What is an address book app?
An address book application is a web, mobile, or desktop application that enables users to manage and keep track of contacts. Address book apps usually include the ability to add new contacts, categorize different types of contacts (e.g., friends, family members, coworkers), and view contact information in a categorized list or chart.
Address book apps are often similar to other messaging apps like email apps, texting apps, and instant messaging apps. These address book apps are primarily used to organize contacts and interact with them via various communication channels. Some of the most popular address book applications include Gmail, Contacts by Google, and Outlook for Android.
Examples of address book apps built with Crowdbotics:
- An interactive yearbook built for the education industry that provides users with the ability to include images, videos, virtual yearbook signing, and audio clips for senior quotes.
- An advertising app with a Stripe integration built for the hospitality industry that provides businesses with the option to send out real-time coupons and offers when business is slow and allows customers to see top deals in their area.
- A banking app that extracts info from ID via OCR, uses APIs to run credit checks (real estate, auto, credit), and qualifies candidates for financing from a bank.
What is the typical cost to build an address book app?
An address book app usually costs about $37,500 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $25,000 or as high as $50,000. An address book app with a low number of features (also known as a minimum viable product, or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality.
For example, here are some previous address book app price quotes from Crowdbotics:
How long does it take to build an address book app?
An address book app usually takes 402 hours to build. However, an address book app can be built in as few as 133 hours, or in as many as 667 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your specific app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, complex logic, or non-standard release platforms.
For example, some previous address book apps build with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:
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Crowdbotics has quoted and built hundreds of applications for teams of all sizes. Browse our historical estimates by industry and app type to understand possible costs and considerations.
How to successfully grow your address book application
An address book app can grow rapidly by demonstrating that it is a better substitute for the user’s existing address book. It’s helpful to think of an address book app as a “to-do” list for personal relationships, where users are motivated to maintain their address books in order to get things done about their friends and family. Address book apps can offer incentives to encourage users to add new contacts, such as discounts on social activities or invitations to exclusive events.
Risks and challenges of building an address book application
The risks for an address book app are similar to that of a social media app, but with the added legal concern that your app might be considered a business. The app should provide easy access to user opt-out mechanisms and take steps to ensure that users are properly opted-in before they can use the platform. It is also important to make sure that your application does not exceed the scope of its intended purpose (e.g., an address book cannot function as an instant messaging application).
