How do I interview an iOS developer if I'm not technical?

Focus on evidence and clarity, not code. Ask to see apps they have shipped and use them; ask how they handle design, backend, and testing; ask who will own the code and account; and ask what happens after launch. Judge whether they answer clearly and honestly, including about limits. You do not need to understand the code, only whether the person can finish a real, quality app and communicate well.

What questions should I ask an iOS developer in an interview?

Ask to see their live apps and why they made certain choices; who does the design, backend, and testing; who owns the code and Apple account; how they handle maintenance after launch; and how they communicate and set milestones. These reveal competence, honesty, and whether they cover the whole job. How they answer matters as much as what they say, and vague or evasive answers are a warning.

How do I know if a developer's answers are good?

Good answers are clear, specific, and honest, including about what the developer does not do. They point to real shipped apps, explain choices in plain language, and are comfortable discussing ownership, testing, and maintenance. Bad answers are vague, full of jargon that dodges the question, or promise everything cheap and fast. You are judging clarity and honesty, which any non-technical person can assess.

What are red flags when interviewing a developer?

Watch for no shippable apps to show, only mockups; reluctance to discuss who owns the code and account; vagueness about who handles design, backend, and testing; promising everything unusually cheap and fast; and poor or slow communication during the process itself. Any of these suggests risk. How someone communicates before you hire them is the best preview of how they will communicate during the project.

Is an interview enough to choose a developer?

Not on its own. An interview reveals communication and how someone talks about their work, but a small, paid test task reveals their actual code quality and reliability far better. Combine the interview with reviewing their shipped apps and, ideally, a real test task before committing to a whole project. Together these give a much more reliable picture than any conversation alone.

How to Interview an iOS Developer (Even If You're Not Technical)

Short answer

You do not need to be technical to interview an iOS developer well. Prepare by knowing your app’s core need, then ask to see and discuss real apps they have shipped, how they handle design, backend, and testing, who will own the code, and what happens after launch. Judge them on clear, honest answers and evidence of finished work, not jargon. A small paid test task tells you more than any interview. For the wider evaluation, see our guide on how to know if an app developer is good.

You do not need to understand code

The fear that stops many founders interviewing a developer well is the belief that they need to understand code to judge one. They do not, and acting as if they do usually makes the interview worse, not better. If you try to test technical knowledge you do not have, a smooth talker can baffle you with jargon, and you learn nothing useful.

What you can judge, and what actually matters, is different and entirely within your reach. Can this person point to real apps they have built and finished? Do they explain things clearly, in plain language, or hide behind jargon? Are they honest about what they do and do not do well? Will they let you own your code and your app? These are questions about evidence, communication, and honesty, not about code, and a non-technical founder can assess them as well as anyone. The goal of the interview is not to verify technical skill directly, which you cannot, but to gather the signals that reliably predict it, which you can. That reframing is what turns an intimidating interview into a manageable one.

How to prepare for the interview

A good interview starts before the conversation, with a little preparation on your side. You do not need technical preparation, but you do need clarity on what you are hiring for.

Know your app’s core need. Be able to explain, in a sentence, what the app is for and who it serves, so you can judge whether the developer understands it.
Know the main thing it must do. The core action at the heart of the app, so you can ask how they would approach it.
Have their work open. Look up their portfolio and any live apps beforehand, so you can ask about specific things you have seen.
Write your key questions down. So the conversation covers what matters and you are not relying on memory in the moment.

With this preparation, you walk into the interview able to steer it, rather than being talked at. It also signals to the developer that you are a serious, organised client, which good developers value and which sets the tone for the whole relationship. The clearer you are about your own need, the better you can judge whether the person across from you is the right fit for it.

The questions that reveal skill

A handful of questions, asked of any developer, quickly separate a strong candidate from a risky one, and none of them requires you to understand code.

