Mobile App Development in Portland

Our global team of app developers boasts more than 60 full-stack engineers, and we uphold a rigorous standard of quality for the engineers we hire and the code that we produce. While we offer much more than just coding, app development is still one of our core services. We’ve built mobile apps for companies big and small, and we’re fully at home working in almost any technology or programming language you can think of:

• Swift
• Objective-C
• C+
• C++
• iOS Development
• Android Development
• HTML5 Mobile App Development
• Ruby on Rails
• JavaScript
• JQuery
• Sass
• Compass

But mobile app development is about more than technical ability. Beyond chops, we focus on integrating business strategy into our mobile app development process. Our mission is ROI: we want to build you an app that furthers your overarching business objectives and lets you make money once we finish development. To that end, we don’t just take orders and build – we’ll work to get a detailed understanding of your business so we can ground our app design and development decisions in the realities of your business, positioning you for growth after launch day.

iAt Rootstrap, we’re firm adherents to the Agile development methodology. Agile is a framework for building software that focuses on creating functional software as early as possible in the development process. Instead of writing a detailed plan and description for the product and building it all at once, Agile prioritizes getting a quick-and-dirty, working version of the product as soon as possible.

We use Agile because it works. Iterative, Agile development lets us put your product in front of real users early on in the development process. This means we can incorporate user feedback into the product as we’re building it, helping to ensure we’re building something that users actually want to use.

We’ve developed mobile apps for titans of entertainment, massive tech corporations, and one-person startups alike. Our app development portfolio spans across industries, and we’re equally at home working in straightforward app development, new technologies like AI and blockchain, or crazy experimental projects we haven’t even thought of yet. Whatever you’re looking to build, we’ll help you do it right.

In keeping with that, Roadmapping is a standalone service. Unlike most Portland app developers, we don’t bake Roadmapping into our development service. Roadmapping is an isolated workshop, and only after completing the Roadmapping process can we decide to move forward with development.

We separate Roadmapping from development because it makes the entire process more honest. Structuring it separately, we have the freedom to earnestly investigate the validity of the mobile app. If we decide it is worth building, you can move into development with confidence. And if we find the opposite, you still have the flexibility to pivot.

Roadmapping is our flagship service, and we’ve run more than 300 Roadmapping sessions over the years. Roadmapping alumni have gone on to found successful companies, build user bases numbering in the millions, and secure exits for tens of millions of dollars. In fact, 18% of Roadmapping alumni raise more than $250,000 in pre-product seed capital. That makes Roadmapping alumni 2,600% more likely to secure funding than the average startup.

And if you want a little more proof, just hear what Tony Robbins had to say about our app design and development process:

We structure Roadmapping this way because it makes the process more honest. If you approach discovery as a precursor to development, you’re likely to find the answers you’re already looking for – namely, that yes, this is worth building. Offering Roadmapping as a separate, standalone engagement gives us the freedom to ask questions about the product in earnest. And, because the engagement is low-risk, there’s still time to pivot if we decide the product isn’t well-suited to the market.

“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

We serve the Portland market, but our team spans continents. We have dual headquarters in Los Angeles and Montevideo, Uruguay, but we have team members throughout the US and Europe, as well. Our global distribution means you get access to not only local app developers, but a global workforce of engineers that works when you do and can adjust to any time zone.

But woah woah, wait a second – Montevideo? Why there?

You’re not the first person to ask.

Montevideo may not have a huge name on the international stage, but it’s a thriving, fast-growing hotbed for tech in Latin America. Tech unemployment in Montevideo is -15%, and Uruguay is the largest exporter of software in South America. Uruguay is also what’s called a nearshore country to the US market: it’s still a foreign market, but the time difference is minimal (4-5 hours ahead of Portland), making it much easier for teams to collaborate. This means we can keep our app development rates competitive while still maintaining a team of top-notch engineers.

Oh, and did we mention we’re the #3 largest development studio in Uruguay? We may be lean and scrappy, but if your product really starts to take off, we have the resources to grow with you.

For starters, iOS is a bigger revenue generator. iOS apps earned roughly $40 billion in revenue during 2017, which is twice the number for Android apps. This probably has to do with the fact that Apple products dominate in the most developed consumer markets: the US, greater North America, and Europe. Consumers in these mature markets generally have more money to spend on apps, which can make iOS apps more lucrative than Android apps.

That said, iOS development comes with drawbacks. The App Store isn’t as flexible as the Google Play store from an app developer’s perspective: Apple retains the right to reject apps, and there’s a wait period of a few days to 2 weeks before you can launch your app or publish any changes. While these things rarely present an issue, they can make it harder to iterate your app in its early stages.

Android is also a more flexible platform than the App Store. The Google Play store allows us to push new apps and updates in just 2 hours – much shorter than Apple’s waiting period. This allows us to operate on a truly iterative development process: we can publish an Android app, get data from real users, then make changes to the app based on that data in real time. If your goal is to improve your mobile app on a tight budget and timeline, this is an attractive feature of Android app development.

At the end of the day, there’s no right answer here. Whether you go with Android or iOS app development depends entirely on your app idea, target user, and overall business strategy. But when you work with Rootstrap as your Portland app developer, you’re choosing a developer with the experience and the know-how to help you make those decisions..