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Mobile App Developers in California: Top 10 Companies Ranked

Say you have a 7-figure app idea. How do you go about launching it and making a successful business in California? Contacting a mobile app development company seems like a decent choice, but how do you decide if they are trustworthy?

This article will help you pick the best mobile application development company to suit your needs. Inside, you’ll find everything you need to know about the mobile application development process, along with a ranked list of the top 10 mobile app developers in California.

Reading time: 12 minutes

Mobile App Development Companies in California
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Key takeaways

    • We compiled this list by looking at each developer’s rating on Clutch, years of experience under their belt, and area of expertise;
    • To find a suitable mobile app developer in California, look through their portfolio and reviews;
    • Once you strike a deal with a California-based app developer, keep in mind 5 key steps of the app development process: project discovery, UX design, development, QA testing, and release.

What we based our rankings on

To determine which California-based contractors are worth their salt, we took into account and compared the following:

    • mobile app development services provided
    • rating on Clutch
    • industries and years on the market

We summarized our findings in the table below. You can either check them out or read on to study them more closely.

Company Team Size Rating on Clutch Industries
Purrweb 200+ 4.9 logistics, fintech, healthcare, IoT, real estate, marketplaces
Utility 100+ 4.8 sports, healthcare, fintech, entertainment.
AppMakersLA 40+ 5.0 dating, e-commerce, education, gaming, entertainment, fashion
Instinctools 400+ 4.6 AI, IoT
Blupalms 40+ 5.0 wellness, healthcare, children’s apps, foodtech
Mercury Development 500+ 5.0 foodtech, automotive, e-commerce, entertainment
Kanda Software 850+ 4.9 cloud migration, fintech, wellness, healthcare
Tepia 30+ 4.9 manufacturing, retail, church, entertainment
Naked Development 40+ 4.8 healthcare, wellness, HR
Blitz Mobile Apps 600+ 5.0 e-commerce, advertising, real estate, gaming

Top 10 mobile app development companies in California

Without further ado, here are some of our top picks for the best developers operating in the Golden State:

1. Purrweb

    • 550+ projects in 46 industries
    • 10+ years of design and development experience
    • 210+ trusted employees

 Purrweb main page

Purrweb is a top-tier mobile app development company in California. Over the past decade, we have successfully completed more than 550 projects. These include designing apps for varied niches, helping with full-cycle development, and releasing cross-platform apps.

As a mobile application development company, we have over 200 professionals with expertise in 40+ niches, from healthcare and IoT to fintech. Our designers, developers, project managers, and DevOps engineers can help you deliver your product within a limited budget and a three-month timeframe.

To achieve that, we work with Agile and SCRUM methodologies in mind. This helps us deploy your app’s finished features every two weeks, one by one.

At Purrweb, we offer a range of services:

You can check out more projects in our portfolio or look at some of the key custom mobile apps down below:

👇IPTV app

A smart TV app developed by the Purrweb team

We’re not afraid to work on apps in unorthodox niches, like IPTV. Our agency has a lot of developers with a wide skill set, so we can make almost any app imaginable.

👇Social media app

A social media app developed by the Purrweb team

That doesn’t mean we don’t work with conventional niches. For example, this social media app redesign project took us three months and ~$12,000 to complete.

👇Kem, a mobile payment platform in Kuwait

A mobile payment platform developed by the Purrweb team

Finally, we had a hand in many projects centered around fintech. One of these included a P2P payment app for the local market.

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2. Utility.

    • 100+ employees
    • 4.8 rating on Clutch
    • industries include sports, healthcare, and entertainment

Utility main page

This Californian mobile app development company was founded in 2013 by specialists who worked in MLB and McCann Erickson. Since then, they’ve helped famous brands from all over the world create high-quality custom mobile apps. Some of their partners include Airbnb, Samsung, Football Genius, and more.

Utility. offers mobile app development services, UI/UX design, and growth building. The first is self-explanatory, and UI/UX design ensures that users find the app visually appealing and comfortable enough to use. Growth building focuses on finding new users, compelling them to use your app, and retaining old ones. To make sure your app thrives, business analysts at Utility also monitor key metrics closely.

3. AppMakersLA

    • 100+ apps launched
    • 10M+ total users
    • $100M raised for projects

The AppMakersLA main page

AppMakersLA from California have collaborated with industry giants like Walmart, The Home Depot, and the NFL. Their team consists of 30+ seasoned professionals, among which there are engineers from prestigious universities like Stanford and MIT.

This agency’s mobile app development services specialize in creating versatile digital solutions. Their mobile app developers know React Native and Flutter, so they’ll easily help you create a cross-platform solution.

If you are working within a budget or want to test the waters before committing to a full-scale app, they can build an MVP with low-code technologies. This agency can also help you create a web app — it could be useful in an e-commerce project, for example, if you want to design a separate app for merchants.