Can I see your live apps, and why did you make certain choices? This tests both their work and their thinking. A good developer has real, shipped apps and can explain their decisions in plain terms.
Who handles the design, the backend, and the testing? A finished app needs all of these, and one person rarely covers them all, so this reveals what they do and where the gaps are.
Who will own the code and the Apple Developer account? The right answer is you, and a good developer says so without hesitation. Hesitation here is a serious warning.
What happens after launch? A developer who thinks past delivery day, into maintenance, future iOS updates, and keeping the app compliant with Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines, is one who builds to last rather than to disappear.
How will we communicate and track progress? This reveals whether you will see the app taking shape or wait in the dark, which predicts much of the experience.

These questions work because they surface exactly the things that go wrong on app projects: gaps in skills, disputes over ownership, apps abandoned after launch, and communication breakdowns. Building the app natively in Swift is a good sign for iOS quality, but how they answer these five questions tells you more about whether the project will succeed than any technical detail.

How to judge the answers

Good answer	Warning answer
Clear and specific, in plain language	Vague, or hides behind jargon
Points to real shipped apps	Only mockups or excuses
Honest about what they do not do	Claims to do everything perfectly
Comfortable on ownership and maintenance	Evasive about code or accounts
Realistic on time and cost	Promises everything cheap and fast

Judging the answers is where a non-technical interviewer actually has an advantage, because you are assessing clarity and honesty rather than being dazzled by detail. A good answer is one you understand: the developer explains their work and choices in plain language, points to real apps, and is honest about limits and trade-offs. A warning answer is one that leaves you more confused than before, dodges the question with jargon, or sounds too good to be true. Trust that reaction. A developer who cannot or will not explain their work clearly to a client is showing you how the whole project will feel, and the discomfort you feel in the interview rarely improves later.

Red flags to watch for

Beyond individual answers, a few patterns across the interview should give you pause. The clearest is no shippable work: a developer who cannot show you real apps on the App Store, only mockups or projects under perpetual NDA, has not proven they can finish, which is the hardest and most important thing. Reluctance to discuss ownership of the code and the Apple account is another serious flag, because it hints they may want to keep control of your app. Vagueness about who does the design, backend, and testing suggests gaps you will have to fill yourself.

And watch the interview itself as evidence. A developer who is slow to reply while trying to win your business, who is hard to pin down, or who pressures you to skip the questions and just sign, is previewing how they will behave once hired, and it rarely gets better after payment. The interview is not only about the answers to your questions; it is a live sample of what working with this person will be like. Pay attention to that sample as much as to the words, because it is honest in a way a rehearsed answer may not be.

Beyond the interview: the test task

Step	What it reveals
Reviewing shipped apps	Whether they can finish quality work
The interview	Communication, honesty, how they think
A small paid test task	Actual code quality and reliability
Checking reviews or references	Patterns from past clients

The honest limitation of any interview is that talking is not building, and some people interview far better than they deliver. This is why the strongest step is not the interview at all but a small, paid test task before you commit to the whole project. A real task, a defined piece of work, reveals the developer’s actual code quality, their reliability, and whether they meet what they promised, in a way no conversation can. Combine the interview with reviewing their shipped apps and a test task, and you have a genuinely reliable picture. Relying on the interview alone is the common mistake, because it favours confidence over competence, and the two are not the same.

When you would rather not interview at all

Be honest about whether running this process yourself is the right use of your time. Interviewing, testing, and managing a developer is real work, and if you are hiring a single freelancer for a whole app, you are also taking on the job of covering the gaps between skills yourself. For a small, defined task, that is fine. For a whole app, it can be a heavy burden for a non-technical founder, and the interviews are only the start of it.

In that case, the alternative is a team that already brings the design, development, and testing together, so you are choosing a partner rather than assembling and vetting individuals one interview at a time. A team that designs and builds under one roof, as we do, gives you shipped work to judge, clear communication from the first conversation, and ownership of your code and Apple Developer Program account, so the evaluation is simpler and the risk is lower. See examples in our work and talk through your app at a short call.