TL;DR for mobile app agency owners
- Built for 5-50 person mobile app agencies running 2-week sprint cycles on iOS, Android, React Native, or Flutter builds plus ongoing maintenance.
- Track hours per platform (iOS, Android, backend, QA, design) to see which disciplines actually clear margin.
- One branded portal replaces Jira/Linear + Harvest + HoneyBook + ad-hoc release reporting decks.
- Flat $39-$79/month pricing — not per-seat — so a 20-person app team costs the same as a 5-person one.
- Pair with Linear, Firebase, AppFigures, and Xcode — AgencyPro is the ops layer, not your dev toolchain.
Built for How Mobile App Agencies Actually Work
2-week sprints, TestFlight cycles, App Store submissions, and maintenance retainers each require different tracking and billing. AgencyPro maps to your real mobile workflow instead of a generic project template.
Clients submit feature requests, crash reports, and platform-specific tickets through structured forms. Each request captures the platform (iOS, Android, or both), affected app version, device model, OS version, repro steps, and screenshots — so engineers start with full triage data instead of guessing.
Separate time entries for native iOS dev (Swift/SwiftUI), native Android (Kotlin/Compose), cross-platform (React Native, Flutter), backend API work, QA cycles, app store optimization, and design. Compare actual effort against sprint estimates so you know if your fixed-bid app projects clear margin.
Charge fixed-fee MVP builds (typical $40K-$250K), sprint-based dev ($10K-$25K per 2-week sprint), or monthly maintenance retainers ($3K-$15K) for ongoing updates, OS compatibility, and crash fix SLAs. Pass through Firebase, AppFigures, and analytics subscriptions with transparent markup.
Upload sprint velocity charts, Firebase Crashlytics summaries, App Store Connect analytics, Play Console reports, and TestFlight feedback to the client portal. Clients see release health metrics — crash-free user rate, ANR rate, install funnel — on their own schedule.
Native iOS work may earn $180/hour while cross-platform React Native bleeds margin at $90/hour due to platform-specific gotchas. Break down revenue and hours per app discipline so you can reprice retainers and quote new MVPs with margin data behind them.
Each release cycle involves dev, QA, product, design, and the client product owner. Threaded discussions tied to specific feature tickets and TestFlight builds keep the launch conversation next to the work instead of scattered across Slack, Linear, and email.
Clients log into a portal at your domain with your logo. They see active sprints, the current TestFlight build, crash trends, this sprint's burndown, App Store submission status, invoices, and a structured intake form for bugs and feature requests.
Store PRDs, Figma links, app icons, screenshot sets, App Store metadata, Play Store listings, signing keys (encrypted), and release notes per client. No more digging through Drive folders to find the latest production keystore.
How a Mobile App Agency Uses AgencyPro Across a Typical Engagement
An 8-step lifecycle from product discovery through quarterly roadmap review, mapped to how mobile teams scope, sprint, ship, and bill long-cycle app engagements.
Discovery and Technical Scoping
Run product discovery sessions, define MVP feature scope, choose native vs. cross-platform stack, baseline technical constraints (iOS minimum version, Android API level), and document a 12-16 week roadmap the client signs off on in the portal.
Engagement Setup in AgencyPro
Create the client workspace, configure a sprint-based contract or maintenance retainer with hour allocations per discipline (iOS, Android, backend, QA, design), invite stakeholders, and load PRDs, Figma references, and brand assets into the library.
Sprint Planning and Backlog Grooming
Break the MVP roadmap into 2-week sprints. Each ticket has acceptance criteria, hour estimate, dev assignment, and dependency notes. Clients approve sprint scope in the portal before kickoff. Mid-sprint changes get logged as new tickets with their own estimates.
Execute Sprint Development
Log hours against specific tickets: iOS feature work, Android parity, backend endpoints, QA testing, design polish. Time tracking updates the sprint burndown in real time. Daily standups happen in your chat tool; sprint progress lives in AgencyPro.
TestFlight and Internal Testing Cycle
Push builds to TestFlight and Play Console internal track. Beta testers and stakeholders log feedback through the portal. QA logs hours against bug-fix tickets. Track turnaround per bug class (P0 crashes vs. cosmetic) so quality data feeds the next sprint.
App Store and Play Store Submission
Coordinate metadata uploads, screenshot generation, privacy nutrition labels, App Privacy details, and Play Console data safety forms. Track review status, respond to rejection feedback, and log time spent on resubmissions as billable activity.
Post-Launch Maintenance Retainer
Roll into a monthly maintenance retainer covering OS updates (iOS 19, Android 17), library upgrades, crash fix SLAs, and small enhancements. Track hours per category — emergency fixes vs. scheduled work — so retainer scope stays honest.
