Agency handoffs: what to demand before you inherit a mobile repo

When an agency returns an app to an in-house team, the repository is only half the story. Certificates, store accounts, and oral history matter just as much.

Inheriting a mobile codebase without the surrounding keys is a classic Phuket-agency-to-startup story. The Swift or Kotlin may be tidy; the release machinery lives in someone’s personal Apple ID.

Ask for these before the farewell lunch

  • Apple Developer and Google Play ownership transfer steps in writing
  • Provisioning profiles, keystores, and where passphrases are stored
  • A map of third-party SDK accounts (analytics, push, maps, payments)
  • Crash and analytics project ownership
  • The last three release candidates and their known defects

Why auditors care

A Mobile Codebase Audit can still proceed on git alone, but release readiness collapses if nobody can sign the binary. We note missing ownership as a process blocker even when the code itself is healthy.

If you are mid-handoff, schedule a Pre-Store Checklist Session with both agency and in-house leads in the room. Awkward conversations are cheaper before upload day.

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