Your client wants an app and you don't have a mobile team. Here is how we work behind agencies: what we take on, who talks to the client, how we price, and what you get at handover.
A client you've worked with for years asks for a mobile app. You built their website, you run their campaigns, you know their business better than anyone. What you don't have is a mobile team.
You have three options. Turn the work down and hope they don't take the rest of the account elsewhere. Hire for one project. Or bring in a development partner and keep the client relationship where it is.
That third option is what white-label mobile app development means: an agency works with an outside development team to deliver an app under its own brand, while keeping the client relationship. The development partner handles the agreed technical work, from the mobile app to the backend and the launch.
This article is for agencies weighing the third option. It explains how we work with agencies, what we take on, who talks to the client, how we price, and what you get when the project is done. We've worked this way with four agencies in Hungary so far, with teams ranging from three to about eleven people.
What we can take on
Agency projects rarely start from the same place, so we don't ask them to. The three situations we see most often:
- A mobile app next to an existing web system. The client already has a web platform or webshop, and the app needs to use the same accounts, data and logic. We build the app and the API layer it needs. If an earlier team built the existing system, we review it first; we've described how in Taking over an existing app.
- A full build from scratch. There's an idea and a client, nothing else. We handle the specification, the mobile app, the backend, the admin panel, testing and App Store and Google Play submission.
- An app built to your designs. Your team has already designed the UI, and we implement it faithfully on iOS and Android, raising technical constraints early instead of quietly changing the design.
We build most of our apps in React Native with Node.js backends, which gives one codebase for both platforms. If a project genuinely needs native development, we say so before it starts.
Who talks to the client
This is the question agencies ask first, and the honest answer is: whatever works for you.
Fully under your name. We work behind your agency. Your client sees your team, your Slack, your project management. We don't appear in emails or calls unless you invite us.
Visible as your technical team. Some agencies prefer to bring us into client calls, especially on technical topics. That takes work off their plate, and clients often appreciate talking to the people who build the app. We've worked both ways.
In either setup, one rule doesn't change: the client relationship stays yours. Everything we discuss with your client, we share with you. If a client you introduced approaches us about additional work, we bring the request back to your agency rather than quoting independently. We don't go around the agencies we work with. That is the only way this kind of partnership can work long term.
How pricing works
Agencies need a number they can build a proposal on. Open-ended hourly billing makes that hard, so we price agency projects the same way we price our own: a fixed project price for a defined scope, paid in milestones.
Each milestone has a defined scope and a working result you can open and test, and payments are tied to those milestones. Because the price is fixed per milestone, you can add your margin and quote your client with confidence.
We can work on an hourly basis if a project really calls for it, but for most agency work a fixed price is simpler for everyone, including your client.
When priorities change during the project, we explain the impact on scope, budget and timing, so you can agree on the next step with your client before anything new is built.
How an estimate comes together
How detailed our first estimate can be depends on how much of the scope is already defined. For most agency projects, estimates come in three steps:
- A first estimate, usually within two business days. Based on a short brief, we give you an initial budget estimate and an estimated timeline. This tells you quickly whether the project fits your client's budget.
- A closer estimate. If the first number works, we go through the details with you and narrow the range.
- A detailed proposal. Once the scope is agreed, you get a fixed price, broken down by milestone, with a delivery schedule.
To give you a useful first estimate, we need:
- what the app should do, in a few sentences or a rough list of screens
- who the users are (customers, staff, both)
- whether designs exist, or whether we should design it
- any existing systems the app has to connect to (webshop, CRM, payment provider, your client's own API)
- the deadline, if there is one
We sign an NDA before the first detailed conversation, so you can share the real brief, not a sanitized version.
How you see progress
Development runs in short cycles. You get access to working builds as the project progresses, not a progress report at the end of the month. That means you can show your client real screens early, collect feedback while changes are still cheap, and avoid surprises at launch.
Feedback goes through whichever channel you choose: directly to us, or collected by your team and passed on. Either way, nothing gets built that you haven't seen in the plan.
Code, accounts and publishing
Who owns what is agreed in the contract, before work starts.
- Source code and intellectual property go to the party specified in the contract: your agency, or your client directly, depending on how you've structured the deal with them.
- App Store and Google Play accounts can be set up in whatever way suits the project. We can publish the app for you, help your client set up their own developer accounts and publish there, or hand everything over to your agency to publish under yours.
After launch
Most apps need work after launch: OS updates, store policy changes, bug fixes, new features. We stay on for maintenance and further development, under the same arrangement as the build. If you prefer, your agency keeps billing the client and we stay in the background.
We've written in more detail about what maintenance after launch involves in Mobile app maintenance after launch.
What agencies tell us they value
Across those four partnerships, three things came up repeatedly.
Flexibility. Agency projects change shape. Clients add requests, timelines move, priorities shift. We stay easy to reach, and when something changes we explain what it means for scope, budget and timing, so the agency can decide quickly with its client.
Trust with the client. Two of the four agencies brought us into client meetings for technical discussions, which took a load off their own team. The other two kept us fully in the background, and that worked just as well.
Working independently. Because we can handle the whole technical side, from specification to store submission, the agency doesn't need someone in-house to manage developers. They manage the client; we manage the build.
Time zones and availability
Our engineering team is based in Budapest, Hungary, and we also operate through our US entity, Petadev LLC. For most of the year Budapest is six hours ahead of US Eastern time, and we're available for calls and messages until 4 p.m. Eastern.
We also have a team member in the Atlanta area who can meet agencies there in person.
Is this a fit for your agency?
It usually is if:
- clients ask you for apps and you currently turn the work down or pass it on
- you want to keep the client relationship and the billing
- you need fixed prices you can build a proposal on
- you'd rather not hire a mobile team for occasional projects
It's probably not a fit if you're looking for a single freelancer to add to your team on an hourly basis, or if the project is a 3D game. We don't build games.
If you're comparing several development partners, the questions in How to evaluate a mobile app development company apply to agency partnerships too.
Have a client who needs an app?
Send us a short brief about your client's project. We'll come back with a first estimate, usually within two business days, and tell you honestly whether it's something we should build together.
