In short

  • Download their apps before you call them
  • Ask who writes the code, in writing
  • Judge the questions they ask you, not their deck
  • Settle ownership and support before signing

Every agency website says experienced, innovative, end to end. The claims are free. What follows are the checks that cost an afternoon and save a year.

1. Use their apps, don't just look at screenshots

Find their work on the App Store and Google Play. Install two or three. Look at the recent reviews, the update history, and how the app behaves on a slow connection. An agency's live apps tell you more in ten minutes than any portfolio PDF.

If the apps they showed you have not been updated in two years, ask what happened to the client relationship.

2. Ask who actually writes the code

A common pattern in this market: a polished sales team, then the work is subcontracted to whoever is cheapest that month. Ask directly who will be on your project, whether they are employees, and whether you will speak to them. Get the answer in the proposal, not on a call.

3. Judge the questions they ask you

A capable team asks about your users, the one thing the app must do well, what it has to connect to, how you will support it after launch and what happens to the data. A weak team asks only how many screens you need and when you can pay the advance.

Anyone who quotes a precise figure in the first conversation, without a scope, is guessing. That guess becomes your change-request bill.

4. Check they can handle the part that isn't the app

Most apps fail at the edges: the admin panel nobody designed, the payment gateway nobody tested, the store listing written the night before launch, the notification flow that annoys users into uninstalling. Ask who handles each of those. If the answer is vague, you will be handling them.

Ask every shortlisted company

  • Who writes the code, and are they employees?
  • Which live apps did this exact team build?
  • Who owns the code, the store accounts and the data?
  • What is the written scope, and what counts as a change?
  • How do you test, and on which real devices?
  • What does support cost in year two?
  • What happens if we want to move to another developer?

5. Settle ownership before you sign

Three things should be yours in writing: the source code, the Apple and Google developer accounts, and the data. Agencies that register the store accounts in their own name can hold a launched product hostage. This is the single most expensive clause to get wrong.

6. Decide how much local matters

Most app developers in Mumbai charge a little more than remote teams, and that premium buys meetings in a room, quicker decisions and a company you can visit. For a product with frequent judgement calls, that is usually worth it. For a small, tightly specified app, a good remote team is fine. Be honest about which you have.

Signs to walk away

  • A price before a scope. Confidence without information.
  • No written specification. Everything agreed "on call".
  • Portfolio apps that aren't live. Concepts, mockups, or apps removed from the stores.
  • Store accounts in their name. Non-negotiable: they should be yours.
  • No testing plan. "We test as we build" means your users test it.
  • No talk of after launch. The app is not finished at submission.

What a good process looks like

Discovery and a written scope. Designs you approve before code. Development in stages with working builds you can install. Testing on real devices. Store submission handled for you. Then a maintenance arrangement that covers OS updates and fixes. If a proposal is missing one of those stages, ask why.

That is how we work, and we set it out on our app development page so you can hold us to it.