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hello@adherelabs.com · San Ramon, California · Serving clients across North America
Home / Services / Software Development / Mobile App Development
02 — Build

iOS and Android apps that work where the work happens.

In a basement with no signal, on a job site in the rain, on a five-year-old Android. We build mobile apps for field teams and customers — shipped to both stores, released on a schedule, and ready to carry AI features inside them.

What this is

Apps earn their place by doing what a browser can't.

If a responsive web app would do the job, we will say so and save you a store account. An app is the right call when you need the camera, background location, offline reliability, biometric sign-in, notifications people actually receive, or an icon on the home screen of someone who opens it eleven times a day.

i.

Field and workforce apps

Job details, checklists, photos, signatures, time and parts capture, route context. Built for gloves, glare and dead zones — large targets, forgiving inputs, and no screen that requires a stable connection to be useful.

ii.

Customer apps

Booking, status tracking, documents, payments, messaging and loyalty. The screens that turn a support call into a tap, and the notifications that keep people informed before they think to ask.

iii.

And the backend that makes both possible

Mobile projects fail on the server far more often than on the client. Sync, auth, permissions, media handling, versioned APIs that keep old app versions working, and push infrastructure are all part of the build — not a separate project you discover halfway through.

What you get

The decisions that define the app.

01

Native or cross-platform

SwiftKotlinReact NativeFlutter

There is no universal answer, and anyone who gives you one before hearing your feature list is selling their comfort zone. We frame it around three questions: how deep into the device you need to go, how many teams will maintain it, and how different the two platforms' experiences need to be. Heavy camera work, background location, audio processing, widgets and OS-level integrations lean native. A forms-and-lists app that ships to both stores from one codebase usually does not.

  • Platform recommendation written up with the trade-offs, not just the verdict
  • Device and OS support matrix agreed before the build starts
  • Shared design system that respects each platform's conventions
  • An honest answer about whether you need an app at all
02

Offline behavior and sync

Local storeQueued writesConflict rules

Connectivity is a state, not a requirement. The app reads from a local database, queues writes while offline, and reconciles when signal returns — with explicit rules for what happens when the same record was edited in two places. We design those rules with you, because the right answer differs: last write wins is fine for a job note and dangerous for an inventory count. Photos and attachments upload in the background with retry, so a technician can finish and drive away.

  • Local-first data layer with a visible sync state in the interface
  • Write queue with retry, backoff and safe replay after a crash
  • Conflict resolution rules defined per entity, not globally guessed
  • Background media upload that survives app termination
03

Push notifications people don't mute

APNsFCMDeep linksPreferences

A notification is a promise that something needs attention. Break that promise a few times and the channel is gone permanently. We build categories users can control, deep links that open the exact record rather than the home screen, quiet hours that respect a technician's evening, and delivery reporting so you know what actually landed. Permission is requested in context, after the value is obvious — not on first launch before anyone knows what the app does.

  • Segmented notification categories with per-category user control
  • Deep linking straight to the job, order, document or conversation
  • Contextual permission prompts and graceful handling of a refusal
  • Delivery and open reporting fed back into your analytics
04

Store submission and release management

App StoreGoogle PlayTestFlightCrash reporting

Getting the binary built is the easy half. We handle developer accounts registered to your company, signing and provisioning, privacy nutrition labels and data-safety forms, listing copy and screenshots, and the review responses that follow. After launch, releases go out on a predictable cadence: automated builds, testers on every candidate, staged rollout to a small percentage first, and feature flags so a problem can be switched off without waiting on a review queue.

  • Store listings, assets and privacy disclosures prepared and filed
  • Automated build and signing pipeline in your accounts
  • Beta distribution through TestFlight and Play internal testing
  • Staged rollouts monitored against crash-free session rates
  • Feature flags for switching behavior off without a new release
How it connects to the AI layer

The phone is where the useful data enters.

Field staff and customers generate the observations your automation runs on. An app is the cleanest capture point you will ever have — if it is built to structure what it collects instead of storing free text nobody reads.

