Three ways to hire an iOS developer
You can hire a freelancer, add an iOS developer to your staff or contract a studio. Each one fits a different project. The table compares them on what matters for a small or mid-size company.
| Freelancer | In-house employee | Studio (Carvalho Karsten) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | A small task or a short fix | A company with a long product roadmap | A full app or a defined version |
| Time to start | Days, if you find the right person | Months of recruiting | After the project review and proposal |
| Who covers vacations and sick days | Nobody | You hire a second person | The team |
| App Store submission and review | Depends on the person | Depends on the person | Included |
| Your fixed costs | None | Salary, benefits, equipment | None |
| Who manages the work | You | You | The studio, with you approving each build |
A freelancer is the cheapest way to fix one screen. An in-house developer makes sense once mobile is the center of your business. A studio sits in between: a team for the length of the project, with no hiring.
What you get when you hire Carvalho Karsten
Carvalho Karsten builds native apps for iPhone and Mac in Swift and SwiftUI. It does not split attention across Android, web and every other platform.
- A dedicated Swift team. Gustavo Henrique Karsten, the CTO, has more than 20 years in software and leads the architecture and code of each app.
- US East Coast hours. The team works from Santa Catarina, Brazil (BRT, UTC−3). Brazil has no daylight saving time. From November to March, Brazil is 2 hours ahead of Boston. From March to November, it is 1 hour ahead.
- A US point of contact. Thiago Do Carmo, the CEO, has lived on Cape Cod for 21 years. The commercial address is 207 Iyannough Rd, Hyannis, MA 02601.
- English, Portuguese and Spanish. Calls, documents and App Store listings in the language of your market.
- App Store from start to finish. The team prepares your store listing, submits the app and answers Apple’s review until approval.
Overlap in practice. A 10 a.m. call in Boston is noon or 11 a.m. in Brazil. Your whole workday overlaps with the team’s, so questions get answers the same day.
How an engagement works
- Project review. You send the idea or the current code. The team maps screens, integrations and risks.
- Proposal. You receive the scope, the price in USD and the schedule in writing.
- Development with TestFlight. You install each new build on your iPhone through TestFlight and comment on it directly.
- App Store submission. The team submits the app on your Apple Developer account and handles the review.
- Maintenance. After launch, the team fixes bugs and updates the app for each new iOS version.
If the scope changes during development, you receive a new estimate before any extra work starts. The how Carvalho Karsten works page explains each step.
What to prepare before you hire
You do not need a full specification to start. A one-page description is enough for the project review: who uses the app, the one task it must do well and any system it connects to. Screenshots of apps you like help too.
If you already have an app, send access to the code repository and to App Store Connect. The review then covers the current state of the app as well as the new work.
What hiring costs
Carvalho Karsten prices by project, not by hour. The price comes from the project review, which lists the development stages, integrations and changes your app needs.
As a market reference, a native iPhone MVP built by a US-market studio usually costs $50,000 to $100,000. The app development cost guide explains what moves that number.
When an iOS developer for hire is not the right fit
Hiring Carvalho Karsten is not the right choice in two cases. If you need Android at launch, a cross-platform team is a better fit; the native vs cross-platform guide explains why. If you need a developer inside your office every day, hire in-house.
Next step
Send a short description of your app or a link to your current code. The reply brings the next steps and the date of your project review. Teams in the US can also read about nearshore app development with a Brazil-based team.