How Much Does it Cost to Maintain App in 2024?

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Immortality does not exist even in today's high-tech world. Any software will fall into disrepair without proper maintenance. Mobile applications are the most vulnerable due to the rapid rate of development in this market and ever-increasing user expectations. In this blog post, we will go through what mobile app maintenance support is, what app maintenance costs are and why it is needed.

Why is it Important to Update Your App?

A new mobile product for Android or iOS is ready! The app is published and people start downloading it. After the first wave of downloads has passed, user activity decreases. If you do not release an update, the application may be lost in a sea of ​​other programs.

Refreshing mobile apps are essential to retain users and keep the feeling that your business is still there and doing well.

By updating the application regularly, you not only keep it up to date but also show consumers that you care about their experience and want to improve their interaction with the system.

Webs apps are thoroughly tested before release, but specific bugs are inevitable. Even a minor problem can result in negative feedback in app reviews. By solving issues as soon as they arise, you will earn the trust of your user base.

Developers should look for new and improved features to optimize the end-user experience from when the application is launched.

According to Statista, there are over 2.65 million apps in Google Play, while the majority of them are abandoned.

It is extremely important to notify users when you reach certain milestones. Not only for openness, but these improvements can also revitalize users and increase engagement.

When you maintain your app, you give consumers another opportunity to interact with it. You put your brand at the forefront of their minds again as soon as you invite them to see what new things you have done. Updating your mobile app, you can send an appropriate push notification that informs users of the changes. You can notify them of all new features and functionality improvements in your product.

The main reason for the update is to protect against vulnerabilities. Older software will still contain the same bugs and flaws in the code that hackers and cybercriminals can exploit.

Unfortunately, just as developers are quick to find ways to close vulnerabilities in their software, hackers are also finding new ones.

1. Delivering Better User Experiences

There will not be a secret measure to the app's success. You should provide better UX. Good user experience will help you:

- Build relationships with users

- Get feedback and better reviews

- Improve user retention

- Maintain customer loyalty

It is essential to put effort and give users amazing experiences.

2. Keeping Mobile Apps Updated and Reducing Uninstalls

As an entrepreneur, you must focus on investments in maintenance that will make your app up-to-date. You need to see what is important to users and know their preferences.

According to the 2020 Statista report, the average app uninstalls rate in the US was 43%.

Reports show that more than 71% of uninstalling webs apps were due to a lot of irritating notifications.

Users are aware of functionality and benefits, but when they don't like something, they can delete your application. So, you have to monitor user likes and expectations – and update your app.

If there is a dip in your application rankings, then the platforms can remove your app from stores. So you should update the app with clever features and APIs.

3. Increased ROI in the Long Run

If you permanently update the app, you will get many benefits, for example, max ROI. It is also an innovative way to reduce costs and take new users. How can app maintenance help?

It works like this: when you fix bugs, you can spread the costs of fixing bugs over a long-term period.

4. Securing Your Mobile App from Cyber Threats

With the growth of the mobile app, there’s also an increasing quest for cybersecurity.

Hackers permanently search for weak places and find new ways to steal your information. You should go into application maintenance and update your apps with the security protocols.

Ivanna

Ivanna

Client Manager

Types of Mobile App Maintenance

Emergency Maintenance: There could be a situation when errors can be sudden and unpredictable. You must address the problems immediately when that happens, offering a consistent app experience.

Perfective Maintenance: With trends, you will see changed user requirements. You should offer a better user experience, so you need to take feedback and care of functional features in the source code.

Adaptive Maintenance: The system must be updated, so you must keep track of app changes. Maybe some adjustments in a working environment will be needed, like hardware or software.

Preventive Maintenance: It is an elimination of errors. You need to focus on decreasing the complexity of your app and improving maintainability through code optimization, code restructuring, and updating documents.

Corrective Maintenance: Here, you should take care of the repairs, eliminating faults and defects in the app functionality. Corrective maintenance also involves design, coding, and application logic errors.

As an app owner, you have to plan for the different types of application maintenance costs.

How Much Does App Maintenance Cost?

All business applications have a monetization strategy if they are created to generate income. Apps web built as part of a sales strategy to engage customers while shopping delivers content. The exact cost of maintaining and running an application depends on business practices.

Ongoing development costs, such as adapting new features, platform upgrades, and integrating new devices, are included in the incremental costs. Sometimes there are policy changes that require changes to the application code, and only post-production development can solve the problems associated with this. If the application uses third-party plugins, there are additional update costs associated with them.