Quarterly Roadmap Review
Pull crash-free user rate, retention curves, sprint velocity, and feature delivery data. Surface what shipped, what slipped, and what is next. Present pricing or scope changes for the upcoming quarter using real margin data from AgencyPro.
Three Common Scenarios for Mobile App Agencies
The work at most mobile app agencies cycles through three recurring patterns. Here is how AgencyPro handles each with concrete steps.
1. Kicking off a $120K iOS and Android MVP build
A health and fitness startup signs a 16-week engagement covering native iOS (Swift), native Android (Kotlin), a Node backend, and design polish. Eight 2-week sprints, fixed-bid with overage rules.
In AgencyPro:
- Spin up the workspace from your "Native iOS + Android MVP" template. Five sub-projects: iOS, Android, Backend, Design, QA.
- Configure 8 sprints with hour buckets per discipline. Set $185/hour blended rate with overage at $215.
- Send the intake form: target users, must-have features for v1, app store identity, backend hosting preference, analytics requirements, monetization model.
- Schedule the technical discovery week (lead iOS + lead Android + tech architect, 40-hour budget, due in 7 days).
- Invite the client's CTO, product manager, and designer to the portal.
Time-to-kickoff: typically 6-8 hours vs. 2-3 weeks of contract and SOW emails.
2. Running sprint 6 with TestFlight beta and stakeholder feedback
Same client, sprint 6 of 8. The team is rolling out the social feed and push notifications. The CTO wants to know what to demo at Friday's investor call.
In AgencyPro:
- Pull sprint burndown: 78/80 hours iOS, 82/80 Android (2-hour overage flagged with rationale: APNs config edge case), 22/24 Backend, 18/20 QA.
- Upload TestFlight build 1.6.0 release notes, Firebase Crashlytics summary (crash-free rate 99.4%), and a 3-minute Loom demoing new features.
- Pin the sprint demo agenda for Friday: social feed live, push notifications working on 80% of test devices, known iOS 17 edge case being investigated.
- Beta testers log feedback through the portal form: device, OS version, what they tried, what went wrong, screenshots.
- The CTO logs in, watches the Loom, comments on two feedback tickets to prioritize.
Time-to-update: typically 25-40 minutes vs. 2 hours assembling a sprint deck plus Loom plus email.
3. Managing maintenance retainers across 6 launched apps
After launch, the same agency manages 6 production apps on maintenance retainers ranging from $4K to $12K/month — each with different SLAs for crash fixes, OS updates, and enhancements.
In AgencyPro:
- Each retainer has 3 hour buckets: P0/P1 crash fixes (SLA-bound), OS compatibility (scheduled), enhancements (negotiable).
- Tickets auto-tag the bucket. Crash fix tickets surface at the top of the portal until resolved.
- When iOS 19 ships, the OS bucket sees a spike. The portal makes this visible to clients as it happens — not as an end-of-month surprise.
- Quarterly review shows client A averaged 24/30 hours with 4 enhancement requests; client B blew through 38/30 hours largely on iOS 19 compat (renegotiate).
- Renewal conversations use real data: "Your maintenance load grew 22% last year, here is what we recommend for renewal scope."
Result: maintenance retainers stop being a black box and start being a defensible margin product.
The Mobile App Agency Stack AgencyPro Replaces
Most app agencies run 6-8 SaaS tools to coordinate a single client. Here is how that stack maps to AgencyPro — and what you keep for the actual app work.
| What you use today | Typical monthly cost (10 seats) | AgencyPro feature that replaces it |
|---|---|---|
| Jira Software (client-facing) | $150-$250 | Client-side sprint board and ticket intake |
| Linear (client seats) | $80-$160 | Portal-based ticket visibility for clients |
| Harvest / Toggl Premium | $70-$200 | Time tracking with platform tags |
| HoneyBook / FreshBooks for invoicing | $40-$90 | SOWs, e-signature, milestone billing |
| SuperOkay / ClientPortal.io | $40-$80 | Branded client portal and intake forms |
| Google Drive / Notion for specs | Included in Workspace | Per-client asset library |
| Estimated total replaced (client-facing layer) | $380-$780/month | AgencyPro Basic at $39/month (flat) |
You typically keep: Linear or Jira for engineering tickets (internal), Firebase Crashlytics, AppFigures or App Radar for ASO, Xcode and Android Studio, Sentry, GitHub or GitLab, and QuickBooks or Xero for accounting.
The Pricing Math for a 12-Person App Agency
A worked example for the typical app ops stack vs. AgencyPro's flat pricing. Excludes your engineering tools (Linear, Firebase, AppFigures) which stay the same on both sides.
