Quick Answer
An app handover is the move of an app from one developer or team to another: the source code, the store listings, the backend and payment accounts, and the domain all end up owned by the app owner, so a new team can carry on without the old one.
An app handover happens when an app moves from one developer or team to another, for example when you switch agencies, a freelancer leaves, or you take the work in-house. A handover is finished when you own every account the app runs on and the new team can build, release and pay for it without the old team.
What Moves in an App Handover
Source code. The repository moves to your account or organization. On GitHub, someone with admin access to the repository starts the transfer. Webhooks, secrets and deploy keys stay attached to the repository. Our advice: review them after the move.
App Store listing. Apple moves an app between developer accounts with an app transfer. The Account Holder of the account the app is in starts it, and your Account Holder accepts it, so you need your own Apple Developer account first. The app also has to meet Apple's transfer criteria, for example no version waiting for review.
Google Play listing. The Play account the app is in submits a transfer request and your Play developer account approves it, then Google reviews the request. Linked services such as Firebase must be relinked afterwards.
Backend and payments. Backend and payment services are usually moved by giving you the owner role or by moving the project to your organization. For example, Supabase transfers a project between organizations, and Stripe has steps to change the account owner. On Firebase, an Owner of the project adds you as an Owner. Billing is set separately in Google Cloud: the project stays linked to its current billing account until someone links it to one you hold.
Domain. The domain moves to a registrar account in your name with its transfer code.
Who Has to Start Each Transfer
Usually the current owner has to act: they start the transfer, or they give you the owner role or the transfer code. For a domain, you start the transfer at your new registrar with the code they give you. That is why the order matters: create your own accounts, make the requests while the outgoing developer is still responsive, and end the contract only after the last account has moved. Our advice is to write down every account the app depends on and the email address that owns it before you raise the switch.
What an App Handover Is Not
A handover is not the same as receiving a zip of the code. Without the store listings, the backend owner role and the domain, a new team can read the app but cannot release an update, fix production data or renew the domain.
App Handovers at App369
The free App Handover Checklist builds the steps for your stack from each vendor's documentation, with a request you can send the outgoing developer. For the wider checklist on code, accounts and releases, read the mobile app handoff checklist. If you are taking over an app and want a team to carry it on, our maintenance service starts with the accounts. Contact us to talk it through.