"Passive income": How long does the revenue stream last?

For those that have a few years of solo app development under their belt, how long is the typical lifespan of your app’s income? The peak is probably reached within the first 12-24 months of an app’s life (if it’s a game or highly topical, probably much earlier), but how rapidly does the revenue drop off after that, without you touching the app?

I’m in the market for about 18 months now, and my user engagement (in terms of ad impressions) is still slowly rising. I wonder how long I can enjoy that passive income stream. It’s peanuts at the moment compared to my day job, but if I ever want to do it full time, that would be an interesting piece of information.

It’s hard to tell for me because I update apps when I see them declining. I still have revenue from my first games though (after two years) - it’s not high, but significant enough.

Just about all my apps and games have held down a consistent passive income stream, with a few getting even better in recent times.

Hi Magnesus, could you please give more details about how those updates impact on the app declining curve? By your experience, when is it convenient to invest time in an update and when its better to move on the next app?

I might be the wrong person to ask because I’m clinging too much to old apps instead of making new ones. :slight_smile:

Anyway I normally update after I see a large decline in new downloads (sometimes it might be to correct an error or to add new levels) - once a month for popular apps, once every few months for less popular ones.