complete builds with reviewer sign-in details |
Store timings from Apple’s App Review, enrolment and D-U-N-S pages and Google’s Play Console Help, read 13 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
The build depends on scope: the number of screens and features such as sign-in, payments, chat and a backend. The store waits are fixed: Apple reviews 90% of submissions in under 48 hours, and a new personal Google Play account needs a 14-day closed test with 12 testers plus a production access review before release.
Add Google Play’s waits to the build. New personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 days, then apply for production access, which Google says usually takes seven days or less to review.
Add Apple’s waits to the build: enrolment in the Apple Developer Program (confirmation expected within 24 hours for individuals; companies first need a D-U-N-S Number), a full review of the first external TestFlight build, and App Review, which Apple says handles 90% of submissions in under 48 hours.
Apple says App Review typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours, and that incomplete submissions may be delayed.
Only if the two apps are built one after the other. Built at the same time from one spec, with shared feature logic, the decisions are made once and each platform gets its own native screens.
A small app can be built quickly with an AI agent, but the store waits still apply. On Google Play, a new personal account cannot release publicly before its 14-day closed test is complete.
Native iPhone and Android apps. Start free.
One project, two native apps: Swift for iPhone, Kotlin for Android.
Keep reading
- How to make an app: 7 decisions
From idea to both stores.
- TestFlight for Android
Google Play’s testing tracks, including the 14-day closed test.
- How to publish an app on the App Store
The submission, step by step.