# Mobile App Development: Launch on iOS and Android Together

DreamLabs is an AI-powered app development agency in California — a fractional product team for mobile and web apps, from strategy to launch.

Launch on iPhone and Android together, from one codebase you own. DreamLabs works as the fractional product team for founders and organizations building a mobile app: product strategy, design, AI-accelerated development, the admin tools behind the app and both store launches. It starts with a $4,000 two-week strategy sprint, refunded in full if we don't move forward together, and most builds ship in about 6 weeks after that.

By John Krueger and Tomás Quiñonez-Riegos. Updated October 7, 2026.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does it cost to build a mobile app for iOS and Android?

Every project starts with a $4,000 two-week strategy sprint, refunded in full if we don't move forward together. It produces a features table, wireframes for your core flows and the scope of your first release, and we quote the build from that scope. Building both platforms from one codebase means you pay for each feature once, and our AI-accelerated process typically costs a fraction of a traditional agency. The stores charge their own fees, billed to your accounts: Apple's developer program is 99 USD a year, and Google Play registration is a one-time 25 USD.

### Should my app be native or cross-platform?

Cross-platform suits most products. Flutter compiles to native machine code on iOS and Android and can call Swift, Kotlin or Java when a feature needs a platform API, and React Native renders real native platform UI, so users get a native-feeling app while you maintain one codebase. Native development makes sense when the product centers on one platform's hardware or frameworks, such as an iPhone app built mostly on Apple-only frameworks or a fleet of company-managed Android devices. We build most apps in Flutter and also work in Swift when native iOS is the right call; we make that call with you during the strategy sprint.

### Do you build in Flutter or React Native?

Both. Flutter is our default: [Nurture](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/nurture), [GlowCode](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/glowcode), [OOM](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/oom), [UNALTERED](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/unaltered) and [Grove](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/grove) are all Flutter apps. We choose React Native when your team already writes React, or when the product shares a lot of TypeScript with a React web app. The deciding questions are who will maintain the code after launch and where else the product has to run, and the sprint settles them before any code is written.

### Do I need an admin dashboard or a web app as well?

Usually, if anyone on your team reviews, approves or publishes anything. Nurture's admins review each learner's progress before unlocking milestones, and Haikuists' booking team works in a desktop web app while its poets use the mobile app. We scope the admin side in the strategy sprint so it ships with version one. Flutter also builds for the web: [Community Gearbox](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/community-gearbox)'s first public version was a web app people could click through.

## Who we are

A mobile product is often two products: the app your customers use and the tools your team uses to run it. We build both, as a fractional product team covering strategy, design and development, with Tomás Quiñonez-Riegos leading product and John Krueger leading development. We ask why before we build, which keeps version one small enough to ship in weeks.

[Nurture](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/nurture)'s bilingual learner app shipped 36 features in its first version, in four weeks of development, and Nurture's team guides each cohort with admin tools we built alongside it; the app is live on the App Store and Google Play. For [Haikuists](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/haikuists) we built a mobile app for contract poets and a desktop web app for the booking team on one Firebase back end, and shipped the first version of both in eight weeks. [Community Gearbox](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/community-gearbox)'s two-sided app, where members lend and borrow gear inside their own circles and community managers run the groups, took six weeks.

We work with founders launching a first app and organizations turning a program or a service into one. You own the code, both developer accounts and both store listings.

## What we do

We build most apps in [Flutter](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/flutter-mobile-app-development), or in [React Native](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/react-native-mobile-app-development) when your team already writes React, and we also work in Swift when native iOS is the right call. With Flutter or React Native, iOS and Android ship from one codebase, so each feature is designed and built once, then tested on both platforms. AI drafts the scaffolding, repetitive code and tests, and senior engineers make the architecture calls and review every change.

The strategy sprint maps every kind of user before any screen is designed, because the data model has to fit all of them: Nurture's learners and admins, Haikuists' poets and booking team, Community Gearbox's members and managers. Then we design each flow, build the app and its admin side together, and take it through both stores' review. Apple and Google set different rules; our [iOS](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/ios-development) and [Android](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/android-development) pages cover each one.

Already have a version built in FlutterFlow, Adalo or an AI app builder? FlutterFlow exports its Flutter code on paid plans, so our [FlutterFlow migration guide](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/migrate-from-flutterflow) starts from that code. For other tools, see [getting an AI-built or no-code app into the App Store](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/migrate-from-rork-vibecode).

**When we're not the right team:** if you're still finding out whether anyone wants the idea, test it more cheaply first. [Nowhere Collective](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/nowhere-collective) put a clickable prototype we designed in four weeks in front of users before any code was written, and [Urban Outdoors](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/urban-outdoors) reached its first users with a no-code MVP we built in four weeks. Games and 3D-heavy apps belong with a studio that builds on a game engine.

## What's included in Mobile App Development?

- **One app for iPhone and Android** — A production app from a single Flutter or React Native codebase, designed to feel at home on both platforms, with the back end, sign-in, payments, notifications and integrations your product needs. We submit it to the App Store and Google Play under your own accounts. GlowCode shipped to both stores from one codebase, eight weeks from idea to launch.
- **The admin side, built with the app** — Content, approvals, notifications and support need a home. We build the tools your team runs the product with, inside the app or as a desktop web app on the same back end. Nurture's admins review each learner's steps, award achievements and send push notifications to everyone or to selected groups; Haikuists' booking team manages events, poets, invoices and messages from one dashboard.
- **User testing and the releases after launch** — User testing is a free bonus with every build. After GlowCode launched, we led four user testing sessions that produced 24 points of feedback for the next version; our free [user testing guide](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/blog/user-testing-guide-for-apps) shows how to run your own. Then we keep shipping: Nurture reached 19 releases across its mobile app and admin web app by August 2024. Or hand the code to your own team, since it's yours.

## Plan your build

- [How Much Does an MVP Cost?](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/mvp-cost.md)
- [How Long Does It Take to Build an App?](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/how-long-to-build-an-app.md)
- [Marketplace App Development Cost](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/marketplace-app-development-cost.md)
- [Round-Up and Fintech App Development Cost](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/fintech-round-up-app-development-cost.md)
- [Creator and Referral App Development Cost](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/creator-referral-app-development-cost.md)
- [AI Fitness App Development Cost](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/ai-fitness-app-development-cost.md)

## Related work

- [Nurture](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/nurture.md): Native Mobile App
- [Haikuists](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/haikuists.md): Private, native app for internal contractor management
- [Community Gearbox](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/project/community-gearbox.md): Native mobile app

> “Working with DreamLabs was a delight! They were organized and thorough with their process. They helped me create clarity and a scope of work from what was just an initial idea. And I learned a bunch along the way.”

— Dante Garcia, Founder & CEO @ Community Gearbox

## More ways we build

- [App & Software Development in the San Francisco Bay Area](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/software-development-in-san-francisco.md)
- [Flutter App Development](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/flutter-mobile-app-development.md)
- [React & React Native App Development](https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/react-native-mobile-app-development.md)

## Links

- Full page: https://www.dreamlabs.pro/services/mobile-app-development
- Offerings & pricing: https://www.dreamlabs.pro/offerings
- Contact: https://www.dreamlabs.pro/contact