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?

...56 more questions to ask

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.