05

AI features inside the app

Voice captureIn-app assistantSmart alertsMCP

Three patterns come up again and again. Voice capture: a technician speaks the job summary on the walk back to the truck and the app returns a structured report with parts, time and follow-up flagged — no typing on a cracked screen. In-app assistants: a customer asks about their appointment, their invoice or their coverage and gets an answer drawn from live systems, with a clean handoff to a person when the question outgrows the agent. Smart notifications: alerts triggered because an agent noticed a pattern, written to say what to do next rather than merely that something occurred.

All of it runs on the same integration layer as the rest of your automation, so an interaction on the phone updates the CRM, fires the follow-up sequence and reaches the dispatcher without anyone re-keying it.

  • On-device voice capture with structured transcription into your data model
  • In-app assistant grounded in your live records, with human escalation
  • Notifications generated by workflow logic rather than fixed schedules
  • Every in-app action available to agents through a documented API
  • Clear consent, retention and redaction handling for captured content
SwiftKotlinReact NativeFlutterAPNsFCMPostgresSupabaseAWSGoogle CloudOAuth 2.0WebhooksElevenLabsMCP
After version one

An app is a commitment, not a delivery.

Both platforms ship a major OS release every year, signing certificates expire on a fixed date, SDKs get deprecated on somebody else's schedule, and a device you never tested becomes a quarter of your installs. None of that is optional maintenance — miss it and the app eventually stops being downloadable at all.

Budget the second year before you commit to the first. We agree a support window up front, update dependencies on a cadence, and report crashes by device and OS version so a fix can be aimed rather than guessed.

How we work

On real devices, from week two.

Phase 01 — Audit

Watch the actual job

We map the workflow the app has to fit into, including the parts people improvise. Feature list, platform decision, device matrix and a phased scope come out of it, priced.

30-min call · roadmap delivered
Phase 02 — Build

Ship builds to testers

Two-week cycles with a build in your team's hands at the end of each one. Real hardware, real network conditions, real feedback — long before anything reaches a store review queue.

Typically 8–14 weeks
Phase 03 — Release & run

Roll out and maintain

Staged store rollout, crash and performance monitoring, then a steady release cadence that keeps pace with OS updates and adds the AI features once the data model has settled.

Ongoing partnership
Common questions

Before you ask.

Native or cross-platform, which should we choose? +

It depends on what the app does with the device. Heavy camera work, background location, audio processing, widgets and deep OS integration push toward native. A forms-and-lists app shipping to both stores with one small team is usually better served cross-platform. We answer it in discovery against your feature list and your maintenance budget, and we tell you the trade-off rather than defending a preference.

What happens when a technician loses signal? +

The app keeps working. Reads come from a local database, writes queue on the device, and everything syncs when the connection returns. The important design work is conflict handling: deciding what wins when the same record changed in two places. We decide those rules with you during architecture rather than discovering them in the field.

Do you submit the app to the App Store and Google Play? +

Yes, into developer accounts registered to your company. We prepare listings, screenshots, privacy disclosures and data-safety declarations, handle review responses, and manage staged rollouts. First submissions get rejected for predictable reasons, so we prepare for those before filing rather than after.

Can you take over an existing app? +

Usually. We start by reviewing the codebase, the build pipeline, the store accounts and the crash data, then give you an honest read on whether it is worth maintaining. Apps that have gone two or three OS versions without an update often need a release-readiness sprint before any new feature is safe to add.

What do AI features look like inside a mobile app? +

Concrete things, not a chat bubble in the corner. A technician dictates job notes and the app returns a structured report. A customer asks about their appointment and gets an answer from live scheduling data. A notification fires because an agent noticed something changed, and it says what to do next rather than just that something happened.

How do you handle releases after launch? +

On a predictable cadence with a rollback plan. Builds are automated, testers get every release candidate before the public does, and store rollouts go out to a small percentage first while we watch crash-free rates. Feature flags let us turn something off without waiting on a review cycle.

The real test

If it fails in a basement
it fails on the job.

Start here

Tell us what your team does on their phones.

Thirty minutes, no charge. We will tell you whether an app is the right answer, what it would take, and what it would cost — and send you the roadmap either way.

Roadmap delivered · whether or not you build with us