Anyone can show a Figma-perfect portfolio. Ask instead: which of these apps are live on the App Store or Play Store right now, under their own account or a verifiable client credit? A shipped app survives app-store review, OS updates, and real users — a demo doesn't.
How do you handle offline state and sync conflicts? What's your approach to over-the-air updates (CodePush/EAS)? How do you structure native modules when a package doesn't support New Architecture? If the answers are vague, the experience is too.
A developer billing $15/hour with no fixed scope can cost more than one at $40/hour with a defined deliverable, because unscoped hourly work has no natural stopping point. Fixed-scope for a defined feature set, or a monthly retainer for ongoing product work, both cap the downside in a way open-ended hourly billing doesn't.
