Why And How Often Should You Update Your App?
So your mobile app is now built and available in the app stores. Users are downloading it, using it and you are receiving feedback from happy clients. But what's next?
The journey has just begun! It is now time to think about maintenance for your app (if you haven't already) and about the next versions (iterations).
Why Is It Important To Update Your App
The app market is constantly evolving. The expectations of apps keep getting ratcheted higher and higher. New technologies are emerging and operating systems are being improved.
If you don't want your app to appear tired, obsolete or dead, you should take care to update it regularly. And, by the way, regular updates are a great way to keep users interested and engaged.
Here are the most common reasons why you should update your application:
1. People love novelty
People love new features in their apps so you should regularly offer your users interesting and helpful app updates. Plus, by updating your app, you have a great excuse to send pop-up notifications to show your users that you care about their requirements.
2. Remove or replace everything that has lost relevance
Mobile apps get outdated over time. This is inevitable due to the constant evolution of mobile tech. It's important to select any old and unnecessary elements and remove or replace them with new, up to date features or information that meets the users' needs.
3. Date of last update
Users can always see when the application was last updated on Google Play or App Store. If your mobile app doesn't have frequent updates it will lose credibility.
4. Improvement of the user experience
All operating systems are being regularly improved to provide users with better experience. But, unfortunately, when an OS gets updated, it can affect the performance of your app: information transfer speed can be lost, some features can refuse to work properly, etc. To avoid it, you should release updates that are compatible with the latest OS versions.
5. User feedback
This is critical.
There are several ways to receive user feedback:
Users often leave feedback for apps on the app stores. They submit opinions on bugs, defects, performance issues and potentially missing features. App owners should react quickly to this type of feedback and, when the feedback is valid, resolve the issues.
App owners can also proactively generate feedback by engaging directly with users (and potential users). If you genuinely want your apps to deliver the best experience and value, your users opinions are pure gold. What do they like / dislike, what would they add / remove, what would make them use the app more / less, what makes the app better / worse than other apps etc.
Obviously it is impossible to use all user feedback when designing future releases. Some opinions will differ or even be contradictory. Some features will be impossible because of budget. Some opinions will not be congruent with the values of the business.
You need to find the sweet spot where a consensus of opinion overlaps with business goals and the return on investment model works for the business.
Conclusion
Whether you intend to make spontaneous changes based on market trends, scheduled updates, or both, it is important to have a strategic plan. Create an action plan for app updates, and ensure that you deliver on schedule. Having a plan is critical to keeping your app fresh and safe as you continue to make improvements.
Considering the speed at which the market evolves, there is no time for long, complicated processes in order to make app updates. Regular, incremental updates, based upon client based intelligence work best.
At Appify our team is highly skilled in mobile app development. We have a huge experience with long-term and successful projects. So, if you think it's time to maintain and update your app, don't hesitate to contact us for a free conversation with our experts!