Locations / United States
Offshore app development for US businesses, run on your clock
We provide offshore app development for US businesses from Lahore, Pakistan: iOS, Android and cross-platform apps for founders and product teams from New York to the Bay Area. The setup is built around the hard parts of working 9 to 13 hours apart: a fixed daily overlap window, written handoffs, USD invoicing, and engineers who already know what HIPAA, CCPA and COPPA mean for an app’s architecture.
- Daily overlap with ET, CT or PT
- Invoices in USD
- NDA before discovery
- Reply within one business day
Who this setup works for, and who it does not
The US is one of the markets we serve. Our outsourcing model for Pakistan suits US teams that already work partly asynchronously: a founder with a product spec, a CTO who reviews pull requests, a product manager who writes tickets in Linear or Jira. The team builds while you sleep, and a demo build is waiting in TestFlight when your day starts.
It is the wrong fit if you need developers on a call from 9 to 5 Pacific every day, or if decisions only happen in hallway conversations. A common reason US-Pakistan projects stall in month one is treating the time gap as a minor detail: a blocking question sits unanswered for a full day.
Compared with hiring onshore, the trade is cost against proximity. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median software developer wage at $135,980 a year (May 2025), and that is salary alone, before benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and recruiting. Our in-house vs outsourced comparison shows when each wins.
US time-zone overlap model: ET, CT, MT and PT
Pakistan Standard Time is UTC+5 with no daylight saving, so the gap to each US zone changes twice a year. US daylight saving ends on 1 November 2026, which widens every gap below by one hour, except Hawaii, which has no daylight saving. These are the windows we plan sprint calls around.
| US zone | Lahore is ahead by (summer / winter) | Overlap window, US local | Same window in Lahore (summer / winter) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern (New York, Atlanta) | 9 h / 10 h | 8:00–11:00 | 17:00–20:00 / 18:00–21:00 |
| Central (Chicago, Dallas) | 10 h / 11 h | 8:00–10:00 | 18:00–20:00 / 19:00–21:00 |
| Mountain (Denver) | 11 h / 12 h | 8:00–9:30 | 19:00–20:30 / 20:00–21:30 |
| Pacific (San Francisco, Seattle) | 12 h / 13 h | 7:30–9:00 | 19:30–21:00 / 20:30–22:00 |
| Hawaii (no DST) | 15 h all year | Async only | Written handoff, recorded demos |
Offsets per timeanddate.com US zone data. The overlap window is a planning model; we agree exact hours per project in discovery.
How the day actually runs across the gap
East Coast teams get two to three live hours every morning. West Coast teams get a shorter, earlier window, so we lean harder on written specs and recorded walkthroughs.
- Your morning: a live call inside the overlap window, questions answered, priorities confirmed.
- Your afternoon: you review the overnight build and leave answers in the ticket or Figma.
- Your night: the Lahore team builds, tests on real devices and posts an end-of-day note: shipped, blocked, needs your decision.
The rule that keeps this working: no blocker waits silently. A developer stuck on a question only you can answer flags it and moves to the next ticket. Our longer guide on working with a Pakistan dev team from the US covers the rituals, tools and escalation rules in detail.
Meeting cadence for US clients
We follow two-week sprints with a working demo build each sprint, as described on how we work. For US clients the calendar usually looks like this.
Daily: async stand-up plus optional live call
A written Slack or Teams update before your workday starts; a 15-minute call only on days you need one.
Weekly: product sync
45 minutes with your product owner to re-rank the backlog and clear open questions.
Every two weeks: sprint demo
A live demo of the build you already have on TestFlight or Play internal testing, plus a short written release note you can forward to stakeholders.
Monthly: steering review
Budget burn, timeline risk and scope changes, reviewed with whoever signs off on spend. On time-and-material work this is where we check against the budget cap.
Want to see the overlap plan for your time zone?
Tell us your city, team size and launch date. Within one business day you get a suggested meeting cadence, the scope questions we would ask first, and the next step toward a fixed quote.
US privacy and health rules your app may touch
Whether a rule applies depends on your business facts, so your counsel decides; we build so their answer is easy to implement. These are the US rules that most often change an app’s architecture.
