What are the benefits of regular app maintenance?
Once the development of an app is over, owners think that they won’t have to think of this process again. In truth, to run a successful app, you need to maintain its health regularly. As well as that, the app needs to be kept up to date, regardless of the app maintenance costs. Handing app maintenance over to professional developers takes the pressure off the owners when it comes to spotting issues. It also means that a professional developer will resolve and address problems in a timely manner, often before they’ve even affected users. Read on to find out what benefits regular maintenance can bring to your app!
1. Consistently update features
How your audience interacts with an app can change in a matter of days. The app market is vast and there are many alternatives users can turn to if they’re unhappy. By making regular updates to your app, you can make sure new features are delivered on time and in bite-sized portions. As opposed to implementing large-scale changes that can drive users away, regular updates ensure that an app evolves with its users and their needs.
2. Improve the user experience
Unhappy users tend to make themselves heard, usually so in the review section of an app’s download page. Instead of taking criticism to heart, app owners can use this free feedback as an opportunity to improve their offering. Small tweaks to an app’s UX can go a long way and put a positive spin on negative experiences.
3. Use OS updates to your advantage
More often than not, app owners take a ‘fingers crossed’ approach to upcoming OS updates. However, doing nothing and hoping for the best is not a great long-term business strategy. With regular app maintenance, an OS update can be an advantage instead of something to worry about. Developers have access to new OS releases prior to public release. This allows them to fully optimise an app for any upcoming features by the time the OS publicly released.
4. Optimise your App Store presence
As an app evolves, so does its description and approach to attracting downloads. To stay relevant, your app needs descriptions of updates, screenshots of new features, and regular optimisation of its technical data. Moreover, Apple and Google have strict rules about what apps can be uploaded to their stores. They regularly take down the ones that don’t comply with their guidelines so staying up to date is essential.
5. Stay secure and fix bugs before they cause trouble
Working to strict launch deadlines means that compromises are sometimes made on certain security and performance features. Regular app maintenance means that app owners can quickly address and avoid issues with compliance, corrupted datastores and upset users.
6. Monitor your app’s performance
To move forward means to look back at what’s worked and what hasn’t. Undoubtedly, the best way to achieve that is by implementing tracking and analytics features to your app. App maintenance ensures that tracking codes are properly installed and show relevant up to date user insights.
WHAT ARE THE APP MAINTENANCE COSTS?
App maintenance costs can vary substantially based on the complexity of an app and its maintenance requirements. The industry-standard calculation is that yearly app maintenance costs between 15-20% of the overall development cost of an app. However, this depends on several technical factors that can greatly influence the price. For example, if an app is custom-built, its maintenance will be more expensive than if it uses a framework. Moreover, the maintenance of two separate apps for Android and iOS is more costly than a cross-platform solution such as React Native or Flutter.
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