You built an AI prototype that does what it should. That is worth a lot: it proves the idea, and it describes your product more precisely than any written brief. Some people call this a vibe-coded app, meaning one built mainly by describing it to an AI tool. The question now is not whether it works, but whether it holds up once strangers sign up, pay and trust it with their data.
What paying customers need that a prototype often lacks
Usually not more features, but the parts nobody sees in a demo:
- Database access rules: each customer sees only their own data, and nobody can read the database from outside.
- Keys out of the browser: keys for payments, email or AI services belong on the server, not in code anyone can open.
- Sign-in that holds: password reset, sessions that end, accounts that can be deleted.
- Backups: copies of your data that have been restored at least once as a test.
- Logging: when something fails, you can see what failed and when.
- A way into the stores: builds, signing, store listing and privacy details.
- Apple guideline 4.2: an app that is only a website in a wrapper is often rejected for minimum functionality. More on that under help after an App Store rejection.
How it starts: the App Check
With the App Check at a fixed price of $2,000. It includes check points written for AI prototypes:
- access rules of the database
- keys and sign-in logic that run in the browser
- internal tools or admin pages that anyone can reach
- store risk under Apple guideline 4.2
- how much the app depends on the platform it was built on
You get a traffic-light report within five business days, the most critical gap fixed after we have agreed on it, and a fixed price for the next step.
Three ways forward
The report recommends one of three paths, each with a fixed price:
- Stay on the platform and harden it: access rules, keys, backups and store readiness fixed where the app lives today, as a takeover from $10,500 or a rescue, depending on what the check finds.
- Move off the platform: the App Rescue variant "From prototype to real app", from $27,800. The app moves into a common, documented setup on accounts in your name, with 90 days of free bug fixing after launch. Details under rescuing an app project.
- Rebuild with the prototype as the blueprint: a First Version (MVP) from $27,800, in two to four weeks.
After that the app has to keep running: operating system updates, security patches, store deadlines and monitoring. That is operation from $1,400 a month.
"Isn't AI cheaper?"
Yes, building got cheaper, and I use AI every day myself. What it does not do is get your app through Apple's review, decide who may see which data, or notice that payments stopped on a Friday night. That is the part you pay me for. If your prototype holds up, I will tell you so, and you only pay for what is missing.
If personal data was exposed
Close the gap first, then check your obligations. If the App Check finds personal data that could be read from outside, the report says so plainly and points out that you may be obliged to report it. Whether that applies is for you to check, ideally with whoever advises you on data protection. I do not give legal advice.
Who owns what
You do. The code sits in your repository from day one; with each paid milestone, the rights to everything delivered up to that point pass to you. Store, server and database accounts are registered to your company, not to me.
Confidential from the first call: we are happy to sign an NDA before we talk.
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