Treevoxa is a mobile app development company for businesses that need an app their staff or customers will actually use every day. We build iOS and Android apps in React Native, and we build the back end and admin tools behind them, so the app, the website and your back office share one set of data. Business app development is different from consumer apps: fewer users, more rules, and a back office behind every screen.
Our own products ship mobile apps built this way, which is why we start every app project from the same question: what does the person holding the phone need to do in the next thirty seconds?
Mobile apps we build
- Staff apps. Clock in and out, request leave, approve expenses, see payslips, record work on site.
- Customer apps. Book, order, pay, track a delivery or a payment plan, and get notified when something changes.
- Field and operations apps. Inspections, deliveries, stock counts and photo evidence, with location where it helps.
- Companion apps for your SaaS. The phone version of a web product, sharing its API, accounts and permissions.
Mobile app development services, proven in our own products
- MatrixHR, our HR and payroll system, has an Expo (React Native) mobile app that talks to the same NestJS API as the web app, with access to the phone's location.
- RE-ERP, our real estate ERP, has a React Native app with navigation, file handling, image capture and sharing, on the same Node.js API and PostgreSQL database as the web app.
Both apps share their API, logins and permissions with the web version. That is the pattern we recommend for business apps: one back end, several front ends.
Tech stack for mobile app projects
| Part | What we use |
|---|---|
| App | React Native with Expo, TypeScript, React Navigation |
| State and storage | Zustand, async storage, secure storage for tokens |
| Back end | Node.js (NestJS, Express) or Python (FastAPI) |
| Database | PostgreSQL |
| Services | Push notifications, file storage on Amazon S3, payments with Stripe, email delivery |
A single React Native code base produces both apps (see React Native app development, or Flutter app development if you prefer Flutter), and much of the logic can be shared with a React or Next.js web app. If your app needs a new or better API, see API development.
How an app project runs
- Discovery. Who uses the app, on which devices, with what connection, and what they do today instead.
- Clickable prototype. The key screens, tested with real users before anything is built.
- Written scope and quote. The screens, the integrations, the milestones and the price.
- Build in short cycles. Test builds on your own phone every one or two weeks.
- Store release. Store listings, screenshots, privacy details and review submissions, under your developer accounts.
- Support. Updates for new iOS and Android versions, crash monitoring and new features.
Engagement models for mobile app work
- Fixed scope: a defined first version for an agreed price, paid per milestone.
- Dedicated team: one or more developers working only on your app, billed monthly. See dedicated software development team.
- Hourly: fixes, audits and small features on an existing app.
What a business app costs
The price of an app is driven by a short list of things: the number of distinct screens, whether it must work offline, how many systems it connects to, whether a back end already exists, and how many user roles it has. An app that sits on an existing API costs a fraction of one that needs its back end built too. Our custom software development cost guide explains the drivers, and software developer hourly rates compares what teams charge by region. We quote in US dollars, in writing, after a discovery call.
Working with your time zone
We agree a daily overlap window inside your working hours before the project starts, usually your morning for US clients and the afternoon for UK and European clients. Test builds land on your phone at the start of your day, and questions you leave at the end of it are usually answered by the next.
Do you need an app at all?
Not sure you need an app at all? Many business tasks work better as a fast mobile website. In a short consulting call we look at who would use the app, how often, and what a phone gives you that a browser does not, and we tell you plainly if a responsive web app is the better buy. See software consulting.
Do you maintain apps after launch?
Yes. Operating system updates, store policy changes and new features are covered by a support agreement written down before launch.