Platform choice changes the timeline as much as cost
A PWA skips app-store review entirely. Cross-platform and native both need to budget for App Store / Google Play review time on top of the build itself — see PWA vs Native vs Cross-Platform.
The rough phases
Discovery/scope, backend and API build (often the largest single piece — see What Backend Does a Mobile App Need?), frontend/UI build, and testing before submission.
App-store review time — easy to forget
Review cycles add real calendar time beyond the build itself, and rejections requiring resubmission are common enough to plan buffer for, not treat as an edge case.
What makes it faster or slower
Same drivers as any web application build — role count, integration complexity, AI feature testing — plus platform-specific factors like app-store review and, for native, per-platform build time if targeting both iOS and Android separately.
Questions
Is a PWA meaningfully faster to launch?+
Yes — skipping app-store submission and review removes real calendar time, not just development time.
How long does app-store review typically take?+
It varies by platform and submission quality — budgeting buffer for at least one round of feedback/resubmission is realistic.
Does building for both iOS and Android double the timeline?+
For fully native, largely yes, since they're separate codebases — this is exactly why cross-platform frameworks exist.