An app needs updating regularly after launch: to stay compatible and secure as Android and iOS change, and to keep giving customers the experience they expect. Few businesses can update as often as the most successful apps, since a full update can cost 10% to 30% of the original development, but updates at the right times are worth the investment.
How often are apps updated?
A survey by The Manifest found that 38% of companies update their app monthly. On the Google Play Store the average app was updated every 58 days, but social media apps, the ones with the most engagement, every 13 days. The most successful apps typically update between once and four times a month.
Some updates are forced on you: each time Android and iOS add new features, applications and security, existing apps have to catch up. That shouldn't be the only time you update yours.
What kinds of update are there?
Two: compatibility and security, and user experience. Compatibility and security updates are routine, and if you are not making them, something is seriously wrong with your app strategy. User experience updates belong in your wider UX and business strategy.
Is your app still doing what you built it for?
Think back to why you built it: to be a marketing tool that treated customers as individuals and sent them what interested them; to give you an edge, with a simpler customer experience than your competitors offered; and to give better customer service, through a direct link to the support customers need. If it still does all that, you have probably updated it recently. If you aren't sure, it probably doesn't.
What do user experience updates do?
They keep up with what customers expect. Technology doesn't stand still, and nor do your customers' expectations. They are much more likely to want self-service than they used to be, and if your app doesn't offer it in a well-made, modern way, they may look elsewhere. A knowledge base in your app answers their product questions at any time, whether or not you are available.
As customers get used to new tools, they expect them from every business: video calls with customer service, voice notes to support, and chatbots in apps. If you don't update your app to keep up, they will switch to a different one.
They show you listen. No amount of testing compares to feedback from real customers, and a refreshed app brings it. Acting on what they ask for shows you care about them and about your service, and makes them more loyal, however competitive the market.
They bring attention. Your app competes not only with your direct competitors but with every other app on your customers' phones. An update reminds people it is there, and can be the reason for a push notification about its new features. Frequent updates show you are committed to your app, and so to your customers, which builds a connection between them and your business.
How 4 Roads designs and builds apps.
Updated on 19 September 2026.
