How Much Does App Maintenance Cost In 2022?

In the age of smartphones and tablets, and improving mobile connectivity, virtually all businesses are considering some form of an app development program to attract and retain more customers. This will also broaden their audience reach. The cost of maintaining a brand-new app is often forgotten by business owners when allocating the budget for the development and launch of the app.

Using an application involves much more than having your users turn it on and enjoy its features.

What is app maintenance?

So now that your app is developed, it's time to showcase the months of hard work. Get it launched on the app store or play store. And that's it. You can finally take a break. What a relief!

But is it all over?

No way! It's not over yet.

The next, and the most important step, is to maintain the app.

Like any other object such as a piece of furniture or a house, the software can also fall into decay if not maintained properly. Although with mobile apps the requirement for maintenance comes faster because the technology used, market preferences and play store rules change frequently. Developing a mobile app is a process and maintenance is a major part of that process.

The more times your app is downloaded, the more maintenance it will require. Don't you, of course, want to see more downloads?

Regular application updates improve the rating, the user experience, and therefore, the user reviews. Hence, an increase in the number of downloads. (Translation: More profit for you).

Let us look at why app maintenance is important, in detail.

Why is app maintenance necessary?

Once you've published your app on the market, it is only just beginning its lifecycle. As you add users to your app, your servers will need to handle more load. Your app will need more maintenance, which brings us to app support and maintenance.

Every month thousands of apps come up on the Play Store. Google has deleted a number of apps due to the abandonment of these apps after they are released.

Mobile app owners often fail to keep up with the rapidly changing market and end up abandoning their software, losing all the funds they invested in it. By not investing in maintenance, app makers lose users as well, and eventually, the app goes away for good.

Creating a strong strategy for encouraging users to use your app is essential. And that strategy is a well-maintained app that enhances user experience.

Moreover, if you're interested in maximizing returns, android app maintenance is crucial. Increasing app retention rates has been shown to boost profits by a great deal.

A suitable after-launch app maintenance strategy includes things like mobile app development functions, OS updates, and interface modifications. In other words, no matter how great your app is, you will always need to maintain it.

Which obviously brings us to the next question. How much does app maintenance cost? Based on a set of factors that we have compiled you can calculate how much it will cost you to maintain your app.

What factors to consider while maintaining your app?

App maintenance is crucial to the prolonged success of your application, but how do you ensure that you are doing it right?

Some factors that influence the cost of app maintenance are:

• Hosting
• Feature updates
• Hardware or software configurations
• Design updates
• Fixing bugs
• Analytics and performance monitoring
• Scheduled system maintenance
• Marketing
• App security
• Customer support

Let us look at these factors in detail to understand how to effectively manage app maintenance.

Hosting

Hosting services are an essential component of app development and maintenance costs. Hosting is necessary to accommodate all your app-related data such as data needed to support the smooth functioning of various features, etc. By incorporating cloud solutions to support your application capabilities, you can enhance the scalability of the app and provide for any future changes mandated by technological advancements.

Feature updates

Monitor and understand how users are interacting with your app. Then you will know which features they find most useful, and which ones they find unimportant. You can retain your users by adding new features based on their feedback and usage patterns.

An easy way to understand user preferences and pain points is to keep a regular check on app reviews. Users often suggest improvements and new features in the app review section in the app store. Use these suggestions to improve your application.

A regular feature update is more cost-effective than building another one from scratch or updating one after a long period.

Changes in hardware or software configurations

The technological landscape is never stagnant. New versions of iOS and Android emerge continually. Take a look at how many new mobile devices are released with upgraded specifications over the years.

With technology evolving so quickly, your users will no longer use your app. It's imperative to maintain your app on a regular basis and ensure it is compatible with all the latest devices and OS versions, otherwise, you'll lose your customers. Make your app more user-friendly by integrating the latest hardware features.

Design updates

The success of your app depends on staying current on the trends, styles, and usage preferences of your customers. This means consistently updating the user interface.

With more time spent with your app, users become more sophisticated. Your user interface must also evolve, especially if you want to offer your existing users the best experience. You need to keep your UI relevant when styles and designs change.

