How long does a first version take? An eight-week plan, week by week

A focused first version of a business app takes about eight weeks: two to design it and six to build, test and release it. That holds when the scope is one core job for one or two kinds of user. Published guides put most first versions at two to four months, and regulated products such as finance or health at six months or more (Vivasoft).

What happens each week?

• Week 1: flows. Every step of the core job is drawn out. You agree what is in and what is out.
• Week 2: screens and a prototype. You click through it on your phone and show it to the people who will use it.
• Week 3: foundations. Accounts, roles, the database, and the first real screen working end to end.
• Weeks 4 and 5: the core job. The thing the product exists to do, built and usable. You get a build each week.
• Week 6: the portal and the edges. The admin side, notifications, reports, and what happens when things go wrong.
• Week 7: testing. Real phones, real data shapes, slow connections. Fixes.
• Week 8: release. Store listings, review, and your team switching over.

How long does store review take?

Apple says 90% of submissions are reviewed in under 24 hours (Apple). Google says review can take up to seven days or longer in some cases (Google Play). One trap: a new personal Google Play account must run a test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before it can publish. Organisation accounts are exempt (Google Play). Open your accounts in week one, not week eight.

What makes it take longer?

• Feedback takes a week instead of a day. This is the most common delay, and it is on the client side.
• More than one decision maker. Name one person who can say yes.
• New features mid-build. Write them down for version two.
• Payments, maps, or connecting to an older system. Each one adds days, sometimes weeks.

Can it be done faster?

A clickable prototype takes two weeks, and for many ideas that is the right first step: you can test it and show it to investors before paying for a build. A working product in two weeks usually means a very small scope or skipped testing.

The same steps, with what you get at each one, are on how a project runs.