Technology, Innovation & App Development FAQs

Yes—having an idea of your budget helps us tailor the right solution for your goals. We can propose realistic feature sets and timelines without wasting time on unnecessary planning or over-designing. It’s not about spending more—it’s about spending smart.

Understanding your budget helps us tailor a solution that meets your goals without unnecessary expenditure. It ensures we allocate the right resources and propose features that provide the best value for your investment.

It depends on your app’s complexity, features and platforms (iOS, Android, web, API, etc.). A small project or MVP might start from $50k–$100k, while more complex platforms can reach $300k+.

As an example, for digital health platforms, most serious projects begin in the $50k–$100k range for an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). We’re not the cheapest — we’re the partner you call when you need it done properly, with compliance and scalability built in from the start.

We provide tailored project estimates based on your goals, with clear deliverables, timelines and transparent pricing. For ongoing support or feature updates, we offer flexible, time-based billing.

To help manage budgets and reduce risk, we can also work in stages:

• Discovery workshop ($3k–$10k)

• Clickable prototype ($5k–$15k)

• MVP build ($50k–$100k+)

For a detailed breakdown, check out our post: How much does it cost to develop an app?

We offer fixed-price quotes for projects with a well-defined scope.
For evolving requirements or ongoing work, we can work on an hourly or retainer basis.
In some cases, we also consider long-term partnerships or equity-based arrangements. Let’s talk about what makes sense for your business.

We accept various payment methods, including bank transfer and credit cards. For eligible clients, we offer extended payment options through our partner, Butn. Additionally, for promising startups, we’re open to discussing equity-based arrangements.

Yes—we provide technical advice, architecture planning, and ongoing consulting.
For startups and growing businesses, we can also act as a fractional CTO, guiding your tech strategy, team setup and product decisions.

Our studio/HQ is in Melbourne, Australia but we partner and work with companies and startups everywhere. We’re an easy stroll from the Fitzroy St side of Albert Park Lake in St Kilda at the so-called ‘Paris’ end of Fitzroy Street.

We are also available anywhere via Zoom, Teams, Slack etc!

Hitori was founded in December 2011.

Our standard office hours are Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM (AEST). We operate on a hybrid model, so if you’d like to visit our St Kilda studio, please schedule an appointment in advance.

Yes. We’ve helped enterprises, healthtech companies, and startups build secure, scalable platforms across web, mobile and API.
From custom backend systems to integrations and HIPAA-compliant apps, we thrive on solving complex challenges.

Python, Django, JavaScript, Ember.js, React Native, React, iOS, Android, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, nginx, Apache, PostgreSQL, MySQL, HIPAA, FHIR, OpenAI, PyTorch, eRx, Jest, QUnit, PHP, WordPress, Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, REST, Sketch, Node, Three.js, HTML5, CSS3, Sass.

Yes, Hitori has established technology partnerships and working relationships with internal staff at Apple, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), eRx,  Services Australia and the Australian Digital Health Agency.

Yes — we support electronic prescribing workflows through rxConnect®, our custom-built middleware that integrates with national ePrescription systems like Australia’s eRx and the HI Service.

rxConnect® acts as a secure bridge between your platform and the ePrescribing infrastructure, handling token generation, patient and prescriber data exchange and prescription lifecycle events — all with compliance and security in mind.

We’ve designed rxConnect® to simplify the integration process for digital health platforms, whether you’re building a telehealth app, a virtual care service or an end-to-end healthcare platform. It’s fully compatible with existing clinical systems and supports both real-time and asynchronous prescribing flows.

If you’re looking to add ePrescribing to your platform, we can help with both the technical implementation and workflow design, ensuring a smooth and compliant experience for clinicians and patients alike.

Yes, we are committed to quality solutions and dealing fairly with our clients. That is why we have agreements covering our relationship with our clients. We list in writing what you can expect from us, and to protect things like your intellectual property, confidentiality and privacy.

Maybe; we hire for skill-set and attitude and are always open to hearing from talented folks, hit us up at careers@hitori-inc.com or check for any job openings on LinkedIn.

