Tea Break Studio
021 217 1760Get a free preview
Apps, Auckland

App design and development in Auckland.

We design your app and build it once, so it runs on both iPhone and Android. Start with a design and a prototype you tap through on your own phone, from NZ$1,890. The build is quoted in writing before anything starts.

Enquire for a quoteGet a free first look

Or call or text us on 021 217 1760. Send a text.

The Snagged home page in a desktop browserThe Snagged home page on a phone
An app we built and run

Snagged

Local job board, Pohutukawa Coast and east Auckland.

A free local job board with job search, free job posting, a CV builder and sign-in. We designed it, built it and run it ourselves.

Read the caseSee the site
Apps we have built

We build apps. Here's what we've built.

Harbour Thoughts and Snagged. Both are live, and you can open either one right now.

What we can show you

Both are our own products and both are live. Open either one on your phone and have a look.

  • The Harbour Thoughts home screen on a phone, showing a ten-second mood and energy check-in and three ways to start.Harbour ThoughtsToday
  • The Harbour Thoughts journal screen on a phone, showing writing prompts, a search box and a saved entry.Harbour ThoughtsPrivate journal
  • The Snagged home screen on a phone, showing a local job search for the Pohutukawa Coast.SnaggedLocal jobs
Harbour Thoughts

A journal and reflection app whose AI runs on the phone itself once the model has been downloaded. No account is needed, and journal entries stay on the device. Built as an Android app and as an installable web app you can add to a home screen.

harbour-thoughts.vercel.app
Snagged

A free job board for the Pohutukawa Coast. Free to post, with a free sign-in: a local business answers seven questions, and a person reads the job before it goes up. Built end to end here, and running.

snagged.co.nz

Better proof than either of them is your own app. The design and prototype package puts it on your phone before you commit to a build, and it comes off the price of the build if you go ahead.

Where to start

See the app on your phone before you pay for a build.

The design and prototype is from NZ$1,890. This is what is in it.

  • Every screen designed, up to 10, at a real phone size
  • A clickable prototype you tap through on your own phone, and send to other people
  • App icon, and a first pass at the store listing images
  • A written build plan: what it is, what it is not, and what it would cost to build
  • Credited in full against a build started within 90 days
Four ways in

A prototype, an installable app, an app in the stores, or a takeover.

App design

App design and prototype

from NZ$1,890

For a business that has an app idea and wants to see it, tap through it and price it properly before spending build money.

Every screen designed, up to 10, at a real phone size
A clickable prototype you tap through on your own phone, and send to other people
App icon, and a first pass at the store listing images
A written build plan: what it is, what it is not, and what it would cost to build
Credited in full against a build started within 90 days
2 revision rounds included
We plan on 3 weeks once we have your idea and your content.Start with a prototype
Web app

Installable app

Enquire for a quote

For a business that wants an app on customers' or staff phones without the cost, the review queues and the yearly fees of the app stores.

Built once, runs on iPhone and Android, installs to the home screen with your icon and no browser bar
Works on a bad connection, and pages already visited still open with no signal
Sign-in, a customer or staff account, and one connected system such as your booking, ordering or job data
Push notifications on Android, and on iPhone once the app is added to the home screen
Updates go live the moment they are ready, with no store review to wait on
Tested on a real iPhone and a real Android phone before launch
2 revision rounds included

Not in the App Store or on Google Play, so nobody can search a store for it.

We plan on 5 weeks once we have your content.Start an installable app
Store app

App in the stores

Enquire for a quote

For a business that needs a real app in the App Store and on Google Play, that customers can search for, install and get notifications from.

One app, built once, submitted to both the App Store and Google Play
Apple and Google developer accounts opened in your name, not ours, and handed over
Store listing written, plus icon and screenshots for both stores
Sign-in, accounts and one connected system such as bookings, ordering, loyalty or job data
Push notifications set up and tested on both platforms
We handle the submission and answer the reviewers, and fix whatever they come back with
One round of fixes after the first store review, on top of the rounds below
2 revision rounds included
We plan on 8 weeks once we have your content. Apple and Google set their own review times on top of that.Talk about a store app
Takeover

Your app, taken over

Enquire for a quote

For a business with an app that already exists and a developer who has gone quiet, or an app that has stopped working, stopped updating or fallen out of the stores.

A written review of the app, the code and the accounts, in plain English, with what is wrong and what it would cost to fix
Your Apple and Google accounts, code and store listings moved into your name and under your control
20 hours of agreed fixes, and you choose what they are spent on
Rebuilt and resubmitted to both stores so it installs and runs on current phones
2 revision rounds included

Anything beyond the 20 hours quoted in writing before we touch it.

