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As businesses and individuals become more reliant on technology to manage their time, calendar and scheduling apps have become increasingly important tools. A well-designed calendar or scheduling app can help users organize their day, schedule appointments, and manage their time more effectively. However, building such an app requires a skilled calendar app development company.
There are many factors to consider when choosing a company to build your app. Before you start looking at those, it’s important to consider your requirements for the app. What features do you need? What platforms should the app support? What is your budget? Once you have a clear idea of your requirements, you will be better equipped to evaluate potential development partners.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Company
Experience
One factor to consider when choosing a calendar app development company is experience. What is their expertise in building calendar apps? Do they have a track record of building these apps with the core features you need? A company that specializes in this type of app will have a better understanding of the specific features and functionality required. Look at the company’s past work and you will have an indicator as to what its capabilities are.
There are specific roadblocks that one might encounter while building a calendar app. Time zones, daylight savings, and leap years can all present problems while building an app. The company you choose must have experience in overcoming these challenges.
Features
You also need to consider what features you want your calendar app to have. If you need it to be able to sync with third-party calendars, the company needs to have experience adding events to native Android or iOS calendar apps for appointments or reminders.
Consider if you want to sync info to or from Google, iCloud, or Outlook calendars and if the company has experience in doing this.
User experience is important as well. Find an app development company that is familiar with the native date and time widgets for iOS and Android. Using native widgets helps users quickly understand how to use your app effectively.
If your app involves a scheduling component, the company also needs to have experience in preventing double-booking when reserving time on schedules. They also need a strong design team that can create an intuitive, smooth user experience.
Methodology
Another factor to consider is their development process or methodology. A well-defined development process should include regular communication and project management updates. You will be able to get an idea of how they communicate when you first contact them. Look for fast, effective responses. A good calendar app development team should be able to explain the development process in simple terms, without resorting to technical jargon.
Types of Companies to Consider
There are many different types of companies you can go to including outsourcing to software development agencies (including Twin Sun), freelance developers, and offshore development teams. Each option has their own set of pros and cons to consider, so it is important to go through all of them to see which option is best for your app.
For example, offshore development teams can provide development services at a lower cost, but time zones and communication differences can be difficult to deal with. This can not only make the development process slower, but have a negative effect on the final product.
Outsourcing work to freelance developers can be a cost-effective option, but they may lack the expertise and resources that an agency will have. Agencies such as Twin Sun generally offer a range of services and have a team of developers with specialized skills. When hiring an agency, you’re also working with a group of people who already know how to work together, so you won’t need to worry about managing them.
Working with a group of freelance developers can also be tricky due to team fragmentation.
Generally, U.S.-based development teams have a higher hourly rate than offshore teams, charging between $100 and $200 per hour while overseas firms charge around $50 to $80 per hour. U.S. based firms also generally complete the work faster, thus getting you to market faster.
With an app development agency, you will get top-tier service for a reasonable price in the short-term. You can shorten time to market, have lower costs, and overall have a higher quality product since you’re paying for the time dedicated to the project.
Tips for Choosing the Right Company
One tip for choosing the right calendar app development company is by going onto sites such as clutch.co and look for reviews for mobile app development companies in your region. There you will be able to find a lot of information about potential partners including the size of the company, its average hourly rate, contact information, as well as reviews from people who have worked with the company in the past.
You can also check the references of each potential company. You will get a better view of their track record and satisfaction with past clients. It’s also important to review the company’s portfolio. What apps have they built with calendar or scheduling features? Are these similar to something you may want for your own app?
Another tip for choosing the right company is making sure the company offers ongoing support and maintenance services after the app is launched. This is important for addressing any issues that may arise and keeping the app up-to-date with new technology developments.
It’s important to discuss prices in advance. There are many factors to consider when perfecting the budget for your calendar app including design, legal cost, marketing, and other services.
Once you have a shortlist of potential development companies, ask each one to provide a proposal. Learn about the companies’ development processes, timelines, and milestones. Evaluate each proposal carefully to ensure it meets your requirements and budget.
A well-defined development process should include regular communication and project management updates. This will help ensure that the app is developed on-time and meets your expectations.
Calendar Apps Developed by Twin Sun
One calendar app Twin Sun has developed is Artful Agenda: a digital planner that works like paper. Stickers, annotations, and drawing capabilities in Artful Agenda bring the best parts of paper to a stylish Internet-connected digital planner that works on any device. Artful Agenda syncs with Google, Apple, and Outlook calendars. We worked to deliver a smooth, stress-free product launch and continue to provide improvements to the web app as well as assist with tier-two customer support. This experience built trust and confidence in Twin Sun’s abilities, leading to a years-long partnership.
They’re very respectful and consistently go out of their way to meet all of my needs and requirements. I trust that they always have my best interests in mind.
Katy Allen, Owner, Artful Agenda
Choosing the right company to build your calendar app can be a daunting task, and we are here to help you make an informed decision. We value building long-lasting relationships and making a positive impact on our clients’ businesses. We focus on building excellent software that solves core business problems and can turn your calendar app into a success. If you’re interested in partnering with us as your calendar app development company, we’d be happy to discuss next steps with you.
By Alex McAllister