How Do You Keep Your App Profitable Year After Year?

When was the last time you thought about what happens to your app five years from now? I mean really thought about it—not just the exciting launch phase or the initial user growth, but the long grind of keeping that app profitable year after year. Its something most people dont consider until they're already losing money, and by then you're basically playing catch-up with your own product.

Here's the thing—building an app is expensive but keeping one profitable is even harder. I've watched countless apps launch with huge fanfare, pull in thousands of downloads in the first few months, and then just...fade away. The founders wonder what went wrong; they had users, they had a good product, but somehow the money stopped making sense. The running costs kept climbing. The revenue stayed flat. And eventually the whole thing became unsustainable.

The difference between a flash in the pan and a genuinely sustainable app business comes down to how you think about profitability from the very beginning

What most people get wrong is thinking that profitability is just about making more money than you spend—like its a simple maths problem you solve once and forget about. But maintaining profit over years requires constant attention to your revenue model, your user base, your feature decisions, and a dozen other factors that shift and change as your app matures. You need to know when to invest in new features and when to say no. When to keep supporting older versions and when to let them go. When free updates help your business and when they're just burning through your budget.

This guide walks through everything I've learned about keeping apps profitable over the long haul—the decisions that matter, the metrics worth tracking, and the mistakes that'll cost you if you're not careful.

Understanding Your Revenue Model from Day One

I've seen too many apps fail not because they were badly built, but because nobody thought about how they'd actually make money. It's a bit mad really—people spend months building something beautiful and then just hope the revenue will somehow work itself out. But here's the thing, your monetisation strategy needs to be baked into your apps design from the very beginning, not bolted on later when you realise you need to pay the bills.

There are really only a few ways apps make money and each one changes how you build the thing. Paid downloads are simple but tough these days;people dont like paying upfront for something they havent tried. Freemium models let users test your app before committing, but you need to get that balance right between free features and paid ones. Subscription models have become massive in recent years because they create predictable recurring revenue—but they only work if your app provides ongoing value, not just a one-time solution.

Common Revenue Models Worth Considering

• One-time purchase: users pay once to download, but you need strong marketing to convince them upfront
• Freemium: free to download with paid premium features or content unlocks
• Subscription: monthly or yearly recurring payments for continued access or features
• In-app purchases: consumable items, upgrades, or content packs users buy within the app
• Advertising: free for users but they see ads, which means you need serious user numbers to make decent money
• Hybrid models: combining two or more approaches, like freemium with ads in the free version

What Actually Works in Practice

The truth is advertising only works if you've got hundreds of thousands of active users, maybe millions depending on your niche. I mean, unless you're building the next TikTok, dont count on ad revenue alone. Most successful apps I've built use either subscriptions or freemium with in-app purchases—these models align your success with user value, which is exactly where you want to be.

Your revenue model affects everything from your feature set to your user interface to your marketing strategy. A subscription app needs constant updates and new content to justify that recurring payment. A paid app needs to wow people immediately because theres no second chance at that first impression. And freemium apps? They need to find that sweet spot where free users see enough value to stick around, but premium features are tempting enough to convert.

Keeping Users Coming Back

Right, so you've built your app and people have downloaded it—great start. But here's the thing, getting users to download your app is actually the easy part these days; keeping them coming back is where the real challenge begins. And it's not just about engagement for the sake of it either, its about app profitability in the long run. A user who opens your app once and never returns is basically worthless to your bottom line, no matter how much you spent acquiring them.

I've seen apps with amazing download numbers completely fail because nobody was using them after week one. The stats are a bit mad really—most apps lose about 77% of their daily active users within the first three days after install. By day 30? You're looking at losing around 90% of users. That's why sustainable revenue depends so much more on retention than acquisition...you can't keep pouring money into getting new users if they all disappear within days.

What Actually Makes Users Stick Around

First up, your onboarding needs to deliver value immediately. I mean really immediately—not after five screens of tutorials. Users should understand what they're getting and experience at least one moment of value in their first session. If they don't? They probably won't come back.

