Service · App development

Custom training app development for learning, testing and certification.

A mobile learning environment that fits your curriculum, your brand and your examination standards. Offline video lessons, quizzes with instant feedback, progress tracking, certification and integration with your existing LMS or HRIS, built for trainers who need more than a standard course platform.

SCORM & xAPILTI 1.3Offline modeAdaptive learningCertification

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A training app is more than videos in a wrapper.

The value of a learning app lies in the details. How well does offline content work on a poor connection on the train? Do quizzes hold their state if a learner exits the app halfway through? Is progress in your LMS correct when a module is completed from a phone? Does your certificate meet the requirements of the professional body or regulator? Can your trainers add new modules themselves without having to call us? The difference between a learning app that is genuinely used and one that gathers dust in the App Store rarely lies in the feature list. It lies in how carefully those details have been worked out for your specific audience.

We have been building mobile applications for training providers, examination institutes, professional associations and internal L&D teams since 2015. Not a generic course template that half-fits, but an app that aligns with your teaching methods, your brand and your administrative reality. See also our article on custom LMS software for the broader context of learning platforms.

Sometimes an app is not even the right starting point, and we say so. For some training organisations, extending an existing LMS (Moodle, Canvas, Brightspace) or using a no-code platform (LearnWorlds, Thinkific, Teachable) is the smartest first step. Custom development pays off when off-the-shelf options fall short, not as a status symbol. In the first conversation, we mainly use the time to make that distinction clear before you invest.

Three types of training app.

It depends on what the app needs to do and how deeply it must integrate with your existing systems. We will recommend the right option during the first conversation.

Compact project · fixed sprint budget

Course app for a single audience

A mobile learning environment for one clearly defined group of learners, such as a first-aid refresher programme, an onboarding programme or a professional certificate. Video lessons, quiz blocks, progress tracking and push reminders. Single sign-on and certificate issuance with PDF download.

Video lessonsQuizzesProgress trackingPush reminders

Mid-sized project · fixed sprint budget

Multi-course learning platform

An app with a course catalogue, multiple learning paths, gamification (badges, leaderboards), community features and one-to-one coaching. Adaptive learning where the difficulty adjusts to the learner. SCORM and xAPI export to your central LMS, plus reporting for your L&D team.

Course catalogueGamificationCommunitySCORM / xAPI

Larger project · fixed sprint budget

Examination and certification platform

A mission-critical training app with examinations, proctoring, anti-fraud measures and blockchain-hashed diploma issuance. Multi-tenant white-label for publishers or partner channels. Deep integration with your SIS (Student Information System) or HRIS for compliance training tracking. LTI 1.3 to Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard or Brightspace.

ProctoringMulti-tenantLTI 1.3HRIS integration

What you get at the end.

A production-ready training app for iOS and Android, plus everything around it so you can manage and expand courses yourself. We don't deliver a black box where your L&D team has to raise a ticket for every change. We deliver a platform your instructional designers, course administrators and IT team can work with directly, backed by clear documentation and runbooks for the moments when things get tricky.

Native or cross-platform appiOS and Android via React Native or Flutter, or native Swift / Kotlin where needed. Includes App Store and Play Store publication under your own developer accounts.
Backend and video infrastructureCourse CMS, user management and analytics backend. Video delivered via HLS / DASH using AWS MediaConvert, Mux or Cloudflare Stream, depending on your scale and budget.
Authoring environmentA web interface in which your instructional designers can compose courses, chapters, lessons and quizzes without having to call us for every change.
Codebase, documentation and runbookFull source code in your own Git repository, architecture overview, build instructions and an incident runbook, so you never become dependent on a single supplier.
End-user training and support materialsTwo sessions for key users and course administrators, plus short video tutorials for learners. A helpdesk runbook for your own support team.
Maintenance contract (optional)Monitoring, OS updates for iOS and Android releases, security patches and ongoing development on a fixed monthly cycle. Four response-time tiers.

Functionality that educators ask for.

A well-designed training app combines pedagogical depth with operational practicality. The building blocks below come up most often in our projects. Which combination you need depends on your target audience and your curriculum.

Course architecture

Modules, chapters, lessons and learning paths

A hierarchical course catalogue in which learners choose their own route or follow a mandatory learning path. Includes pre- and post-tests, mandatory sequencing or free navigation, and conditions under which some modules only unlock once others are completed. Suitable for anything from a single short course to a multi-year curriculum with hundreds of lessons.

Course catalogueLearning pathsPre- and post-testFree navigation

Assessment and certification

Quizzes, exams and certificate issuing

Multiple question types (multiple choice, true/false, drag-and-match, short open answers, hotspot on an image, video-clip question), instant feedback per question or only at the end, randomisation of questions and answers, and automatic certificate issuance with a blockchain hash so the certificate is demonstrably unaltered. Suitable for both formative assessment and formal final examinations.