Status quo: 12-person app agency ops stack
- Jira Software (12 seats): $130/mo
- Harvest (12 seats): $132/mo
- HoneyBook Premium: $59/mo
- SuperOkay or ClientPortal.io: $59/mo
- Loom Business (for sprint demos): $60/mo
- PandaDoc for SOWs: $35/mo
Total: ~$475/month • $5,700/year
On AgencyPro
- AgencyPro Pro: $79/mo (flat, unlimited seats)
- Includes: projects, sprints, time tracking, invoicing, retainers, client portal, intake forms, SOWs, asset library
- Grow from 12 to 30 people with no pricing change
Total: $39/month • $468/year
Savings: ~$396/month, ~$4,752/year
The bigger lift is admin time recovered — typically 12-18 hours/week consolidating client comms, sprint reporting, and time reconciliation. At a $90-$160 internal cost-per-hour that is often a larger savings than the tool spend itself.
Migrating From Jira, Linear, or a Mixed Tool Setup
Most app agencies come to AgencyPro from one of three patterns. Here is what each move looks like.
Coming from Jira or Linear (client-facing)
Keep Linear or Jira for engineering tickets — that is not what AgencyPro replaces. Migrate client-facing scope: sprint plans, feature requests, and stakeholder comms. Export active client projects, rebuild your top sprint templates (MVP, sprint cycle, maintenance), and switch client portals one project at a time over 3-4 weeks.
Coming from Harvest plus HoneyBook plus Drive
Export time logs and active invoices. Recreate sprint contracts and maintenance retainers in AgencyPro and log new time entries there. Upload the most recent PRDs, design specs, and release notes per client into the asset library. Most teams are off Harvest within 30 days.
Coming from a Notion plus Slack plus invoicing tool setup
Easiest migration for smaller agencies. Use AgencyPro's mobile templates as your starting point. Recreate each active client (typically 30-60 minutes per client). Send portal invites. By week 2 most teams stop using Notion for client-facing project tracking.
What Changes When You Track Every Sprint Hour
Mobile app agencies using AgencyPro report shorter sprint review cycles, fewer scope disputes, and clearer visibility into which platforms drive the best margins.
Bill QA and Bug Triage Separately From Dev
Track regression cycles, beta feedback, and crash investigation as distinct line items so clients see the true cost of release quality
Surface Sprint Overages Before Demo Day
Automatic alerts when a sprint approaches its hour cap so you can pause scope or get approval for expansion before commitments are made
Cut Release Report Assembly from Hours to Minutes
Upload Crashlytics, App Store Connect, and TestFlight feedback directly to the portal instead of rebuilding release decks every sprint
Protect Margins on Fixed-Bid App Projects
Track every hour against the MVP scope so you can renegotiate before profit evaporates rather than after delivery
Justify Maintenance Retainer Pricing
Show clients the hours spent on OS updates, library bumps, and crash fixes — data that supports higher monthly maintenance fees
Eliminate Duplicate Status Update Requests
Clients check sprint progress, current TestFlight build, and review status through the portal instead of weekly status emails
Saved weekly on sprint reporting
Retainer renewal rates
Average invoice creation time
Based on average results reported by agencies using AgencyPro
A Real Scenario: 14-Person App Agency in Toronto
A 14-person mobile agency focused on B2C consumer apps and healthcare platforms, running 4 active MVP builds and 7 maintenance retainers between $4K and $15K/month. They came to AgencyPro from a Jira + Toggl + HoneyBook + Loom setup.
The challenge
Sprint overages were eating fixed-bid margin and clients didn't see the data until end of project. Maintenance retainer scope was vague — when iOS 18 dropped, retainers blew through hour caps in week 1 without client awareness. The COO spent ~12 hours per month reconciling Toggl exports against fixed-bid budgets and maintenance buckets.
What changed in AgencyPro
- Time entries tagged by discipline (iOS, Android, backend, QA, design) per client.
- Sprint contracts configured with hour caps per sprint and overage alerts at 80% consumed.
- Maintenance retainers split into P0 fixes / OS compat / enhancements buckets — visible to clients in real time.
- Service-level margin showed Android development trailed iOS by 28% on margin due to Kotlin generics edge cases. They repriced Android-heavy projects 15% higher on next 4 quotes.
Measurable outcome (first 90 days)
- ~11 hours/week of leadership time freed from reconciliation.
- Tool spend reduced from ~$470/month to $39/month.
- Three maintenance retainer renewals repriced higher with data — added ~$2,700 MRR.
- Two sprint overages worth ~$3,200 each got invoiced instead of absorbed.
Scenario based on patterns reported by AgencyPro customers; specific numbers will vary by agency.
