How to Get a Prototype of an App Made
The practical steps to get an app prototype made, what to prepare, what you receive, and how to use it to raise money before you build.
Short answer
To get a prototype of an app made, bring a clear idea and its core flow to a designer or studio, who turns it into a clickable design of the app with no code underneath. The process is usually a short design sprint that produces something you can tap through and show to investors and users. A prototype is cheap and fast compared with building, and it is the best way to test the idea and raise money before coding. If you are still deciding whether you need one, see our guide on whether you need a prototype before building.
What you actually get
Before getting one made, it helps to know exactly what a prototype is, because the word means different things to different people. An app prototype is a clickable model of your app that looks and behaves like the real thing but has no working code underneath. You can tap through the screens, move from one to the next, and get a real feel for how the app flows, but it does not truly save your data or connect to a server. It is the design of the app brought to life enough to experience, without the engineering that makes it actually work.
That is exactly what makes it valuable at this stage. Because there is no code, a prototype is quick to make and cheap compared with building, and it can be changed in minutes rather than days. What you receive at the end is something you can hold on a phone and tap through, use to test the experience with real people, show to investors as a convincing version of the app, and hand to developers as a clear blueprint for the build. Knowing this shapes how you brief whoever makes it: you are asking for a designed, clickable experience, not a working app.
How to prepare before you start
The better prepared you are, the better and faster the prototype, so a little work up front pays off. You do not need anything technical, but you do need clarity on a few things.
- The core idea, in a sentence. What the app is for and who it is for, stated simply, so the designer builds around the right purpose.
- The core flow. The main thing a user will do, step by step. A prototype of the key flow is far more useful than a vague sketch of everything.
- What matters most. The screens and moments that are central to the experience, so the design effort goes where it counts.
- References. A few apps you admire or that work like yours, which give the designer a fast, concrete sense of your taste and expectations.
With these in hand, a designer can move quickly and the prototype will reflect what you actually want. Coming in with only a fuzzy idea works too, a good studio will help you sharpen it, but the clearer you are, the more of the time goes into the design rather than into figuring out what you mean.
The process: from idea to clickable prototype
Getting a prototype made usually follows a short, focused process, often called a design sprint, that turns your idea into something clickable in a few weeks.
- Discovery. You and the designer clarify the idea, the users, and the core flow, turning your brief into an agreed direction.
- Design. The designer creates the screens, following Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines so the app feels native and right, and shapes how it looks and feels.
- Make it clickable. The screens are linked together so you can tap through them like a real app, turning static designs into an experience.
- Review and refine. You try it, give feedback, and the designer adjusts, quickly, because changing a prototype is cheap and fast.
The result is a prototype you can use immediately. This process is deliberately fast and iterative, because the whole point of a prototype is to do your thinking and changing while it is still cheap, before any expensive code exists. A good studio keeps you closely involved so the prototype ends up reflecting your vision rather than the designer’s guess.
Who makes a prototype
| Who makes it | Good for | Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| A freelance designer | A simple prototype on a budget | You manage the process and quality |
| A design agency | Polished design work | May hand off to others to build |
| A design-and-build studio | Prototype that leads into the app | One partner from prototype to launch |
| Doing it yourself | The very simplest ideas | Hard to reach real polish without skill |
Who you choose depends on your budget and where you are heading. A freelance designer can make a simple prototype cheaply if you can guide the process. An agency brings polish. A studio that both designs and builds is often the strongest choice when you intend to build the app afterward, because the prototype becomes a true blueprint the same team turns into a real app, ideally in native Swift, with no gap between the design and the build. The worst outcome is a beautiful prototype from one team that another team then cannot or will not build faithfully, so thinking a step ahead about who builds it matters.
Using your prototype to pitch investors
One of the best reasons to get a prototype made is to raise money, and it is worth understanding why it works so well. When you pitch investors with only a slide deck, you are asking them to picture your app from a description. When you hand them a clickable prototype on a phone, they experience it, and that difference is enormous.
A prototype lets an investor tap through your app and feel what it will be, for a tiny fraction of the cost of actually building it. It proves the concept is real, shows your taste and judgment, and demonstrates that you can turn an idea into something concrete, all of which make you far more fundable than a founder with only an idea. This is exactly why many founders get a prototype made before they raise: it is the cheapest way to become convincing. The money you raise on the strength of the prototype then funds the full build, so the prototype pays for itself many times over. It is the bridge between an idea and the funding to build it.
How to choose who makes it
| Your situation | Best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Simple idea, tight budget | Freelance designer | Cheapest for a basic prototype |
| Pitching investors | Polished studio or agency | The prototype must impress |
| Planning to build after | Design-and-build studio | Prototype flows straight into the app |
| Complex idea | Studio with product experience | Needs shaping, not just drawing |
The deciding factor is what you plan to do with the prototype. If it is purely to test a simple idea, a freelancer is enough. If it is to pitch investors or lead into a full build, a studio that produces polished work, and ideally builds the app too, is worth more, because the prototype has a bigger job to do. Match the maker to the mission, and remember that a prototype meant to become a real app is best made by people who can also build it well.
When you do not need a prototype made
Be honest about whether you need a prototype at all. If your app is genuinely tiny and obvious, only a couple of simple screens, an elaborate prototype can be overkill, and a good partner may move straight to a light design and the build rather than sell you a step you do not need. And a prototype tests the design and the pitch, not whether the app truly works or whether people will pay, which only a real build and real users answer, so treat it as a cheap way to get the design and story right, not as proof of success. For what that step costs, see our guide on how much an app prototype costs.
For almost any app beyond the simplest, though, getting a prototype made is one of the best-value moves you can make, especially before raising money or committing to a build. A team that designs and builds under one roof, as we do, prototypes your app with you first, gets the design right while it is cheap to change, and then builds from that proven design, launching through an Apple Developer Program account. See examples in our work and talk through getting your prototype made at a short call.
FAQ
How do I get a prototype of an app made?
Bring a clear idea and its core flow to a designer, agency, or studio, who turns it into a clickable design of the app that you can tap through, with no working code underneath. The process is usually a short, focused design sprint over a few weeks. You come away with something you can show to investors and test with real users, for a fraction of the cost of building the app.
What do I actually get from a prototype?
A clickable model of your app that looks and behaves like the real thing but has no code, so it does not truly save data or connect to a server. You can tap through the screens and feel how the app flows. It exists to test the design and experience, to show investors a convincing version of the app, and to give developers a clear blueprint before any code is written.
How much does it cost to get a prototype made?
Far less than building the app, which is the point. A prototype is one of the cheapest steps in creating an app, because there is no engineering, only design. The exact cost depends on how many screens and how much polish you need. Because it is cheap relative to development and lets you test and pitch before committing, a prototype usually saves far more than it costs.
How long does it take to make an app prototype?
Usually a few weeks, often through a focused design sprint, depending on how complex the app is and how polished the prototype needs to be. A simple clickable prototype of the core flow can be quick; a highly polished prototype of many screens takes longer. It is far faster than building the app, which is why it is the sensible first step for testing and pitching.
Can I use a prototype to raise money from investors?
Yes, and it is one of the best uses of a prototype. A clickable prototype lets an investor experience your app for a fraction of the cost of building it, which is far more convincing than a slide describing an idea. It shows your taste and thinking and proves the concept is real. Many founders prototype specifically to raise the money that funds the full build.