How do Android app development tools and agency choice affect me?

The single most critical technical detail in a field app is local database management. If a sales rep steps into a warehouse or a basement and loses connection, can the app still take orders offline? Make sure to ask the agency which architectural pattern they'll use and how they plan to handle offline sync using local SQLite or a similar setup. How that flow is structured matters just as much as the framework itself.

Two years ago we had a similar wholesale ordering app built just for Android, thinking "native code is more solid." Six months in, turns out 35% of the dealers use iPhones. We had to hire another agency from scratch for iOS and pay another 140,000 TL. Now we pay two separate teams for every single update, we totally regret not going cross-platform.

Cross-platform frameworks look cheap and fast at the proposal stage, but when Android rolls out a major version update, some UI components can break or third-party plugins can go haywire. Check whether the lower-bidding agency guarantees bug fixes and version compatibility for a full year after delivery.

Is the cross-platform tool mentioned in the second agency's proposal an industry-standard technology recognized globally, or is it just some hybrid web wrapper they cooked up in-house? Also, is the ERP integration the app needs to talk to actually included in these quotes?

mate before getting lost in technical details just ask both agencies: "Show me 3 live apps on the store built with the exact tool youre proposing." Download them on your phone, search for stock, add stuff to the cart but see if the meus lag or if the phone overheats. honestly real-world portfolio work is way more honest than any tech jargon.

Whichever agency you choose, put a clause in the contract stating: "Source code must be pushed to the company's own cloud repo every Friday and all third-party library licenses must be handed over." If you don't hold the code, you don't control the project at any stage never forget that.

Score these 4 criteria before making your call: 1) The agency's headcount experienced in that specific tool, 2) The extra cost if you want an iOS version down the line, 3) The app's performance with barcode scanning and camera integration, 4) A contractual guarantee that the code follows widely accepted market standards.

nobody bothers going pure native for a simple order catalog anymore even massive banks switched to cross-platform but a 60k lira differennce is no joke, you could use that budget to supply your field dealers with tablets or barcode scanners instead.

Exactly, and not many people know this. Code without setup documentation isn't yours, even if you have it.

Proven by experience.

I didn't know that.

To get into the details: Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

I've been down this road, let me tell you. If scope grows, either time or budget must grow. There is no third option.

Good luck with that.

Thanks, this was very helpful.

This thread is archived.

You're right. Code without setup documentation isn't yours, even if you have it.

Proven by experience.

There's a part I don't understand. Every "we'll look at it later" in a meeting means unbilled work.

That's all, sorry if I went on too long.

I disagree with you on this point. In legacy systems, the most expensive thing is unknown dependencies.

If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

I'll try it.