Push notifications are your friend here, but only if you use them properly. Send too many and people uninstall; send too few and they forget you exist. The sweet spot is sending notifications that are genuinely useful—reminders about things they actually care about, not just desperate attempts to get them back into the app.

Track your Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention rates religiously. These numbers tell you more about your long-term returns than download counts ever will; if you're not retaining users, you're not building sustainable revenue no matter how many features you add.

Creating Habits, Not Just Features

The most profitable apps become part of peoples daily routines. Think about the apps you use every single day without even thinking about it—they've created a habit loop. You need to identify what triggers could bring users back, what action they take in your app, what reward they get from it, and how that encourages them to return again. This isn't manipulation, it's good design that respects what users actually want from your app.

Here's what I focus on when building retention into apps:

• Make the core action quick and satisfying—if it takes ages to do the main thing your app does, people won't bother
• Use progress indicators so users can see they're working towards something
• Send personalised content based on actual usage patterns, not generic broadcasts
• Create streaks or consistency rewards for regular users
• Make it easy to pick up where they left off—nobody wants to start from scratch each time

One thing people often get wrong is thinking they need to add loads of new features to keep users interested. Actually, that can backfire pretty badly; it makes your app more complex and harder to use. Better to nail the core experience and make sure people want to come back for that than to keep bolting on new stuff nobody asked for. Long-term returns come from users who genuinely love what your app does, not from impressing them with feature lists they'll never use.

When Free Updates Make Sense and When They Don't

I've seen this mistake more times than I can count—app owners giving away every new feature for free because they're worried about upsetting their users. But here's the thing, running an app isn't a charity (unless it actually is, in which case fair enough). You need to make smart decisions about what you give away and what you charge for, or you'll slowly bleed money until theres nothing left. That's why understanding how much you should budget for app updates is crucial for long-term planning.

Free updates make perfect sense when they're fixing bugs, improving performance, or adding features that keep your app working properly. Security patches? Always free. Making your app compatible with the latest iOS or Android version? That's just the cost of doing business. Users expect these things and honestly, they should get them without paying extra—its part of the deal when they bought or subscribed to your app in the first place.

But when you're adding genuinely new functionality that took weeks or months to develop? That's different. If you've built something that adds real value, that solves a new problem or opens up new possibilities for users, you shouldn't feel bad about charging for it. I mean, your developers didn't work for free to build it, did they?

The trick is being transparent about it. Users aren't stupid; they understand that development costs money. What they don't like is feeling tricked or nickel-and-dimed. So if you're going to charge for a major update, make it clear what they're getting and why its worth paying for. Bundle enough value that it feels like a proper upgrade, not just one tiny feature hidden behind a paywall.

Actually, some of the most successful apps I've worked on use a hybrid approach—they release free updates regularly to keep the core experience fresh, but they also offer premium add-ons or major version upgrades that users can choose to purchase. This keeps everyone happy; the casual users get improvements and the power users who want more can pay for it.

Making Smart Choices About New Features

Here's where most app owners get themselves into trouble—they add features because they can, not because they should. I mean, its tempting right? Your users ask for something, or a competitor launches something new, and suddenly you feel like you need to build it. But adding features without thinking about the long-term impact on your app profitability is basically setting money on fire.

Every new feature costs you money. Not just to build it—that's the easy part to see—but to maintain it, test it, support it, and keep it working as iOS and Android evolve. I've seen apps that started lean and profitable slowly bleed money because they kept adding features that only 2% of users actually cared about. The maths doesn't work in your favour there.

The 80/20 Rule Actually Matters

Most of your sustainable revenue comes from a small percentage of your features. Usually the core ones you built first. Adding more features rarely increases revenue proportionally; what it does do is increase your costs every single month. Before you commit to building something new, ask yourself: will this directly contribute to revenue protection or will it just make the app "nicer to have"?

The best feature decisions are the ones where you choose not to build something, even when users are asking for it

When Features Make Financial Sense

But here's the thing—some features absolutely do deserve to be built. Features that reduce churn? Build them. Features that let you charge premium users more? Build them. Features that lower your support costs because users can solve problems themselves? Definitely build those. The key is connecting every feature request back to your long-term returns. If you cant draw a line between the feature and money (either saved or earned), you probably shouldn't build it... no matter how cool it sounds.

