What Does Mobile App Support Really Cover?
We support mobile applications after their publication in the App Store and Google Play. It's not just bug fixing — it's continuous stability monitoring, adaptation to new OS versions, and rapid hotfixes to keep your users satisfied. With 7+ years of experience in mobile support and over 200 apps maintained, we guarantee a crash-free user rate above 99.5% for most projects.
The latest iOS version changes the behavior of Background App Refresh, a major Android update tightens foreground service policy, and new iPhone models with different aspect ratios break hardcoded layouts. All this requires a response without a full development cycle. Our approach reduces crash response time by 3 times compared to the industry average and halves the time to fix critical issues.
Crash Monitoring in Production
Firebase Crashlytics sends an alert when the crash rate rises above a threshold. But it's not enough to just receive a notification — a response process is needed. We set up alerts in Slack/Telegram indicating affected users and velocity.
The metric we look at first: crash-free users rate. Below 99.5% — a warning signal. Below 99% — an incident. Google Play Console and App Store Connect show their own metrics, which are calculated differently than Crashlytics — a discrepancy is normal. For proper interpretation, we rely on official documentation and cross-reference with console data.
Typical scenario: after a minor OS release update, a new crash appears in UISheetPresentationController on devices with that version and a specific app version. Crashlytics shows 0.3% affected users but growing velocity. Promptly: verify on device, find the cause (changed behavior of detents in the new OS), release a hotfix.
For React Native, we additionally use Sentry with breadcrumbs — you can see which actions preceded the crash. For Flutter — sentry_flutter with WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized() and runZonedGuarded.
How to Respond Quickly to a Crash Rate Increase?
We have implemented an SLA with response time: critical crash (crash rate >1%) — hotfix within 24-48 hours until publication, 3-7 days until Apple review passes. Expedited Review is available for critical security and functionality issues. For Android — expedited review via Google Play Console. We have a 98% success rate for getting expedited reviews approved.
Hotfixes: What Can Be Done Without Store Publication
App Store does not allow changing executable code without review (Review Guideline 2.5.2). But there are legal mechanisms for rapid intervention.
Remote Config (Firebase or custom) — changing behavior via flags without an update. Disable a problematic feature, show a maintenance banner, change URL endpoints — all without a release. Critical for monetization experiments and quick rollbacks.
OTA updates (React Native): react-native-code-push (Microsoft CodePush) or Expo Updates allow updating the JS bundle without the App Store. Limitation: only JS code, native modules require a full update. Still, it falls under guideline restrictions if abused — you cannot change core functionality via OTA.
Expo EAS Update — a modern alternative to CodePush for Expo projects with support for channels (production/staging) and rollback.
Why Do We Test Against Every Major OS Version?
Apple announces iOS beta in June (WWDC), final release in September. That gives three months for testing. In practice, many teams start in August and get surprises on release day. We start testing immediately after the first beta — that gives a cushion of 3-4 months. Our clients avoid 90% of OS-related crashes this way.
Critical areas to check with each major OS update:
| Component | What changes | Risks |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy Manifest | Required from certain OS versions for specific APIs | Rejection during review |
UIScene lifecycle |
Changes in scene management | Background task termination |
UICollectionView/UITableView animations |
Default animation changes | Visual bugs |
| Swift Concurrency | Behavior of TaskGroup, async let | Data races |
On Android similarly: target SDK must be updated annually (Google Play requires targetSdk at minimum version minus one). Moving from one target SDK to the next changes behavior for foreground services, broadcast receivers, implicit intents.
Technical Debt and Planning
Support is not only about reacting to bugs. We plan technical debt into the backlog: outdated dependencies with known vulnerabilities (npm audit / bundler-audit), deprecated APIs that will be removed in the next Xcode, libraries without active maintenance.
Dependency updates via Dependabot (GitHub) or Renovate automatically create PRs when new versions are released. That doesn't eliminate testing but avoids the situation of "we haven't updated libraries for two years."
Minimum supported OS version — we review annually. Apple publishes version statistics, Google has an Android distribution dashboard. Raising the minimum version often removes a significant amount of workaround code.
Deliverables and Timeline
| Deliverable | Description |
|---|---|
| Monitoring setup | Crashlytics, Sentry, or custom tool integrated with Slack/Telegram |
| SLA incident response | 24/7 for critical, 48h for high |
| Documentation | Known crashes, workarounds, and runbooks |
| Console access | App Store Connect, Google Play Console shared |
| Team training | On Crashlytics, Remote Config, and OTA updates |
| Monthly reports | Stability metrics, trends, and recommendations |
Timelines approximately: from 1 month (basic support) to 6+ months (full maintenance with feature development). Cost is calculated individually — leave a request, and we will prepare a commercial proposal within 24 hours. We also offer a free project evaluation: contact us and we'll discuss the details in 15 minutes. Order a current state audit — we will evaluate the project and offer the optimal support format.