For an owner whose app nobody maintains: ask for a checkable result, not a version number

What the host's email is telling you

A host that announces it will stop offering a language version is saying that the version your app runs on will not be available after a date. It is not saying your app is broken or unsafe today. Copy the exact wording, the version and the date, and ask the host two things in writing: which version your site uses now and what the earliest affected date is. Then you can ask for a result with a deadline instead of a technical project.

• Keep the original email; a screenshot is fine, passwords are not.
• Ask whether the host can run the old version a little longer while you prepare.

Keep control of the accounts

You keep the hosting account, the domain and every password. The work happens on a copy of the app, and the change is released by you, your host or someone you trust under your accounts. Nobody needs your password to start, and none of the jobs asks for one in the first enquiry. If you cannot say who can release a change, tell us; it changes how the job is planned.

• Find out who holds the code and the hosting login before you ask for a price.
• Never send a password in an email or a chat.

Ask for a result you can check

A good request says what must still work afterwards, in terms you use: a customer can sign in, an order reaches the inbox, the monthly report runs. Those are the flows the work is accepted against, on a copy of the site, with test data. You will be told what changed, what was checked and what was not, and how to put things back if a live check fails.

• List up to five things the business cannot lose.
• Expect a written way back, not only a fix.

Choose the first step that fits

If you do not know what is behind or how big the work is, the first step is a plan: a list of every part of the app, its published support status and a ranked path. It changes nothing in the app. If the host's notice names one language and the app is a listed stack, a fixed upgrade for that language is the next step. If several parts depend on each other, a programme takes them in order, with each step accepted by you. Prices are untested proposals; you pay after the agreed checks pass.

• Ask what the work will not cover.
• Compare the cost with rebuilding if the app is small and rarely changes.

What to send first, and what to leave out

Send the host's email text with personal details removed, the language and version if you know them, the address of the app and the flows you care about. Leave out passwords, access invitations, customer records and database dumps. If the app takes card numbers on its own pages, say so: some jobs stop there and need a specialist.