For a fully featured, production-ready app platform, a realistic timeline is 6–12 months. This includes everything from UX/UI design and development to testing, deployment, and iteration.

Timelines depend on your project’s complexity, your budget, and how efficiently we can collaborate. A higher budget allows us to allocate more developers to accelerate progress. Fast, clear feedback from your side also helps keep things moving.

Of course, delays or major changes can push things out—but we’re focused on building the right product, not just the fastest one. As they say: anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Timelines vary based on project scope and complexity. While complex platforms may take 6–12 months, simpler applications can be developed in a shorter timeframe (i.e. 3-6 months). We’ll provide an estimated timeline after understanding your specific requirements.

Absolutely. We offer full-service UX and UI design, from initial wireframes and user flows to polished design systems. Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining an existing product, our team can help bring your vision to life.

If you already have designs or work with an external design team, we’re happy to collaborate. However, it’s important to keep in mind that building apps and platforms—especially in critical areas like healthcare, enterprise workflows and regulated industries—requires much more than great visuals. The user experience, system architecture and data flows need careful consideration to ensure your product functions smoothly and meets compliance requirements.

Many design/brand-focused agencies focus on aesthetics but don’t always appreciate how critical functionality and usability are in regulated environments. We follow a KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach to make sure your app not only looks good but works reliably and securely.

Early collaboration between design and development teams is key to avoiding costly revisions and delivering a product that truly works for your users.

Most of our projects run Agile as from our experience this is the best approach to software development although we fix the quote/scope as much as we can so we’re all clear on the objectives (and costs). We run our sprints on kanbans through Trello and use Basecamp for client comms; some of our longer term client engagements also include Slack channels for direct messaging between our/your teams. Depending on the scope most of our projects include wireframing,  BPMN flows, database schemas, UX/UI design, interactive prototypes and multiple development stages in sprints; these usually map back to a user story and feature set which we’ll come up with together.

Once you have approved our quote we will set-up your project and all related tasks on Basecamp &/or Trello where we track all of our project tasks and comms between you and our team/s. We’ll provide you with a login so you can see what we are working on and when a task is scheduled to be completed. You will also see any project related documents, to-do lists and alike. This ensures complete transparency and allows you to login to your project at any time for updates.

All projects are built locally on our macs, version controlled via GIT and provided to you for review either via email, on our password protected staging server or via an adhoc app release using TestFlight or TestFairy. During the project you will have direct contact with our Melbourne team actually working hands-on on your project (totally transparent). We invoice at milestones of key deliverables in 1/4, 1/3, 50/50 or other prior agreed payment schedule, the first is always an up-front commencement deposit to start the ball rolling at our end. You can read more here.

Yes we also provide DevOps so can setup the required servers and hosting infrastructure for your platform/application, load test for X concurrent users and provide on-going monitoring and maintenance. We can do this under our cloud-based hosting accounts or yours.

Read about our augmented teams.

Once we complete your web/mobile app development or website project we will supply completed website files for you to launch on your server or compiled app development builds for app store deployment. We can also (and in 99% of cases usually do); launch &/or submit your completed project, provide training to manage your project in-house and can also support and monitor your DevOps/servers and entire application 24/7 at an agreed rate. If would would like anything else delivered upon project completion please let us know during scoping.

On completion your project will initially move to our 30 day support phase where our Melbourne team can assist you with reasonable support and bug fixes at no cost within 30 days. We can also (at anytime) quote future upgrades at a fixed cost or preferably; work on-going with you and your team under a pay by the hour arrangement (our goal either way is to establish a long-term relationship with you and your business/startup).

Support requests can be logged on Basecamp, Trello or our support email most of which will be actioned &/or completed within 24 hours (sooner in most cases!).

Yes. We offer ongoing support and maintenance to keep your app secure, performant, and up-to-date. This includes bug fixes, updates, feature enhancements, and infrastructure management—whatever you need post-launch.