Verdict up front: Budget €300-500/month for maintenance of a typical iOS app post-launch. Below that, you're accumulating tech debt. Above €1,000/month, you're either growing the app (which isn't maintenance — it's development) or being overcharged. This covers crash monitoring, monthly OS testing, dependency updates, and 2-3 minor bug fixes per quarter.
What "maintenance" actually means
Maintenance is the work to keep an app functional and shippable WITHOUT adding new features. It splits into:
- Reactive: fix crashes, respond to App Store rejections, patch security issues
- Proactive: test on new iOS, update dependencies, refresh provisioning profiles, rebuild against new Xcode
- Compliance: privacy manifest updates, age rating, ASA terms changes
Adding new features is NOT maintenance — that's development work and should be billed separately.
The annual cycle of "what breaks"
September (iOS major release)
- Test app on new iOS beta (August-September)
- Update for new APIs (Liquid Glass in iOS 26, App Intents, etc.)
- Fix deprecation warnings
- Submit Xcode version compatibility update
- Typical effort: 8-20 hours per app
October-November (iPhone launch + holiday traffic)
- Test on new device sizes (iPhone Pro Max, screen size changes)
- Holiday traffic spike — monitor for new crash patterns
- Typical effort: 4-8 hours
Quarterly (every 3 months)
- Update SDKs (Firebase, Sentry, RevenueCat, TelemetryDeck)
- Run security audits (any CVE in dependencies)
- Renew certificates if needed
- Typical effort: 2-4 hours
Annually (every 12 months)
- Apple Developer Program renewal (€99)
- Renew distribution certificates and provisioning profiles
- Review and update App Store screenshots (especially after new iPhone sizes)
- Audit data collection vs Privacy Nutrition Label
- Typical effort: 8-12 hours
Ad-hoc (any time)
- App Store rejection on review
- User-reported crash investigation
- Subscription edge case (refund handling, family sharing)
- Typical effort: 4-16 hours per incident
Annual total: 60-120 hours of maintenance work for a typical iOS app, or 5-10 hours/month average.
The €300-500/month budget breakdown
At Madrid contractor rates (€60-€80/hour):
- 5-10 hours/month of work: €300-€800/month
- Plus monthly tooling:
- Sentry (crash monitoring): €26/month
- TelemetryDeck (analytics): €0-€19/month
- RevenueCat: free up to €10k/month transactions
- App Store Connect API tools: free
- Apple Developer Program: €99/year = €8/month
Total monthly: €350-€850 for a single app. Multi-app portfolios benefit from shared tooling (one Sentry subscription, one developer account).
What €300/month does NOT cover
- New features (that's development, not maintenance)
- Major iOS migration work (e.g. UIKit → SwiftUI rewrite)
- Localisation to new languages
- App Store Optimisation (keywords, screenshots tuning) — typically €300-€600/quarter separately
- Customer support (Apple reviews, email tickets)
- Marketing pushes (paid ads, content)
What happens when you skip maintenance
Year 1 without maintenance:
- App still works on most devices
- Crash rate slowly rises (no patches for new iOS bugs)
- Apple Search Ads quality score drops
Year 2 without maintenance:
- iOS 27/28 ships — app may not launch on latest devices
- Subscription edge cases pile up (refunds not handled, family sharing broken)
- Privacy Nutrition Label out of date — risk of removal
Year 3 without maintenance:
- Apple notifies you the app will be removed (Outdated App removal policy)
- Major iOS APIs deprecated — rebuild required just to compile
- Effective full rewrite to bring back, costing 30-60% of original build
Skipping maintenance saves €4,000-€6,000/year. Catching up costs €15,000-€30,000+ when you eventually rebuild. Net: maintenance saves money long-term.
Self-service maintenance: feasible?
If you're a developer maintaining your own app:
- Plan for 5-10 hours/month average
- Block out 1 day in September for iOS update testing
- Subscribe to Sentry / Crashlytics — don't fly blind
- Automate what you can (Fastlane for builds, screenshots, metadata)
- Keep Apple Developer account on autopay so it doesn't lapse
Hardest part: discipline. Maintenance feels like "nothing happened" work. Easy to skip. Until something breaks.
Side-by-side: maintenance models
| Model | Monthly cost | Hours/month | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| None (DIY but skipping) | €8 (just dev account) | 0 | App fails within 18-24 months |
| Self-service (you're a dev) | €60-€100 (tooling) | 5-10 | Low if disciplined |
| Contractor (part-time) | €300-€500 | 5-8 (their time) | Low |
| Agency monthly retainer | €800-€2,000 | 8-15 (their time) | Very low |
| In-house mobile engineer | €5,000+ (salary) | ~50% on maintenance | Very low + new feature capacity |
Portfolio efficiency
Maintaining 1 app costs ~€400/month. Maintaining 5 similar apps doesn't cost €2,000/month — closer to €800-€1,200/month. Why:
- Shared tooling (one Sentry subscription, one analytics)
- Shared knowledge (test on new iOS once, apply learnings to all apps)
- Shared frameworks (we use AppFoundation across our portfolio — fix once, ships everywhere)
- Batched submissions (5 apps in one App Store Connect session vs 5 separate)
This is why an app factory or studio model is economically efficient at scale. Solo dev with one app pays full freight; 10-app studio amortises costs across the portfolio.
App maintenance feeling like a black hole?
We offer fixed-price app maintenance contracts: €300-500/month for typical iOS apps, transparent SLA, monthly status reports. No surprise bills.
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