Mobile App Development in Miami

Our mobile app development experience is comprehensive. We’ve worked in industries ranging from entertainment to AR and VR, and with a team of more than 60 full-stack engineers spread across three continents, we have the resources to scale as you do. We’ll supply you with everything you need: pure dev muscle, interface design chops, or a full business and product strategy consultation, and we’ve always got more room to grow with you.

But our mission is to go beyond pure app development. We strive to make informed development decisions, grounding the entire process in real business outcomes. When we start a mobile app with a new client, we work to get a comprehensive understanding of their business model and their industry, letting us understand how the app fits into the larger picture of the business. We do this because at the end of the day, this is about ROI: we only want to build a mobile app if we’re sure it will succeed and contribute to business objectives.

In keeping with that philosophy, we’re strong adherents to an iterative, Agile development model. Agile is a software development framework that focuses on creating functional, working software early in the process, instead of creating excessive documentation. We do this because building functional software first lets us test it with real users as soon as possible, informing later development decisions. This acts like a check against our own ignorance: it helps us build products that people actually want to use.

Every aspect of our business is deeply inspired by the Agile Manifesto, encapsulated in the following principles:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

We work Agile because it works. It’s a flexible approach to development that lets us remain flexible without sacrificing efficiency. No matter how big the project, Agile development allows us to build lean and focus on what really matters to generate ROI – and we’ve found that remains constant whether we’re working with a solo entrepreneur or an enterprise organization.

Roadmapping by Rootstrap is a pre-development product workshop designed to ensure that an app is worth building before investing the time and money to build it. In Roadmapping, we answer questions at the core of your app and your business: who is this for? Why do they need it? What’s the key value proposition? How will this fare in the marketplace?

We Roadmap because developing an app is a big investment, and it’s nonsensical to invest that money if you’re not sure the app will succeed. Roadmapping offers a quick, low-risk way to explore the validity of the mobile app before throwing down money for real development. After 250+ Roadmapping sessions, we’ve seen that it works.

If you’re like us, you probably believe data more than words. That’s cool – we’ve got data to back this up. Here’s a look at Roadmapping, by the numbers:

• 18% of Roadmapping alumni raise at least $250,000 in pre-product seed capital.
• 8% of alumni raise at least $1,000,000 in capital.
• This means Roadmapping alumni are 2,600% more likely to get funding than the average startup.
• In all, Roadmapping alumni have raised $500 million of aggregate capital.

We’re one of the only app developers in Miami offering this as a standalone service, and we have years of experience using this process with clients big and small. Don’t get us wrong – we think making beautiful products is an important part of mobile app design. But the core of our mobile app design process – and our development philosophy overall – is building functional products that real people want to use. Roadmapping lets us do that better than any other process, whether we’re starting from a nearly-finished product or a back of the envelope sketch. As a Roadmapping client, you’re in good company – in fact, here’s what Tony Robbins had to say about the process:

"I reviewed the app and it’s totally spectacular. The approach that you took and the guidance you provided throughout the Rootstrap process has been phenomenal. I’m looking forward to continuing as partners!”
– Tony Robbins, CEO

Our team is distributed – and that’s good news for you. We work when you do and we can adjust to any schedule. Our more than 60 full-stack engineers are spread across three continents, giving you access to a global workforce that’s as lean and Agile as a scrappy startup.

And when it comes to pure mobile app development chops, we’ve got them in spades. We are militant about the quality of our engineers. We hire the best of the best, and we’ve instituted a regimen of tools and processes that keep us on our A game, every single day. We’re pros in Android and iOS app development alike, and we’re fluent in just about any language, industry, or vertical you can think of:

• Swift
• Ruby on Rails
• Javascript
• JQuery
• Sass
• Compass
• CSS3
• HTML5 Mobile App Development
• HTML5 Web App Development
• Augmented Reality
• Unity3D
• Game Development
• API Development

Working with Rootstrap means getting access to an enterprise-ready team, even when you only need a single mobile app developer. We have the business strategy experience to help you ideate and pivot your business in the early stages, and we’re ready to scale with you as your business grows. Like we said – choosing a mobile app developer is like getting married. We’re ready to grow with you no matter what turns things take.

Truth be told, there’s no right answer here. The question of which platform you build on first depends on the nature of your app, your core user demographic, and the specifics of your business strategy. And there are strong arguments on both sides.

First, let’s look at some numbers. Without question, iOS apps generate more aggregate revenue than Android apps: in 2016, the App Store generated $34 billion in revenue, while the Google Play store generated only $10 billion. This is spread across 29 billion downloads on the App Store vs. 63 billion downloads on Google Play – effectively meaning the App Store generated three times as much revenue from only half the number of downloads. In isolation, a download is worth more for an iOS app than for an Android app.

This may be due to the geographical distribution of the two platforms. iOS apps dominate in more mature, established markets like the US, North America, and Europe – just take a look at the phones in the glitzier regions of Miami and you’ll see this played out. All of this means that iOS app users have more money to spend on apps, which can translate to more revenue for iOS app developers than Android.

That said, iOS apps come with their own limitations. Apple, Inc. has the final say over what goes on the App Store and what doesn’t. They can reject apps at their own discretion, which means that it’s entirely possible to spend time and money creating an app only to have it blocked by Apple. While rare, this isn’t unheard of.

Furthermore, the App Store has a review period lasting between a few days and two weeks when publishing apps or pushing updates. This isn’t a major problem, but it does mean that the iterative development process can only move so fast. Every new version of your app will come that much slower, which may slow down improvement and user acquisition for early stage startups.

Again: it all depends on what’s important for your own specific app.

On a larger scale, the Android platform is poised for more growth in the long-term. Apple may reign supreme in Europe and North America, but Android currently dominates in emerging markets like Latin America and China. This means that in the next 5 years, Android will likely grow much faster than iOS apps – and building a user base on the Android platform positions you to capitalize on that growth. This may upset the revenue differential between the App Store and the Google Play store, but that remains to be seen.

In our own experience, we’ve found that user acquisition is cheaper on Android across the board. With the same amount of money, it’s possible to acquire a larger user base for Android app than an iOS app – which means that if capital is tight, it may make sense to launch on Android and build the user base there first. Once you generate traction for your app on Android, it’ll be much easier to raise capital to launch and scale an iOS version.

But again, there’s no right answer. Every app and every business is different, and ideally your strategy will hit both markets in the end. But no matter what you choose, we’ve got the chops to build a gorgeous, functional mobile app on iOS or Android – and we’ll help you weigh the pros and cons of one market vs. the other if need be.