Do you think that your responsibility ends with the development of an app? No, actually it’s the beginning of your business. The success of an app lies in the maintenance services it adopts, not only in its development.
The cost of developing an app shall be determined by fixing an appropriate amount. Although, maintenance cost is hard to determine. Maintenance of an app depends on its structure and an effective type. Often the app maintenance can cost more than the app development. So, what do you think, how much does an app cost to maintain?
To answer such a question you need to learn about app maintenance services, their importance, factors impacting the maintenance of an app, and some tips to reduce mobile app maintenance costs.
Here we have provided it all for you. Shall we proceed with the blog then? Read it all to get an in-depth idea about app maintenance.
An Understanding of App Maintenance
Do you have any idea about, what app maintenance is? It is all about an ongoing process comprised of managing, updating, as well as improving the mobile app, after it has been developed and deployed to the users.
Moreover, it includes several activities with the aim that the app remains functional, secure, and up-to-date with the changing technologies and user needs. An app requires continuous updates, improvement, and adjusting of application.
Bothered about cost to maintain a mobile app? Relax! It doesn’t take much.
You will study the importance and cost of maintaining an app later. But before that, let’s study the different types of app maintenance.
Types of App Maintenance
Kinds of app maintenance are based on the app that you have developed. The type of app maintenance usually depends on the nature, usage patterns, technology that has been used, market trends, and more. Moreover, the average app maintenance cost depends on the type of maintenance.
Let’s not go into detail on the factors. We need to focus on the types of maintaining an app, irrespective of its features. Why! To determine the cost of app maintenance, types of app maintenance play an essential role. Here we go.
1. Adaptive Maintenance
This type of maintenance takes place to keep the app up-to-date with the latest technologies as well as trends. It is a kind of app maintenance, where the new versions of operating systems along with the devices ensure the compatibility of an app. These adjustments are used to update the app based on certain components of the operating system or the software environment.
2. Emergency Maintenance
When a sudden or unexpected error takes place within an app at any time, then in such a case, it requires maintenance. It also comprises addressing the critical issues along with the outages to restore the app functionality for mitigating significant disruption. Such kind of app maintenance helps the business to overcome immediate challenges fostering a seamless user experience.
3. Perfective Maintenance
In this type, the overall performance of an app is enhanced by adding new and attractive features to the app. With an increase in user requirements, the new mobile app features have become popular. Perfective maintenance also involves proactive responding to feedback and updating the app’s source code.
4. Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance is being carried out in response to the reported malfunctions. Such kind of app maintenance service is required to check defects and faults to repair the application. It also includes fixing issues that are related to code, appearance as well as functionality. In this kind of maintenance, software bugs, crashes, and errors are identified as well as removed.
5. Preventive Maintenance
Within the preventive app maintenance, identifying, prevent as well, and fixing issues relies on active monitoring. It is a procedure that is used on an ongoing basis. Regularly optimizing the codes of an app, improves the app performance as well as its functionality. Preventive maintenance takes place to ensure that any other app doesn’t face any kind of issues.
6. Security Maintenance
Security app maintenance is a type, that focuses on protecting the app along with the app users from any kind of security threats and vulnerabilities. It also comprises implying the security patches, encryption, authentication, and authorization mechanism. In this kind of app maintenance service, security audits are performed to mitigate the potential risk.
Why App Maintenance is Important?
Now, that we know what maintaining an app looks like along with its types, let’s head forward to the need to maintain an app. Investing in mobile app maintenance helps to prevent businesses from becoming obsolete. To know how much does it cost to maintain an app, learn the reason behind why popular apps are investing in maintenance.
Being an app owner, it is essential to prioritize the app maintenance. It can assist you to prevent your app from being outdated. It will also guide you with the cost of maintaining an app. Do you think that app maintenance is no more efficient? The need to build an app will help you to define it all.
1) Bug Fixation
To understand maintenance management, bug fixation ranks on the top list. Here you need to avoid the glitches to keep the application running smoothly. App maintenance assists the developers to identify and fix errors within an app promptly. It also assists in improving the reliability and functionality of an app. Regular testing and fixing of bugs also helps to prevent negative reviews resulting in maintaining positive goodwill.
2) Ensures the Ranking of the App
The regular updates of an app are useful in increasing the ranking of an app. Here Apple and Google also appreciate the regular maintenance of an application. It also indicates that the users of an app are highly aware of the functionality as well as benefits of an app. Regularly updating an app helps you to monitor the user’s preferences and activities results in mobile app performance optimization.
3) Helps to Upgrade Security
Mobile applications can be attacked by hackers more simply and easily. The reason behind this is that user of an app share their personal as well as financial information via apps more easily. Updating an app can help you with implementing the current robust security measures that also help to maintain the mobile app security along with data provided by the users.
4) Improves the User Interface
Do you think that there is any magic formula for enhancing the app’s growth? No, there is not any. All you need is to deliver high-quality products or services to the customer to increase the user retention rate. Offering a superior user experience can result in enhancing the ratings as well as reviews of your app. Hence, it can be stated that updating the UI/UX design of the app interface can help you enhance overall business revenue.
