In the world of mobile app development, a “one-and-done approach” is a clear recipe for failure. Here’s what you need to understand to ensure mobile app success.

Mobile application development is an ongoing effort that involves taking the necessary steps to keep your mobile app relevant, prevent it from becoming stale and taking other needed actions to future-proof the app.

With a “one-and-done approach” you won’t have a clear understanding of mobile operating system version updates, and you’ll lack the ability to accurately assess potential implications from mobile platform behavior changes and/or store guideline updates. Unknowingly, you may slowly be killing your mobile app.

From a consumer view, your mobile app is expected to have an immersive UI and a strong feature set that keeps the user highly-engaged. If your mobile app isn’t updated regularly, consumers grow to become emotionally detached and the high-value placed on retention diminishes quickly. Without a healthy flow of updates for your mobile app, you will find you’re setting yourself up for failure by:

• Losing mindshare to other mobile apps that are frequently updated and thus, reaping the marketing benefits of being highlighted in the store with each update.
• Signaling to your user base a lack of commitment to the mobile app through the absence of updates.
• Missing an excellent opportunity to communicate directly with your user base through release notes that detail new app features and bug fixes.

In today’s market there is also an expected level of security and steady mobile app updates offer your user base reassurance that the decision to use your mobile app is a wise and safe choice. Outdated and vulnerable versions of a mobile app present extreme security risks that may lead to loss of competitiveness in the marketplace.

Each day, week and month that goes by where your mobile app goes un-updated, the credibility of your app and the perceived value of your app weakens. If you are at the point where you need guidance on how to implement strategies for long-term mobile app success and a roadmap that includes version updates, app logic review and behavior change modification, there are resources available to you at OpenArc.

We want people to understand the pitfalls to a “one-and-done approach” and think about mobile apps in a positive and meaningful way.