App Modernisation Pricing

Apps decay if you ignore them. New phones, new operating systems, new store policies, new security expectations: every quarter the gap between your app and the platforms widens. Multizone subscriptions exist to close that gap. The modernisation fee exists to bring the app up to a known good baseline before the subscription begins.

The numbers below cover the two productised services: Advanced App and Sophisticated App. MVP App and App Platform are day-rate engagements priced on scope. Talk to us.

Commit longer, pay less

Twelve months is our floor. Most clients commit to longer because the subscription pays for itself the first time the App Store changes a policy or Apple ships a new iOS.

What the subscription is actually buying you

An app that ships today is current today. Within a year the platforms have moved on and the app has not, unless it is being actively maintained. The work involved is broader than it first appears:

• iOS releases. Apple's major iOS each September introduces new platform capabilities (sign-in patterns, share sheets, widgets, App Intents, Live Activities) which often improve adoption for apps that take them up promptly. Point releases through the year add further SDK and API changes that need accommodating.
• Android updates. Major Android releases come annually, but they are only one of three streams to track. Monthly Android platform updates and quarterly Pixel Feature Drops add capabilities; Google Play Services updates change APIs, security models and developer-facing libraries independently of any OS version. All three need attention.
• Store policy changes. App Store and Play store policy updates (on data handling, accessibility, advertising, age-appropriate design) require explicit conformance and re-testing with each release.
• Security and regulatory requirements. These differ by jurisdiction and tighten over time. Encryption standards, the UK Age-Appropriate Design Code, restrictions on imagery involving minors, biometric data handling, GDPR derivatives across the EU. What was acceptable at launch may need amendment within a year, and a store rejection or regulator notice on these grounds is expensive to remedy in haste.
• Visual design conventions. Modernisation lands the app on current, restrained, platform-specific design: iOS following Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, Android following Material 3. Without ongoing attention that currency erodes within roughly eighteen months as the platforms continue to evolve.

Maintain stops the decline. We hold the line: compliance, security, OS updates, store policy, regression fixes. The work that stops your app falling behind.

Enhance does all of that and pushes forward. A monthly engineering allowance for new features, quarterly design reviews, priority response, all for businesses whose app is now central to how customers experience them.

How we calculate your fee

Most apps fall within the standard fixed price, and the audit confirms whether yours does. Where an app sits outside that envelope, whether unusually straightforward (a lower fee), genuinely complex (a higher fee), or in a regulated sector that calls for a bespoke engagement, we tell you on day two of the audit. You then decide whether to proceed.

Factors that influence the modernisation fee:

• Number of distinct screens and user flows
• Backend integrations and the bespoke API surface
• Sector-specific compliance requirements that may take the app outside the fixed-price process altogether: FCA-regulated activity, GDPR-sensitive flows, healthcare. The audit identifies these early.
• Whether new features are added at modernisation time, or whether the work is a like-for-like rebuild

Apps in heavily regulated sectors are usually quoted on a bespoke engagement basis rather than the fixed-price modernisation process. We do not take on gambling apps under any engagement model.

Factors that influence the subscription:

• Active user volume and the platforms supported
• Backend services we are also responsible for monitoring
• Support service-level agreement: the standard is next business day; faster SLAs are quoted on request

What is not included

So you can plan accordingly:

• Bespoke new feature work outside the included allowance. Modernisation is a like-for-like rebuild plus standards uplift. Sophisticated App includes a feature allowance under Enhance; substantial new features are scoped separately.
• Brand redesign. Your existing brand carries through. We work with your design partner if a redesign is in scope.
• Backend rebuild. If your backend also needs modernisation, we can scope it, but it is not part of the app fee.
• Marketing-composed assets. ASO copy, paid acquisition and marketing-designed promotional screenshots are out of scope. The device screenshots we generate for store listings are yours to use as source material.

How you pay

The modernisation fee is invoiced 50% on signature and 50% on store submission. Subscriptions are invoiced monthly in advance, or annually in advance with the discount set out in the term cards above. UK Direct Debit, BACS or card. We are VAT-registered.

Terms in plain English

• Annual uplift. Subscription rises annually in line with UK CPI, capped at 5% in any one year. We give a month's notice before any uplift takes effect.
• Early termination. If you exit before your minimum term ends, the remaining months of the current subscription year are payable in one final invoice, with a discount adjustment if necessary. For 36-month customers, the waived modernisation fee also becomes payable on early termination. Standard practice for managed subscriptions; nothing exotic.
• Source code. Yours from day one. Cancellation does not affect your ownership of the app or the codebase.
• Off-boarding. If you leave at end of term, we hand over signing certificates, repository access and a written off-boarding note at no extra charge.