5) Enhances Sustainability of the App
The saturated mobile app market generates the need to maintain an app in order to reach new customers which also results in the growth of business. It is evident to ensure that your app remains current and relevant with the updated technology practices. Keeping track of how many users use the feature within the app helps to update it frequently.
6) Increases App Compatibility
With the changes and upgradation of operating systems, devices as well and third-party services, app maintenance assists in keeping the app compatible with new platforms. By regularly updating the app, an individual can fix the compatibility issues over app stores. Moreover, with every new model of mobile or tablet, it is important to ensure that the app remains compatible with different platforms.
How Much Does it Cost to Maintain an App?
Do you know that mobile application maintenance costs can increase up to $6000 a month? Yes, it’s quite true. It can increase even more for you if you remain unaware of the custom mobile app maintenance cost. Maintaining a mobile app is not rocket science, none of its cost is as high as you think. Thus, here it generates a need to learn about how much does it cost to maintain an app.
In this section, we have provided you with a blueprint of the app maintenance procedure along with the associated cost of app maintenance. The maintenance cost of mobile app can be estimated in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 per annum. With the table below, you can get it all.
| Maintenance steps | Description | Cost Range |
| Bug Fixes and Updates | Identifying and resolving software bugs, errors, and crashes. Applying updates to address performance issues or compatibility issues with new devices or operating system versions. | $5,000 – $15,000 |
| Security Updates | Applying security patches and updates to protect against vulnerabilities and threats. Conducting regular security audits to identify and address potential risks. | $3,000 – $10,000 |
| Feature Enhancements | Adding new features or functionalities based on user feedback, market trends, or business requirements. Implementing improvements to enhance user experience and app usability. | $5,000 – $20,000 |
| Performance Optimization | Optimizing app performance to improve speed, responsiveness, and resource efficiency. Conducting performance testing and tuning to identify and address bottlenecks and inefficiencies. | $3,000 – $10,000 |
| Routine Maintenance | Regular, recurring tasks such as database maintenance, server updates, and content updates. Performing backups and ensuring data integrity to maintain app stability and reliability. | $2,000 – $7,000 |
| Monitoring and Support | Monitoring app performance, user engagement, and error logs. Providing user support through customer service channels and addressing inquiries or issues reported by users. | $2,000 – $8,000 |
| Total | $20,000 – $50,000 |
Are you clear about how much it cost to maintain an app? If yes, then your next step to proceed should be finding the right team.
Want to know about the time it will take to maintain an app? Dear reader, as we already stated app maintenance is an ongoing procedure. It will keep going with time. However, an estimate can be 8 weeks depending on the app’s in-built features and required technological updates.
The cost to maintain an app depends on how much do you want your app to sustain in the competitive market. Hence first make a strategy, select a team then invest in app maintenance, wisely.
What are the Factors that Impact the Cost of Maintaining an App?
Till now, you have studied app maintenance, its types, its needs, and also how much does app maintenance cost. However, to understand the maintenance cost of mobile app, you are required to identify the factors impacting the cost-effectiveness of maintaining an app.
The cost to build an app differs based on different factors. These factors are essential to study, for identifying the estimated cost for building an app.
1. Size and Complexity of the app
A high-complexity app requires a high maintenance procedure and a high cost. Also, complex apps often include more features, integrations along dependencies. A small size of an app and a simple infrastructure of an app will require less time and effort to maintain it in comparison to a large and complex app. More intricate app features may require custom application maintenance costs.
2. Frequency of Updates
An app that will require regular and frequent updates will also require more resources to maintain an app. It happens because each update generates a need for mobile app testing and every testing requires efforts along with fixing bugs. Moreover, the frequent updates of technology in the current environment also generate the need for the app to enhance its presence. Cost to maintain a mobile app doesn’t take much if your app requires minimum technology updates.
3. Security Requirements
Apps that are built to handle sensitive user data and transactions do require regular security updates and monitoring. This can result in increasing the mobile app maintenance cost. Conducting regular security audits as well as security assessments to identify risks requires specialized expertise and resources. It includes testing of third-party security services, data encryption, and security monitoring.
4. Support and Monitoring
With the app that has a customer-centric strategy, it is essential to provide ongoing support for the app. Moreover, monitoring an app’s performance requires dedicated resources including tools, infrastructure, and personnel. Providing round-the-clock support based on different time zones and regions might require additional staffing and outsourcing or arrangements for ensuring regular coverage. This can incur extra costs for you to maintain an app.
5. Number of Users
An app that contains a large number of users will require more resources to maintain an app compared to an app that has few users. This is because a large number of users can generate a lot of data, and to manage a large amount of data, effective data management will be useful it can incur high costs to maintain a mobile app. Additionally, it can lead to more customer support issues, enhancing the app maintenance service cost.