We plan on 3 weeks once we have access to the code and the accounts.Send us the app

Apps are built once, on web technology, and run on both iPhone and Android. They are not written from scratch in Swift and Kotlin, and anything leaning hard on the phone itself, real-time video, Bluetooth pairing, all-day location tracking, a game engine or augmented reality, needs a specialist. We say so on the first call. If your app goes in the stores, Apple charges US$99 a year and Google charges US$25 once, both paid by you on accounts in your name, plus hosting for the app's data. Apple and Google decide whether an app is approved and how long they take to look at it, so the weeks above are our build time and the review sits on top of that. The installable app, the app in the stores and the takeover are quoted in writing before anything starts. The price of a build moves with the number of screens and how many of your systems the app has to talk to, and the common extras are listed in the add-ons. All prices are in New Zealand dollars.

App extras

For your app

Getting it into the stores, and the things people expect once it is on their phone.

  • Extra app screen

    One more screen, built to match the rest of the app.

  • Sign-in with Google and Apple

    People sign in with the account they already have.

  • Push notifications

    Send people a message on their phone without ringing us.

  • Payments inside the app

    Take payment in the app, tested with a real transaction before launch.

  • App store submission and listing

    Your app in both stores, with the accounts in your name and the reviewers answered for you.

  • Icon and store screenshot set

    An icon and screenshots made properly for both stores, not cropped from a phone.

Fixing the app itself, if the reviewers turn it down on quality, is quoted first. If you sell digital goods the stores take their own commission, which we confirm in writing first.

Enquire about app extrasEach one is quoted in writing before it starts.
After launch

An app needs looking after.

An app is not a website. A website left alone keeps working. An app left alone stops being accepted by the stores, usually inside a year, and then it disappears. App care is the minimum sensible cover for an app in the stores, and we say that before you buy, not after.

App care is NZ$169 a month. It sits beside the website care plans, with a 3 month minimum, then 30 days' notice by email.

Straight answers

Before you spend money on an app.

Anything not here, ask. 021 217 1760

The design and prototype is from NZ$1,890, and it comes off the price of a build started within 90 days. The build itself is quoted in writing before anything starts, because the price moves with the number of screens and how many of your systems the app has to talk to. All prices are in New Zealand dollars.
Most small businesses do not need an app, and we will tell you so. An app earns its keep when the same people come back over and over: regulars ordering, members booking, staff filling in jobs on site, customers who need it to work out of signal. If you are trying to reach new customers who have never heard of you, a website does that and an app does not, because nobody installs an app for a business they have not used yet. If you are not sure, start with the installable app. It costs less, there are no store fees, and you can add the stores later without rebuilding it.
Depends which package. The installable app is not in the stores. People add it to their home screen from your website, and from then on it looks and behaves like any other app on the phone, with your icon, no browser bar and no yearly fee. App in the stores is the one that puts you in both, where people can search for you and find you. What we cannot do is promise you will be approved, or promise how long Apple and Google will take to look at it. We prepare the submission properly and we answer the reviewers, and the decision is theirs.
If your app goes in the stores: Apple charges US$99 a year and Google charges US$25 once, ever. Both are paid by you on accounts opened in your name, so you own them and can walk away with them. They are charged in US dollars, so the NZ$ figure depends on the rate that day. Hosting for the app's data is a cost on top, on an account in your name. We tell you the actual figures before you commit, and we set the accounts up with you rather than for you. Prices checked with Apple and Google on 12 September 2026.
Usually yes, and that is what the takeover package is for. It starts with a written review, because we will not quote fixes on code we have not read. Two things can stop it. If your old developer still holds the store accounts or the code and will not hand them over, that has to be sorted before anything else, and sometimes it cannot be. And occasionally the honest answer after reading the code is that rebuilding is cheaper than repairing. You get that answer in writing either way, and you can take it to any other developer you like.
In Beachlands, east Auckland. We work with businesses across Auckland and the rest of New Zealand.
Where to go next
One next step

Tell us what the app needs to do.

And who opens it: your customers or your staff. We reply in writing with whether an app is the right tool for the job, and what the design and prototype would cover.

Enquire for a quote021 217 1760Call usSend a textSame number, if a call does not suitnick@teabreakstudio.comEmail instead

We read every message and reply in writing, usually within 2 working days.