Mobile Backend & Cloud Infrastructure

Backend decisions surface in the app before launch and keep surfacing after it. A user signs in on a new phone, a photo upload fails on a weak connection, two devices edit the same record, a notification lands on the wrong device, or a monthly bill arrives with a number nobody forecast. On a mobile product those are server questions, and they get harder to answer once real users depend on the data.

We build the server side of mobile products: authentication, databases, sync, file storage, notification and email triggers, environments, deployment, and the monitoring that shows what actually happened. Depending on the project that means Firebase or Supabase, AWS Amplify, or our own Node.js and Python services behind REST or GraphQL APIs.

What a mobile backend covers

Authentication and identity

Sign-in with Apple, Google, email and password, or SMS one-time codes, plus the session work behind them: token refresh, device revocation, and account deletion, which both app stores require when a user asks for it. Identity lives in one place, so a second app, an admin panel, or your website can reuse the same accounts.

Data storage and sync

We model the data before choosing the database. Relational storage fits bookings, orders, and anything with reporting behind it. Document storage fits feeds, profiles, and content whose shape changes between releases. Where the app has to work on a train or in a basement, we define how a local change merges and who wins when two devices disagree.

Files, uploads, and triggers

Photos and documents go straight to object storage through signed upload URLs, with resizing and thumbnails handled server side, so a large file never streams through your API. Transactional email runs through a provider with delivery reporting: receipts, password resets, and digests. Database triggers call the same code paths when a record changes.

Environments, secrets, and deployment

Development, staging, and production stay separate, with their own databases and keys. API keys and signing secrets live in the platform's secret store, because anything shipped inside an app can be extracted from it. Releases run through a pipeline with a rollback path: schema migrations first, then functions, then the app build, along with a note of what to revert when a metric turns bad.

Monitoring and cost visibility

Logs, error tracking, and alerts on the endpoints that matter: sign-in failures, upload errors, queue backlog, slow queries, function timeouts. We also set a spend ceiling, because a retry loop or an abusive client can turn a free tier into a real invoice within a day.

Who this is for

• Mobile teams whose app has no backend yet, or a prototype keeping data somewhere it should not be.
• Products where the backend works but pins the team: unindexed queries, one shared environment, manual deploys, no alerts.
• Companies adding a mobile app to an existing web product and needing shared accounts and data.
• Founders who want a second opinion on a managed platform bill before usage grows.

What we deliver

A data model with migrations, an API contract documented in OpenAPI or GraphQL SDL so the app team codes against something stable, and environment configuration that separates keys per stage. Roles and authorization rules are written per collection or table, and enforced on the server. Storage buckets, upload flows, push and email pipelines, CI/CD with rollback, dashboards and alerts are part of the same handover, together with a short runbook covering deploys, restores, and what to check when something breaks at night.

How the engagement runs

Discovery covers the data model, the roles, the integrations, and the cost picture, since those four decide most of the architecture. We then build behind the API contract in short phases, so the mobile work can start against staging before the backend is complete. Integration support follows, then a load and failure check on the paths that matter, then handover. Deploys happen weekly or more often.

Where the project starts

A plain idea means we design the schema and API from your requirements, choose between a managed platform and a custom service, and ship the first backend version alongside the app screens. Nothing exists yet, so the effort goes into building the first version.

An existing conventional codebase means we read what is there, keep what holds up, and add the missing layers: indexes, migrations, separate environments, secret storage, a deploy pipeline, and documentation for the parts that only the original developer understood.

An AI or vibe-coded prototype usually calls the database directly from the client, keeps keys in the app bundle, and assumes a schema that breaks once real data arrives. We keep the screens and the product thinking, then rebuild the access layer around them: keys move server side, authorization rules get written for each role, and the data gets a migration path.

When a managed backend is the right call

Firebase or Supabase is the correct choice when you want authentication, a database, file storage, and push working in weeks, when your queries are simple lookups by id or by a single field, and when usage is modest. Firestore bills per document read and write, which is cheap for a small app and expensive for one that lists a few hundred records and refreshes whenever a user scrolls. Realtime listeners multiply reads further. Managed platforms also limit you where joins, aggregates, ad hoc reporting, or strict data residency matter, and the client SDKs spread through your app, so leaving later costs more than leaving now. Supabase gives you Postgres with row level security, which covers more query shapes, and its connection limits and per-project sizing still apply. We tell you which side of that line your product sits on before you commit, and if a managed start is right, we keep the data model portable.

What it costs

Work on a backend runs at the same $39 per hour flat rate as the rest of our development, or as a fixed scope once the requirements are clear. A mobile app MVP ordered as a whole, backend included, typically lands between $4,800 and $8,500 across four to six weeks, and the scope breakdown sits on the pricing page with our rates and typical order ranges. Backend work alone is usually a few weeks of that total. The drivers are predictable: how many roles and collections exist, whether existing data must be migrated, how many third-party services are involved, and whether the platform choice needs a written comparison. Monthly capacity plans start from $2,699 when the work continues over months.

Proof

Voteme is a cross-platform social app with photo uploads, voting, credits, real-time chat, and push-style notifications, built on Xamarin with Firebase. It shows what a managed backend can carry: identity, storage, live updates, and moderation records for a community product, without a server team standing behind it.

SmartAIChats is an AI chat platform on Node.js, Express, and MongoDB, with OpenAI behind the responses. It proves we build the custom side of this work too, including the API its widget and dashboard both call.

Big Mail is an online postcard service with a Laravel and Node.js backend over MongoDB and MySQL. It shows a mixed stack chosen for the job, and the operational work behind a global ordering service.

Related services

• Mobile app development, the parent service covering iOS, Android, and Flutter builds that sit on top of this infrastructure
• API development and integration for public APIs, third-party integrations, and contract design
• Database design and migration for schema modelling, indexing, and moving data without losing it
• Offline-first development, which decides how local storage and sync behave on top of the backend
• Web development for the admin panels and dashboards that usually appear next to a mobile backend

Next step

If your app needs a backend, or the one it has is holding you back, send us the data model you have or the one you can describe, plus how you expect people to use the product. You will get a straight answer on the platform choice, and a scope you can plan around.

Contact us with the details, or run your requirements through the Vasilkoff.info estimator for a first estimate before you talk to anyone.