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Home » Blogs » App maintenance: What Shopify owners should know post-launch
By Gaurav Parvadiya | Last Updated On July 30th, 2025
Launch day is supposed to be the end of the hard work, right?
You’ve built your Shopify store’s mobile app, tested it, submitted it to the App Store and Google Play, and now it’s live.
Feels great. But here’s the part no one tells you until things start to break: post-launch is when the real work begins. Yes, your job is not over yet; now you need to focus on app support and bug fixes.
Because a mobile app isn’t a one-time setup. It’s an ongoing asset that lives in a fast-changing ecosystem – new devices, OS updates, API changes, and evolving customer behavior.
If you treat it like a “set it and forget it” tool, you’ll start noticing small issues that quietly pile up: slow loading times, outdated UI, failed push notifications, or worse – crashes during peak sale days. So, you need to maintain the Shopify app after launch regularly.
That’s why app maintenance isn’t optional; it’s core to protecting your conversion rate, user trust, and long-term retention.
Think of your mobile app like your physical store. If the lights go out or the door sticks, people stop coming back. Your app is no different. You need to apply the mobile app maintenance best practices for the lifetime.
For Shopify store owners, a mobile app is more than a sales channel; it’s a retention engine. And retention only works when things run smoothly. A regular Shopify app maintenance ensures your app:
And here’s the kicker: customers won’t tell you when things go wrong. They just stop using the app.
An Adobe study showed 52% of users are less likely to engage with a brand if the mobile experience is poor, and maintenance is how you prevent that.
Let’s be blunt, neglecting maintenance for the post-launch is expensive.
Not just in money, but in lost customer trust. If your app glitches during Black Friday flash sales or stops sending push notifications during a restock drop, that’s thousands in missed revenue. It might be that the app update cycle is not functioning properly, or it could be any other issues that require maintenance.
Other risks include:
Worst of all? You often don’t know there’s a problem until a customer points it out in a review. To avoid such incidents, you need supervision on your Shopify app maintenance.
A single performance issue can tank your app’s rankings. And the Shopify ecosystem is competitive – if your app doesn’t work right, your competitors will. Your mobile app maintenance best practices should fall into place in the right manner.
Reactive Shopify app maintenance is like playing whack-a-mole; you’re always a step behind. Waiting for a bad review or user complaint to alert you of issues means damage has already been done. By the time you fix it, you’ve likely lost revenue, trust, or both.
Proactive post-launch app checklist flips that.
Instead of reacting, you monitor app health continuously. You run performance audits monthly. You check feature usage regularly. You test for OS updates before they cause a crash. This gives you control over your app’s lifecycle and your user experience.
Here’s the bottom line: the cost of prevention is always lower than the cost of repair. One example? A brand we worked with saw a 25% drop in retention simply because push notifications stopped reaching Android users after a permissions change in Android 13.
A proactive check would’ve caught that in a week. Instead, it took two months and three angry reviews to notice.
In the Shopify world, where retention is everything, the brands that plan ahead and apply mobile app maintenance best practices are the ones that win loyalty and repeat business.
After launch, many store owners breathe a sigh of relief, but that’s often where problems begin. You need to maintain the Shopify app after launch. App success is not just about launch; it’s about iteration. Here are five common (and costly) mistakes you should avoid:
Your app isn’t a “set it and forget it” product. Over time, load times creep up, animations lag, and interactions feel less fluid. If you’re not updating performance regularly, users notice – and they bounce. You need an app version control system up and working.
Your users are telling you exactly what’s broken. A clunky cart? A crash on login? If you’re not reading and acting on reviews, you’re missing out on the best free QA team you’ll ever have. Add “Regular reply to Reviews” to your post-launch app checklist to avoid losing your customers.
New iPhones and Androids drop every year. If your app doesn’t adjust for screen sizes, gestures, or OS quirks, you’ll lose users before they even browse your products. So, maintain the Shopify app after launch and observe closely whether the layout matches the latest devices.
