Investing in a mobile app? Ask yourself these questions

Are you looking to buy or invest in a mobile app? Doing your due diligence is key to reducing risks and ensuring the best possible outcome. In this post, we’ve put together a list of technical questions for you to consider as part of your decision-making process.

Technical aspects questions

• Is it a true native app or a website loaded into a browser?
• Has there ever been any data breaches or other critical errors in the app that needed to be patched?
• What is the app lacking in terms of functionality compared to its competitors?
• Does the app easily portal between Android and iOS and potentially other operating systems?
• What framework was used to develop the app?
• How many versions of the app have been released?
• Has the app been tested for bugs and user interface issues by a third party?
• Does the app rely on third-party plug-ins?
• Is the app capable of sending push notifications to its users? If yes:
• Was the app developed in-house by the company's own developers? If yes:
• -Is the development of the app well documented (and if yes, how)?
• -Has only one person been responsible for the maintenance of the app until now?
• -How has the company ensured code quality in the development of the app?
• Is there any technical debt (the concept of building on bad code) going forward?
• Has the app had any downtime? If yes:
• -What is the estimated uptime percentage since launch?
• Was the app built from the ground up or is it based on an existing code?
• Were any templates used in the development of the app?
• Have there been any form of analytics implemented in the app? If yes:
• -What system is being used?
• -For how long have analytics been collected?
• -Is the company able to give you access to this analytics software (e.g. by sharing a login)?
• Did the company ever discard the app code and start over?
• Are there any known bugs (critical as well as non-critical)?
• Does the app work on tablets?
• Does the app work in both horizontal and vertical mode?
• In the event that the app got featured as “app of the month” on an app store, would it be able to handle an explosion in downloads? If no:
• -What could cause performance bottlenecks?
• -How much time and resources would be needed to make the app work on a big scale?

If you need more inspiration for relevant questions to ask before going ahead with your investment plans, we recommend downloading the 85 questions to ask before investing in a mobile app white paper.