App Development

How much does it cost to maintain an app in 2024

31/01/2024

In the mobile application business, maintenance is a fundamental investment to ensure the success and longevity of your app. Have you ever wondered how much it could cost to maintain a mobile app in 2024? In this constantly evolving digital environment, where technology advances rapidly, maintenance costs can vary greatly depending on the app. Continuous updates, robust security, and every little detail play an essential role in app maintenance.

However, there is one aspect, often undervalued, that can be crucial in differentiating a successful app from one that falls into oblivion. This key factor could radically change your app’s maintenance needs. Throughout this article, we will explore this and other relevant aspects in detail, providing you with all the information you need to be prepared in 2024. Keep reading to not miss a detail.

The Evolution of Mobile App Maintenance

Mobile app maintenance has undergone significant evolution leading up to 2024. Initially focused on basic fixes and sporadic updates, maintenance has transformed into a complex and vital process to ensure the proper functioning of applications. With technological evolution, apps now require more frequent and sophisticated updates to keep up with the latest trends and user expectations.

Furthermore, security and performance optimization have become critical aspects, especially in health and wellness applications. This progress has led to greater specialization in maintenance services, with a focus on customization and user experience, thus reflecting the maturity and growing importance of this sector.

Key Factors in Maintenance Costs

Understanding the key factors in the cost of maintaining a mobile app is fundamental for any developer or company in 2024. These factors have become more complex and varied due to technological advancements and rising user expectations.

• Regular Updates: Updates involve not just aesthetic or functional improvements but are also vital for security, compatibility, and continuous user experience enhancement. Each update should be carefully planned to ensure it adds real value to the app, considering user feedback and market trends. Updates can range from minor bug fixes to significant functionality enhancements.
• Robust Security: In a world where cybersecurity is an increasing concern, investing in security measures is indispensable. This includes protecting personal data, especially in apps handling sensitive information like health and wellness. Security breaches are complex to resolve and can also damage the app’s reputation and user trust.
• Compatibility and Support: Keeping the app compatible with the latest operating system versions and a wide range of devices is essential. This ensures a smooth and consistent experience for all users, regardless of their device. Technical support is also a key maintenance aspect, providing quick solutions to any arising issues.

These factors are interdependent and should be addressed together for effective and efficient maintenance. Neglecting any of these aspects can lead to a significant increase in maintenance costs and, more importantly, a poor user experience. Therefore, it’s essential for developers and companies to understand and properly plan these costs to ensure the success and longevity of their mobile apps in the current market.

Considering all the above, maintaining a mobile app typically represents annually between 10% and 20% of the app’s development cost, though this percentage can vary depending on the app type, technologies used, the developing company, and the type of maintenance service contracted. For example, the annual maintenance cost for a low-user-volume app could be around €7,000, while for apps with over 500,000 users, the cost could exceed €100,000 annually.

Recurring Updates and Their Impact on Costs

Recurring updates are an essential component in mobile app maintenance, impacting both costs and user experience. These updates are key for keeping the app competitive and appealing to users:

• Innovation and Competitiveness: Updates allow for the incorporation of new features and functionalities, keeping the app up-to-date with the latest trends, which is key for remaining competitive in the market.
• Error Correction: Quickly resolving errors improves app reliability and user satisfaction.
• User Interface Improvement: Updating the interface to make it more intuitive and attractive can significantly increase user retention and satisfaction.
• Adaptation to New Operating Systems: Updates ensure compatibility with the latest operating system versions, avoiding functionality issues.
• Enhanced Security: Frequent updates allow for rapid addressing of security vulnerabilities, protecting both users and the company from potential security breaches.

The frequency and complexity of updates vary depending on the app, but all require resources and development time. In the long term, a well-planned update strategy can reduce operational costs and increase user satisfaction, ensuring that the app continues to function smoothly and adapts to the changing needs of the market and users.

