United States
An app development partner for US teams.
We build for US startups and product teams from Cognitain's studio. This page is the commercial detail — hours, contracts, currency and compliance — rather than a sales pitch.
- Overlap
- 4+ hrs with ET, 2+ hrs with PT
- Invoicing
- USD
- IP
- Assigned to you on payment
- Reply
- One business day
01Working together
How the timezone actually works.
The honest version, because this is the first objection and it deserves a real answer rather than a claim of 24/7 coverage.
- A fixed overlap window, written into the scope
- We commit to a daily block that lands inside your working day — comfortably four or more hours against Eastern time, at least two against Pacific. It is in the scope document, not an aspiration.
- Asynchronous by default
- Written scopes, recorded walkthroughs and a build in your hands every week. If a project only works when everyone is online simultaneously, the process is the problem.
- Fewer, longer calls
- One scheduled call a week inside your afternoon, plus an agreed path for anything urgent. Not a standing daily stand-up at an hour nobody wants.
02Commercial
Contracting from the US.
The paperwork questions a US buyer asks before the technical ones.
- USD pricing, USD invoices
- Every range we publish is in US dollars — $15k–$40k for an MVP sprint, $40k–$100k+ for a full build, from $4k a month on retainer. No currency surprise at invoice time.
- IP assignment on payment
- Source, pipelines, store accounts and architecture notes are yours. Assignment is written into the agreement rather than implied by it.
- Your paper or ours
- We sign standard US MSAs and SOWs, and NDAs before a brief if you need one. We are not going to hold up a project over contract origin.
- App Store entity
- Apps publish under your US developer account, which is what you want for ownership, reviews and continuity. We work inside it rather than parking your product on ours.
03Compliance
US privacy and data questions.
Answerable before the build, because retrofitting them is what delays App Store review.
- State privacy laws
- CCPA and CPRA and their state equivalents shape data collection, deletion paths and disclosure. Those requirements go into the scope, not into a post-launch fix.
- Health data
- HIPAA-adjacent products need the handling decided up front. On-device inference removes whole categories of this problem where it fits the feature.
- App Store privacy labels
- Privacy nutrition labels and tracking disclosures answered accurately. Inaccurate labels are a common and slow cause of rejection.
04FAQ
Working with us from the United States.
Do you work with US clients directly?
Yes. We contract in USD, sign standard US MSAs and SOWs, and commit to a written daily overlap window with your working hours.
How does the time difference affect the project?
It shortens the synchronous day and lengthens the asynchronous one. In practice that means a fixed overlap block agreed in the scope, one scheduled call a week in your afternoon, and a working build every week rather than a status update.
Who owns the app and the App Store listing?
You do. Apps publish under your own developer account, and source, pipelines, store access and architecture notes are assigned to you on payment.
What does app development cost for a US company?
$15k–$40k for a scoped MVP sprint over 6–10 weeks, $40k–$100k+ for a full multi-platform build over 3–6 months, or from $4k a month on a rolling retainer. All ranges are USD and all are indicative until the written scope.
Do you sign NDAs before we share the brief?
Yes, and we will sign yours rather than insisting on ours.
05Related
Where most engagements start.
The three services UK and US briefs land on most often.
iOS app development
Swift and SwiftUI, current-generation Apple frameworks, and a release you own end to end. No wrappers, no WebView shortcuts.
MVP development
One platform, one sharp idea, in front of real users. Scoped hard, built properly, and instrumented well enough to learn something.
React Native development
One codebase, two platforms, no uncanny valley. Native modules where it counts, shared product surface everywhere else.
Tell us what you're building.
Send the rough version. A senior engineer reads every brief and replies within one business day.