Blog · By Rea Hailley, CEO and Co-Founder · Updated
My App Developer Disappeared. What Do I Do, and Who Can Finish It?
If your app developer disappears, take control of every account you can reach first: your domain, hosting, code storage, and Apple and Google developer accounts. Then find out what was actually built before you pay anyone to finish it, so you know whether to repair or rebuild.
Here are the six steps, in order.
What do I do first when my app developer disappears?
- Collect every artifact: contracts, invoices, emails, repository links, credentials, hosting accounts, the live app if one exists
- Check your contract for an IP assignment clause so you know what you legally own
- Try every access point you have before assuming the code is gone: old emails often contain repository invitations and account credentials
- Change passwords and take control of any account you can reach, especially your domain and hosting
- Check who owns your Apple and Google developer accounts
- Write down the timeline while it is fresh, in case this becomes a legal matter. If the developer won't hand over your code, How to Get Your Code Back From a Development Agency walks you through the written request.
Pro tip: If you're not sure where your app lives, search your email for invitations from GitHub (where code is usually stored), Vercel (where many apps are hosted) or Supabase (where many apps keep their data).
Can I recover the code my developer wrote?
In most cases, yes. If the app was deployed, the deployed version can be examined even without the original repository. If you have partial code, an independent review can tell you what is salvageable and what is not.
See Rebuild or Repair? How to Tell If Your App Can Be Salvaged for how that call gets made.
Why do app developers disappear halfway through a project?
Most developers who disappear work alone: a freelancer, a friend or a student, with no team to step in when school or a full-time job takes over. Two business owners we spoke with this year had student developers who went quiet.
One entrepreneur we know hired a developer they knew personally. After about a year of delays and many thousands of dollars, the developer disappeared, and they had no way of recovering what was already built. It set their launch back a year and cost far more to rebuild from scratch.
How do I stop my next app developer from disappearing?
Before your next build, read How to Protect Your IP and follow the five steps. Make sure:
- Every account is in your name and you have control over it.
- Your contract says you own your intellectual property (IP).
- You have access to your codebase at all times. You can grant other people temporary or limited access.
Before you hire your next developer, make sure to ask these 14 questions. The right partner will welcome them.
Who can finish a half-built app another developer started?
A team that checks what was built before quoting the rest.
The most expensive mistake at this stage is hiring the first agency that promises to fix everything, sight unseen.
This is why we offer Software Project Rescue. It starts with a complimentary meeting, so we can assess how we can best help you.
If it makes sense to go deeper, our CTO, AL Del Degan, who has 33 years of experience building software, can review your code and report what is salvageable, what must be fixed, and what it will take to launch.
This is how we helped one business owner who spent over $150,000 with a team that failed to complete her project. We reviewed what existed, told her what was worth keeping, and rescued the failing build.
And because we are located in Canada, she became eligible for government funding again. Read her full story.
Questions business owners ask
Can I transfer my app from my developer's account to mine?
In most cases, yes, if your developer starts the transfer. Apple and Google each have an app transfer process with their own conditions, so ask for it in writing and keep the reply.
What should I look for when auditing my existing code?
A ranked list of security fixes checked against the OWASP Top 10, the industry's standard list of web app security risks, plus whether the app can handle more customers and whether you can change it later without starting over.