Question typesRandomisationInstant feedbackCertificate hash

Engagement and pedagogy

Gamification, community and coaching

Badges, points, leaderboards and streaks to help learners keep learning every day. A discussion forum per module or course, with moderation roles for your tutors. One-to-one coaching via chat or video call when learners get stuck. Adaptive learning with an AI tutor that adjusts to the learner's pace and knowledge level, trained on your own course material.

GamificationForumCoach chatAI tutor

When custom is the right choice.

There are excellent off-the-shelf platforms: Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace and Schoology for educational institutions, and TalentLMS, LearnDash, Thinkific, Teachable or GoodHabitz for commercial e-learning. We don't replace those. We build alongside them when you recognise one of the patterns below.

Industry-specific

Your pedagogy doesn't fit a template

For first-aid training with video-simulated emergency scenarios, language teaching with speech AI, or professional certificates with practical checklists, a standard template typically covers 80% of the need. That final 20% is what determines whether learners actually complete the course.

White-label for partners

One product, multiple brands

You supply training to publishers, industry bodies or employers who want to carry their own visual identity. Multi-tenant with separate branding, its own content catalogue and reporting per tenant, without maintaining twenty forks of the same app.

Deep integration

SIS, HRIS or LMS integration

Results must land automatically in Magister, Iddink, AFAS, Visma or Workday. Enrolments come from your existing Student Information System. Off-the-shelf platforms offer either only LTI exchange or only CSV export. We build the end-to-end integration your administration can handle.

Examinations and proctoring

Exams with legal weight

NOvA permanent education, NOB training, IT certifications (Cisco, Microsoft, AWS) and NVAO-recognised exams each have their own standards for identification, anti-fraud and retention periods. Standard platforms don't scale to that, but a custom exam app does, with deliberately chosen log events, a verified identity flow and audit reports your regulator will accept straight away.

The training providers we build for.

Sectors differ greatly in their teaching methods, integration landscape and compliance requirements. A training app for a notaries' association needs something different from an onboarding app for a retail chain. Here are a few patterns we regularly work with.

Educational institutions

Universities, HBO, MBO, secondary and primary education

A mobile learning environment that runs alongside Magister, Iddink, Brightspace or Canvas. Complies with GDPR, the EAA and WCAG 2.2, and NVAO accreditation requirements where applicable. Often connected to a central Student Information System for enrolments, results and transcripts.

Corporate L&D

Corporate training and HR onboarding

An onboarding app for new employees, compliance training (GDPR, the EU AI Act, sector-specific) and ongoing professional competence. With HRIS integration (AFAS, Visma, Workday), a completed module automatically lands in the personnel file for an audit trail.

Professional and industry certification

First aid, health and safety, occupational health and professional bodies

Professional certificates with validity periods and automatic reminders for renewal. For professional bodies such as the KNB (civil-law notaries) or NOB (tax advisers), we work with permanent education point registration and accreditation reporting for regulators.

Examination bodies

CITO, DUO and IT certifications

An examination environment with proctoring, fraud prevention and strict identification. For IT certifications (Cisco, Microsoft, AWS) and language testing (speech-AI assessments), we build domain-specific flows. Often combined with a central candidate portal for scheduling and resits.

E-learning providers

White-label for publishers and partner channels

You supply content or accreditation to third parties, such as book publishers, industry bodies or employers, who want to carry their own brand. Multi-tenant white-label with separate styling, its own content catalogue and reporting kept separate per tenant.

Education start-ups

EdTech, bootcamps and language teaching

For EdTech scale-ups, we build MVPs that need to reach the App Store and Google Play quickly. Bootcamps (Codaisseur, Salt, Ironhack-style curricula) and language teaching with speech AI require tight pedagogical flows combined with payment integration and cohort management.

A tech stack that grows with you.

We choose technology based on your scale, target audience and existing IT landscape, not on what's fashionable. Our typical building blocks for training apps are broken down below.

We make the choice between React Native, Flutter or fully native iOS and Android early in the project, based on your audience mix, your existing mobile team, and how much platform-specific features (such as biometrics for examinations or background downloads for video) matter.

Mobile frameworksReact Native or Flutter for fast delivery to iOS and Android. Native Swift or Kotlin where platform-specific features are decisive (Apple Intelligence, Android foreground services for video downloads).
BackendNode.js, Spring Boot or Django for the course API and the authoring environment. PostgreSQL for course data, Redis for sessions and leaderboards, S3-compatible storage for source video files.
Video infrastructureHLS and DASH for adaptive streaming, AWS MediaConvert, Mux or Cloudflare Stream for transcoding and CDN distribution. DRM protection (FairPlay, Widevine) where your content licence requires it.
Offline contentRealm or WatermelonDB as the local store for lessons, quiz data and progress. Conflict resolution for situations where a learner works through the same learning path on several devices.
LMS and SIS integrationLTI 1.3 for live integration with Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace or Schoology. SCORM and xAPI export for TalentLMS, LearnDash, Thinkific or a corporate LMS. REST API or webhook integration for your SIS or HRIS.
AI and adaptive learningOpenAI, Anthropic Claude or Mistral as the basis for an AI tutor, with retrieval-augmented generation grounded in your own course material so answers stay in context. For adaptive learning, a custom scoring engine built on top of your quiz results.

