Custom app development / Tampa, Florida
An app built around your business, not a template.
Fintlock designs and builds custom apps for companies that need something specific: a product for customers, a tool for the team, or both, on iPhone and in the browser.
The problem
What custom means here
Plenty of companies can build an app. Fewer will sit with the people who do the work, understand the day-to-day operation, and build the app around it rather than around a template. That is the difference between software people use and software people work around.
Custom does not mean complicated. The best apps we build do a small number of things exactly right for one company. The scope is written down, the price is fixed against it, and you see working builds as it comes together rather than waiting for a reveal.
What we build
What a custom app project includes
We handle the whole thing in-house, from the first conversation to launch and after. A typical project covers:
- A short discovery phase with the people who will use the app, not only the people paying for it
- Interface design in the conventions of the platform, so nothing needs explaining
- Native iPhone development in Swift, browser development with a proper backend, or both sharing one service
- Accounts, payments, notifications, and integrations as the product needs them
- Working builds on your own devices throughout, and a written scope that fixes the price
- Launch through the App Store or your own hosting, then documentation and a clean handover
Project example / Plants in Pocket
Identify a plant, then keep it alive.
Plants in Pocket is our own consumer app for iPhone. Identify a plant, check its health, and follow a care plan written for that plant. Most plant apps stop at the name; this one goes on to the part that matters: what should I do this week?
It shows the full arc of a custom app project: an idea, a focused feature set, interface design, native development, and an App Store launch, all done by one small team.
- Platform
- iPhone
- Category
- Plant care
- Status
- Launching 2026
How a project runs
Three stages, each with something to show for it.
A written scope and a price before work starts, working builds while we build, and a proper handover when it ships. More on how we work.
Scope
We start with a conversation about what happens today and what needs to change. From that you get a written scope and a price before any code is written.
Build
Design and development run in short cycles. You review working software as it comes together, on your own phone or desk, rather than a slide deck about it.
Launch
App Store submission, deployment, documentation, and a proper handover. When it ships, your team can run it, and we are still reachable when something needs attention.
Questions
Things people ask about custom apps.
iPhone app or web app: which should we build?
If the app needs the camera, offline use, notifications, or a place on someone's home screen, native iPhone. If it needs to run on any device with nothing to install, the browser. Many products need both, sharing one backend, and we build those too.
How do you price a project?
Against a written scope. After the first conversation we send a scope and a price. The price holds unless the scope changes, and you decide when it does.
Do we need a detailed brief to start?
No. A few sentences about what happens today, who is involved, and what you want to change is enough. We do the rest of the discovery with you.
What happens after launch?
We can stay on for updates, new features, and the yearly round of operating system changes, or hand everything over to your team. The code and the accounts are yours either way.
Related services
Contact
Tell us what needs to work better.
A few sentences about the problem, who deals with it, and what you would like to change is enough to start. We reply within one business day.