The Real Cost of Running an App

Most people think once you've built an app, the hard part is over. I mean, you've spent all that money on development right? But here's the thing—launching your app is actually just the beginning of your spending, not the end of it. This is precisely why setting aside a proper maintenance budget from day one is so important.

Server costs are usually the first surprise. If you've got 1,000 users, you might pay £50-100 a month. Not too bad. But if your app takes off and you're suddenly supporting 50,000 users? That monthly bill can jump to £500-2,000 depending on how much data your storing and processing. And it doesn't stop there—every push notification you send costs money, every image you host costs money, every API call your app makes...it all adds up.

Then there's maintenance. Both iOS and Android release major updates every year, and minor ones constantly. Your app needs to stay compatible with these changes or users start seeing bugs and crashes. I usually budget around 15-20% of the original development cost each year just for maintenance and compatibility updates. Its not glamorous work, but its absolutely necessary.

Don't forget about your third-party services either. Most apps rely on things like analytics tools, crash reporting, payment processing, mapping services—these all come with monthly fees that scale with your user base. What cost £20 a month at launch might cost £200 a month when you've grown.

And actually, one of the biggest ongoing costs is customer support. As your user base grows, so do the support requests. You need someone (or several someones) answering emails, responding to app store reviews, and helping users troubleshoot issues. This can easily become a full-time role.

The apps that stay profitable year after year? They plan for these costs from day one; they build them into their pricing model and make sure their revenue can support not just development, but everything that comes after.

Knowing When to Sunset Old Versions

Here's a truth that makes most app owners uncomfortable—you cant support every version of your app forever. I mean, you literally cant. Each old version you keep running is costing you money in server resources, maintenance time, and testing overhead. But here's the thing, dropping support too quickly can alienate loyal users and tank your retention rates. It's a balance that requires some proper thinking.

In my experience building apps for all sorts of businesses, the version support question comes up every single time we plan a major update. Some clients want to support everything back to iOS 11 (which is mad, honestly) whilst others are ready to drop support for anything older than six months. The right answer? It depends on your user data, not your feelings about it.

You need to look at what percentage of your active users are on each version of your app and each OS version. If only 2% of your users are running iOS 12, keeping that compatibility might be holding back features that could benefit the other 98%. That's not a good trade. But if 15% of your users are still on an older version, cutting them off could seriously impact your revenue.

What to Check Before Dropping Support

Before you make the call to sunset an old version, you need data—not guesses. I always tell clients to analyse these metrics first; active users per version (from the last 90 days), revenue contribution from older versions, cost of maintaining backwards compatibility, and technical limitations the old version is creating. Sometimes you'll find that users on older versions actually spend more because they're long-term customers. Other times they're ghost accounts that haven't opened the app in months.

The communication bit is where most teams mess up, actually. You cant just flip a switch and lock people out. Give users at least 60-90 days notice through in-app messages, push notifications, and email. Explain clearly what's changing and why. Something like "To bring you better features and security, we're updating our minimum requirements" works better than technical jargon about deprecated APIs.

Set a firm policy that you'll support the current version plus two versions back—this gives users time to update whilst keeping your maintenance burden reasonable. Review this every quarter based on actual usage data, not arbitrary timelines.

The Financial Reality of Legacy Support

Let's talk numbers because this is about profit maintenance after all. Every old version you support adds roughly 15-30% more testing time for each release. That's developer hours you're paying for. Then there's the opportunity cost—features you cant build because they'd break compatibility with older systems. I've seen apps lose competitive advantage because they were too cautious about sunsetting old versions.

On the flip side, dropping support too aggressively can cost you real money. Users who get locked out dont always update; sometimes they just leave and find a competitor. You need to weigh the cost of keeping them versus the cost of maintaining their version. Usually the maths works out in favour of moving forward, but not always. Check your specific situation.