Development teams should constantly test and update their application to ensure they comply with the latest guidelines issued for the platforms they are built for. Validating useful code is an ongoing process throughout the life of an application that requires dedicated funds. Applications rely on servers to host code and a database to store information that the end client uses to transfer and retrieve data, which is a recurring and maintenance expense.

Typically, app maintenance costs are between 15 and 20 percent of initial development costs. While it sounds expensive, many companies that don't have access to the app development process in an off-the-shelf way end up getting it that way. Experienced and forward-thinking application development partners help clients plan and include service fees in contracts.

App maintenance costs include nurturing servers, payment gateways, push notifications, and more. When you publish an app on the Google Play and Apple App Store, it is advisable to monitor the Daily Active Users of an app. It is the number of app installs and the number of users who use your app.

You can also monitor the Monthly Active Users – the same statistics but monthly. It would be best if you had both DAU and MAU ratios to understand the maintenance of the mobile app cost.

In the application development life cycle, the maintenance stage goes after the development and publishing stage. It needs additional expenses, and the app maintenance pricing can be higher during the 1st year, (up to 50% of the total development cost) and reduced to 15-25% each year after that.

The number of operating systems also involves cost. So, if you have a native Android and iOS app, application maintenance may be higher. As an app owner, you will need to spend around $250 and $500 a month to keep the application functioning flawlessly for Android users.

1. Hosting

The critical expense for in-app maintenance is server cost and app hosting prices. You need to choose the kind of server for the app and then calculate app hosting costs.

Apps estimating involves server CPU, memory, and disk space for extensive data. It can range from $70 per month up to $320 per month, which depends on the content, the number of active users, and projected growth.

2. Analytics

Bugs, crashes, and glitches should be analyzed. For example, this can be done with Google Analytics. You should permanently check out users’ preferences to make fast decisions.

3. Bug Fixing and Updates

You need regularly update your app and quickly fix bugs. The cost of the updates depends on several factors. One bug with a quick fix would cost you around $50.

It could take you a lot of time to fix a bug, and it can cost you around $1,000-$2,000. The costs depend on the size of the application, and its functionality.

How to Reduce App Maintenance Expenses?

In order not to overpay for the maintenance of your application, be guided by the reasonable sufficiency principle. Order the development of a simplified version with a minimum set of functions. Your application shouldn’t be better than others, it should solve the key tasks or even the task for which there was a need to create it.

You should also decide on which devices the application will be running, it would be an iOS or Android project. For example, if your product is aimed at developed markets, your target audience will be users of Android smartphones. In this case, refusing to develop the IOS app will save up to 55% of the budget and reduce maintenance costs in the future. By getting a minimum viable product, you can attract more investors.

It is important to discuss the maintenance of your app with the developer in advance. As a rule, the team that developed the application gives discounts for its maintenance. Talk about this option and its associated costs upfront, so you know the full cost, not just the cost of the app development.

After all, it's not just about developing the app, it's also about having a proper app maintenance plan. Making updates and improvements, fixing bugs, and getting customer attention are key to user loyalty.

Experienced Technology Partner for App Maintenance

If you would like to have an awesome app experience – then you have to plan out app maintenance. If you’re an entrepreneur, who requires mobile app maintenance services, get in touch with Stfalcon.

We are an award-winning community of web and mobile app developers with great experience in AI and IoT.

Conclusion

An app costs money to maintain, not just to create. Both developers and users are interested in quality application maintenance: fixing bugs, eliminating vulnerabilities, updating obsolete functions, and adding new ones. You should budget for 15-20% of when building a mobile app every year for maintenance.

Post-launch maintenance work ensures that bugs are fixed on time. To stay ahead in the competitive marketplace, offering an excellent user experience becomes a business priority. Application support and monitoring help provide critical user experience insights that make it easy to stay on top of changing user preferences, concerns, and habits. Frequent app updates also help keep you ahead of the competition.

No matter how productive your app design is, how compelling the user experience is, and how brilliant its features are, over time, it will lose its charm in a competitive industry. The best offers in the mobile app stores are the most updated apps, with many improvements and fixes. Business applications that are regularly maintained and updated bring financial benefits in the form of increased ROI and reduced costs. Working on application maintenance gives the developer a clear idea of ​​new ways to reduce costs and attract new users.