Before your developer leaves: a handover checklist

Most of the apps we are asked to take over did not break because of bad code. They broke because nobody could get in. The developer left, the store account was in their name, the signing key was on their laptop, and the first time anyone noticed was when an update was rejected. This checklist exists so that never happens to you.

Use it when a developer, freelancer or agency is leaving, and use it now if the app is live and you cannot tick every item.

1. The code

• The repository, with your company as the owner, not a collaborator. On GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket the project should sit in an organisation you control. If it sits in the developer's personal account, have it transferred.
• Admin rights for at least two people at your company.
• All of it. The phone app, the backend, any admin website, and any scripts used to build or release. Ask: "If you disappeared tomorrow, is everything needed to rebuild this in here?"
• A build that works from a clean machine. Ask the developer to prove it, ideally on a laptop that has never seen the project.

2. The accounts

Every account the app depends on should be registered to a company email address that you control, not to an individual. Collect the login, the recovery email and the phone number used for verification for each of these:

• Apple Developer account and App Store Connect
• Google Play Console
• Hosting (the servers or the cloud account the backend runs on)
• Domain registrar and DNS
• Database hosting, if separate
• The push-notification service
• Email, SMS and payment providers (Stripe, Razorpay and the like)
• Maps, analytics, error reporting and any other paid service

For each one, write down what it is for and what it costs. That list becomes your running cost of owning the app.

3. The keys

This is the item most often missed, and the hardest to recover.

• Android: the upload key used to sign releases, and whether the app is enrolled in Play App Signing. If it is, Google holds the final signing key and a lost upload key can be reset through the console. If it is not, losing the key means you cannot update the existing app listing at all.
• iOS: the distribution certificate and its private key, and the provisioning profiles. These are created from the Apple developer account; if the account is yours, they can be reissued. If the account is the developer's, that is the problem to fix first.
• API keys and secrets: payment keys, map keys, push credentials, database passwords. These should be in a secrets store or environment configuration, not written into the code. Ask where they live and get a copy.

4. The data

• Where the database lives and who can log in to it.
• A recent backup, in a form you could hand to another developer.
• Proof that a restore from backup works. Ask to see it done once.
• Any personal data the app holds, and where it is stored, for your privacy obligations.

5. The documents

Not a manual. A few short pages that answer:

• How to build and release a new version of each app, step by step.
• What runs where: a diagram or list of the servers, services and what talks to what.
• The known problems, half-finished work and workarounds.
• Who the contacts are at each third-party provider.

If this does not exist, ask the departing developer to write it as their last task. It is worth paying for.

6. The paperwork

• Written confirmation of who owns the code and the designs, matching your contract.
• Confirmation that any open-source licences in the app allow your use.
• Final invoices settled, so there is no later claim on the work.
• A short written handover: "As of this date, the following has been transferred to the company."

The ten-minute version

If you can only check three things today, check these:

1. Can two people at your company log in to the Apple and Google developer accounts?
2. Is the code in a repository your company owns?
3. Do you know where the signing keys and secrets are, and can you reach them?

If any answer is no, fix that first, while the developer is still answering messages. Everything else on this list can wait a week. Those three cannot.