The Short Answer
Keeping an iPhone app running typically costs 15 to 20% of its original build cost per year. For a simple app that often means $2,000 to $8,000 a year, and for a product with a backend, accounts and payments $10,000 to $40,000 or more. The money goes on Apple's fees, hosting and services, yearly iOS updates, bug fixes and support.
Where the Money Goes
App maintenance is five separate costs. Some are fixed, some scale with users, and some depend on how much you want the app to keep improving.
| Cost | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program | $99 a year | Required to stay on the App Store |
| Backend and hosting | $0 to $1,000+ a month | Scales with users and data |
| Third-party services | $0 to $500+ a month | Analytics, crash reporting, email, maps, AI APIs |
| Yearly iOS update work | $1,500 to $10,000 a year | New iOS, new devices, SDK requirements |
| Fixes and support retainer | $500 to $5,000 a month | Depends on response times and release pace |
These are 2026 market ranges, not quotes. Simple apps with no backend sit at the bottom; apps with many users and live services sit at the top.
The Yearly iOS Cycle
Apple ships a new iOS every autumn and periodically requires new submissions to be built with a recent Xcode and SDK. Each cycle means testing the app on the new version, fixing what changed, and sometimes adopting new design conventions, as with Apple's recent visual refresh covered in what Liquid Glass means for your app.
Apps built with native tools such as SwiftUI tend to absorb these changes more easily. Our comparison of SwiftUI, React Native and Flutter covers the long-term trade-offs.
How To Keep Maintenance Costs Down
The cheapest apps to maintain are small, native, well documented and built on few third-party services. Every dependency is something that can change price, break or disappear, so each one should earn its place.
- Keep the dependency list short and remove unused libraries.
- Use crash reporting from day one so bugs are found before reviews mention them.
- Budget a small fixed amount every month instead of waiting for a crisis.
- Make sure you own the code, the Apple developer account and every service account.
Maintenance vs New Features
Separate keeping the app working from making it better. Maintenance is a fixed cost; new features are an investment that should be justified by usage data. Mixing them in one vague retainer is how budgets drift.
For what the build itself costs, see our iPhone app development cost guide.
Where We Fit
Kalex designs and builds native iPhone apps in SwiftUI and ships them through TestFlight to the App Store. See our iOS app service or tell us about your app.