Top
Search
People also search for:
Stay Inspired with Instagram
Key Takeaways
Building a mobile app is an investment in your brand’s future. The right development partner can turn your idea into a user-friendly, scalable product. The wrong one can eat up your budget and leave you with an app that doesn’t work properly.
One retailer cut churn by 40% after switching to a team that prioritized user engagement and technical excellence, illustrating how pivotal the right partnership can be.
Imagine you’re on your first Zoom call with a prospective mobile app developer.Use the following twelve questions to guide the conversation, ensuring you uncover crucial insights about their technical competence, communication style, professionalism, and alignment with your goals. Skip these and risk a six-figure rewrite, plus the loss of valuable time and resources. Ensuring you choose the right partner can save you from potential pitfalls down the road.
A proven track record is one of the best indicators of reliability. Ask potential developers to walk you through apps they have built recently, ideally those currently live on app stores. A strong portfolio signals professionalism and shows that they can deliver high-quality apps that meet user expectations.
Beyond portfolio pieces, find out which businesses or individuals they have worked with. A diverse client base and the willingness to provide references suggest trustworthiness. Developers may need to omit projects covered by non-disclosure agreements, but they should be comfortable showcasing non-confidential clients to demonstrate credibility.
Mobile development involves more than writing code. Determine whether the team offers user interface design, backend development, quality assurance, and app store submission. Clarifying their core competencies ensures they can handle your project end to end.
Additionally, ask them to whiteboard the data flow in five minutes. This request can surface their design thinking and reveal their depth of expertise early in the conversation.
Some apps are best built natively (with separate codebases for Android and iOS), while others can be cross-platform. Native development often provides better performance and design fidelity, but it can be more costly to maintain.
Cross-platform solutions like React Native offer cost-effective development and maintenance but may come with performance trade-offs. Ask which technologies the developer prefers and whether they test on actual devices. This helps you understand their commitment to creating polished experiences across different smartphones.
To further guide your decision, invite discussions on the total cost of ownership for both paths by asking, ‘Show me the total cost of ownership for both React Native and Swift/Kotlin.’ This will ensure you choose the best approach for your app’s performance, cost-effectiveness, and long-term maintenance.
Stand-out features often determine an app’s success. Discuss any innovative functionality they propose, such as offline capabilities, location-aware services, or AR/VR, and how these align with your goals.
It’s crucial to delve into the rationale behind each proposed feature. Ask the developer, ‘What user data or experiments suggest this AR idea will move our metric?’ By seeking evidence-based insights, you ensure that feature implementation is driven by real user needs and potential impact on your goals. Developers should be ready to articulate how they will handle feature implementation and user engagement.
Clear communication prevents misunderstandings. Agree on tools and meeting schedules up front, whether through email, Slack, video calls, or weekly progress reports. Establishing a communication plan early ensures you’re always aligned on scope, timelines, and potential roadblocks.
Publishing to Apple’s App Store or Google Play requires a developer account. Confirm that your developer has the necessary accounts and experience submitting apps. A developer without one may signal a lack of experience with the app-store submission and review process.
Ask for a transparent breakdown of how costs are calculated. Factors include feature complexity, platform choice, and expected development hours. Many developers work with milestones, requesting payments as each phase is completed. Transparent pricing helps prevent surprises later.
Quality assurance is crucial. Some developers handle internal testing, while others expect clients to arrange for a separate QA team. Discuss how bugs will be reported and fixed, how beta testers will be recruited, and whether there is a plan for updates and bug fixes prior to submission.
After launch, mobile platforms frequently update their operating systems, and new devices enter the market. Ask whether the developer offers ongoing maintenance, bug fixes and feature updates, and if so, what it will cost. Support can be the difference between an app that fails and one that thrives.
Awards or industry recognition aren’t required, but they can offer extra assurance. They show that the developer or agency has been acknowledged by peers or associations, indicating a commitment to quality.
Building an app is only part of the journey; getting it discovered is another. Some developers also provide ASO or digital marketing services to help apps rank higher in search results. If this aligns with your strategy, ask about their approach and pricing
Additionally, inquire about how their keyword strategy connects to broader goals, such as user retention, not just installs. You might ask, “Which ASO tactic has improved day-7 retention in your past projects?” This helps ensure that your efforts translate into sustained engagement.
An app should not just work on day one. It should be able to grow with your business. Ask the developer how they plan to design the app to handle increased users, new features, and higher data loads over time. This includes questions around backend architecture, API scalability, data security, and compliance with platform guidelines.
A strong development partner will think beyond the initial release and help you plan for long-term performance, updates, and security protection. This forward-looking approach often separates experienced teams from short-term builders.
Choosing a mobile app developer is a critical decision. By asking these twelve questions, you gain a clearer understanding of a developer’s experience, communication style, technical capabilities, and ability to support you after launch.
At APIDOTS, we believe transparency and partnership are key to the success of digital products. Use these questions as a framework to find a development team that aligns with your vision, budget, and timeline.
We design and develop secure, high-performance web and mobile applications.Ensuring scalability, reliability, and long-term product success.
Hire App Developers
By
Hi! I’m Aminah Rafaqat, a technical writer, content designer, and editor with an academic background in English Language and Literature. Thanks for taking a moment to get to know me. My work focuses on making complex information clear and accessible for B2B audiences. I’ve written extensively across several industries, including AI, SaaS, e-commerce, digital marketing, fintech, and health & fitness , with AI as the area I explore most deeply. With a foundation in linguistic precision and analytical reading, I bring a blend of technical understanding and strong language skills to every project. Over the years, I’ve collaborated with organizations across different regions, including teams here in the UAE, to create documentation that’s structured, accurate, and genuinely useful. I specialize in technical writing, content design, editing, and producing clear communication across digital and print platforms. At the core of my approach is a simple belief: when information is easy to understand, everything else becomes easier.