Web and mobile apps from one studio
Slides do not launch products. Design, engineering, and launch need to sit with the same team on the same schedule.
Design and engineering share one backlog, so the visuals never drift away from what can realistically ship on time.
If that sounds like your situation, Arcode is set up for brands hiring an app development agency. Cross-platform app development with React Native, Next.js, and production backends.
What you get
- Web and mobile apps
- Shared design systems
- API and cloud setup
- Store and web launch
- One studio accountable for the result
- Design and engineering on the same schedule
- Support available after launch
How engagement works
As your app development agency, we run a shared backlog, design reviews, and engineering sprints, and you keep one point of contact throughout.
- 01
Discover
Goals, constraints, data sources, and success metrics, all settled before we touch architecture or prompts. Nothing here waits on a handover between separate teams.
- 02
Design
System design, AI/tool boundaries, interface direction, and interaction prototypes. On app development projects we favour practical architecture over trendy defaults.
- 03
Build
Modern stack, clean architecture, evaluated AI behavior, and iterative demos you can react to. The work for teams in Edinburgh stays tied to the outcome you asked for.
- 04
Launch
Ship, monitor, harden, and keep improving models, tools, and product after go-live. You see progress on the critical path every week.
How we build it, and why
The stack is chosen per project, not applied from a template. For app development agency work these are the defaults, and the reason each one is on the list.
- React Native
- one codebase for iOS and Android, which halves the surface area you maintain after launch
- Next.js
- server rendering and static generation in one framework, so marketing pages stay fast and app routes stay dynamic
- NestJS
- structure and dependency injection on the backend, which keeps a growing API from turning into a pile of route handlers
- Firebase
- auth, push, and realtime sync without standing up your own infrastructure first
- AWS
- the services you grow into, once a managed platform stops being enough
What the first weeks look like
- Week 1
Scope and architecture
Users, data, integrations, and constraints, ending in a written plan for the app development that you approve before anyone opens an editor.
- Weeks 2-3
Design the critical path
The screens that carry the product, prototyped and clickable. Design and engineering review together, so nothing gets drawn that cannot ship.
- Weeks 4-8
Build in weekly slices
Every week ends with something on a real URL. web and mobile apps lands early, because the rest of the plan depends on it working.
- Launch
Ship, measure, hand over
Release, monitoring, analytics, and a documented handover, so your team can carry it without calling us.
Weighing up your options
There are three realistic ways to get this built. Each is the right answer for someone.
A solo freelancer
Cheapest per hour and fine for a contained task. The risk on app development is breadth — one person covering design, backend, infrastructure, and launch usually means one of them is weak, and there is no cover when they are unavailable.
A local agency in Edinburgh
Same timezone and a face to meet, which genuinely matters for some teams. You are also paying Edinburgh product companies valuing clean engineering and AI. rates for the whole team including the layers that never touch your app development, and a local shortlist is a small shortlist.
Arcode
A small senior team. The people who scope the app development write the code, you get weekly demos instead of status decks, and the engagement ends when the thing is live and handed over.
Work we have shipped
Brain Blog
Frontend · Gatsby · Strapi
Custom Gatsby blog with Strapi CMS, built for fast content publishing and a clean reading experience.
Freelance content product pairing Gatsby performance with Tailwind styling and a Strapi-powered editorial workflow.
- · Gatsby static generation
- · Strapi blog integration
- · Tailwind-driven layout
- · Fast content browsing
Gatsby · Tailwind · Strapi
Dumbiez
Frontend · NFT product
NFT comics platform for exploring and interacting with digital comic collectibles.
Independent Next.js product for browsing and engaging with NFT comics, styled with Tailwind and shipped on Vercel.
- · NFT comics browsing
- · Interactive collectible UX
- · Responsive Next.js UI
- · Vercel deployment
Next.js · React · Tailwind · Vercel
StudioX Localization
Frontend · i18n
UI polish and language translation pages for the StudioX product experience.
Contract contribution implementing UI fixes and localization pages with Next.js, React, and Tailwind to improve accessibility and multi-language use.
- · Language translation pages
- · UI accessibility fixes
- · Next.js page delivery
- · Clearer multi-language UX
Next.js · React · Tailwind
Working with teams in Edinburgh
Edinburgh product companies valuing clean engineering and AI. We work with clients in Edinburgh remotely and keep overlapping hours in GMT/BST. We usually collaborate in English.
How we work with Edinburgh teams
Edinburgh runs on GMT/BST, giving us a full overlapping day. Written updates land before your morning, so the first thing you read is what moved since you logged off.
What Edinburgh clients usually need
Edinburgh briefs cluster around SaaS and fintech — Scotland's financial sector pulls a lot of product work with it — alongside university-adjacent research tools that need to become real software.
Contracts, data, and compliance
Financial-sector clients bring security questionnaires and DPAs early, so we handle those upfront and keep personal data in UK or EU regions by default. We invoice in GBP.
