At Vertical Motion, we recommend that you update your app at least once every six months – but you might need to make updates more often than that depending on the complexity of your app. In fact, we recommend allocating 10-20% of your initial development budget to maintenance.
Why?
Ongoing maintenance keeps technical debt low – which is the “repair debt” software often accumulates over time.
It’s a bit like a house: building it is the biggest hurdle, but repairs and maintenance will keep it from developing larger issues as it ages. If you keep tech debt low, you’ll spend less in the long run and keep your app secure.
What is tech debt, and how does it impact app maintenance?
Tech debt is the potential cost of additional work you’ll need to do later when you take development shortcuts or defer updates to your app, and it’s a common part of mobile app maintenance.
In general, good development practices can reduce tech debt. But it’s a natural part of building an app that relies on software that constantly evolves.
And not all tech debt is necessarily bad; sometimes, it’s the result of strategic pushes for updates when time to market is critical. Other times, it might be better to hold off on updating your app for a variety of reasons.
In short, minor tech debt is fine, as long as it’s on your radar. But failing to address it altogether can lead to long-term problems with your app’s performance and user experience.
Tech debt can also have a big impact on security, since it can create vulnerabilities which become harder to fix over time.
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Why paying off your tech debt early is important
Sometimes, tech debt doesn’t just accumulate – it cascades, creating a domino effect of problems. Imagine you’ve been putting off updating your app to support the latest version of a payment processing API. At first, it might seem like a small issue, but here’s how it could cascade:
- The old API version becomes less secure, so you add extra security checks in your code as a quick fix
- These security checks slow down the checkout process
- To compensate for the slower checkout, you reduce other security validations
- The reduced validation leads to more fraudulent transactions
- To combat fraud, you add more manual review steps
- Manual reviews create customer service bottlenecks
- To handle increased customer service needs, you rush to build automated support features
These rushed features create even more work, which makes you put off the original fix longer…
This cascade effect is why seemingly small updates can’t be ignored indefinitely. What starts as a single “we’ll fix it later” decision can trigger a chain reaction of compromises throughout your app.
How we can help you keep tech debt low
Keeping tech debt low is a big part of what we do at Vertical Motion. We run monthly reports for clients that detail security risks, upcoming technical debt issues, or performance bottlenecks for every app we build.
If you’ve built your own app and want to manage tech debt yourself, we recommend you:
- Stay on top of updates
- Use your own software as much as possible
- Regression test as often as you can
- Keep your documentation organized
- Don’t rely on quick fixes for too long
Need help? We also offer one-time reports for anyone with an app they’re concerned about through our Application Health Assessment (AHA) service.
The AHA takes one business week, after which you’ll get a report that walks you through the overall health of your app, any critical issues, and a comprehensive roadmap for fixing them.
App maintenance can get complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re struggling to manage tech debt, our team of experts at Vertical Motion can help you restore your app to its best self!
What creates technical debt?
Stay tuned and follow us on LinkedIn for the next article in this series, where we deep dive into this topic! We’ll discuss situations that cause tech debt like:
- App store updates – App stores often update submission requirements, security protocols, and more, which may mean you’ll have to update your app or be removed.
- Device updates – OS updates might impact security, notifications, biometric sensors, network connectivity, and more.
- Browser updates – Browsers have recently started releasing smaller, incremental updates to keep users safe – but sometimes, these updates can change the way your app behaves.
- Library updates – Commonly used code libraries release version updates with changes that can break the functionality of some of your app’s features.
- APIs and external integrations – Software providers like Stripe, Google Maps, and Paypal often update their APIs for better security and functionality.
- Regulatory compliance – Frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legal framework impose new requirements for your software to meet.
- Test case regression errors – App features are highly interconnected – and that means sometimes, adding a new feature can break older parts of the app.
Stay in touch as we discuss this topic in depth for our next article on tech debt.
Vertical Motion is a trusted Canadian software development and entrepreneur assistance company that has supported the global efforts of startups, non-profits, B2B, and B2C businesses since 2006. With headquarters in Calgary and Kelowna, and team members coast to coast, Vertical Motion is recognized as an award-winning leader in the technology industry. Our team of executive advisors, project managers, software developers, business analysts, marketing specialists, and graphic designers have extensive experience in several industries including — Energy, Finance, Blockchain, Real Estate, Health Care, Clean Technology, Clothing & Apparel, Sports & Recreation, Software as a Service (SaaS), and Augmented & Virtual Reality (AR/VR).
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