Can you take over an app built with Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, or Claude Code?

Yes. We work from the repository as it stands, whatever produced it. The first task is reading the code and mapping which features are complete, which were left half-wired, and which parts have to be rewritten rather than patched.

Do we have to throw the prototype away and start again?

Rarely. A rebuild is the expensive option and only wins when the data model or the app's architecture cannot carry what the product needs. Most projects keep their screens and their product decisions, and we rebuild the parts that handle money, accounts, and user data.

How is the audit priced, and how long does it take?

The audit is a fixed price once we have seen the repository and heard what fails for users. A small app takes a few days, a larger one with a backend takes one to two weeks. Any work outside the audit runs at our flat rate of $39 per hour.

The app already has users. Will rescue work interrupt them?

Changes land in short batches on a branch you can build, and anything a user would notice goes behind a flag. Released versions keep running while we work. A fix that changes stored data gets a migration plan before it ships.

Who owns the code, the store accounts, and the API keys afterwards?

You do. We move the repository, the Apple and Google developer accounts, the backend project, the domain, and each third-party API key into accounts registered to your company, and we list anything still held by someone else.

Vibe-Coded Mobile App Rescue & Fixes

We audit AI-built mobile prototypes, fix crashes, payments, permissions and secrets, then stabilise the codebase for store review and future work.

See our work:

Voteme App→Walking Cure→SmartAIChats→

You prompted a tool, the app ran, and people started using it. Then something broke in a way the demo never showed: a build that works on one laptop only, a subscription that charges twice on retry, an API key sitting in the repository, or a store rejection citing a permission the app never explains.

That is a normal place for a young product to be. AI coding tools shorten the distance between an idea and something a person can tap, which is what a validation stage needs. The gap opens later, when money has to move correctly, user data has to be stored safely, and one feature has to change without breaking two others. Rescue work closes that gap while keeping the idea and its users. The job is prototype productionization: the screens stay, and the foundation underneath them is rebuilt to a standard a store reviewer and a future developer can both accept.

What rescue work involves

We start by reading. The repository comes as it is, whatever generated it, and we produce a written picture of what exists: which features are complete, which are wired to a mock, and which screens duplicate each other. Then we fix what blocks real users and leave the project where a second developer can install, build, and change.

Who this is for

Founders with paying subscribers on a prototype never meant to carry them. Product teams that extended an existing app with an AI assistant and now have two conventions in one codebase. Anyone holding a rejection notice about a missing privacy manifest, an unexplained permission, or a demo account that never worked.

For web products the same process runs under vibe-coded app and SaaS rescue, with mobile adding device testing, permission review, code signing, and store submission.

The audit, area by area

Code ownership and reproducibility

We record who holds the repository, the Apple Developer account, the Google Play console, the Firebase project, the domain, and the billing for every API the app calls. Then the practical test: clone on a clean machine, install, build, run. If that fails, no developer can start.

Framework choice and generated dependencies

Which framework the prototype uses, whether it can carry the next year of features, and how much of the code is library glue an assistant invented. Generated projects often include abandoned plugins or a library never updated for the current platform release, so each dependency gets marked keep, replace, or remove.

Secrets, API exposure, and authentication

Keys committed to the repository or embedded in the app bundle are readable by anyone who downloads the app. We check that server keys stay server side, that the app calls your backend rather than a third-party API holding a secret, and that test and production credentials are separate. Authentication also covers what each endpoint, database rule, or storage path allows, and sessions have to be revocable.

Data integrity and billing

Every write path, and what happens when a request is retried, two devices update the same record, or a subscription webhook arrives twice. Duplicate charges, orphaned records, and lost local changes start here. Money paths get idempotency checks and a defined account state after a failed payment.

Native permissions, crash reporting, and test coverage

Which permissions the app requests, whether each belongs to a feature, and whether the notice shown to the user states the real reason. Whether crashes reach a dashboard a human reads, with symbols uploaded so a report names the line of code. Whether automated tests cover anything, starting with login, payments, and data sync.

CI/CD, signing, and store policy

How a build reaches testers and the store, who holds the signing certificates and provisioning profiles, and what breaks when they expire. The review checklist follows: privacy manifest and data-use declarations, required account deletion, in-app purchase rules, the target SDK level Google Play enforces, and an accurate age rating.

What we deliver

Five formats, quoted separately.

A fixed-price app audit covering the areas above, written up with findings ranked by severity and the file each one lives in. A store-readiness review for apps that function but keep failing review, which pairs with our mobile app security audit and hardening when access control or data handling is the blocker. A rescue sprint of one to three weeks on the failures that block launch. Backend stabilisation when the API, database rules, or payment webhooks are the weak part, which is API and integration work. An ongoing engineering retainer for hardening that continues after launch.

Where the project starts

Three starting points, and the opening weeks differ in each.

A plain idea needs no rescue. If nothing has been built yet, we build it on a structure that keeps later change cheap, through mobile app development or as a mobile MVP when the goal is testing demand quickly.

An existing conventional codebase usually needs targeted repair rather than rescue: crashes, launch time, a dependency upgrade, or a feature that fights the current structure. That sits with mobile app bug fixing and performance and refactoring and migration.

A prototype built with AI tools is this page's case. The audit comes first, because the size of the problem is unknown until someone reads the code.

How the engagement runs

The first week is the audit. We read the repository, run the app on real devices, check crash reports where they exist, and list the accounts that have to move to your name. You then get findings, a planned order of work, and the parts we would delete.

Fix work runs in short batches against a branch you can build. Anything a user would notice goes behind a feature flag, and product decisions come to you with two options and the tradeoff. A developer or agency already on the app can continue alongside us. At the end you choose handover with documentation, a retainer, or your own team taking over.

What it costs

Rescue work runs at our flat rate of $39 per hour, which suits an audit, a sprint, or scope that shifts as we learn. The audit is a fixed price once we have seen the repository and heard what fails.

After the audit, work is quoted in weeks rather than guessed totals. A store-readiness pass or a sprint on one blocked flow is usually one to two weeks. Stabilising an app with its backend takes longer, and the number depends on how much is rebuilt rather than repaired. If the audit shows the product needs features it never had, that portion follows the published mobile MVP typical order of $4,800 to $8,500 across four to six weeks on the pricing page, which also lists monthly capacity plans from $2,699.

Proof

Voteme is a cross-platform social app with photo voting, credits, chat, and moderation controls, built on Xamarin and Firebase. It proves we can finish features that carry the most risk when they are half built: user-generated content, real-time messaging, and community reporting.

SmartAIChats is a conversational SaaS platform running React, Next.js, Node, MongoDB, and OpenAI behind the responses. It proves the engineering continues past the demo stage, because the data model, setup flow, and response handling were shaped for real business use.

Walking Cure is a healthcare site for a California clinic, built to explain an unfamiliar treatment method and route enquiries to the practice. It proves we also produce the public surface around a product, which matters for the store listing and privacy policy an app needs at submission.

Related services

Mobile apps development for new iOS, Android, and Flutter builds
Mobile app MVP development when the goal is a first version built on a structure that holds
Mobile app refactoring and migration for moving a stabilised prototype into a codebase that survives platform releases
Mobile app security audit and hardening when authentication, storage, or exposed keys need a dedicated review
Mobile app bug fixing and performance for the crash, launch time, and battery work the audit turns up
Vibe-coded product audit for the standalone review before you commit to repair work

Next step

Send the repository link, any store rejection text, and one sentence about what breaks. We will say what the audit covers and whether the product needs repair or a rebuild.

Contact us with those details, or run the scope through the Vasilkoff.info estimator for a first range on cost and timeline.