App Security: A Critical Aspect

In 2024, cyber threats have evolved, making user data protection and the app’s infrastructure more important than ever. The key points to consider are:

• Protection of Sensitive Data: Implementing robust measures to safeguard personal and financial information of users is fundamental, especially in health and wellness apps.
• Security Updates: Keeping the app up-to-date with the latest security patches to prevent vulnerabilities and cyber attacks.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring the app complies with current data protection laws and regulations.
• User Education and Awareness: Informing users about safe practices and the importance of security in mobile apps.

Investing in security is as much about protecting the app as it is about maintaining user trust and loyalty, fundamental aspects for ensuring a positive long-term reputation of any application.

Breakdown of Costs: What Influences the Price?

The cost breakdown of maintaining a mobile app involves several components, each contributing to the final price of the service. Understanding these elements is necessary for effective cost management:

1. Development and Continuous Improvements: Regular updates and new functionalities are essential, including the costs of development staff and resources for research and new technology implementation.
2. Security and Data Protection: Investing in security is crucial, especially for apps handling sensitive data, covering everything from implementing security protocols to continuous updates against new threats.
3. Technical Support and Customer Service: Providing efficient technical support and quality customer service is vital for maintaining user satisfaction and loyalty.
4. Device and Operating System Compatibility: Ensuring optimal app performance across various devices and operating systems involves regular testing and adjustments.
5. Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Staying updated with legal regulations is necessary to avoid penalties and maintain user trust.

Each of these aspects plays a significant role in determining the maintenance cost of a mobile app. Efficient management of these elements is key to ensuring the app’s functionality, security, and long-term sustainability.

Hosting and Cloud Services

It’s important to understand that the infrastructure costs associated with hosting and cloud services, such as servers and data storage, are not included in the standard maintenance services of an app. This distinction is key for ensuring data protection, legality, and intellectual property of the app, as the infrastructure must be registered in the client’s name.

At GooApps, we ensure that the intellectual property of the projects developed by us is fully transferred to the client. This policy guarantees that the project is protected and cannot be used by competitors, thereby reinforcing security and trust in our collaboration.

The Role of User Feedback in Maintenance

User feedback is a vital element in mobile app maintenance. It provides essential information about how users interact with the app and what improvements are needed. This feedback can influence decisions like:

• Prioritization of Updates: Feedback helps identify which features need urgent improvements or what new functionalities users desire.
• Identification of Issues: User comments often reveal technical or usability issues that might not have been detected during testing.
• Improving User Experience: Listening to users allows companies to tailor their apps to enhance user satisfaction and retention.
• User-Oriented Development: Integrating feedback into the development process ensures updates are relevant and valuable to end users.

Thus, user feedback is important for improving the app and also plays a significant role in optimizing resources and strategic maintenance planning.

User Experience in App Maintenance

Effective mobile app maintenance is crucial for providing an optimal user experience. This maintenance includes:

• Performance Optimization: Continuous improvements in app speed and stability ensure a smooth user experience.
• Security Enhancements: Protecting users’ personal information builds trust and security.
• Adding New Features: Meeting changing demands and expectations of users keeps the app appealing and useful.
• User-Friendly Interface: An updated and easy-to-use interface enhances accessibility and user satisfaction.

Effective maintenance directly impacts user satisfaction and loyalty, influencing the long-term success of the app.

Why Hire GooApps for Your App Maintenance

Choosing GooApps for your app maintenance ensures high-quality service backed by years of experience and specialization in the health, sports, and wellness sector. Our expert team uses cutting-edge methodologies and technologies, focusing on security and creating an unparalleled user experience. Trusting GooApps means relying on a partner who understands the specific needs of your business and commits to keeping your app up-to-date, ensuring its success and relevance in the market.

Next, we will outline the type of support you receive with GooApps.

Corrective and Preventive Support: Efficiency and Foresight

At GooApps, we offer a committed corrective and preventive support service, under a carefully structured SLA (Service Level Agreement).

