Updating for iOS 11 - a chance to rethink your app?

Roughly 8% of the apps on the iOS App Store are not ready for iOS 11, according to Sensor Tower, an app intelligence firm. Our (illumineX) own informal survey indicates that for users with more than 50 apps on their device, around 15% of those apps are not yet ready for iOS 11 (it varies quite a bit, clustering between 10% and 20%). The technical challenges of updating for iOS 11 are perhaps non-trivial, but they're well within the reach of the typical iOS development team. So, why are so many apps on the verge of being abandoned? Some vendors might be waiting for the release of iOS 11 to update their app. But that might not be the only reason, or even the main reason, given that roughly 90% of app vendors have updated, already.

Something else might be at work.

I suspect some app owners/vendors aren't sure about how to move their app forward—not due to technical updates needed for 64-bit iOS, but because their app isn't performing as well as they would like in the market.

I'd like to know more about the challenges faced by organizations trying to update their apps for iOS 11.

If you have an app and would like to talk about the business and marketing aspects which will help you decide whether or not to update your app, feel free to contact me, directly via email: gary@illumineX.com any time.

Let's chat about your  original goals for your app, changing technology and market conditions which affect your app performance, and whatever else you see as a factor in your decision to maintain or abandon your app. Maybe there's a better exit strategy, than simply abandoning an underperforming app with a great concept. Maybe our conversation will help you identify  opportunities to refresh your app and meet your objectives.

Feel free to like, share, and comment on this post if you have thoughts about this. It strikes me as odd that so many apps are on the brink of being wiped off the app store.  I won't accidentally shame anybody here by naming apps, but some of these apps were clearly intended as substantial marketing efforts of major organizations, including radio stations, universities, large companies. Others look like really good app ideas that might not be fully realized (suffer from poor UX (User eXperience) or which suffer issues with the monetization / business model.

Anyway, I'd love to chat with some folk who are wrestling with the question of whether or not to update their apps for iOS 11.  Let's chat and see if we come up with a good idea for your team. This might be a great opportunity to deeply rethink your app, and boost your app performance.

More than 180,000 iPhone apps won't be compatible with iOS 11 by Avery Hartmans of Business Insider.