Top App Maintenance Tools & Techniques: A List of Technologies and Gears

Can you think of maintaining an app without its tool?

Well, you cannot make your favorite pasta or any dish without the required ingredients, right?

That is what goes with an app. It is essential to select appropriate tools to increase the overall performance of an app and to make it competitive.

Now the question arises “What are the right tools required to maintain an app?”

In this blog, you will get the learnings about the appropriate tools and techniques essential to maintaining an app.

Let’s start the journey to learn top app maintenance tools & Techniques, together.

Why Use Tools to Maintain an App?

Before we proceed to learn about key app maintenance tools, let’s learn the reasons to maintain an app.

Here is the list of app maintenance importance.

1. Enhances User Experience

App maintenance with the required tools can help increase overall user experience. Right tools with timely updates can help fix bugs and errors which will enhance the app’s efficiency and ultimately impact user preferences and their journey with the app.

2. Helps to Fix Bugs

The use of appropriate tools and techniques can help to identify as well as fix bugs on time with regular updates. Fixing bugs can assist in addressing the issues prior they can interrupt user experience. With regular monitoring, the process of identifying bugs can be simplified and can be addressed.

3. Improves App Security

Through continuous monitoring and regular checkups tools, mobile app security can be strengthened by identifying any security errors and mitigating them on time. Modification on security updates through right tools can assist in reducing system vulnerabilities and can increase the functionality of apps.

4. Assist to Follow New Trends

To sustain itself within the competitive market, it is essential to follow current trends in technology, design, and compatibility. Through mobile app maintenance tools, following new trends can become just a piece of cake. It can help businesses to remain competitive and to sustain the environment in the long run.

5. To Follow Updated Compliance and Regulations

Complying with legal practices plays a vital role in retaining users and enabling their trust in the brand. With regular updates through right tools, you get to know about current industry practices and laws that protect you from any further legal consequences.

6. Add New Features

You cannot put all the cards on the table, some of them should be kept under the sleeves. It will keep users engaged with the brand and excite them to know what coming up with the next updates. Maintenance tools for app assists in identifying the latest updates and adding new features.

Apart from the above, app maintenance tools helps to analyze the app, increases app survival, helps in analyzing data, and complying with the latest technological updates.

Well, are you ready to maintain the app now?

Best App Maintenance Tools

Now, that you know the importance of maintaining an app, let’s head to the top app maintenance tools.

In the given list, you will discover certain common and advanced app maintenance tools.

Let’s look at them all one after the other.

♦ Automated Testing Tools

Automated testing tools enable the automation of software through automated techniques. You can avoid the human-driven manual process of validating and reviewing the software.

• Katalon: Katalon is an essential low-code as well as scalable automation tool effective for testing mobile applications, the web, and others. With flexible methods, Katalon provides a smart way to test apps.
• Appium: Appium is an open-source automation testing tool that uses JSON wire protocol to write automated UI tests for web-based and hybrid mobile applications. It makes use of real devices as well as emulators.
• io: It supports JavaScript frameworks and is effective for end-to-end web testing. The tool helps to integrate with popular CI/CD tools to increase the efficiency of the testing process.

Other than the above-mentioned testing tools, there are many others such as Appium, TestComplete, Perfecto, and many others. The selection of automated testing tools depends on the type of app, its industry, and its features.

♦ Monitoring Tools

Monitoring tools are built to monitor and analyze activity over the mobile app as the name suggests. This information is effective in identifying security breaches over the network.

• New Relic: New Relic is crucial to monitor and analyze real-time performance. This tool monitors the infrastructure of an app along with its performance. It is a cloud-based monitoring platform that provides full-stack observance.
• Datadog: Datadog is an important monitoring tool that is used for optimizing the performance, speed as well as quality of an app. It is a SaaS-based platform that helps to monitor servers, databases, tools, and applications.
• AppDynamics: This is a monitoring tool that is used for companies with multiple applications and functions exclusively with cloud-based technology. Businesses that rely on cloud-based technologies use this tool to monitor and analyze the app.

There are other monitoring tools that you can undertake such as Splunk, database monitoring, Grafana, Sensu, and many others. App’s complexity, design, and budget can impact the selection of tools.

♦ Analytics Tools

Business analytics tools can be defined as analytics software that is used to extract data from one or more systems and later combine them with a repository.

• Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a service offered by Google to track mobile app traffic and events. This tool helps businesses to understand how people interact with their apps. It is a tool that helps to find insights with only a few clicks.
• Tableau: It is a highly comprehensive data analytics that helps the user to develop maps, dashboards as well as visualization from any database size. It is one of the famous market-leading business intelligence tools that helps to analyze data.
• Sisense: Sisense is a cloud-native platform that uses AI to analyze the data. It offers many drag-and-drop tools and contains an interactive dashboard for collaborating with teammates. The software offers a custom In-chip technology that helps to fasten up the CPU.

You can check other tools such as Mixpanel, Knime, Looker, Power BI, and Fivetran. These tools can be used wisely to enhance the analyzing process and to improve the overall performance of an app.

♦ Code Management Tools

Code management tools are utilized for tracking modifications to the source code repository. These tools work through tracking changes for a code repository over time.

• GitHub: GitHub is a developer platform that helps them to create, store, manage, and share their code. This platform has both free and paid packages that suit different people’s needs. It has free-tier basic features for source code management.
• Mercurial: Mercurial manages projects of any size as well as offers a simple as well as intuitive interface. It is a source control management tool that helps to handle projects of any size. This platform helps to add new features that can provide a better overview of changes.
• Apache Subversion: It is a popular open-source version control system that helps software management teams manage as well as track changes to their code. This assists in maintaining different versions of the same file by restoring a history of changes made over time.

