Dedicated Mobile Engineers
Hire Mobile App Developers
Mobile engineers who own the release, not just the code.
Shipping a mobile app means signing, store review, staged rollout, and crash triage. We staff people who have done all of it before.
Quick Answer
Updated August 22, 2026
What does it cost to hire a mobile app developer?
A senior mobile app developer from India costs $33–$45 per hour, about ₹3.6–5 lakh per month on a dedicated engagement, with mid-level at $22–$32 per hour. Most product apps should be built cross-platform in React Native or Flutter — hiring separate iOS and Android engineers roughly doubles the cost and is only worth it when the app depends heavily on platform-specific capabilities.
Senior hourly rate
$33 – $45
Platforms covered
iOS and Android from one team
Time to start
5 – 12 working days
Best for
- Consumer and field apps that need both platforms on one budget
- Products where the backend already exists and needs a mobile client
- Teams that need someone accountable for the store release cycle
Not best for
- Games and heavy AR — a game engine or native is the right answer
- Apps that are really a mobile website in disguise
- Products with no plan for post-launch releases and OS updates
Rate Card
What does it cost to hire mobile app developers?
Mobile carries a modest senior premium over web because release management and device-specific debugging are genuine additional scope, not because the code is harder.
| Level | Experience | Monthly (INR) | Hourly (USD) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-level | 3–5 years | ₹2,20,000 – ₹3,20,000 | $22 – $32 | Screens, navigation, and API wiring against an agreed design |
| Senior | 5–8 years | ₹3,60,000 – ₹5,00,000 | $33 – $45 | Release ownership, native modules, store submission, crash triage |
| Lead / architect | 8+ years | ₹5,00,000 – ₹6,50,000 | $45 – $60 | Multi-app architecture, CI/CD for mobile, performance budgets |
Rates are for dedicated engagements with at least four hours of daily overlap with your working hours. Longer commitments reduce the rate; more overlap increases it.
Capability
What our mobile app developers actually do
- Cross-platform delivery in React Native or Flutter, chosen to fit the product
- Store release management — signing, provisioning, phased rollout, review responses
- Push notifications, deep links, and permission flows on both platforms
- Offline behaviour and sync for apps used away from reliable connectivity
- Crash and performance monitoring on real low-end devices
- App size, cold-start time, and battery behaviour as tracked metrics
Working stack
We staff for the stack you already run wherever we can. Where we think a different choice would serve you better, we will say so once — with the reasoning — and then work in yours.
Common Engagements
What teams usually hire mobile engineers for
Two-sided marketplace apps
A customer app and a driver or vendor app sharing a backend, released and versioned together.
Commerce and loyalty apps
Catalogue, payments, and push-driven retention shipped to both stores from one codebase.
Regulated-sector apps
Healthcare and finance apps where data handling, consent, and audit trails are part of the build.
Store rescue
Getting a rejected or stalled app through review and out to users, then stabilising the release process.
Vetting
How we decide who is good enough to place
Vetting is the entire value of hiring through an agency rather than a marketplace. If we are not rejecting most applicants, we are not doing the job you are paying for.
Step 1
Technical interview
A senior engineer from our team runs the interview. Not a recruiter with a checklist, and not an automated coding test.
Step 2
Practical exercise
A task close to the work you are actually hiring for, reviewed the way we would review a pull request.
Step 3
Reference and delivery check
We ask what they shipped recently, who reviewed it, and what went wrong on it. The last question is the useful one.
Step 4
Fit call with you
You speak to the engineer before committing. If the fit is wrong at that point, nothing has been signed.
Comparison
Cross-platform vs separate native teams
We build cross-platform by default and recommend native when the product genuinely needs it. The trade-off is worth stating plainly.
With SoftwareCrafting
- One codebase and one team covering both stores
- Framework chosen on product fit, with the reasoning written down
- Release, signing, and store review included in the engagement
- Native modules written where a platform capability requires them
Typical alternative
- Two teams and two codebases for the same product
- Feature parity drifting between platforms every release
- Store submission treated as the client’s problem
- Framework chosen by whoever is on the bench
Engagement Models
Four ways to work with us, and when each one fits
Dedicated seat
One engineer working full time inside your team, your repo, and your process. Monthly rolling, two weeks notice.
Ongoing roadmap work with no defined end date
Part-time seat
From roughly 20 hours a week. Below that, context reloading eats most of the value, and we will say so.
Specialist input alongside an existing team
Fixed-scope project
A defined deliverable at an agreed price. Only where scope is genuinely clear enough to fix without a change-request cycle.
Migrations, audits, and well-specified builds
Delivery pod
Three to four people including QA and a named delivery owner accountable for the sprint outcome.
Whole product areas you want owned end to end
What you get either way
- You interview the engineer before anything is signed
- Replacement at our cost if the fit is wrong in the first two weeks
- IP assignment and NDA signed before technical access is granted
- Code committed to your repository, under your organisation, from day one
- Monthly rolling contract — two weeks notice, no annual lock-in
Quick Brief
Start the conversation here
Tell us the role, the stack, and when you need someone. We will come back with availability and a rate.
Your Name
Work Email
What do you need help with?
Proof
Products we have shipped with mobile
Driftload — driver app
React Native driver app with background geolocation and Socket.io dispatch updates.
Sheopal's — Android commerce app
React Native storefront with Redux state and Firebase infrastructure.
Prime Cares — patient app
React Native app with WebRTC consultations, REST APIs, and Firebase messaging.
FAQ
Questions buyers ask before hiring mobile engineers
How much does it cost to hire a mobile app developer in India?
Mid-level mobile developers cost $22–$32 per hour and seniors $33–$45 per hour, roughly ₹2.2–3.2 lakh and ₹3.6–5 lakh per month respectively on a full-time dedicated seat.
Should we build native or cross-platform?
Cross-platform for the large majority of product apps — one codebase, one team, roughly half the cost. Native when the app is a game, leans on heavy AR or platform-exclusive SDKs, or when a single platform is the entire market.
Do you handle store submission and rejections?
Yes. Signing, provisioning, listings, phased rollout, and responding to review rejections are part of the engagement. Rejections are routine and mostly procedural once you have seen them before.
What happens after launch?
Apps need maintenance whether or not you plan for it — OS releases, SDK deprecations, and store policy changes force work every year. We offer a maintenance retainer, and we will tell you what a realistic annual figure looks like rather than letting it surprise you.
Can you work with our existing backend?
Yes. We agree the API contract in writing first, which is where most app-plus-backend projects lose time when the two sides are built by different teams.
Related services
The service pages behind this role
What this engineer works on day to day, and how we scope it commercially.