Your store evolves – new categories, bestsellers, branding. But if your App Store screenshots or copy are from 2022, you’re underselling your brand. Refresh listings quarterly to reflect your current offering. This approach falls under the mobile app maintenance best practices.
Holiday sales? Summer drops? Your app should adapt visually and functionally for seasonal spikes. That could mean adjusting load handling, updating banners, or streamlining the checkout flow for high-intent users. When you have a working Shopify app maintenance system in place, it takes care of all these things.
So, what exactly should you be looking at? When you maintain the Shopify app after launch, it’s not just about fixing bugs; it’s about making sure your app evolves with the ecosystem.
Here are the key areas that require attention during the mobile app maintenance best practices:
Regular app support and bug fixes in these areas not only prevent issues but also give you an edge in CX.
There’s no single answer, but consistency is key. For most Shopify apps, a good cadence looks like this:
If you’re using a no-code Shopify app builder like Twinr, many of these updates are handled automatically. But even then, you need to keep an eye on analytics, test features, and update app store assets.
Remember: you don’t have to do everything yourself. But you do have to own the responsibility.
Here’s a simple breakdown of what a standard maintenance and app update cycle looks like for a Shopify store app:
This cycle helps you stay proactive, not reactive.
You can’t fix what you don’t measure. These are the non-negotiable app health metrics that every Shopify store owner should watch:
💡 Expert Tip: Low app ratings aren’t just a vanity metric. They impact discoverability and install rates, especially on iOS, where rating trends influence App Store ranking.
If you’re a solo founder or small team, maintaining your app might feel overwhelming. But here’s the truth: you don’t need an in-house dev team to keep things running smoothly.
Your options for mobile app maintenance best practices:
Regardless of the route, assign clear ownership. Too many brands treat Shopify app maintenance like “someone else’s problem”, until something breaks.
Set up a recurring task in your project management tool. Have a post-launch app checklist. Know who reviews the analytics, who tests after updates, and who’s responsible for pushing fixes.
Your app isn’t “set it and forget it.” It’s a living product.
Costs vary, but here’s a general guide for you to maintain the Shopify app after launch:
What you shouldn’t do: skip Shopify app maintenance to “save money.” Deferred maintenance always turns into higher costs later, like rebuilding a broken checkout module, getting delisted from app stores, or losing retention.
A smart way to manage costs is to create a maintenance tier system:
This way, you avoid over-engineering small issues while still maintaining reliability and performance through the post-launch app checklist.
Your app’s frontend gets all the attention, but behind the scenes, your backend needs just as much love. Poor data sync between Shopify and your app can cause more user issues than any button misalignment.
Sync delays can lead to:
If you’ve set up custom fields, metafields, or product tags inside Shopify, test how they render across your app UI. Some no-code app builders pull this data imperfectly, and it can break personalization if left unchecked.
Also, consider database bloat. Unused media files, outdated product variants, and dead scripts add weight to your app’s backend. That weight slows down queries and affects your app’s responsiveness, especially during traffic surges.
Conduct a monthly data hygiene check, find out whether they are meeting the mobile app maintenance best practices:
Your backend is like plumbing. If it clogs up, users feel it, even if they don’t see it.
Here’s a quick-hit checklist to stay on top of maintenance after your app goes live:
Set calendar reminders. Use automation tools. Whatever works. Just don’t assume “launched” means “done.”
Building a Shopify mobile app is a smart growth move. But maintaining it is what separates temporary success from lasting ROI.
Your app is your most personal channel. It sits on your customer’s home screen. It can drive loyalty, increase repeat purchases, and lower CAC, but only if it keeps working flawlessly.
So don’t just launch and leave but maintain Shopify app after launch.
Build a Shopify app maintenance habit. Track your app’s health. Treat it like a living product, not a one-time campaign. Your customers – and your bottom line – will thank you.
Gaurav is the founder and CEO of Twinr, a tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience and a passion for SaaS. With a Master's degree in Computer Science, he specializes in no-code development, driving innovation in the mobile app industry. When he's not busy growing the company, you'll find him writing about tech, growth, software development, e-commerce, and occasionally sneaking in a game of badminton.