The honest answer is that an app costs whatever its job requires. My two projects sit at opposite ends: about $500 for a small station listening app, and phone screens that are part of a $50,000 warehouse platform.
As rough bands: under $1,000 for a small app built around something you already have; a few thousand dollars once it needs its own content or settings; $10,000 to $50,000 for an app with accounts, its own data, and screens for your team; and $50,000 or more when the app is one part of a larger system. These are examples to help you plan, not quotes.
The small end: about $500
The radio app brought an existing live stream, a show clock, and lock-screen listening onto a phone. It cost about $500 to build and $20 a month for care.
It stayed small because the station already had a stream, listeners did not need accounts, and the app does one job. There was no website, no payments, and no data entry.
What moves the price up
Each of these adds design, building, and testing time: user accounts and logins; storing your own data behind the app; taking payments; supporting both iOS and Android; working without a connection; connecting to other systems; and admin screens so your team can manage content.
None of them is unusual. Each one is a decision, and it is cheaper to make it before the build than halfway through.
The large end: an app inside a bigger system
At the warehouse, phone screens at the dock scan a lot, hold a cold chain, and block product with a missing photo. They are part of a platform that cost about $50,000 to build and $2,000 a month for care.
Those phone screens cannot be priced on their own. Their value comes from the shared warehouse screen and data behind them. If your app needs a system like that, budget for the whole system.
Costs after launch
Apple charges $99 a year for a developer account, and Google charges a one-time $25 to publish on Google Play. Hosting, updates for new phone operating systems, and support come on top.
With DylTec, those ongoing costs are covered by a monthly care fee: $20 a month for the radio app and $2,000 a month for the warehouse platform. You own the app, the code, and the store accounts either way.
When you may not need an app
A mobile-friendly website or an existing app builder is often enough, and both cost less. A dedicated app makes sense when people use it repeatedly, need lock-screen or device features, or the existing tools do not fit the job.
Getting a number for your app
Send a brief with who will use the app, the one task it needs to make easier, the devices they have, and a rough budget band. I will tell you which end of the range it is likely to land in, or whether you need an app at all.