One thing that's worked well for clients is the gradual sunset approach. First, you stop adding new features to the old version but keep it functional. Then you reduce support resources. Finally, after proper notice, you enforce the minimum version requirement. This staged approach gives users multiple chances to update without feeling abandoned. And it protects your app profitability by freeing up resources for improvements that drive sustainable revenue rather than just maintaining the past.

Building a Community That Pays

Here's something most people get wrong about app communities—they think its all about getting users to talk to each other. Sure, that's part of it. But a community that actually contributes to your apps profitability? That's a different beast entirely.

I've seen apps with massive user bases struggle to monetise, whilst smaller apps with tight-knit communities generate consistent revenue year after year. The difference isn't the size; its the relationship between the users and your app, and more importantly, between the users themselves.

A paying community starts with giving people a reason to identify with your app beyond its function. This doesn't mean slapping a forum onto your app and hoping for the best—actually, that rarely works. It means creating spaces where users feel ownership. Maybe it's user-generated content that gets featured. Maybe its exclusive access for long-term subscribers. Maybe its the ability to influence your roadmap through voting or feedback sessions.

Making Community Feel Worth the Investment

When users feel like they're part of something, they're more willing to pay for it. I mean, look at apps like Strava or Headspace—they've built communities around shared goals and experiences, not just features. People pay because they want to belong, not just because they want to access premium functionality.

But here's the thing—communities need tending. You can't just build it and walk away. Regular engagement, responding to feedback, highlighting user contributions... it all takes time and resources. The payoff though? Users who stick around longer, spend more, and actively recruit new members for you. They become your best marketing channel, which as we know, is bloody expensive to replace with paid advertising.

Start small. Test what resonates with your users. Then build on what works.

Tracking the Numbers That Actually Matter

You know what drives me mad? When someone tells me their app is doing well because they've hit 50,000 downloads. Downloads mean nothing if those users never open the app again—and I've seen it happen more times than I'd like to admit. The metrics that actually matter are the ones that tell you whether your business is healthy, not just whether people are willing to tap an install button.

Let me be clear about this: vanity metrics will kill your business. They make you feel good whilst your bank account drains. The numbers you need to watch are retention rate (how many users come back after day 1, day 7, day 30), monthly recurring revenue if you're subscription-based, and your customer lifetime value compared to what it costs you to acquire each user. If you're spending £8 to get a user who only generates £5 over their lifetime, you're in trouble; its just maths really.

The moment you start tracking revenue per user alongside engagement metrics, you'll see which features actually drive profit and which ones just look impressive in your analytics dashboard

I track five core metrics for every app we build: daily active users divided by monthly active users (this tells you if people are forming habits), churn rate (how many subscribers cancel each month), average revenue per user, net promoter score (would users recommend you?), and app store rating trends over time. Sure, there are dozens of other things you could track, but these five give you a complete picture of your apps health. Everything else is just noise that distracts you from making the decisions that actually protect your revenue stream.

Look—keeping an app profitable year after year isnt some magic formula that only the big tech companies have figured out. Its about making sensible decisions, staying close to your users, and being willing to adapt when things change. Because trust me, things will change.

I've watched too many great apps fail because the team behind them got comfortable; they stopped listening to users, stopped updating their monetisation strategy, and basically assumed that what worked in year one would work forever. But here's the thing—your users needs evolve, the market shifts, and what seemed like a brilliant revenue model 18 months ago might be completely wrong for where you are now.

The apps that stay profitable are the ones that treat their business like a living thing that needs constant attention. Not obsessive tweaking every week, but regular check-ins on your metrics, honest conversations with your user base, and the courage to make tough calls about features or pricing when the data tells you its time. Some of those decisions will feel uncomfortable—sunsetting beloved features, raising prices, saying no to feature requests—but if you've been tracking the right numbers and staying connected to your community, you'll know when these moves are necessary.

Your app can absolutely be profitable for years to come. It just requires you to stay present, keep learning, and remember why you built this thing in the first place. The technical side? That's honestly the easy part. Its the discipline to keep doing the boring work of monitoring, testing, and adjusting that separates the apps that thrive from those that quietly fade away.