Technologies / Game engines
Unity app development for mobile games and AR/VR
Unity app development makes sense when your product is real-time 2D or 3D: a game, an AR experience, a 3D configurator or a training simulation. It is the wrong tool for a booking app or a banking app, where native or cross-platform UI frameworks are faster to build and cheaper to maintain.
This page is for founders and CTOs deciding whether Unity belongs in their stack, what the licence costs, and what it means for hiring and maintenance. It sits under our mobile app development technologies overview. If you already know you are building a game, start with our mobile game development service.
- Engine choice justified before code
- Licence tier checked against your revenue
- Ads, IAP and ATT planned together
- Unity projects in your own repository
What Unity is, and what changed with the Runtime Fee
Unity is a real-time engine with an editor, C# scripting, physics, animation and build targets for iOS, Android, desktop, web, consoles and headsets. One project can ship to both app stores.
Buyers who followed the 2023 pricing controversy often ask about the Runtime Fee first. Unity cancelled the Runtime Fee for games on 12 September 2024. There is no per-install charge. Instead, Unity charges by seat on its paid plans, and at the same time it doubled the Unity Personal revenue and funding ceiling to $200,000.
Licence tiers as they stand
Unity’s current plans page lists Personal as free, Pro as required once your revenue or funding passes $200K (listed from $2,310 per seat per year), and Enterprise as required above $25M. Personal covers mobile, desktop, web and AR/VR builds. Pro adds consoles and Apple Vision Pro. Licence cost is per developer seat, so a team of four on Pro pays four seats. We confirm the tier against your funding position during discovery, because the obligation sits with your company, not ours.
When we choose Unity, and when we do not
We recommend Unity when the core of the product is rendered in real time: physics, 3D scenes, particle effects, camera-based AR, or a game loop running at a steady frame rate. Its asset pipeline, editor tooling and large plug-in ecosystem save months on that kind of work.
We steer clients away from Unity when the app is mostly forms, lists and account screens. Unity UI does not feel like iOS or Android, accessibility support takes extra work, and app size starts larger. For those apps, Flutter or native Swift and Kotlin are a better fit. A middle path is embedding a Unity view inside a native app (Unity as a Library) for one 3D feature, such as a product viewer, while the rest stays native.
Unity is a good fit if you need
- A 2D or 3D game with physics or animation
- AR on iPhone and Android from one codebase
- A 3D product configurator or viewer
- VR or mixed-reality training content
- Console or Vision Pro builds later (Pro tier)
What we build with Unity
Most Unity work we scope falls into four groups. Each has its own service page with the delivery detail.
2D and 3D mobile games
Casual, puzzle, arcade and mid-core games with progression, economies and live events.
Hyper-casual prototypes
Fast prototypes built to test one mechanic in soft launch before more art is commissioned.
Cross-platform AR
AR Foundation sits over ARKit and ARCore, so one Unity project can place content on both platforms.
VR and training simulations
Headset-based training, walkthroughs and simulations, with headset store rules checked per platform.
How Unity fits the rest of your stack
A Unity game is rarely just the client. Accounts, cloud saves, leaderboards beyond the platform’s own, purchase validation and live events need a backend. We usually pair Unity with Firebase for early titles, or a custom API on Node.js when the economy needs server authority to resist cheating.
Platform services
Apple’s Game Center covers leaderboards, achievements and real-time or turn-based multiplayer, and Apple publishes official Unity plug-ins for it. Google Play Games Services v2 provides sign-in, achievements and leaderboards on Android, ChromeOS and Windows PC, but Google says it is not meant to be your primary save or identity system. We keep your own account system as the source of truth.
Location and AR
ARCore’s Geospatial API anchors content by latitude, longitude and altitude where Google Street View coverage exists, and it supports Unity alongside Android and iOS. That makes location-based AR games feasible without building your own positioning. See our ARCore and ARKit pages for the platform-level trade-offs.
Monetisation, tracking and store rules for Unity games
Ads and in-app purchases decide a game’s economics, and both are shaped by platform policy. AdMob mediation manages several ad sources from one place, using a waterfall, real-time bidding or a hybrid of both. On iOS 14.5 and later, App Tracking Transparency means you must ask before linking app data with third-party data for advertising, and the IDFA reads as all zeros when the user declines. Ad revenue plans should assume many iOS players will say no.
Virtual currency, extra lives and ad removal are digital goods, so they go through Apple and Google in-app purchase, covered on our in-app purchases and subscriptions page. Our blog post on ads, IAP or subscriptions compares the models.
