What is the cost of maintaining a mobile app?

Annual app maintenance typically runs at 15–20% of your initial development cost. This covers OS updates, security patches, server monitoring, minor feature tweaks, and technical support. For example, an app built for RM 100,000 would cost approximately RM 15,000–20,000 per year to maintain properly.

What Maintenance Covers

• OS & device updates: Apple and Google release major OS versions annually. Your app needs testing and updates to remain compatible with new devices and operating system changes.
• Security patches: Dependencies and frameworks release security fixes regularly. Timely patching protects your users and your business data.
• Server & infrastructure monitoring: Uptime monitoring, performance tracking, log management, and database maintenance to prevent downtime.
• Bug fixes & minor improvements: Addressing user-reported issues and making small usability improvements based on analytics and feedback.
• Third-party API updates: Payment gateways, mapping services, and other integrations change their APIs. Your app needs to keep pace.

Maintenance Cost by App Complexity

• Simple apps (built for RM 15k–50k): RM 3,000–10,000 per year.
• Medium apps (built for RM 50k–150k): RM 10,000–30,000 per year.
• Enterprise apps (built for RM 150k–500k+): RM 25,000–100,000 per year.

What Happens Without Maintenance

Apps that skip maintenance degrade quickly. Within 12–18 months, an unmaintained app will likely face broken features from OS updates, security vulnerabilities, app store compliance issues, and declining user ratings. The cost to fix a neglected app often exceeds several years of maintenance fees.

Advisory Apps offers structured maintenance packages with clear SLAs. Contact us to discuss a maintenance plan tailored to your application.