Fixing bugs

Nothing will drive away users faster than constant errors and application crashes. Your app may also crash and fail due to accumulated bugs. Leaving them unaddressed for a long time can multiply your expenses.

Stay on top of technical issues and bugs. Take steps to remedy them as soon as possible. To resolve any problems or complaints, you should keep track of customer feedback and reviews.

Analytics and performance monitoring

Do not overlook app performance monitoring. Be sure to monitor loading times, lags, and responsiveness. Keeping in touch with your analytics reports is equally important as monitoring the technical performance of your app. Analyze the usage patterns of your customers, track engagement and conversion rates, and track your retention and churn rates.

Maintaining these metrics will help your app become more user-friendly, minimize user losses, and allow the app to stay in top condition over the long run.

Scheduled system maintenance

Regular system maintenance is a smart way to avoid overlooking issues or bugs. In addition, it ensures your app is always updated and works smoothly. Make your users aware of the maintenance ahead of time, as this will help maintain their relationship with the app. In order to avoid annoying your users with a "System down for maintenance" message, it is vital that you do this.

Marketing

Keeping users informed about any upcoming changes to the app will build their trust and loyalty. This is especially true if the changes affect the privacy, data, or other sensitive information of consumers. With every new app upgrade or modification, you will have to do marketing activities, which will further increase maintenance expenses.

App Security

You should also consider the security of your app when planning app maintenance costs. Legally enforced changes and ongoing security optimization have to be taken into account. The developers will need to track any privacy updates or changes to the third-party integrations to ensure sensitive user information is not compromised. Ignoring such updates may result in a security breach. As a result, you must remain aware of changes in law that can affect how information is processed and protected globally.

Customer support

Providing solutions to app-related problems raised by customers is a key role for any app owner. Listening to and solving their concerns is crucial. Sometimes an individual or a team of developers cannot directly engage with users. Using a customer service representative will enable you to be more responsive to users' questions, thereby creating more goodwill.

How much does mobile app maintenance cost?

As you can see, determining the actual application maintenance cost is difficult since it involves several predictable and unknown factors. are also some additional factors that need to be explored to better understand this question. The location and cost of hiring a developer or utilizing the features of an app development company can have a significant impact on the average cost of maintaining an app.

You could allot a budget for the maintenance cost by keeping an estimate for an application to be around 20% of the total app development cost.

A predictable average maintenance cost of an app could range from $25 to $30 per hour. As previously mentioned, location of team, technologies implemented, etc, has a huge impact on this figure. For example, app maintenance cost in India is around $10 to $25 per hour.

Marketing is another factor to be considered under the app maintenance cost.

How to reduce app maintenance cost?

Regardless of how many features you implement in your app, there will be a flurry of feedback after its release. Since users ultimately determine whether it is a success or not, developers who are smart will choose features based on user preferences.

Starting small and simple and tailoring your app based on feedback from users is the most effective strategy. Using an end-user development strategy, you can make your app more appealing to its users reducing the overall app development and maintenance costs in the long run.

As some or the other change will almost always be necessary, keeping your initial development costs low makes sense. Plan a release of smaller updates and improvements in the first few months. They are also less expensive and take much less time than reimplementing an incorrectly implemented feature.

With regular improvements, you can also address the basic problems before you introduce any new features, which could further complicate the situation. After identifying the most pressing issues, you can prioritize new enhancements or bug fixes.

Conclusion

Updating a mobile app is no longer just a choice, but a necessity. Consider adding features, updates, and trends to your app to extend its lifespan and keep up with the latest technological trends. It enhances customer retention, attracts new users, and creates a user-friendly experience.

Ensure success with Neetable's result-oriented application maintenance and support services. Let us help you with digital transformation and boosting your business growth.

FAQs

Is maintaining my mobile app important?

A successful mobile app requires regular maintenance. What we do is monitor and update the latest functionality, identify & fix errors, and improve the overall user experience. For businesses to succeed, it is essential to maintain mobile apps and increase revenue.

What does app maintenance services include?

A mobile app maintenance and support process consist of bug fixing, enhancing functionality, adding security, improving the design, and monitoring its performance.

How much does it cost to update an app?

Approximately one-fifth of your development costs will be devoted to updates each year. If your app costs $100,000 to develop, you can expect to spend around $20,000 a year on updates.