Pricing and quotation guide
Mobile app redesign cost
The cost of an app redesign depends less on how many screens change than on what lies underneath. A visual refresh of a healthy app is a contained project; a redesign that first needs framework upgrades, library replacements and platform requirement updates is considerably larger, and a rebuild larger still. An audit at the start shows which case you are in and gives a reliable basis for the estimate.
This page explains what drives redesign cost and how it compares with leaving an app to age.
Illustrative diagram
What drives redesign cost
- Code health
- Outdated frameworks and libraries must be updated before redesigning.
- Scope of change
- Visual refresh, journey redesign or full rebuild.
- Platform requirements
- For example Google Play target API updates.
- Data migration
- Users' saved data and settings carried across.
- Release approach
- Feature flags, staged rollouts and monitoring.
Costs paid to third parties (separate from our fees)
- User research and testing sessions
- Store listing assets for the new design
- Analytics and crash reporting
- Support time during rollout
If the audit finds foundations badly out of date, the foundation work may cost more than the redesign itself.
Three levels of redesign
| Level | Typically includes |
|---|---|
| Visual refresh | New look, components and layouts on healthy code |
| Journey redesign | Reworked flows, navigation and screens, some code changes |
| Rebuild | New code on current technology, with data migration |
Paying for the audit
A short, paid audit of ratings, crash data, usage, code and platform requirements is the best way to make a redesign estimate reliable. It produces a prioritised list of problems and a recommendation on refresh, journey redesign or rebuild, with ranges for each. It also gives you something useful whatever you decide, such as a list of urgent fixes or required platform updates. Ask what the audit will deliver before agreeing it.
A provider who quotes a fixed redesign price without looking at the code is guessing.
The cost of leaving it
An app left untouched does not stay as it is. New operating systems and devices expose bugs, ratings fall, and store requirements eventually affect whether updates can be published: Google Play, for example, requires new apps and updates to target recent Android versions, and existing apps that fall behind may not reach new users on newer devices. Weigh redesign cost against these risks, not against zero.
Example: foundation first
Illustrative example — not a client case study
Situation: A retailer's app has falling ratings and has not been updated in over two years.
- An audit finds an outdated framework blocking required Android updates.
- Phase one updates the foundations and fixes the most frequent crashes.
- Phase two redesigns the reordering and checkout journeys behind feature flags.
What this shows: Required updates were met first, and the redesign was built on a healthy base. This example is illustrative.
Comparing redesign quotations
Check whether each quotation includes user research, foundation updates, data migration, testing on both platforms, gradual release and store listing updates. Two quotes that differ greatly often assume different code health, so ask what each assumes.
Phasing a redesign
Redesigns can be spread over several releases: urgent fixes and required platform updates first, then the journeys users complain about most, then the rest of the visual refresh. Each phase can be measured on ratings, crash rates and task completion before the next is funded. Phasing also reduces the risk of disrupting users with too much change at once, and gives the team time to build a reusable design system as it goes.
Agree phase boundaries that each deliver something users notice.
Budget for user research
Interviews and usability tests with current and lapsed users cost relatively little compared with the build, yet they decide whether the redesign fixes the right things. Include several sessions before design and a round of testing on the new design before release.
After the redesign
Plan a yearly upkeep budget so the app does not drift back into the state that made the redesign necessary: OS updates, store requirements, library updates and small improvements.
Data migration and old versions
Carrying users' saved data and settings into the redesigned app, and keeping the backend compatible with older versions for a while, takes design and testing effort. It is easy to leave out of an estimate and expensive to get wrong, because users who lose data or get signed out tend to leave poor reviews. Ask how each provider plans to handle it.
Questions about mobile app redesign cost
What drives app redesign cost?
Code health, scope of change, platform requirements, data migration and release approach.
Why start with an audit?
It shows whether foundations need updating, which can change the estimate greatly.
Is a visual refresh cheaper than a rebuild?
Usually, if the code underneath is healthy.
Do platform requirements add cost?
They can, for example updating to Google Play's target API level.
What does it cost to leave an app as it is?
Falling ratings, crashes and eventually problems publishing updates.
Is gradual release extra?
It adds some work but reduces the risk of a bad release reaching everyone.
Sources referenced
Platform features, guidance and rules change. We check the current versions before committing to an approach. This page is general information, not legal advice.
- Google: Meet Google Play's target API level requirement (opens in a new tab) — reviewed 2026-10-23
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