Other than the above-mentioned tools, you can adopt Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, and IBM Rational Case as code management tools. This is among common app maintenance tools that can help control and observe codes after tracking changes.

♦ Performance Monitoring Tools

Performance monitoring tools can be defined as monitoring systems that are used for observing cloud apps, log issues, and help to track a latency that a user may expect over the app.

• AppDynamics: AppDynamics provides a management solution that caters to larger enterprises that offer a SaaS APM option and an on-premise option that assists businesses in catering to their needs related to performance monitoring.
• Dynatrace: Dynatrace is the best app maintenance tools for monitoring that can be used by businesses for gaining performance insights. This tool is based on automation and artificial intelligence.
• APM: Scout APM is a performance management platform that helps in proactive alerting and provides real-time insights into the application environment. These tools are utilized for identifying bottlenecks and to alert the developers regarding errors or bugs.

Apart from the above tools, there are others as well such as Instana, SolarWinds App Optics, etc. These are among the advanced app maintenance tools important for enhancing the performance of an app.

♦ Security Tools

Security tools help developers to protect against data breaches and further help to build users’ trust. These are measures that prevent as well as mitigate any event. Such tools are designed to stop any potential security threats even before they harm users.

• Firewall: A firewall is a network security system that helps to monitor as well as control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on security regulations. It is a network security device that helps to monitor and track traffic from the network.
• Penetration Testing: Penetration testing is an effective security tool used to detect vulnerabilities within the company’s network. This testing can be stated as a pen test or ethical hacking.
• OWASP ZAP: ZAP is an open-source DAST tool that is used to identify security vulnerabilities within the mobile app. The tool has a user-friendly interface and an automated scanning system that may generate false negatives.

Other than the above-mentioned security tools there are others as well such as Fortify static code analyzer, veracode, Burp Suite, etc. You can select them as per the requirements of the app.

♦ User Experience Tools

User experience tools are used to find and analyze their behavior and journey with the app. UI/UX design and maintenance tools are also helpful to optimize the app’s overall performance.

• UXCam: UXCam helps to offer analytics tools that are even used to capture as well as analyze user interaction within mobile apps. It provides insights for increasing user experience. These tools are designed to provide actionable information related to the UX journey.
• Flurry: Flurry is an important user experience tool that assists in providing deep insights into their behavior. This tool is useful for analyzing and accessing user behavior and provides ways to improve the app’s interface.
• Figma: Figma is a tool for people that helps them to create, share as well as test designs for mobile applications as well as for sites. It helps developers and designers to attain users’ feedback and later to make better decisions faster.

Other than the above tools, you can go for UXPin, Sketch, Marvel, InVision, and others based on the target audience, their behavior, and the features or size of an app.

Now, as we discussed all the required types of tools essential for app maintenance, it’s time to move ahead with the techniques.

Top Techniques for App Maintenance

Tools are the ingredients to maintain an app, while techniques are the guidance. These can be stated as the best practices for app maintenance.

What can be the techniques for app maintenance?

Let’s check them out here.

• Performance Monitoring

Performance monitoring is among the first steps in the right app maintenance process.

You all need to monitor the current performance of the app daily, to find out if any bugs are impacting user’s behavior. Using analytics and monitoring tools can help in evaluating the complete operations of an app.

• Regular Backups

Conducting regular backups can help in evaluating the data and protecting it from theft.

The use of cloud software can help here to store large amounts of users’ data. You can connect with various cloud platforms and can buy a space over there.

• Conduct Regular Performance Tests

Through conducting regular mobile app testing, you can identify bugs on time.

Regular app testing can help in identifying users’ current demand, fixing bugs, updating the interface as well as conducting an audit program to increase its overall performance.

• Perform Security Audits

Security audits are useful for identifying any loophole in the app’s safety.

You should make use of important security audits for identifying as well as fixing security vulnerabilities. Here you can conduct best practices via security assessments.

• Code Refactoring

Code refactoring helps in increasing code quality and helps to maintain it in the long run.

Through code refactoring, you can improve the internal structure, maintainability, and readability of the software codebase. Without changing the code’s external behavior, it helps in performing small changes to the app.

• Implement User Feedback

Ignoring user feedback can decrease the ability of an app to reach the target user base.

Hence, you should actively seek and integrate user feedback to increase overall performance by adopting the measures and practices that users actually demand.

These were some of the effective practices that you should seek for app maintenance. These techniques, not only will be helpful to save costs on app maintenance but are relevant to retain users in the long term.

Now, if you are looking for a team to maintain your app, the next section could help.

Why Connect with Nimble AppGenie to Maintain an App?

Maintaining an app without a schedule can be difficult. Along with this, you might require time to build core strategies for business expansion.

Hence a team who can handle this load can become a boon for you.

Well, you do not need to be bothered by searching for an outstanding team.

Nimble AppGenie is ready to help you. We have a panel of experts who know the right tools and techniques that will be accurate for your app to improve its market presence in a competitive environment.

We are the best at providing app maintenance services that will match your demand and users’ needs. With the right process and techniques, we can help you in this area effectively.

Conclusion

Selecting the right tools to maintain your app can be a difficult task, well not anymore. The right tool is based on the app’s functions, industry, and features. There are different types of tools that are required to undertake in app maintenance process. Such as tools based on performance, analysis, monitoring, and user experience, code management, etc.

Finding the best tools cannot work without the right technique. Thus, code refactoring, performing security audits, conducting regular performance tests, implementing user feedback, and adopting regular backup initiatives should be considered as best practices for app maintenance. However, connecting with the right team can help you well in this process.

FAQs

Niketan Sharma

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.