App development where design and engineering share the backlog from day one.

Intunio is a design and development studio in Gothenburg, building apps for iOS, Android, Flutter, and React Native. We cover the full path from pre-study and UX design to release and continued maintenance, with the same team throughout.

Intunio helps companies design and build digital products where usability, technical quality, and long-term maintainability carry equal weight. Designers and engineers work in the same team throughout the project, so design and engineering land together rather than being handed over in stages.

App development at Intunio covers native iOS, native Android, cross-platform with Flutter or React Native, and web apps where appropriate. We take engagements from idea to release, or come in as an extension of an existing product team.

What we do

• UX research, design, and prototyping: concrete design sketches, design system foundations, and user validation alongside technical planning

• Native iOS development: Swift and SwiftUI for apps where hardware integration, performance, or platform-specific UX matter

• Native Android development: Kotlin and Jetpack Compose for Android products with tight device-level integrations

• Cross-platform with Flutter: one codebase for iOS and Android when team size, release cadence, and a shared design foundation outweigh platform-specific perfection

• React Native and hybrid: when a web team needs to maintain an app, or when parts of the product already live in React

• Backend and integrations: APIs, authentication, data sync, push, third-party integrations

• Release, App Store/Play Store process, and maintenance: we stay involved through launch and follow-up, including post-release iteration

The industries we most often build apps for are industrial, medtech, automotive, SaaS, and e-commerce. Conditions vary, but the structure stays the same.

App development where design and engineering share the backlog

At Intunio, app development is a collaboration between design and engineering from day one. A design decision is always also a technical decision: how offline behaviour is handled, how sync conflicts between devices are resolved, how a long flow resumes after the app is interrupted. Separating the disciplines creates expensive misunderstandings late in the project.

That's why designers and engineers work in the same team, on the same backlog. Design and engineering develop in parallel rather than being handed over in stages. That's how we make the next step predictable.

Platform choice — pragmatism over purity

The platform choice is often the most consequential decision in an app project. It shapes development time, team composition, how the app feels to use, and what maintenance costs over several years. We help you make the call based on your product's requirements, your team, and your release cycle.

Native iOS and Android is often the right call when hardware integration, performance, or platform-specific UX is central. Health apps with HealthKit, camera-heavy products, apps that need the latest OS APIs at release. Native delivers the best possible experience on each platform, at the cost of two codebases and two skill sets.

Flutter fits when speed, a shared design foundation, and one codebase outweigh perfect platform feel. Flutter has a mature UI toolkit, fast iteration, and good support for complex interactions. We have also used Flutter on embedded targets where it's one of the few realistic options.

React Native is a strong choice when a web team needs to maintain the app, or when parts of the product already exist in React. It works well for content-heavy apps and productivity tools. It works less well when large parts of the product are native platform features.

Web app is sometimes the right answer to a "we need an app" question. When the product is used once a day, across devices, without offline needs, a PWA or responsive web app is often easier to develop, distribute, and update.

How we work in an app project

A typical app project moves through four phases. The phases overlap, and in some engagements we come in mid-flow rather than at the start.

Pre-study

We produce an MVP scope, design sketches for key views, technical architecture, and realistic effort estimates. It is the first step in actual delivery, not a separate analysis. See the pre-study service for the full description.

Design and technical foundation

A first level of the design system is set (tokens, core components), architecture and platform decisions land, the repo is set up, CI/CD is in place. Designers and engineers begin producing in parallel.

Sprint-based development

Two-week sprints are most common. Design details are produced just before the engineer needs them, so that no design work sits on a shelf. We quality-check continuously, on both design and code.

Release and maintenance

App Store and Play Store process, first analytics setup, post-launch follow-up. For clients with a long-term product, we often transition into a rolling monthly engagement.

For clients who already have an app, we typically enter at phase 2 or 3 — often after a product validation that maps the current state before we start rebuilding or extending.

What we offer

App development varies more in scope than most other services: the gap between a fast AI prototype and a mature product under long-term maintenance is enormous. Four common engagements:

• AI POC or AI MVP (40–80 hours, 1–2 weeks): a fast, designed prototype or first version proving that an idea holds, often built around an AI feature or integration. Suitable for testing a hypothesis with real users, showing the tech to investors, or moving an idea from a Lovable/Cursor prototype into something quality-assured. The priority here is fast feedback over polished code and architecture.

• Functional MVP (from 320 hours, delivered in 6–8 weeks): a first buildable version of an app, often after a pre-study. Includes UX design, a focused first feature set, native or cross-platform depending on what fits, and release in App Store and Play Store. Suitable when the idea is validated and the product is ready to reach users for real.

• Advanced app from scratch (from 480 hours, with a typical advanced build landing at 1000–2000 hours; delivered in 8–14 weeks, often longer): a new app with more ambition than a first MVP. Multiple platforms, complex integrations, a design system as foundation, or features that need to scale from the start. Suitable when you know what to build, have resources for a larger initiative, and want the product to hold up from day one.

• Long-term product team (rolling monthly, from 80 hours/month): a dedicated small team that follows your product over time. Once a product is in production, complex work shows up: continued development, larger rebuilds, complex integrations, performance work, platform migration, features that hold up at scale. We embed in your existing team as a complement, or take over a defined area. Designer and engineer in the same engagement, with continuity in context knowledge. The most common engagement for clients we work with across multiple years.

A design system is always part of app development, built into the foundation. When it needs to scale across multiple apps, we have a separate design system service.

When the app is the interface to a connected product (sensor, instrument, vehicle, industrial machine) it's often a specialised case where industrial UX is our adjacent service, with deeper methodology around hardware integration, embedded UI, and safety-critical flows.

Pricing

995 SEK/hour (discounted rate with a monthly agreement).

We apply a discounted hourly rate for monthly agreements: you pay the month's estimated cost in advance, and get a price you can plan around. No commitment beyond the current month. The model applies to all our services, and fits app development particularly well since the work often runs across several months.

AI tools are included in the rate

We use Claude, Cursor, and Codex to make all our work more efficient: in code, design work, and technical reasoning. It's our expertise working faster.

Common starting points

Four typical situations where a conversation with Intunio becomes relevant:

When an idea needs to become a product

You have a vision for a digital product or a concrete business opportunity, but no defined scope, no team, no clear picture of what to actually build or how. Intunio comes in from the idea stage, typically starting with a pre-study, and takes the product all the way from first sketch to release. This is our most common starting point.

When an idea is validated and it's time to build the MVP

The pre-study is done, scope is defined, but you don't have a team that can take the product from design to release. Intunio comes in as an integrated design-and-engineering unit and takes the product all the way through.

When an existing app needs to be modernised or scaled

The product is in production but has grown over time without a clear design or architecture strategy. UX debt is high, performance is patchy, the platform choice is starting to feel constraining. We come in with design and engineering perspectives in parallel.

When an internal engineering team lacks design capacity

You have strong engineers and a clear roadmap, but every feature becomes a separate design conversation. Intunio complements the team with UX, design system, and product decisions, integrated into your way of working.

In all four cases the starting point is the same: app development is a design discipline as much as an engineering one, and the best results come when both sides share the backlog from day one.