One Android detail matters for games: apps targeting API 36 on large screens normally lose orientation and resizability restrictions, but games declared through android:appCategory are exempt. We set that flag so a landscape game stays landscape on tablets.
Deciding between Unity and something else?
Send us the core mechanic or AR feature and your target platforms. Within one business day we reply with an engine recommendation, the licence tier that applies, and the main risks.
Unity compared with the alternatives
A buyer-level comparison. The right answer depends on the product, not the engine’s popularity.
| Option | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Unity | Mobile 2D/3D games, cross-platform AR, 3D viewers, VR | Per-seat Pro licence above $200K revenue or funding; larger app size; non-native UI |
| Unreal Engine | High-fidelity 3D where visual quality leads | Heavier builds and a C++ skill set; check its licence terms for your case |
| Godot and other open engines | Smaller 2D games, teams that want no vendor licence | Smaller hiring pool and fewer ready-made mobile ad and analytics plug-ins |
| Native ARKit or ARCore | AR on one platform with full access to platform features | Two codebases if you need both iOS and Android |
| Flutter or native UI | Apps that are mostly screens, forms and lists | Not built for real-time 3D or game loops |
Licence terms change. We check the current terms for the engine you choose during discovery.
Hiring and maintenance implications
Unity developers write C#, and good ones also understand rendering budgets, memory on low-end Android phones and how to profile on device. That is a different skill set from app developers, so a Unity project needs a Unity-experienced lead even if the backend team is shared.
Maintenance has three recurring jobs. Engine upgrades, because plug-ins (ads, analytics, IAP) drop support for old Unity versions. Store requirements, such as Apple’s rule that uploads since 28 April 2026 must be built with Xcode 26 and the Google Play target API rising every 31 August. And live-ops: events, offers and balance changes, ideally driven by remote config so they ship without a store update. Our app maintenance and support plans cover these.
Code-quality practices on our Unity projects
What we put in place on every Unity build.
- Project in Git with Git LFS for large assets, in your repository
- Locked Unity version per release, upgrades done on a branch
- Frame-time and memory budgets set per target device tier
- Profiling on a real low-end Android phone every sprint
- Addressables or asset bundles to keep the install size down
- Server-side validation of purchases and currency balances
- Remote config for live-ops values, not hard-coded numbers
- ATT prompt shown in context, with a pre-prompt screen
- Automated builds for iOS and Android through CI
Unity app development: frequently asked questions
Does Unity still charge a Runtime Fee per install?
No. Unity cancelled the Runtime Fee for games on 12 September 2024. Pricing is now per seat on paid plans. Unity Personal is free and its revenue and funding ceiling was doubled to $200,000. Above that, Unity Pro is required, and above $25M, Enterprise. We check which tier applies to your company during discovery.
Do we need Unity Pro for a mobile game?
Only if your company’s revenue or funding is above $200K, or you need features in Pro such as console or Apple Vision Pro builds. Unity Personal covers mobile, desktop, web and AR/VR. If you raise a funding round mid-project, the tier can change, so we plan the seat count and budget for it.
Is Unity a good choice for a non-game app?
Usually not. Unity UI does not behave like native iOS or Android controls, accessibility takes extra work and the app size is larger. For apps built around screens and forms we recommend Flutter, React Native or native. Where one feature needs 3D, such as a product viewer, we can embed Unity inside a native app.
Can one Unity project build AR for both iPhone and Android?
Yes. Unity’s AR Foundation sits on top of ARKit and ARCore, so most AR features are written once. ARCore only runs on Google-certified Android devices, so device coverage needs testing. Platform-only features, such as some visionOS capabilities, may still need native work. We list those gaps during discovery.
How does App Tracking Transparency affect a Unity game’s ad revenue?
Since iOS 14.5, apps must ask permission before tracking users across apps for ads, and the advertising ID reads as zeros if the user declines. Ad networks then serve less targeted ads. We show the ATT prompt in context, plan revenue on conservative consent assumptions and balance ads with in-app purchases.
Who owns the Unity project and assets?
You do. The Unity project, source code, art assets we create and store accounts belong to your company, and the project lives in your repository from day one. Third-party assets and plug-ins come with their own licence terms, so we list every one we use and who holds the licence.
Plan your Unity build with the risks on the table
Book a 30-minute scoping call. We will look at your mechanic or AR feature, target devices, monetisation plan and licence tier, and tell you plainly whether Unity is the right engine.