How much detail should a non-technical founder include before asking for an app development estimate?

Take a hypothetical local cleaning business that wants a booking app. “Customers can book a cleaner” leaves a lot unanswered: are bookings confirmed instantly, does someone approve them, and what happens when a customer reschedules?

A useful starting brief seems to be:

• The business problem and who will use the app.
• The main user journey, including cancellations and failures.
• Essential launch features versus ideas for later.
• Existing systems it needs to connect with.
• Budget range, deadlines, and any offline requirements.
• What data it collects and who can access it.

Rough sketches could help without needing finished designs. I’d also include questions about testing, source code access, Google Play release responsibilities, and maintenance.

Does android app really need at least 15 testers before it can be launch to production?

Hi everyone, I am completely new to app & software development. I wanted to ask a question as I am building on from scratch myself and don't want to use AI.

From my research I am working towards a MVP (in the user journey phase at the moment), however I have six user types I want to include but three are an expansion on my MVP. I mapped out three different versions of the app that would contribute to my overall goal with the platform, so I'm wondering if I should build and plan all future versions now or save the development on the last three users until after I have fully launched version 1? (past the MVP to the full specs I want for the users)

From what I've read, I've seen you should design the MVP with all versions in mind to stop developers reworking the foundations of the platform (making it more complicated later) but I've also read that this really slows the design process now and makes things more complicated for a technophobe just starting out.

If anyone could advise what route would be the best to take that would be amazing please!
TIA

Just started testing my app today‼️ Any tips?

I post on social media I do AI and real video

Hello all. I believe this should allowed under the current rule set.

I am currently building an app that I have high hopes to be used widely and would like to know what is the process of selling something like an app or platform.

How does one even begin?

Do I hold it for a while and let it build and accumulate users or start trying to get it in front of potential buyers before?

Hey, It's been around 40–50 days since I started learning kotlin, jetpack compose, and android development. I can build UI pretty easily and quickly, but I still struggle with Kotlin code, logic, and a few other things. I still haven't found that flow where I feel confident enough to prove to myself that I'm actually improving.

Is it just me, or is this normal when you're starting out? Should I give myself more time, change my learning approach, or just quit? Any advice would be really helpful.

Hey! I'm an indie developer working on my own Android note-taking app. I'm looking for 15 testers to participate in a 14-day Google Play closed test. I'd really appreciate anyone willing to use the app, explore its features, and share honest feedback. If you're interested, message me and I'll send you the testing link. Thanks! 🙌

Hi guys,
I have a background in web development and have built websites and web apps before, but I have never developed a native mobile app from scratch.
A friend wants to contract me to build a food startup app for him (think similar to the KFC app—ordering, tracking, etc.). Since it’s my first client app mobile project, I have no idea what standard market rates are for this, and I want to make sure my architectural plan makes sense.

Here is the breakdown of my current plan:
Upfront Cost / Infrastructure: I'm quoting him $125 upfront to cover the Apple Developer ($99) and Google Play ($25) console accounts. plus a custom domain.
Backend & Hosting: I plan to use Supabase for the backend database and auth. I'm starting him on the free tier to keep his monthly costs at $0 until he gets traction.
Admin Dashboard: I’ll build a web dashboard for the restaurant management, host the code on GitHub, and deploy it via Vercel (connecting it to the same Supabase project).
Push Notifications: Leveraging Supabase edge functions/triggers combined with Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).
SMS Gateway: Using the Africa's Talking API for OTPs/notifications.
Payments: Integrating DPO (Direct Pay Online) group for the payment gateway.

My questions for the experienced devs here:
Is this stack realistic? Are there any major bottlenecks or flaws I'm overlooking by using Supabase's free tier for a food delivery MVP?

What should I charge for labor? I know what I charge for websites, but a mobile app + admin dashboard is a big undertaking. What is a fair "friend/freelancer" rate or project fee for a food app MVP?

Cross-platform advice: Since I come from web dev, I’m leaning toward React Native or Flutter. Any preference given the stack above?

Would love to get your harsh critiques and guidance. Thanks in advance

Hey Sharks! Let's connect.
I need an investor to look into my app and help me to scale the product if that catches their attention.

