25 questions to ask
before you hire an app agency

1. Who exactly will work on my app?

Ask for names and roles: designer, developers for each platform, backend, QA, project manager. Good answer: specific people, with how much of their time is yours. Red flag: "our team" with no names.

2. Can I meet the developers and designer before signing?

Good answer: yes, a short call with the people who will build it. Red flag: only the founder or sales lead is available until after you pay.

3. Which shipped apps can I install that you built?

Download them. Use them for ten minutes. Ask what they did on each. Red flag: screenshots and Behance shots, but nothing on the stores.

4. Can I speak to two past clients?

Ask for clients with projects like yours, and speak to them without the agency present. Ask what went wrong and how it was handled.

5. What would you change about our idea?

Good answer: thoughtful pushback — on scope, on a risky assumption, on what to cut. Red flag: enthusiastic agreement with everything. You need a partner, not an order-taker.

6. How do you run discovery before design?

Good answer: a defined phase with user interviews, competitor review and a written scope. Skipping discovery is how projects build the wrong thing quickly.

7. How often will I see working software?

Good answer: a demo every one or two weeks on a real device or test build. Red flag: "you will see it when it's ready."

8. Who is my day-to-day contact, and who decides?

Clarify their project manager and your single decision-maker. Projects stall when decisions wait.

9. Native, cross-platform or hybrid — and why for us?

Good answer: a recommendation tied to your app's needs and budget, with the trade-offs. Red flag: the same answer for every client because it is the only stack they know.

10. How do you test, and on which devices?

Ask about automated tests, manual testing, and whether they test on low-cost Android phones your users actually carry — not only flagships.

11. What exactly is included in the price?

Research, design, each app, backend, admin panel, testing, project management, store submission, analytics. Get it as a list.

12. What is excluded?

This is the more important question. Common exclusions: the admin panel, content entry, store accounts and listings, third-party service costs, post-launch fixes.

13. How are changes estimated and priced?

Change is certain. Good answer: a written change-request process with estimates before work starts.

14. Fixed price or time and materials?

Fixed price suits a small, clear scope; time and materials suits a product you will learn about as you build. Ask how they handle overruns either way. For context, the typical app development company on Clutch lists $25–49 an hour¹.

15. What is the payment schedule?

Good answer: payments tied to demoable milestones, with a modest advance and a final payment on handover. Red flag: 50% or more up front.

16. Will all code and designs be assigned to us in writing?

Under India's Copyright Act, an assignment of copyright is valid only in writing and signed². The contract must assign code, designs and content to your company.

17. Will the code live in our repository from day one?

Good answer: yes — you create the GitHub or GitLab organisation and invite them. Red flag: "we'll hand over the code at the end."

18. Will store, cloud and service accounts be in our name?

Google Play, Apple, cloud hosting, domain, analytics, payment gateway: all should belong to your company, with your card on file.

19. Do you reuse code or templates, and under what licence?

Reuse is fine and saves money — if you are allowed to own, change and sell the result. Ask for the licences of anything reused.

20. How do you protect user data and secrets?

Ask how they store API keys, handle passwords and tokens, and test for common vulnerabilities. The OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard is a good reference to ask about³.

21. How will you handle data-protection requirements?

India's Digital Personal Data Protection Rules were notified in November 2025 with a phased timeline⁴. Ask how consent, privacy notices, data deletion and breach response will be built in.

22. What analytics and crash reporting will you set up?

Good answer: a defined event plan for your key funnel plus crash reporting from the first build. You cannot improve what you cannot see.

23. What does maintenance cost after launch?

Expect 15–25% of the build cost a year. Google Play, for example, raises its target API level requirement every year⁵, so some maintenance is never optional. See our app maintenance cost guide.

24. How fast do you fix a critical bug?

Ask for response and fix times by severity in writing. An app that will not open is not the same as a typo.

25. How would a handover to another team work?

Good answer: documentation, access transfer and a few weeks of overlap, already in the contract. Companies confident in their work are happy to plan their own replacement.

Turn the best company's answers into the contract. Our app development agreement guide shows the clauses to write them into, and how to hire an app developer in India covers the rest of the vetting process.

Discovery — the research and scoping phase before design. Time and materials — billing for the hours actually worked. Change request — a formal request to alter the agreed scope. IP assignment — the written transfer of ownership of the work to you. SLA — a service-level agreement setting response and fix times.