4. Instinctools

    • 400+ employees
    • 4.6 rating on Clutch
    • industries include AI and machine learning, BI and big data, IoT

 Instinctools main page

Instinctools is a Los Angeles-based technology agency with a strong reputation for delivering innovative solutions. As a mobile app development company, they’ve worked with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and even the Swiss Red Cross.

This company’s mobile app development services specialize in a wide range of services, from building SaaS platforms and AI applications to modernizing legacy software and developing eCommerce solutions. Reviewers highlight their ability to meet expectations, efficiently work under deadlines, and quickly ramp up resources.

This agency is a solid choice for outstaffing needs. You can supplement your teams with skilled mobile app developers from Instinctools to close skill gaps and accelerate time-to-market.

5. Blupalms

    • 1M+ downloads across all of their apps
    • 100+ projects completed
    • $2M+ raised for projects

 Blupalms main page

This app development company has a team of over 40 experts. Blupalms’ mobile app development services handle every step of the process, from the initial idea to the final product. Their solutions are designed to fit the business and grow alongside it.

The team at Blupalms combines UI/UX best practices with a deep understanding of current trends and digital innovation, using analytics and user testing to make data-driven decisions.

6. Mercury Development

    • 26 years of experience
    • 40M+ app users
    • 500+ employees

Mercury Development main page

Mercury Development is an app development company with 26 years of industry experience. They can help whether you need mobile app development services or require assistance with QA for an existing project.

This agency’s client portfolio includes Fitbit, Google, and Dow. Mercury Development specializes in wearable devices and has successfully developed apps for fitness trackers and smartwatches.

7. Kanda Software

    • 850+ employees
    • 4.9 rating on Clutch
    • industries include cloud migration, fintech, sports, healthcare

Kanda Software main page

Kanda’s teams are highly adaptable and capable of rapidly scaling resources up or down to optimize deliverables and reduce costs throughout the mobile application development lifecycle. Their specialists have expertise in hard-to-master niches like DevOps and AI, which can make them invaluable for your project.

According to their website, the mobile app solutions Kanda creates are designed to generate revenue and enhance operational efficiency. If these outcomes align with your goals, Kanda Software is likely to be an excellent fit for your needs.

8. Tepia

    • 30+ employees
    • 4.9 rating on Clutch

Tepia main page

Tepia places a strong emphasis on user experience. It designs apps that are both visually appealing and easy to navigate. This ensures that end-users don’t feel any unnecessary friction while interacting with your app.

The app development company’s expertise spans a wide range of industries. These include healthcare, education, e-commerce, and entertainment. Standard niches aside, this agency can utilize new tech like AI and blockchain to make your app even more unique.

As for the team over at Tepia, there are many skilled mobile app developers, designers, and project managers to choose from. You can either delegate an entire project to them or take a couple of their specialists to work for you via outstaffing.

9. Naked Development

    • 3.7M app downloads
    • $96.5M app funds raised 

Naked Development main page

Naked Development is an outsourcing agency that takes a people-centric approach to building mobile apps. They can handle the whole development process, which includes discovery, design, branding, marketing, and help in releasing the app. 

The mobile application development company itself has over 15 years of experience under its belt. Among their partners, you can find not only different small and medium businesses but also industry giants like Bank of America and Quicksilver. If you want to build an app and launch it on the market fast, Naked Development seems like a good option.

10. Blitz Mobile Apps

    • 600+ employees
    • 10+ years of experience
    • 500+ clients

 Blitz Mobile Apps main page

Blitz Mobile Apps is an award-winning mobile app development company with offices in California, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Their developers can tackle many different challenges — these include unorthodox tasks, like designing and developing a video game from scratch. 

And if you need to develop an app for iOS or Android, they can do that, too. Specialists over at Blitz Mobile Apps can greatly cut down the cost of development by using cross-platform technologies like Flutter and React Native. This way, they will be able to create an app for both platforms in half the time.

Wondering how much it costs to develop an app?
After 550+ completed projects, we can design an app in any niche — from dating to IoT. Contact us and get a free project estimation in 48 hours.
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What does a standard mobile app development process look like?

Years of experience have helped us streamline development so much so that we can break it down into 5 steps. Here’s what app creation looks like in our case.

Project discovery

Having a concrete idea for a specific app is great, but without research, it’s impossible to determine whether it’s going to take off or become dead on arrival. Trying to launch an app without research is like working in a fog: you don’t really know what dangers lie ahead.

That’s why project discovery is important. It allows you to better understand your users’ needs and figure out if there is a market for your idea.

⭐ Our experience

 

When one of our clients came to us with an idea for a Muslim super-app, product discovery was the first thing we advised. Our researchers recruited respondents from the target audience and conducted qualitative interviews with them. We also had our business analysts calculate unit economics to see if the potential app would even be profitable.

In the end, it turned out that the client’s idea didn’t have enough demand, so we urged them to forgo development. Because of this, they saved over $150,000.

