Sitting on a Game or App You No Longer Update? Here's What It's Actually Worth

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Lots of developers have one of these. Maybe it's the puzzle game you shipped during a slow summer, or the utility app you built because you needed it yourself. It still gets downloads, it still earns a little from ads or in-app purchases, and you haven't touched the code in a year.

That app is an asset, and there's a real market of buyers who want working apps with real users. Here's how they work out what yours is worth, and what you can do to push that number up.

Start with profit, not downloads

Buyers price small apps on earnings, not install counts. The usual measure is SDE, or seller's discretionary earnings. In plain terms, it's your annual profit with your own pay and any one-off or personal expenses added back. If the app made $30,000 last year after store fees, hosting and ad spend, and you charged nothing for your own time, your SDE is roughly $30,000.

That number gets multiplied. Marketplace data for the first half of 2026 puts the average app sale at 2.62 times annual profit, with the top quarter of apps selling for 5.46 times. The M&A advisers who broker these deals publish similar bands: ad-supported and single-platform utility apps tend to land between 1.8x and 3.5x, while subscription apps with strong retention reach 3.5x to 6x.

Applying that ad-supported band, that $30,000-a-year app could reasonably sell for somewhere between roughly $54,000 and $105,000, and more if it sits at the top of its band. The gap between the low and high end is where the factors below come in.

Organic traffic is worth more than paid

Where your users come from matters a lot. An app that pulls installs from app store search is getting free distribution, and buyers love that. Apple says almost 65% of App Store downloads happen directly after a search, so an app that ranks for the right keywords is sitting on the most valuable traffic source there is.

An app that only grows while you pay for ads is a different story. A buyer will look at what each paid install costs against what it earns, and if the margin only holds up because one ad channel is cheap right now, they'll price in that risk. If most of your installs show up with no ad spend at all, say so loudly and bring the numbers.

Retention tells buyers if people actually like it

Downloads show interest, while retention shows whether people stick around. Buyers will ask for cohort data, meaning how many users from a given month are still opening the app after one day, seven days, 30 days and 90 days.

What they want to see is a curve that flattens out. If a solid group of players is still around at day 30 and day 90, the app has a loyal core, and that core keeps earning without much help from you. For games in particular, a stable audience that returns on its own is one of the strongest signals you can bring to a sale.

Store compliance is a value issue

An app you no longer update can quietly fall behind store rules, and buyers check for that.

On Google Play, new apps and updates have had to target Android 16 (API level 36) since August 31, 2026, and existing apps must target at least Android 15 (API level 35) to stay available to new users on newer devices. Fall below that line and your app stops showing up for a growing share of Android users.

Apple has its own process. Apps that haven't been updated in three years and get extremely few downloads over a rolling 12 months can be flagged for removal, with up to 90 days to submit an update.

The good part is that compliance is fixable, and fixing it before a sale removes an easy reason for a buyer to lower an offer. If you'd rather not do the work yourself, many buyers price it in and handle it after the deal, since keeping apps current is part of their job.

Get your paperwork in order

You don't need a data room worthy of a Fortune 500 merger, but buyers will want the basics:

·     12 months of revenue, ideally reconciled to your store payouts

·     Install numbers split by organic and paid

·     Retention cohorts

·     A list of the SDKs and ad networks in the build

·     Access to the source code, plus any backend, analytics and third-party accounts

The cleaner this package is, the faster the deal moves and the more confident the buyer feels about paying toward the top of the range.

How long does it take?

Faster than most people expect. Advisers who handle these sales say small direct deals can close in four to eight weeks, while advisory-led processes for apps worth $1 million to $10 million usually run three to six months. Some dedicated app buyers move even faster. ZipoApps, for example, says most of its deals close within 14 days.

The handover itself is well supported by the platforms. Apple's App Store Connect lets you transfer an app to a new owner while it stays live, and the app keeps its ratings and reviews while existing users keep getting updates. Google Play's transfer process moves your users, ratings, reviews and subscriptions to the buyer's account. Most sales use escrow, so the money is locked in before you hand over the code and store access.

So, should you sell?

If the app still has an audience and you're no longer putting time into it, selling is often the best thing you can do for both you and the players. You get paid for the work you already did, and the app goes to an owner with the time and tools to keep it updated and growing.

Start by getting a number. If you're thinking about selling your app , pull together your last year of revenue and install data and talk to a buyer who specializes in mobile apps. Even if you don't sell right away, you'll know exactly what you're sitting on.

FAQ

How do buyers work out what my app is worth?

They price on earnings, not downloads, using SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) - your annual profit with your own pay and one-off expenses added back - and apply a multiple. The average app sale in the first half of 2026 was 2.62 times annual profit, with the top quarter at 5.46 times. Ad-supported and single-platform utility apps tend to land between 1.8x and 3.5x, while subscription apps with strong retention reach 3.5x to 6x.

Why does organic traffic matter so much?

An app that pulls installs from store search gets free distribution. Apple says almost 65% of App Store downloads happen directly after a search, so an app that ranks for the right keywords sits on the most valuable traffic source there is. Growth that only holds up while you pay for ads gets priced as a risk.

What data will a buyer ask for?

Twelve months of revenue reconciled to your store payouts, install numbers split by organic and paid, retention cohorts at day 1, 7, 30 and 90, a list of the SDKs and ad networks in the build, and access to the source code plus any backend, analytics and third-party accounts.

How long does a sale take?

Small direct deals can close in four to eight weeks, while advisory-led processes for apps worth $1 million to $10 million usually run three to six months. Some dedicated app buyers move faster - ZipoApps says most of its deals close within 14 days. Most sales use escrow, so the money is locked in before you hand over code and store access.