What an app company should prove before you hire it
A mobile application development company is worth hiring if it can show apps that are genuinely live and in use, explain a clear process from discovery to release, leave your organisation in control of the code, store accounts and signing keys, build the backend and admin panel properly, test on real phones, and commit in writing to maintenance after launch. Price matters, but only after these are in place.
This guide is for anyone about to hire a company to build a business app: an owner who wants a customer ordering app, a school that wants a parent app, or an operations manager who needs a field staff app. It covers how to evaluate the company and its terms. It does not cover what drives the cost of the app, which is explained in our article on Android app development cost.
Check the portfolio by installing the apps yourself
Screenshots, design mock-ups and videos are easy to produce. Live apps are harder to fake. Ask every company for two or three apps it has built that are currently available, then check them yourself.
- Find each app on Google Play or the App Store and look at the developer name on the listing. For a client project it will usually be the client's name, which is correct; ask the company to explain its role.
- Look at when the app was last updated. An app untouched for a long time may no longer be maintained.
- Install it and use it as a customer or staff member would. Notice whether it loads quickly on your own phone and whether the screens make sense without help.
- Ask what the company built: the app only, or also the backend, admin panel and integrations.
- Ask for a client contact who can confirm the work and describe the support afterwards.
Many business apps are private, used only by a company's staff, so they will not appear in the stores. In that case ask for a demo on a real phone, including the admin panel behind it. A company that can only show design files has shown you design, not a working app.
Ask how the project will run, from discovery to release
A clear process protects you from the most common app failure: a finished product that does not match what you thought you ordered. Ask the company to walk you through its stages and what you will receive at each one.
- Discovery: meetings to understand users, roles and the daily job, ending in a written scope.
- Design: wireframes or screen designs you approve before development begins.
- Development: built in stages, with regular demos so you see progress rather than waiting months.
- Testing: the company's own testing, then your staff testing on their own phones.
- Release: store listings prepared, the app submitted, and any review feedback handled.
- Support: a defined bug-fix period, then an ongoing maintenance arrangement.
Ask to see a sample scope document from a past project with client details removed, and find out who your day-to-day contact will be. Our interview script for hiring a software team in India lists stage-by-stage questions and what good answers sound like.
Who owns the code, the store accounts and the signing keys
This is the part buyers most often overlook, and the one that causes the most trouble when a relationship ends. An Android app must be signed with a key before it can be published, and every future update must be signed in a way Google accepts as coming from the same developer. iOS apps are tied to certificates and the Apple developer account they were published from. If these sit with the developer alone, changing developers later can become very difficult.
| Asset | Should be held by | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Google Play Console account | Your organisation | Will you create it in our name and add yourselves as users? |
| Apple Developer Program account | Your organisation | Will the app be published from our account, not yours? |
| App signing and upload keys | Your account, with documented backups | Where is each key kept, and how do we recover it if your team changes? |
| Source code for app, backend and admin panel | Handed to you, with access to the code repository | When and how do we receive the code? |
| Server, hosting and database | Your account, or documented with full access for you | Who holds the admin login to the server? |
| Domain used by the API and admin panel | Your organisation | In whose name will the domain be registered? |
Google Play offers Play App Signing, in which Google manages the app signing key and the developer uses a separate upload key. Ask how the company sets this up and who holds the upload key; the current options are described in Play Console Help. For iOS, the account and certificates are managed through the Apple Developer Program.
The backend and admin panel deserve as much scrutiny as the app
Most of the logic of a business app lives on the server: prices, stock, user accounts, approvals and reports. The admin panel is where your office staff will spend their day. Yet many app proposals describe the phone screens in detail and mention the backend in one line.
Ask how the backend will be built, where it will be hosted, and what the admin panel will let your staff do without calling the developer. Ask how user roles and permissions work, whether changes are recorded in audit logs, how often backups are taken and whether a restore has been tested. If the app must work with your existing billing, school or hospital software, ask exactly how the two will exchange data. Our security basics for custom software gives a fuller checklist for this part.
Testing and store publishing: what a careful company does
Get the list of handsets the company tests on and check that it includes budget models, not only recent flagship phones. Find out what happens on a weak mobile connection, or if someone closes the app halfway through an entry. Insist on a period of testing by your own staff before public release, using the stores' testing tools: closed or internal testing tracks on Google Play, and TestFlight on iOS.
Store publishing is more than uploading a file. Each store reviews apps against its policies, needs a privacy policy and declarations about data collection, and can reject a submission or ask for changes. Agree who prepares the listing, who answers review feedback, and that resubmissions caused by the developer's own mistakes are not charged as extra work.
Maintenance terms to settle before you sign
Android and iOS change every year, and both stores update their policies. An app that nobody maintains will eventually stop meeting store requirements or break on new phones. Settle these points in the agreement, not after launch.
- Bug-fix period: how long after launch defects in the agreed scope are fixed at no charge.
- Maintenance contract: what the annual fee covers, such as operating system compatibility updates, store policy changes, server monitoring and backups.
- Change requests: how new features are estimated, approved and priced.
- Response: which channel you use to report problems, and the response times written into the contract.
- Exit: what documentation and access you receive if you move the app to another developer.
Also confirm that the quote, contract and invoice all carry the same registered company name. Company-level checks, such as verifying registration and reviewing clauses on data and exit, are covered in our due-diligence guide for hiring a software company.
How MATROP runs app projects, and when to look elsewhere
MATROP PRIVATE LIMITED is a registered company in Ranchi (CIN U74999JH2016PTC008996). Our app work covers the phone app for Android or iOS and the server side it relies on: REST APIs, the admin panel and cloud hosting. Our process runs through discovery, planning, design, development, testing on devices, launch and ongoing support, and we recommend that store accounts, domains and servers sit in your organisation's name. You can read how we take on app projects on our app development company page.
Judge us exactly as this guide suggests. Ask in the meeting for work relevant to your app, ask who will lead the project, and ask for our process, ownership and maintenance terms in writing. If you need a game, augmented reality or a graphics-heavy consumer app, those are not services we list, and a specialist team will serve you better. If what you need is a mobile-friendly website or automated WhatsApp alerts rather than an installed app, we will tell you that before quoting for one.
Questions people ask
How can I confirm that a company really built an app it shows me?
Check the developer name on the store listing, ask the company to explain which parts it built, and request a client contact who can confirm the work. A company that built the app can usually show its admin panel and backend too.
What should I receive when the project is handed over?
The source code for the app, backend and admin panel, all logins and server access, documentation for setup and deployment, and a clear record of where the signing keys and certificates are kept.
Is it acceptable for the developer to publish the app under its own store account?
Avoid it if you can. Publish under your organisation's own Google Play and Apple developer accounts and add the developer as a user, so you keep control if you change developers later.
How long a bug-fix period should we agree after launch?
There is no standard length, so agree a specific period in writing during which defects in the delivered scope are fixed without charge, and keep it separate from the paid maintenance contract that follows.