Product discovery — qualitative research The client thought their target audience would find it easier to schedule prayer times and find Halal cafés in a single app. Our research proved otherwise: users didn’t mind switching between apps to get access to different religious services. We advised our client to scrap the idea entirely.

UX design

After we conduct the product discovery, it’s time to map out the design of your future app. It’s important to focus on two things.

The first is UI or the app’s visual elements, like typography and colors.

The second is UX, which prioritizes ease of use, accessibility, and simple navigation across screens to make the app intuitive and user-friendly.

Our experience

 

The design you choose can shape the number of active users and the first impressions they get from the app. We managed to improve both when designing a cryptocurrency wallet. We settled for a bright yet clean design that seems eye-catching and simple to use. Our efforts helped the company attract first users and raise investments.

 UX design exampleWe wanted to design a bright interface without overloading it with information. We believe we succeeded

Development

This would be the core phase of app creation. Here, our mobile app developers write code, integrate APIs, and build the app’s architecture to ensure it performs as intended. To manage this process efficiently, we adopt Agile and Scrum methodologies in our workflow by dividing it into two-week sprints. During each, we focus on completing specific features or tasks. This lets us maintain momentum, reduce risks, and deliver high-quality apps on time.

⭐ Our experience

 

This methodology helped us when we were developing an app for pet owners. We used Scrum to divide an app into separate feature blocks. This helped us release an MVP in 3 months.

Weight tracker featureTo make the development even more transparent, we divided large feature blocks into user stories, and the weight tracker wasn’t an exception. Decomposing the development into steps this small helped us to speed it up immensely.

QA testing

This step is essential to make sure that the final product is reliable, functional, and free of bugs. It involves systematically checking the app for performance and usability problems to guarantee it meets both technical specifications and user expectations.

By rigorously testing each feature and interaction, QA ensures the app runs smoothly across different devices, operating systems, and scenarios. This step not only enhances the app’s quality but also builds trust with users and increases retention in the long haul.

Release and maintenance

After the app is polished and ready to go, we help with uploading it to the App Store and Google Play Market. Development doesn’t end there, however. Instead, the focus shifts to maintenance, which involves ongoing support to keep the app functional and up-to-date. This includes fixing bugs, releasing updates to improve performance or add new features, and addressing user feedback.

⭐ Our experience

 

After releasing EnerGO, we stayed with our client to help them perfect the app. Our mobile app developers kept in touch with them to fix bugs and add new features, like onboarding guides and Apple Pay.

EnerGO feature example

Another feature we helped integrate after release is a charging station filter. The user can tap the train icon to filter through powerbank stations located only in the subway.

How much does it cost to hire a mobile app developer in California

The price varies from company to company. In our case, we charge starting from $45,000 for an MVP.

While geography does play a key factor when it comes to pricing (we’re talking about the Bay Area, after all), that’s not the only thing that drives development costs. Other factors include:

The number of features. The more you plan to add, the higher the cost of development is going to get. That’s because the majority of outsourcing companies calculate costs based on the hourly rate, and a larger number of features would take longer to implement.

Vendify — an IoT app for smart fridges — had a limited number of features and took us 6 weeks to create. On the other hand, we spent about 11 months in an ERP school system.

App niche. Some apps have relatively straightforward features, while others have complicated user flows by the virtue of their niche, which makes them more expensive to build.

Regulatory compliance also plays a role in pricing. Sure, a majority of niches may not require it, but fintech and medtech need mobile app developers to be familiar with their respective regulations.

A social media app like MyWard, which helps app users combine different clothing items and create stylish outfits, is going to cost less than a medtech system like Lytic Health.

Product type. If you’re on a limited budget, you could settle for an MVP. If that’s not an option, and you want to build an app with as many features as possible from the get-go — it’s going to be expensive.

An MVP like Grecha.pro is going to cost way less than Medico, which includes a web platform for doctors and a mobile app for patients

What to look for when choosing a mobile app development company in California

When it comes to selecting mobile app development agencies in California, it’s better to focus on a combination of factors, like:

Portfolio

If the mobile app development company has a large portfolio with projects similar to your app, they probably have the experience needed to create a perfect app for you.

For example, at Purrweb, we have over 10 years of experience designing and developing apps in different niches: e-commerce, IoT, fintech, and more. You can be sure that we have the expertise to enhance your project.

Purrweb's portfolio

Our portfolio includes more than 55 cases from various niches, and we’re not going to stop adding new cases any time soon.

Ratings

You can try looking up some reviews on specific websites like Clutch or visiting the agency’s official website. If you’re going to do the latter, pay attention to the level of detail these reviews have. More details mean a lower probability that these testimonials were faked.

 Purrweb reviews section

Another way to safeguard from fake reviews is checking to see if there are video testimonials. They’re much harder to fake.

➡️ If you want mobile app development services in California from a trusted contractor, look no further. Contact us today for a free project estimation — we’ll get back to you in 24 hours with a timeframe and pricing.

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