6. Geographical Location
In order to maintain an app, you can hire mobile app developers, although they charge depending on the location in which they are situated. Here the labor cost in different regions may offer more competitive rates compared to those with high costs in Silicon Valley. In addition to the labor rates, regulatory environment, exchange rates, culture, quality, and expertise have an impact on the cost of maintaining an app.
7. Updating the App
The app requires to get updated based on Android app development and iOS app development platforms. Thus, it becomes essential to evaluate that the app is compatible with both the platform including iOS and Android. Moreover, updating the app based on the compliance guidelines is also an important protocol for maintaining an app.
Tips to Reduce the Mobile App Maintenance Cost
After understanding the estimated cost and the factors that impact the cost of a mobile app maintenance. It is essential to know the tips that can help you to reduce the cost of mobile app maintenance.
Every business wants a process for cost reduction, although they are unaware of how to proceed with it. With the elaborated tips you can have your app maintained at a minimum cost. Are you eager to know the same? Let’s head on to it.
Choose the Right App Development Platform
This is one of the important steps before heading towards the app maintenance services. You need to find an effective platform that can assist you in maintaining an app. Here you need to choose, whether you should go for native apps or for a single cross-platform application that is able to run on multiple platforms. In this process, the right mobile app development company can help you to reduce your app maintenance cost.
Automate Testing Process
Here you need to implement the automated testing procedure effectively to detect bugs and issues early within the development procedure. In this process, you can automate the testing procedure frameworks for identifying bugs and issues within the app testing process. It can assist you in catching the bugs even prior to production and even minimizes the cost of maintaining an app.
Monitor the Usage of Performance
Always use the updated analytics and app monitoring tools for tracking the app performance along with the user behavior. You should prioritize the app maintenance depending on the underutilized area of the app and the requirement of the feature that needs to be updated based on the latest updates. With the continuous monitoring of the performance of an app, you can reduce the average app maintenance cost.
Follow the Updated Technology Trends
Evaluating the updated technological trends is one of the useful mediums for reducing app maintenance costs. To ensure that the app fulfills the latest trends compared to the expectations of the app users. For instance, if your mobile app tech stack requires optimizing server usage to reduce costs, then you should implement the latest technological updates in this case.
Outsource Non-Critical Task
Evaluate the different tasks of an app, then outsource the non-critical task based on the priority. You can outsource the non-critical tasks including routine updates, and fixing minor bugs in the app to the external service provider companies or to the freelancers. It can assist you in improving the focus on the desired task that requires more critical attention and app maintenance.
Engage the User Feedback
To enhance customer base and to deliver the services based on the customer demands. An app should be derived and built based on the user feedback. The ultimate user of the app can provide genuine feedback, thus, you need to listen to your customer and then update the features as well as functionalities of an app accordingly.
Why Nimble AppGenie is a Cost-effective Company to Choose for Maintaining Your App?
Do you know that, without a regular update most of the apps lost their existence in the market? Yes, it is true. Hence, in order to improve your app’s existence in the competitive market, you should update it.
Are you thinking of finding a company, which can help you in maintaining your app? Here we are to help you.
Nimble AppGenie is one of the best in providing services of app maintenance. With a panel of expert developers, we provide effective mobile app maintenance services.
How we are the best? You can check our testimonials and contact our team who can head you for more latest details and updates.
Conclusion
In this blog, you might have got the information related to app maintenance and the need to maintain an app. With learning the types of app maintenance, you can decide the kind of app you have and need to get it maintained. The cost to develop an app is feasible and requires a reasonable amount. However, the cost can vary depending on different factors including the size of the app, frequency of updates, security requirements, and geographical location.
The latest tips for reducing mobile app maintenance costs can be following the latest technological trends, outsourcing the non-critical tasks, automating the testing process, and engaging the user feedback.
FAQs
The cost of maintaining an app typically ranges from $20,000 to $50,000 annually. This estimate covers various maintenance activities such as bug fixes, security updates, feature enhancements, performance optimization, routine maintenance, monitoring, and support.
No, app development is just the beginning of your business journey. The success of an app depends on the maintenance services adopted post-development. Regular updates and improvements are crucial for keeping the app functional, secure, and up-to-date with changing technologies and user needs.
App maintenance is an ongoing process involving managing, updating, and improving a mobile application after it has been developed and deployed to users. It includes activities such as bug fixes, security updates, feature enhancements, performance optimization, routine maintenance, monitoring, and support.
App maintenance costs can vary depending on factors such as the complexity of the app, the frequency of updates, security requirements, geographical location, and the size of the user base. However, it typically ranges from $20,000 to $50,000 annually.
Several factors impact the cost of maintaining an app, including the size and complexity of the app, the frequency of updates, security requirements, support and monitoring needs, the number of users, geographical location, and technological trends.
App maintenance is crucial for preventing apps from becoming obsolete, improving user experience, enhancing app performance and security, increasing app compatibility with new devices and platforms, and ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of the app in the market.
To reduce mobile app maintenance costs, consider choosing the right development platform, automating the testing process, monitoring app performance, following updated technology trends, outsourcing non-critical tasks, and engaging user feedback for continuous improvement.
Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.
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