How to find an app developer, and check they are real before you pay
Finding someone who says they build apps takes minutes. Finding one who will ship your app, put it in your name and still answer in six months takes a few checks. Here is where to look, what to check, and what to put in writing before you pay anything.
The worst outcome when you hire an app developer is not a bad app. It is no app at all: months of payments, a developer who stops replying, and no access to the code or the store accounts. Founders in that position often have to start again. Most of it is avoidable with a few checks before the first payment.
Where to look
| Where | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance marketplaces such as Upwork, Fiverr and Toptal | Finding people fast at every price, with reviews and payment protection | Reviews for small jobs say little about a whole app |
| Agencies and studios | One team for design, building and the store release | Higher prices, and your project may go to their most junior people |
| Referrals from founders you know | The most honest signal you can get | Their app may be nothing like yours |
| Developer communities and job boards | Specialists, such as React Native or Unity developers | No vetting; you do every check yourself |
Six checks before you pay anything
1. Install their apps
Ask for apps you can install today, on your own phone. Screenshots and videos prove little. If they built an app for a client, ask whether you can talk to that client. A working app you can tap through tells you more than any portfolio page.
2. Ask who owns the accounts
The code repository, the Apple and Google developer accounts, the app signing keys and services such as the database and Expo should be in your name from the start. A developer who wants to keep them "for now" is a risk, even if they mean well. Without the store accounts, nobody else can publish an update to your app, and lost keys mean support tickets and delays.
3. Get a written scope with a price
Every screen, every kind of user and every integration, written down, with a price against it. If a developer cannot write the scope, they cannot estimate the work. If the price is hourly, ask for an estimate per feature so you can see where the hours will go.
4. Pay against builds you can install
Tie each payment to a build you can install on your phone and try, not to a date or a percentage. A large payment up front with nothing to install for months is the pattern behind most of the horror stories.
5. Start with a small paid piece
A short, fixed-price first step, such as a clickable design or one screen working end to end, shows how a developer communicates, how they take feedback and whether they deliver on time, at a cost you can afford to lose.
6. Ask how they publish
The store release is where many projects stall. Ask who prepares the store listings and privacy answers, who replies to review rejections, and whether they know Google Play's rule for new personal accounts: a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before production. A developer who has published before will answer at once.
Warning signs
- A quote within minutes, before they have asked what the app does.
- No app you can install, only screenshots and mockups.
- The code, the accounts or the keys stay in the developer's name.
- Most of the money up front, with the first build months away.
- Vague answers about who does the work, or a team that changes without notice.
- No mention of store review, testing or what happens after launch.
If your developer has already disappeared
Work in this order. Copy everything you have: the repository if you can reach it, design files, contracts, invoices and messages. Check which accounts are in your name: the Apple and Google developer accounts, hosting, database, domain and payment processor. Change the passwords on everything you own. Then have a new developer review the code before you decide whether to continue or rebuild, so you do not pay twice for work that already exists.
Hiring a game developer is a little different
The same checks apply, with one addition: insist on playable builds. A game milestone can look finished in a video and still fail on the phones and browsers your players use. Ask for every milestone as a link you can play on your own phone. There is more on this in what it costs to make a video game.
How we work
We are a remote studio of one: Haider Ali directs the AI agents that write and test the code, and signs off every release. Every app project has a written scope and a fixed price, weekly builds you install on your own phone, and the code and accounts in your name from day one.
You can install our own two apps before you talk to us: SafarGB, a rides and 4x4 tours app in English and Urdu, and Job Search & AI Resume Maker. Neither is on the App Store yet. See mobile app development for what a first version includes.