Is AgencyPro Right for Your Mobile App Agency?
AgencyPro is built for mobile app agencies running multiple sprint and retainer engagements. It is not the right tool for every team. Here is an honest read on when it fits and when it doesn't.
AgencyPro might NOT be the right fit if:
- •You're a solo indie dev with 1-2 client apps. Linear plus a basic invoicing tool will cover you without platform overhead.
- •You're a 100+ person enterprise dev shop. Jira Premium with Advanced Roadmaps, Workamajig, or a custom build will give you the resource and finance integrations you need.
- •You only need engineering ticket tracking. Linear, Jira, and Shortcut are purpose-built for engineering workflows — keep using them for that layer.
- •You only do staff augmentation, not fixed-bid or retainer work. Time-and-materials staff aug is better served by simple timesheet tools and corporate procurement portals.
- •You need deep crash and analytics integration. AgencyPro handles ops and client-facing layers — keep Firebase, Sentry, and AppFigures for the data layer.
AgencyPro is a great fit if:
- •You run an app agency with 4-30 active engagements. Sprint billing, maintenance retainers, and structured client comms in one place.
- •Your fixed-bid MVPs are bleeding margin. Track logged hours per sprint and surface overages before they grow into write-offs.
- •You spend hours each sprint assembling release reports. Upload TestFlight feedback and Crashlytics summaries directly to the portal instead of building decks.
- •You handle iOS, Android, and backend on the same project. Separate discipline categories let you measure margin per platform.
- •You want clients to self-serve on sprint status. A branded portal cuts "what's shipping this sprint?" emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about our platform.
How does AgencyPro handle sprint-based billing for mobile app projects?
Each sprint gets configured as a hour-bucketed work unit. Hours log against specific tickets within the sprint, and you see live burndown vs. budget. When a feature blows its estimate or a P0 crash takes priority, AgencyPro flags the overage so you can either bill extra or trade scope with the client. Sprints can be billed as fixed-fee or hourly with overage rules.
Can I organize iOS, Android, and backend work separately for the same app project?
Yes. Each client project has sub-projects for iOS, Android, backend, design, and QA. Time entries automatically tag the discipline. After two sprints you can see that iOS is averaging 6 hours/feature while Android is at 9 — useful data for repricing Android-heavy projects or justifying cross-platform Flutter migrations.
How does the client portal help during TestFlight and Play Console beta cycles?
Clients see the current build number, what changed since the last build, known issues, and the beta tester list. They submit feedback through a structured form (device, OS, repro steps, screenshots) instead of Slack screenshots. QA logs hours against each bug ticket so you know the real cost of release quality.
What happens when clients request features beyond the original MVP scope?
Track the new request as a separate ticket with its own estimate. Approved overage hours auto-roll into the next invoice with line-item detail (deep link handler: 8 hours, Stripe integration: 14 hours). Clients see exactly what they approved, when, and at what cost — eliminating end-of-project scope arguments.
How does AgencyPro support post-launch maintenance retainers?
Configure a monthly retainer with hour buckets per category: emergency crash fixes, OS compatibility, library upgrades, small enhancements. Each ticket logs hours against its bucket. When a major iOS release drops and consumes the OS-compat bucket, the portal makes the situation visible to the client immediately.
Does AgencyPro replace Jira, Linear, Firebase, or Xcode?
No — and intentionally. AgencyPro is for agency ops: client portal, time tracking, retainers, sprint billing, invoicing, approvals. You keep your engineering stack (Linear or Jira for engineering tickets, Firebase for crash and analytics, Xcode/Android Studio for dev, AppFigures for ASO). AgencyPro is the client-facing and ops layer.
How do I bill for App Store and Play Store submission cycles?
Track submission and resubmission time per release as a billable ticket. Apple rejections (privacy policy issues, IDFA disclosure, in-app purchase restoration) often eat 4-8 hours of unplanned work. With those hours tracked, you can either invoice them as overage or build a submission allowance into the retainer.
Can I run this for both new MVP builds and long-term maintenance clients?
Yes. MVP builds use sprint-based or milestone billing with hour caps per sprint. Maintenance clients use monthly retainers with category buckets (fixes, updates, enhancements). The same client can transition smoothly from build to maintenance without rebuilding the workspace.
Resources for Mobile App Agencies
Guides, templates, and tools to help you run a more profitable app agency.
Agency Metrics Dashboard
Track the KPIs that matter most for app agency success.
How to Prevent Scope Creep
Keep MVP builds profitable by managing feature requests.
Retainer Pricing Calculator
Price your maintenance retainers profitably.
Profit Margin Calculator
See which app services drive the best margins.
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For broader software dev shops beyond mobile.
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