Our corrective support intervenes after the detection of faults in production systems. These faults can include bugs, performance problems, or errors due to third-party updates. Our approach involves first diagnosing the problem, then applying the most suitable solution. These incidents, or corrective support, are classified according to their severity:

• High: A blocking incident affecting more than 50% of the total functionalities of the system. Example: Unable to access the app via mobile devices.
• Medium: A blocking incident affecting between 25% and 50% of the total functionalities of the system. Example: Unable to access the private area, a specific section of the website, or similar.
• Low: A non-blocking incident with no functional impact. Example: An image or logo is displayed incorrectly, text is displayed incorrectly, and similar.

Once the problem is diagnosed, the corrective support timelines are also classified based on the diagnosed severity of the incident:

• High: Within a maximum of 2 working days.
• Medium: Within a maximum of 6 working days.
• Low: Within a maximum of 15 working days.

On the other hand, our preventive support focuses on anticipating problems. This proactive approach aims to anticipate and prevent future failures. This service includes constant monitoring and attention to potential problems before they manifest, thus ensuring maximum efficiency and stability of the software and systems.

Both services are part of our commitment to quality and reliability, reflecting our dedication to keeping our clients’ applications in optimal conditions.

Comprehensive Maintenance Coverage with GooApps

At GooApps, our maintenance service covers a wide range of essential tasks for the optimal functioning and security of your app. These tasks include:

1. Infrastructure Maintenance: Ensuring efficient operation of your app’s underlying infrastructure.
2. Updating Libraries and Frameworks: Keeping your libraries and frameworks up-to-date, focusing on long-term support (LTS) and active support versions.
3. Resolving Incidents and Errors: Effectively addressing errors, hacks, or any incidents as per the SLA response times.
4. Fixing Incompatibilities with New Operating Systems: A preventive approach to ensure ongoing app compatibility.
5. Error Monitoring: Using advanced tools to detect and correct potential errors.
6. Infrastructure Scalability: Adapting infrastructure to the changing needs of the app.
7. Administrative Support: Assistance in managing the administrative aspects of the tool.
8. Reviewing User Feedback in Stores: Analyzing and processing user opinions to continuously improve the app, including preventive support tasks and error resolution.

Each of these tasks is carried out with the utmost care and attention, ensuring that your app functions smoothly and stays up-to-date in terms of technology and security.

Monthly Maintenance Cost of an App

The maintenance of an application varies depending on the end user of the app and the number of users it may have. At GooApps, we differentiate between B2B or internal management use applications and public B2B2C or B2C applications.

For B2B or internal management applications, the monthly maintenance cost scales according to the number of users:

• 0 to 20 users: between 600 and 750 euros per month.
• 20 to 50 users: between 750 and 1,500 euros per month.
• 50 to 500 users: between 1,500 and 3,000 euros per month.
• 500 to 10,000 users: between 3,000 and 4,500 euros per month.

For public B2B2C or B2C applications, the monthly maintenance cost is:

• 0 to 50 users: between 1,500 and 3,000 euros per month.
• 50 to 5,000 users: between 3,000 and 6,000 euros per month.
• 5,000 to 100,000 users: between 6,000 and 12,000 euros per month.
• More than 100,000 users: personalized service.

It is important to note that as the number of users of an app grows, the likelihood of occurrence of the maintenance tasks described in the previous section increases.

As a positive counterpoint, as the number of users increases, the cost per user decreases, both in maintenance and infrastructure. This approach to scalability ensures efficiency and savings as the app grows in popularity and use.

To sum up

Efficient maintenance of a mobile app is crucial for its long-term success and relevance. This involves key practices like regular updates, robust security, adaptability to new devices and operating systems, and integrating user feedback.

Choosing GooApps for maintenance ensures expert service, particularly tailored to the health, sports, and wellness sector, crucial for keeping the app updated, secure, and attractive in today’s competitive market. Preparing your app for the future with a well-planned maintenance strategy is key to its ongoing functionality and success.

At GooApps, every app we develop and maintain reflects our commitment to making apps by and for people, meeting the highest technical requirements with a user-focused approach. This philosophy guides our maintenance work, ensuring apps retain their initial features and functionalities while evolving in line with user needs and expectations.