I'm building my first mobile app with a developer, and I'm trying to understand the full App Store publishing process before making a decision on how to move forward.
Another developer I'm considering working with instead of my current developer told me the following:
"If you do it yourselves, your developer will have to learn everything for the first time. Registering a business and getting the corporate key takes about a week, getting a D-U-N-S number can take up to a month, rebuilding a web app into a mobile UI is a skill in itself, Capacitor is a skill, push notifications can be very challenging, then there's App Store compliance, submission, possible rejection and resubmission. You'll also realistically need a Mac to publish to the App Store. Overall, expect 2–3 months and well over $2,000 before you might be on the App Store."
My situation is:
I'm a solo founder. The app already exists as a web app. We plan to wrap/build it into a native mobile app (likely using Capacitor or a similar approach). I'm happy to publish under an individual Apple Developer account for now if that simplifies things. I don't necessarily need an organization account at this stage.
My biggest priority is speed. I'm not trying to build the perfect long-term company structure right now. I want to get my app into people's hands as quickly as possible so I can validate the product, learn from real users, and iterate. If there are trade-offs that let me launch faster without creating major technical debt or problems later, I'm very open to that.
I'm hoping to understand from developers who have actually been through this process:
Which parts of the statement above are accurate? Which parts only apply if you're publishing as an organization rather than an individual? Is 2–3 months a realistic estimate for someone who already has a working web app and an experienced developer? If your goal was simply to get an MVP into users' hands as quickly as possible, how would you approach it? Are there any hidden hurdles or costs that first-time founders commonly underestimate?
Also for better context: this developer who made this comment to me said they're charging $1100 AUD to ONLY convert our web app into a mobile app. They also proposed a $450/month retainer after the migration for maintenance, tweaks, etc.
I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's published apps to the App Store recently. Thanks!