How an education app project runs.

Introduction

A conversation in which we establish which courses the app will carry, which audiences you serve, which LMS or HRIS is already in use, and which compliance requirements (GDPR for children, EAA / WCAG 2.2, AI Act, NVAO) apply to your curriculum.

Planning & pedagogical scope

A workshop with your subject-matter team plus interviews with a handful of real learners. At the end: a concrete content architecture, learning-journey flows and the first screens, including the difficult decisions around offline content and certification.

Building in sprints

Each sprint produces a working build that you and a group of pilot learners test. We typically build the learner flow first, then the authoring environment, then the integrations. A first pilot can run within a few sprints; a full examination platform is a project of several sprints.

Pilot, rollout and management

Phased rollout to your learner population, App Store and Play Store publication, training for your teacher-administrators, and ongoing management for OS updates, security and pedagogical development.

Compliance that is non-negotiable.

An education app often touches personal data, identification, examinations with legal weight and, if you use adaptive learning or AI tutoring, the AI Act. We design the architecture so that audits remain manageable and you are not caught off guard.

Privacy

GDPR and GDPR for children

Learners' personal data is processed minimally and stored encrypted. For children's education (primary and secondary), the stricter GDPR for children applies; we design the app so that unnecessary profiling and third-party tracking are switched off by default.

Accessibility

EAA and WCAG 2.2

The European Accessibility Act applies from 2025 to public education apps. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA as the baseline, with screen reader support, sufficient contrast, focus management and captions for video.

AI Act

Adaptive learning and examinations

Adaptive learning and AI proctoring fall under high-risk systems in the AI Act. We document the training data, record log events, and build in human escalation so that a learner is never rejected or certified as passed by an AI without recourse.

Sector-specific

NVAO, NOvA and sector standards

For NVAO-accredited education, NOvA permanent education for lawyers, or accreditation requirements from a sector body, we make sure the app supports the right retention periods, audit logs and reporting formats. For large platforms, the DSA also applies.

Frequently asked questions.

What clients usually want to know before starting on a learning app.

Why build a custom learning app when platforms such as Moodle, Canvas or TalentLMS already exist?

Standard LMS platforms do many things well: course administration, reporting and basic quizzes. A custom mobile app adds value when you need teaching methods that don't fit a template (video simulation, voice AI, practical checks), when you have to deliver multi-tenant white-label solutions, or when offline content and native push reminders are crucial for your audience. We don't replace your LMS. We build alongside it and integrate via SCORM, xAPI or LTI 1.3.

What is the difference between SCORM, xAPI and LTI 1.3?

SCORM is the oldest e-learning standard, ideal for traditional click-through courses. xAPI (Tin Can) is more modern and can also log learning events outside a formal course, for example a microlearning session in the app. LTI 1.3 is an integration standard between external learning tools and a central LMS (Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard). Which one you need depends on your integration direction. We advise on the right combination during the first conversation.

Does the app also work offline?

Yes, that is standard for most of our training apps. Learners download modules in advance (video, audio, quiz data) and the app tracks progress locally in Realm or WatermelonDB. When a connection is available, everything syncs to the backend. For proctored exams we deliberately switch offline mode off, as we want a live connection for anti-fraud reasons.

Can an AI tutor be built into the app?

Yes. We integrate LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Mistral) as a tutor that answers questions within the context of the course material. Importantly, an AI tutor in an education app falls under the EU AI Act as soon as it steers adaptive learning or is used for assessment. We build this with the right transparency and logging requirements. Also read our article on building an AI strategy for the governance side.

How do we handle examinations and proctoring?

For formal examinations we offer identity verification (photo match with an ID document), room scanning, microphone detection and behavioural analysis via the camera. We log all events for the retention period your examination standard prescribes. For IT certifications we integrate with existing proctoring providers (Proctorio, ProctorU) or build a proprietary variant if your standard requires it.

What determines the cost of a learning app?

The biggest cost factors are: the number of learner flows (one target group or several), the depth of integrations (SSO only, or also SIS/HRIS sync), video infrastructure (offline download is more expensive than streaming-only), and whether you need proctoring or multi-tenant white-label. In the first conversation, we outline a scope and cost picture without any commitment on your part.

Can we deliver multi-tenant white-label solutions to partners?

Yes. One codebase, one backend, but separate branding, content catalogues and reports per tenant. This means a publisher, sector organisation or employer can run the app under its own brand without you maintaining twenty forks. Multi-tenancy touches on compliance (data separation, GDPR), so we design it in a way that keeps audits manageable.

Talk to us about your learning app.

A free, no-obligation half-hour introductory call. We'll listen to your curriculum, your target audience and your existing systems, and give you direction you can actually use, even if the conclusion is that you're better off extending your current LMS. Would you like to explore related topics first? Then also take a look at our app development, serious gaming app or our AI literacy training. Many educators end up combining a learning app with serious gaming modules for the practical components of their curriculum.

Book an introductory call Or email Fabian directly