This is the most common place a project stops. The code is done — you wrote it, a developer wrote it, or an AI tool wrote it — and then Apple and Google turn out to be a completely different problem. I finish those, from $1,500.
None of these are coding problems, which is why building the app didn’t solve them.
Certificates, provisioning profiles, bundle identifiers, capabilities. It runs in the simulator and refuses to install on a real iPhone.
“Minimum functionality.” One of the most common rejections, and the usual verdict on apps that are really a website in a wrapper, or too thin to justify being an app.
New personal Play accounts must run a closed test with 12 testers for 14 continuous days before they can publish. Most people find this out on submission day.
The paywall screen is designed and the products were never created in App Store Connect, so nothing can actually be bought.
Privacy nutrition labels, the required-reason API manifest, a data-safety form, and a privacy policy at a live URL. All mandatory, all easy to get wrong.
You fix what they mentioned, resubmit, and get rejected for something else. Knowing what reviewers actually mean is most of the job.
No hourly meter and no open-ended discovery phase. You get a number before I start.
A repository, a project folder, a Replit or Lovable link — whatever you have, plus a sentence on what happens when you try to publish. Free.
I run it on a real device and tell you honestly what state it’s in, then send a fixed price. If it’s cheaper to rebuild than to rescue, I’ll say so.
Accounts, signing, fixes, listing, screenshots, privacy labels, submission, and every round of review until it says Ready for Sale.
The price depends on what’s wrong, which is why I look first. Roughly:
| Situation | What’s involved | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| It works, it’s just not submitted | Developer accounts, signing, listing copy, screenshots, privacy labels, submission and rejection handling | $1,500 |
| It works, but review keeps rejecting it | The above plus the changes needed to actually pass — usually functionality, account deletion, privacy or subscription plumbing | $2,000–3,500 |
| It half works | The above plus finishing what was never really built: real data, working purchases, crash fixes, device testing | $3,000–4,500 |
| It should be rebuilt | I’ll tell you if we get here. That’s a Launch or Growth build instead, and I’ll reuse whatever is worth keeping | from $4,000 |
Apple Developer ($99/yr) and Google Play ($25) fees are paid by you directly, because the app is published under your own accounts. If your app is already live and you just want it kept healthy, that’s Care, from $280/month.
Usually some of it is. Tools like Claude, Cursor, Replit and Lovable genuinely get people a long way, and where they tend to fall down is the parts that aren’t code: store requirements, signing, purchases and the review guidelines. Sometimes the fix is a few days. Sometimes what you have is a web app in a native shell that Apple will never approve, and the honest answer is to rebuild. I’ll tell you which before you spend anything.
Apple considers it too limited to be an app — typically a repackaged website, a single screen of static content, or something that could just be a web page. Fixing it means giving the app a reason to be native: real offline behaviour, notifications, device features, or genuine interactive functionality. It is fixable, but not by resubmitting the same binary.
If your developer account is a personal account created after November 2023, yes: a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 continuous days before you can apply for production access. Organisation accounts are exempt. Planning for this early is the difference between a two-week launch and a six-week one.
Yours, always. You add me to your App Store Connect and Google Play accounts as a team member, I work inside them without ever needing your password, and you can remove me the day it’s live. You own the app, the listing, the reviews and the revenue.
Then I say so, for free, and tell you what a proper build would cost instead. I’d rather lose the job than take $3,000 to patch something that will fall over in a month.
One to three weeks in most cases, and the variable is almost never me — it’s Apple’s review queue and, on Android, the 14-day testing window. I’ll give you a realistic date with the quote.
Send a few sentences about the app, who it's for and roughly when you'd like it live. I reply within one business day with next steps and, if it's a fit, a time for a free 20-minute call.