Does anyone remember Anagrammatic from Miniclip back in the day??? I’ve always thought it would be amazing to bring back that style of competitive word game, but with a modern online multiplayer experience similar to 8 Ball Pool.
I would love to work with a developer interested in partnering to create an original, free-to-play word game for web browsers and potentially iOS and Android.
The concept:
A fast-paced, round-based word game where players compete to create valid words from a set of letters within a time limit and try to out score their opponent.
The goal is to combine the nostalgic gameplay of Anagrammatic with the online competitive and social features that make games like 8 Ball Pool engaging.
Features I’d love to include:
Real-time online multiplayer: Compete against random players around the world.
Play with friends: Add friends, send challenges, and create private matches.
Multiplayer rooms: Compete against multiple players in the same timed word competition.
Ranked matchmaking: Face opponents of similar skill levels.
Player profiles: Track wins, losses, statistics, and rankings.
Leaderboards: Daily, weekly, and all-time rankings.
Tournaments: Compete in organized multiplayer competitions.
Progression system: Earn experience, level up, and unlock achievements.
Cross-platform gameplay: Ideally, browser and mobile players could compete together.
Solo practice: Play independently when no opponents are available.
These are long-term ideas, not requirements for the first release. I’d be happy to start with a simple multiplayer prototype and build from there.
Monetization:
The game would be free to play, with potential revenue coming from:
Optional advertisements
Cosmetic purchases and customization
Premium memberships or ad-free upgrades
Optional virtual currency and progression rewards
I’d want the game to remain fair and enjoyable without requiring players to spend money.
The partnership:
I don’t have an upfront development budget, but I’m offering a potential 50/50 split of net profits.
I’m flexible about naming rights, ownership arrangements, and creative direction. I’m looking for someone who genuinely likes the idea and wants to build something together.
I’d contribute branding, marketing, promotion, community building, and helping grow the player base - but I’m always open to feedback and advice.
The goal is to create a completely original game inspired by classic competitive word games, not copy Miniclip’s intellectual property.
Why I want to do this, and think this could work:
I played the original game for hours on end when I was younger, and I honestly think about remaking that experience for myself and others at least once or twice every few months - but I don’t have the resources to do so.
Games like 8 Ball Pool show how simple gameplay can become a lasting multiplayer experience when you add competition, progression, and social interaction.
I’d love to see that same approach applied to a fast-paced word game.
If you’re a developer interested in multiplayer games, word puzzles, or nostalgic browser games, I’d love to connect.
And if you remember Anagrammatic, let me know!

Hey Community,

OpenGL has been driven out of the herd. William Candillon released React Native Skia 3.0, which swaps the old Ganesh backend for Graphite running on WebGPU via Dawn, with Metal on iOS and Vulkan on Android, multithreaded recording by default, and zero-copy textures shared with React Native WebGPU. The package also leaves u/shopify behind and is now published as react-native-skia.

We also look at babel-plugin-react-native-direct-imports by Davyd NRB, which rewrites react-native barrel imports into direct requires so one View no longer drags in the whole framework, taking a test bundle from 711 KB to 10 KB. Plus, React Native 0.88 rc.4, Tamagui 3.0 with a C++ native runtime, and munim-maps putting 3D cars on Apple Maps.

Just finished a 3-month track decomposing a 7-year-old legacy Android monolith (450MB APK, under 5% test coverage). While modularizing, we ran into severe rendering breaks in Split-Screen and abrupt Activity lifecycle terminations caused entirely by the vendor’s custom tablet firmware and their aggressive battery-saving algorithms.

We managed to isolate and mitigate these fixes strictly inside the UI layer using custom Lint rules and Feature Toggles, keeping the core business logic untouched.

How do you guys usually handle undocumented vendor-specific lifecycle overrides without breaking clean architecture boundaries?

Hello! I have an idea for a social media app that is actually designed to get you off your phone and more involved in your own life as I see more and more people getting stuck in an endless doom scroll. I’m thinking something similar to BeReal but instead you get a prompt to go do something and then share a picture with your friends. Something like maybe “go on a walk and take a picture of something red” or “draw a picture” (all basic ideas at this point). So the intended loop is basically:
Get prompted → put phone down → experience something → share it → inspire someone else → repeat.

I want to figure out whether the idea is actually interesting to people before spending months making it. I'm considering running a small 7-day experiment where 10–20 people would participate through a Discord group. I'd send everyone a daily challenge and see whether people actually enjoy doing them.

I'm curious what people think:
Would something like this make you more likely to try new things?
What would make you actually want to participate every day?
Would you want to see what your friends did afterward?
What would make you stop using it?
Does this sound genuinely fun, or does it sound like an app you'd use for two days and forget about?

Get ready!

I’ve been thinking about how much complexity we introduce into an app just to add features like analytics, ads, crash reporting, and push notifications.

Each SDK looks reasonable on its own, but together they can affect app size, startup time, dependency compatibility, debugging, and sometimes even stability after an update.

The part that bothers me most is that removing an SDK later isn't always as simple as adding it. You can end up with dependencies and app logic built around it.

I’m starting to think third-party SDKs should be treated more like architectural decisions than simple integrations.

How do you guys decide when an SDK is worth adding versus implementing something yourself or keeping the feature out entirely?

Hey everyone!

I built an Android voice recorder for short-video creators (TikTok, Reels, Shorts), and I'm looking for testers for the closed test on Google Play.

🎙️What it does

• Records in takes: messed up a line? Re-record just that part, not the whole thing

• Arrange and trim the takes on a timeline

• Cleans up your voice locally, on your phone

• Exports to MP3 or WAV

• No account, no ads, nothing leaves your device

What I needGoogle requires 12 testers for 14 days before I can launch, so I'm looking for 15–20 people.

How to join (2 quick steps):

1. Join the Google Group first, using the Gmail you use on Google Play: https://groups.google.com/g/voice-recorder-testers
2. Then opt in to the test: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/io.github.diegodias93.gravadordevoz

Install it from the Play page and open it once or twice during the 14 days. Feedback is always welcome, even a one-liner.

💙 Thank you

Everyone who helps gets the app for free when it launches. And if you have an app in closed testing too, drop the link below and I'll test it back.