Why Do Some Developers Struggle With App Updates?

A social media app with millions of users suddenly stopped working properly on newer Android devices, the comment sections wouldn't load and users couldn't upload videos anymore, which meant the development team had to scramble to fix problems that could have been avoided if they'd kept their code properly organised and maintained. The app had been running smoothly for two years but the developers had been adding new features without properly updating the old code underneath, and when Google changed how Android handled video processing everything broke at once. This kind of situation happens more often than you might think in app development, where teams focus so much on building new things that they forget to take care of what's already there.

App updates aren't just about adding features, they're about keeping the entire system healthy enough to grow without falling apart.

The difference between apps that last for years and those that collapse under their own weight often comes down to how well developers handle updates and ongoing maintenance, but this skill requires a completely different mindset than building something new from scratch does. After working on apps across healthcare, finance, and retail for the past decade I've watched talented developers struggle with updates not because they lack technical ability but because they've never learned the habits and systems that make long-term maintenance possible. The cost of getting this wrong can be massive... a fintech app we took over had racked up about £45,000 in emergency fixes over eighteen months simply because the previous team hadn't documented their work properly.

Planning For The Long Game

Most developers start projects thinking about launch day rather than what happens six months or two years after release, which creates problems that compound over time until updates become harder and more expensive than anyone expected. When we take on a new project we map out a maintenance schedule before writing any code, looking at which parts of the app will need regular attention and which platform updates might affect different features. The fact is that iOS and Android both release major updates annually and smaller updates throughout the year, so you need a system for testing your app against beta versions before they reach users. Understanding how to plan for app updates after launch is crucial for long-term success.

A healthcare app we built had to process patient data in very specific ways that couldn't change without regulatory approval, so we designed the data handling parts separately from the user interface parts, which meant we could update what patients saw without touching the approved medical calculations underneath.

• Schedule time for updates every quarter even when nothing seems broken
• Test against beta versions of iOS and Android before public release
• Keep a list of which features depend on which external services or APIs
• Budget at least 15-20% of initial development costs for annual maintenance
• Create a system for tracking which versions of your app users are running

When Technical Debt Catches Up

Technical debt is what happens when developers take shortcuts to save time in the moment, knowing they'll need to fix things properly later... except later never comes until the app starts breaking. We took over an e-commerce app where the previous team had copied and pasted the same code in fourteen different places instead of writing it once and reusing it, so when they needed to update how the shopping basket worked they had to change fourteen separate files and inevitably missed a few. The app would sometimes charge customers twice or lose items from their basket completely, which cost the business thousands in refunds and damaged their reputation with customers who couldn't trust the checkout process.

Fixing technical debt takes longer than building things right the first time would have, but teams put it off because spending two weeks refactoring code doesn't produce any visible features that stakeholders can see or celebrate. I've found that the best approach is to fix a small piece of technical debt with every major update rather than trying to tackle everything at once, which keeps the codebase healthy without derailing your feature development schedule completely. An education app we maintain spends about 30% of each update cycle cleaning up and improving existing code rather than just adding new features, and this means updates that used to take six weeks now take three because the code is organised in ways that make changes easier. This is particularly important if you're considering whether to switch from cross-platform to native development later, as technical debt makes such transitions much more complex.

Set aside the first three days of every development sprint for refactoring and code cleanup before starting new features. This prevents technical debt from accumulating while keeping your team focused on improvement as part of their regular workflow rather than a special project that never gets prioritised.

The Cost Of Skipping Documentation

Documentation feels like a waste of time when you're building something new because you understand how everything works right now, but that knowledge disappears surprisingly quickly when you haven't looked at code for a few months or when team members leave. We inherited a financial services app where none of the complex calculations were explained anywhere in the code or in separate documents, so when we needed to add a new investment product we had to spend three weeks just figuring out how the existing system worked before we could start building. The company had paid another development team about eighty grand to build the original app and then had to pay us nearly fifteen thousand just to understand it well enough to make changes.

