The article
The worst day to learn that an app has not been maintained is the day you need an urgent fix. The bug may take an hour, but the stores may not accept the update until the app is rebuilt with the tools and system versions the App Store and Google Play require today. A small fix turns into a project, at the moment you can least afford one.
Our mobile app maintenance services keep an app ready to ship. They are the mobile side of our IT maintenance. We update iOS and Android apps for new system versions and store rules, fix crashes, update SDKs and libraries, release every update through store review and look after the backend and the admin panel behind the app. Below is what that covers, how it starts and the red flags to check in your own app this week.
Mobile app maintenance services: the short version
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Apps | iOS and Android, native (Swift, Kotlin, Jetpack Compose) or cross-platform (Flutter, React Native) |
| What is included | Updates for new system versions and store rules, crash fixes, SDK and library updates, releases through store review, the backend, the API and the admin panel |
| How it starts | A link to your app, then access to the code, the store accounts and the backend |
| Price | A monthly price after we review the app; the first call and the rough estimate are free |
| Who it is for | Owners of apps already in the stores, whoever built them |
What changes around an app nobody touches
An app in the store changes even when its code does not. Four things move under it:
- New iOS and Android versions change how apps behave.
- The App Store and Google Play update their rules, and both expect updates built with recent tools.
- SDKs for payments, maps or sign-in drop their old versions.
- Some crashes appear only on certain phones, often ones the developer never held.
Each of these is small on its own. Over a year or two they add up to the trap from the first paragraph.
What our app maintenance and support services include
We look after the app and everything it talks to, release by release:
- Updates for new iOS and Android versions.
- Fixes for crashes and bugs your users report.
- SDK and library updates when they need them.
- Releases through App Store and Google Play review.
- Fixes and updates for the backend, the API and the admin panel.
The backend matters as much as the app. A phone app that looks fine can still fail because the server it calls changed or was never updated, so our plan covers both. If your admin panel is a web app of its own, see web app maintenance; servers that run more than the app are server maintenance.
From a store link to a mobile app maintenance plan
It starts with a link to your app and goes in four steps:
- Access. The code, the store accounts and the backend.
- Review. We build the app, run it and read its crash reports.
- Plan. The order of updates and fixes, and a monthly price.
- Releases. Updates and fixes when the app needs them, each through store review.
The review also shows whether the app can be built at all from the code you have. If it cannot, you hear that first, before any price.
Who should own the store accounts
Your company should, and you should be able to log in today. In October 2026 I read five company pages from the top of Google for this search and its neighbour: none mentions who owns the developer accounts or the keys an app is signed with, and three never mention an app store at all. Yet the account decides who can publish an update, and the signing keys and certificates are what let a new version replace the old one on your users' phones. Five pages are a small sample, so take it as a reason to check yours:
- The Apple and Google developer accounts are registered to your company, and you hold the top role in each.
- The code is in a repository you own, with its history.
- You know where the signing keys and certificates are kept, and who can use them.
When we maintain an app, we work in your accounts with access of our own, which you can take back at any time.
Red flags: signs your app needs attention now
| Signal | What it often means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nobody can say who has the developer account login | One person decides whether your app can be updated | Move the account to your company and take the top role |
| The last release was more than a year ago | The next update may need new tools and SDK versions first | Ask for a test build now, while nothing is urgent |
| Crash reports exist, but nobody reads them | Crashes on some phones go unnoticed until reviews mention them | Have someone read them and fix the top crashes |
| An email from a payment, maps or sign-in provider about an old SDK | That SDK version will stop working on a date | Plan the update before that date |
| Store reviews name one phone model or system version | A bug that appears only there | Reproduce it on that device |
| Only the original developer can build the app | The build steps live in one head | Get written build steps and the code in your repository |
| Nobody updates the server the app calls | The app can break from the server side | Put the backend in the same plan |
What the monthly price depends on
It depends on the platforms, the code and the backend, so we review the app first and then quote a monthly price. Two native apps, one for iOS and one for Android, are two codebases to keep current; a Flutter or React Native app is one codebase, but its plugins still have to follow both systems. The rest comes from how many SDKs the app carries, how healthy the code is, how big the backend and the admin are and how often you release.
One of those five pages prints a figure for maintenance; we do not, because one figure would be wrong for most apps. The $29 a month plan, billed annually ($348), covers only the websites we build.
Apps of ours in the stores
Three apps we built show what a maintenance plan has to carry:
- Mutualz. A restaurant app live on the App Store and Google Play in German and English: ordering, a loyalty program, a social feed and an admin panel for restaurants, on Flutter, Node.js and AWS. Each of those parts is something to keep current.
- SaneBox. The Android app of an AI email assistant, in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose. Its API client is generated from the service's own API description, so the app follows the backend as it changes, the kind of decision that makes maintenance cheaper.
- Tarot Fans. Live video, calls billed by the minute, chat, a shop and a wallet in one Flutter app with a Django backend. Agora runs the calls and Stripe sits under the wallet: two outside services whose new versions the app has to follow.
Maintenance and development from one team
We offer application development and maintenance services from the same team, so the developers who keep your app current can also extend it. New apps and large changes are mobile app development, and everything else we look after is under software maintenance. Whichever app maintenance company you choose, ask it the red-flag questions above: the answers tell you more than a price list.
Send us a link to your app. On weekdays from 9 am to 6 pm Miami time we answer a new request within 30 minutes, and once we have seen the code, you get a plan for the app and a monthly price.
