Bos magazine.

Client & context

Almost every magazine now needs a mobile edition. The publisher of BOS magazine asked us to build its iOS app from scratch, plus the tool its editors would use to publish each issue.

The challenge

Readers had to be able to find, buy and read the latest issue in seconds, on iPhone or iPad, and keep access to everything they had paid for across devices. Editors needed to upload new issues without developer help.

What we built

• iOS app with a minimal, modern design for iPhone and iPad.
• Purchases - buy a single issue or subscribe so no issue is missed, with sign-in through the user's Apple account.
• My Shelf - a library of every issue the reader has bought, available on all their devices.
• Web admin panel - editors upload and publish new issues themselves.

Process & timeline

Design came first, because a reading app is judged on how it feels; the purchase and restore flows were then built and tested against App Store rules. Delivery took 10 weeks.

Results

BOS got an easy-to-use reading app and a simple publishing tool: readers buy an issue from the sofa or a coffee shop, and the editors release new issues on their own schedule.

Readers got a simple way to buy and keep every issue, and the editorial team could publish on its own schedule without developer help.

At our current rates, a build of this scope would cost about £15–30k — an estimate from the feature list, not the original invoice.

If we built it today

Today we would ship one cross-platform reader for iOS and Android, with offline reading, push notifications for new issues and subscriptions managed in one place across the app stores and the web. A first release of a product like this typically takes 6–8 weeks; our rates start from £49/hour per developer, and £65–£70/hour for a full team with QA and product ownership. Discovery starts from £3,000.

Building something similar? See our iOS app development services, or estimate your project in the cost calculator.