Good documentation doesn't mean writing essays about every line of code... it means explaining why you made certain decisions and how different parts of the system connect to each other. When we build apps now we create a simple diagram showing how data flows through the system and write short explanations of any code that does something unusual or complicated, which takes maybe an extra 10% of development time but cuts maintenance time by about half. The developers who come after you (or future you) will need to understand not just what the code does but why it exists and what problems it solves, which is information that disappears if you don't write it down somewhere accessible. This is especially critical when documenting your app's data processing activities for compliance purposes.

Why Some Teams Fear Breaking Things

The scariest part of updating an app isn't writing new code but worrying about what might break in parts of the app you didn't touch, which makes developers increasingly nervous about making changes as apps grow larger and more complex. This fear is completely rational because apps are interconnected systems where changing one thing can create unexpected problems somewhere else entirely... I've seen teams add a new payment method and somehow break the notification system because both relied on the same underlying service in ways nobody remembered. An app with poor organisation and no automated testing becomes like a house of cards where you're afraid to touch anything because the whole structure might collapse.

Fear of breaking things transforms confident developers into timid maintainers who avoid necessary updates because the risk feels too high.

Automated testing removes most of this fear by checking that existing features still work every time you make changes, which gives you confidence that your update hasn't broken anything important in other parts of the app. We build comprehensive test suites for every app we create that automatically check hundreds of different scenarios in minutes, catching problems before they reach users rather than discovering them through angry one-star reviews. Setting up good testing takes extra time upfront but pays back many times over by making updates faster and less stressful, and by preventing the kind of catastrophic bugs that damage user trust and require expensive emergency fixes.

Managing Multiple Platform Requirements

iOS and Android handle things differently in ways that affect how you build and update apps, from how they manage background tasks to how they display notifications to users, which means updates often require platform-specific code rather than universal changes. Apple and Google also have different schedules and priorities for their platform updates, so a feature that works perfectly on iOS might need significant modifications for Android or vice versa. The temptation is to build everything for one platform first and then port it to the other, but this creates a maintenance nightmare where you're essentially managing two separate apps that need to stay in sync with each other.

Using cross-platform frameworks like React Native or Flutter helps manage this complexity by letting you write most code once for both platforms, but you'll still need platform-specific code for about 20-30% of features depending on the app's complexity. The best strategy is to structure your code so platform-specific parts are clearly separated from universal parts, which makes updates easier because you know exactly which files need platform-specific changes and which can be updated universally. A retail app we maintain has about seventy percent shared code and thirty percent platform-specific code organised into clearly labelled folders, so when we update the checkout process we know exactly which parts need testing on both platforms and which are universal.

The Reality Of App Store Guidelines

Apple and Google both have extensive rules about what apps can and cannot do, and these guidelines change regularly in ways that can require significant updates to existing apps even when you're not adding new features. Apple rejected a client's app update because we'd added a feature that let users tip content creators, which Apple said violated their in-app purchase rules even though similar features existed in other apps, and we had to redesign the entire tipping system to comply. The rejection delayed the update by three weeks and cost about six thousand pounds in additional development time, all because of a guideline interpretation that wasn't clear from the documentation.

1. Subscribe to Apple and Google developer newsletters for guideline updates
2. Join developer forums where people discuss app rejection reasons
3. Build relationships with other developers who can share their experiences
4. Leave buffer time in your schedule for potential rejection and resubmission
5. Document why you implemented features certain ways for future reference

Before starting work on features that involve payments, user-generated content, or data collection, submit a detailed description to Apple and Google for preliminary approval. This prevents building something that gets rejected later, saving weeks of rework and frustration.

The only reliable way to handle this unpredictability is to stay informed about guideline changes and build flexibility into your app's architecture so you can modify how features work without rebuilding them completely. We design payment systems, for example, so they can switch between different payment processors without changing the user interface, which has saved clients when their original payment provider suddenly became non-compliant with new regulations. Understanding security rules that apply to specific app types is particularly important for entertainment and media apps.

Building Systems That Last

The difference between apps that become easier to update over time and those that become progressively harder comes down to whether you're building systems or just solving immediate problems, and this distinction affects every decision from how you name your files to how you structure your database. A system is a set of rules and patterns that apply consistently throughout your app, so when you need to add something new you already know where it goes and how it should work rather than inventing a new approach each time. The retail apps that we've maintained for five years or more all have clear systems for how they handle things like user authentication, data storage, error messages, and feature flags that let us turn features on or off without deploying new code.

