Both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store routinely scan their respective libraries for apps that haven’t received any updates in a while and remove them, making them unavailable for download.
App development alone cannot withstand the intense competition in app marketplaces.
According to stats, more than 100,000 mobile apps are launched on Google Play every quarter. Apple and Google are likely to remove 650K abandoned mobile apps from the App Store and nearly 900K from the Play Store, respectively.
Because app development companies stop investing in upkeep, they begin to lose users as well, and eventually, the app completely disappears. Many app developers lose all of their software investments when they give up on their projects because they can’t keep up with the rapidly evolving mobile market.
The strongest example of why maintenance is the most crucial phase of your app’s lifecycle is the sheer quantity of abandoned apps. First, let’s examine the steps for app maintenance and how much it costs to maintain.
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Steps for app maintenance
1. A high-quality mobile app development from the beginning.
Building your software with maintenance in mind from the beginning is the greatest method to reduce the cost of maintenance. This calls for the employment of a practical platform that can easily scale in terms of functionality and that makes use of dependable and cutting-edge technologies that won’t become obsolete as soon as app development is complete.
You shouldn’t include features that users won’t utilize, therefore try to limit the number of features you include. As your feature set is another aspect to take into consideration. Work with a business analyst to identify the features that will provide the optimal user experience throughout the planning phase.
You can use testing documentation to assist with future app maintenance and support. Investing in testing, including performance, security, compatibility, and other kinds of testing, is also necessary. Additionally, tested software is simply simpler to support.
2. Watch out for scalability
Your main concern is flawless operation when it expands and the user base develops daily, thus you might need to enhance the services your app uses. Because any amount of users should be supported by the server infrastructure and architectural design of your program. Otherwise, you risk losing both your new customers and the money you spent on marketing soon.
3. Remain a team player
You lose time every time your development team changes, whether it’s before or after deployment. This occurs because it takes some time to hire dedicated developers to get used to your project, become familiar with all of its details, and understand how it operates and which technologies it makes use of. Following delivery, Mobindustry will gladly maintain your product.
When the same team that developed your software maintains it, the process is relatively quick and straightforward because your app developers are aware of exactly what has to be changed if a new operating system version is released or a new feature is planned.
4. Verify your analytic data
One of the top tools for mobile app analytics is fabric. Analytics will demonstrate which areas need improvement. Crashlytics, for instance, can demonstrate where crashes happen. Your team support will be able to make changes where they are most needed thanks to this knowledge.
Utilize analytics after your software has been released to determine which features are the most popular and which are being overlooked by users. Discover the causes of this and modify your product as necessary.
How Much Does App Maintenance Cost Depending on Various Aspects?
According to a lot of app development companies, the annual budget for supporting and maintaining mobile apps ranges from 15% to 20%.
Technically speaking, maintenance only entails bug fixes and modifications to accommodate new hardware, screen resolutions, and operating system releases. The price to update an app completely depends on its functioning and your ambitions to enhance it.
However, once your app has been released, there is much more work that needs to be done, such as the addition of new features, the incorporation of fresh technologies, the development of fresh content, and the adherence to the most recent trends in features, design, and technology.
We have experience, so I can say that these figures are not at all accurate. There are various areas of app maintenance where you must make financial investments. You can use this to compute the expenses based on the maintenance actions you choose. We’ll talk about application maintenance expenses based on several criteria in this section.
- Hosting Charges Rs. 6k to 26k Per Month
- Functional Services Rs. 3 lac Per Year
- Bug Fixing and Updates Rs. 80k to 1.5 lac
- IT Support Rs. 8.5 lac Per Year
- API Integration Rs. 4 lac Per Year
- Technical Intervention Rs. 3k to 4k Per Hour
- Payment Gateways Rs. 12k Per Month
How Much Should You Spend on Maintaining a Mobile App?
You may need to invest more if you want to maintain your app current with the newest technologies. To get the best advice, you must engage with an app development company, nevertheless, in order to manage an app.
Make sure you are also obtaining the expected outcomes if you are spending more than 20% of your budget on maintaining your mobile app. As app maintenance expenses often account for 15% to 20% of the entire cost of developing a mobile app, you should be cautious if you spend more than 20%. Additionally, the tech stack you choose for your app has a significant impact on how much it costs to maintain it.
However, it is usually preferable to seek advice from a seasoned mobile app development company in such circumstances. You can also get in touch with Hyperlink InfoSystem’s technical experts, as we have experience with a number of app development.
Conclusion
You must have learned the answer to the question “how much does it cost to keep an app running?” from this article. Even if you stop adding functionality to your software, mobile app development is a continuous process. However, for your long-term success, updating and providing users with something new is essential.
Image source: Venngage
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