| Rule | When it tends to apply | What it changes in the build |
|---|---|---|
| HIPAA Security Rule | You are a health plan, clearinghouse or provider, or you handle PHI on behalf of one as a business associate. | Administrative, physical and technical safeguards for ePHI: access control, audit logs, encryption in transit. Any cloud host storing ePHI needs a BAA, even if it only holds encrypted data. |
| FTC Health Breach Notification Rule | Health and fitness apps not covered by HIPAA, such as an app that syncs with wearables. | A breach includes unauthorised sharing, not just hacks. Analytics and ad SDKs need review before launch. |
| CCPA / CPRA | For-profit businesses doing business in California above the AG’s revenue threshold, or buying, selling or sharing data of 100,000+ California residents or households, or earning 50%+ of revenue from selling personal information. | In-app flows for access, deletion, correction and opting out of sale or sharing, including honouring Global Privacy Control. |
| COPPA Rule (amended) | Apps directed at children under 13, or with actual knowledge they collect children’s data. | Compliance deadline 22 April 2026: a written security program, a written retention policy, and separate parental consent before sharing data for targeted ads. |
Sources: HHS, FTC, California Attorney General, and the FTC’s 2025 COPPA amendments as summarised by Lowenstein Sandler. General information, not legal advice.
What US healthcare and consumer apps need from an offshore team
If HIPAA applies, the offshore question is really a business associate question. Per HHS guidance on the Security Rule, the rule covers business associates as well as covered entities. In practice we design so that our engineers never need production PHI: synthetic test data, production access limited to your named staff, and audit logging switched on from the first sprint. Our HIPAA-compliant app development guide and healthcare app page cover the full checklist.
For consumer apps the sharper risk is third-party SDKs: an ad library that quietly sends health or location data can trigger the FTC rule or count as a sale under CCPA. We list every SDK and what it sends, so your privacy policy and Apple’s privacy labels match the real app.
Contracts, USD invoicing and IP for US companies
US buyers usually want three things settled before discovery starts: who owns the work, what law governs the contract, and how money moves. Ownership is fixed in our standard terms: you own 100% of the code, designs and store accounts, and the code lives in your own GitHub or GitLab organisation from day one. The NDA is signed before discovery. Details are on our NDA and IP protection page.
Invoices are issued in USD. Fixed-price work is billed against milestones agreed after discovery; a dedicated app development team is billed monthly in advance; time and material is billed in arrears against a budget cap. Governing law is agreed in the contract; if your counsel needs a specific US state’s law, raise it at the proposal stage [[confirm governing-law options offered]].
Settled before discovery
- Mutual NDA signed
- Code in your repository
- Apple and Google accounts in your company name
- USD invoices and payment schedule agreed
- Named project manager and escalation contact
Platform and payment choices for the US market
The US is one of the few large markets where iPhone leads. StatCounter’s September 2026 data puts US mobile share at 53.6% iOS and 46.4% Android. For US consumer products that often means launching on iOS first or building both at once with Flutter or React Native. Our iOS vs Android guide sets out the decision, and the iOS app development page covers the Apple side in depth.
Payments are simpler for US companies: Stripe is available in the US, so card checkout and Apple Pay are straightforward to add. Digital goods sold inside the app still follow Apple and Google billing rules. US rules on external payment links are changing; we design to the current rules at build time and keep the purchase flow easy to switch.
Offshore app development for US businesses: FAQ
How many hours of live overlap will a US team get with Lahore?
East Coast teams typically get two to three hours each morning, because 8:00 Eastern is late afternoon or early evening in Lahore. Central gets about two hours. Pacific teams get a shorter early-morning window, around 7:30 to 9:00. We agree the exact window in discovery and back it with written end-of-day notes, so nothing depends on a live call.
Do you invoice in US dollars?
Yes. Invoices are issued in USD. Fixed-price projects are billed by milestone after discovery, dedicated teams are billed monthly in advance, and time-and-material work is billed in arrears with a budget cap you set. Payment method and schedule are written into the agreement before any work starts.
Can a Pakistan-based team build a HIPAA-compliant app?
The build can meet the Security Rule’s technical safeguards wherever the team sits: access control, audit logs, encryption, a hosting provider that signs a BAA. The bigger question is whether your setup makes us a business associate. We usually design so engineers never touch production PHI, and your counsel confirms the contract structure.
Who owns the code and the App Store account?
You do. The code is committed to your own repository from the first day, the Apple Developer and Google Play accounts are registered to your company, and design files sit in your Figma workspace. We work as invited members. If the engagement ends, you remove our access and keep everything.
What happens when US daylight saving time ends?
Pakistan does not change its clocks, so when US daylight saving ends on 1 November 2026 every US zone falls one more hour behind Lahore. The overlap window shifts one hour later on our side. We move recurring meetings in advance so your calendar invites stay at the same local time.
Is offshore development a bad idea for an early-stage US startup?
Not if you have someone who can make product decisions daily and write them down. It is a bad idea if the founder disappears for a week at a time, because the team will either wait or guess. For a first version we usually recommend a scoped MVP of 8 to 16 weeks after discovery.
Plan your US app with a team that covers your night
Book a 30-minute call inside your morning. We will map your overlap window, compliance questions and launch order, and you will leave with a recommended scope and next steps.