Code Organisation Principles

Every file in your project should have a clear purpose and an obvious location based on what it does, so developers can find things without searching through hundreds of files hoping to stumble across the right one. We organise code by feature rather than by file type, so everything related to the shopping basket lives together rather than spreading it across folders for views, controllers, and models that happen to touch basket functionality. This means when you need to update the basket you open one folder and see all the related code rather than hunting through the entire project. If you're planning to develop solo, understanding these essential skills for solo app development becomes even more critical.

Dependency Management

Apps rely on dozens of external libraries and services that get updated independently of your app, which can create conflicts when different libraries require different versions of the same underlying code. We maintain a detailed list of every external dependency each app uses and check monthly whether any have released updates that fix security problems or add features we need, then test thoroughly before updating because occasionally new versions introduce bugs or change how things work. This is particularly crucial for enterprise applications where security challenges in cross-platform enterprise apps can become exponentially more complex with each dependency.

Keeping Up With User Expectations

Users compare your app to every other app they use rather than to how your app used to work, which means their expectations constantly rise as other apps introduce new features or better design patterns. An app that felt modern and well-designed three years ago now looks outdated compared to apps that have adopted newer visual styles and interaction patterns, and users notice this even if they can't articulate exactly what feels old-fashioned. We regularly review the apps our clients compete with to understand how user expectations are shifting, then prioritise updates that keep the app feeling current without chasing every new trend that appears.

The gap between what your app does and what users expect it to do widens every month you go without updates, even when your app hasn't technically gotten worse.

Performance expectations have increased dramatically as devices have become more powerful and internet connections have gotten faster, so features that users tolerated a few years ago now feel frustratingly slow. A three-second loading time used to be acceptable but now users expect most screens to load in under a second, which means you need to regularly optimise how your app loads and displays data. We've improved retention rates by 15-20% simply by speeding up apps without adding any new features, just by reducing loading times and making interactions feel more responsive to user input.

The most successful apps we've worked with treat updates as an ongoing conversation with users rather than occasional interventions when something breaks, releasing small improvements every few weeks rather than massive updates twice a year. This approach lets you respond to user feedback more quickly and makes each update less risky because you're changing smaller amounts of code at once, and users appreciate seeing regular improvements that show the app is actively maintained rather than abandoned. Consider building an email list before your app launches to maintain direct communication with your users about updates and improvements.

Security and Compliance Considerations

App updates often need to address changing security requirements and compliance standards, which can force significant architectural changes even when you're not adding user-facing features. We've seen apps that worked perfectly for months suddenly need major updates because new data protection regulations came into effect or security vulnerabilities were discovered in underlying systems. A healthcare client's app required three weeks of updates simply to comply with new patient data handling requirements, even though the app's functionality remained exactly the same from the user's perspective.

Enterprise apps face particular challenges because they need to integrate with corporate security systems that change frequently and often without much notice. The key is building security and compliance considerations into your update process from the beginning rather than treating them as special cases that require different procedures. This includes understanding how to prevent fake apps from stealing company data and implementing robust authentication systems.

Accessibility and Inclusive Design

Accessibility requirements evolve as technology improves and as our understanding of user needs becomes more sophisticated, which means apps need regular updates to remain usable by people with disabilities. Apple and Google both update their accessibility guidelines regularly and introduce new assistive technologies that apps should support, so what counted as accessible two years ago might not meet current standards. We've found that making apps accessible for users with disabilities is much easier when you build accessibility considerations into your update process rather than treating it as a separate project.

Conclusion

Developers struggle with app updates not because updating is harder than initial development but because it requires different skills and habits that most teams never deliberately build, from documentation practices to testing systems to code organisation principles that make changes safer and faster. The apps that thrive over multiple years are those where teams treat maintenance as a fundamental part of development rather than an afterthought or necessary evil that gets minimal attention and resources. Investing in good systems and practices from the start costs more upfront but pays back many times over by making your app easier and cheaper to maintain as it grows and evolves with changing user needs and platform requirements.

If you're dealing with an app that's become difficult to update or you're planning a new project and want to build something that lasts, get in touch and we can talk about how to set things up properly from the start.

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