Short answer
Check the licence first — app developers are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 35 Australian app developers in this directory, only 34.3% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 0% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
App Developers handle iOS, Android and web app design and development, the back end behind it, app-store release and the maintenance that follows. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no app developer licence — so check something else
App development is unlicensed, and the risk is in ownership and continuity rather than in regulation. Insist that the code lives in a repository you control, that the app-store accounts are in your name, and that a fixed-price quote names what is in scope and what a change costs. A developer who will not show a shipped app with real users is a developer who has not shipped one.
There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.
What 35 Australian app developers actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For app developers:
| What we checked | App Developers | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 34.3% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 50% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 0% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 66.7% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 100% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 16 | 39 |
What goes wrong with app developers
- Source code held in the developer's own repository or accounts
- A quote with no scope document, so every change becomes a dispute
- No plan for the month after launch, when the operating-system updates land
What to ask before the work starts
- Which published apps did you build, and can I speak to their owners?
- Will the repository, hosting and store accounts be in my name?
- What does a change cost once we have started, and what does support cost after launch?
A app developer who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median app developer in this directory has 16 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do app developers need a licence in Australia?
- No. App development is unlicensed, and the risk is in ownership and continuity rather than in regulation. Insist that the code lives in a repository you control, that the app-store accounts are in your name, and that a fixed-price quote names what is in scope and what a change costs. A developer who will not show a shipped app with real users is a developer who has not shipped one.
- How do I check an app developer's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission and Energy Safe Victoria in Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- What percentage of Australian app developers have a verifiable ABN?
- 34.3% of the 35 app developers in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should an app developer have?
- The median app developer here has 16. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Read next
- How to check an Australian tradie's licenceThere is no national licence register in Australia. Here is the regulator for every state and territory, what each one c…
- What an ABN tells you about a tradie — and what it doesn'tAn ABN is free, public and takes a minute to check — and only 21.5% of 133,763 Australian trade businesses publish one. …
- When a tradie's phone number doesn't match their own website10,300 Australian trade businesses list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website. Sometimes it is a …