Last updated on October 2nd, 2026 at 04:16 am
Over the past couple of months, I’ve spoken with startup founders in Riyadh and Jeddah, and the common denominator is that they built an app, got downloads, but no one is using it. Sound familiar?
The Saudi application market is active: USD 1.99 billion in 2024, with USD 5.70 billion expected in 2033. That’s serious money. The point, however, is that most startups are self-shooting even before they start.
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They believe downloads equal success.
A founder met me last month to celebrate 10,000 downloads. Two weeks later? Less than 200 active users.
It is no use downloading a good app that doesn’t deliver immediate value. Saudi users, in particular, in that 70% and below group, prefer apps to run immediately after they are built. Bilingual assistance isn’t a luxury; it’s essential. When your Arabic user interface feels like an afterthought, customers jump ship. Fast.
The mistake? Construction on launch day rather than day 30. Your actual metric is retention. At 30 days, e-commerce apps are expected to achieve 25-40% retention. Unless you’re tracking that, you are flying blind.
They underestimate the costs of compliance.
This is where the cost comes in. The fintech app you are going to build? Licensing – just with SAMA requires budgeting 1- 3 million. Not development, absolutely right, sir, just the paperwork.
I’ve seen startups run out of seed capital trying to navigate the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), industry-specific policies, and app store demands across various government bodies. Regulations aren’t bad; founders treat compliance as a second-day task rather than a priority.
Healthcare apps? You are dealing with Ministry of Health approvals, Saudi Food and Drug Authority sign-offs, and local municipality requirements. Each one’s a separate process. They all consume time you probably didn’t plan to budget for.
They Replicate Good Practices in other places.
What works for Instagram doesn’t work in Saudi Arabia. Nor does Uber, but [insert random service] does.
It is not just a location-specific market; the Saudi market has a very culture-specific geography. Apps should include features such as Islamic banking, a Ramadan-specific mode, and the ability to make payments via Mada and STC Pay. These aren’t nice-to-haves to improve conversion; they’re table stakes.
I observed a food delivery company spending months struggling because it hadn’t adopted the payment mechanism Saudi users are accustomed to. Meanwhile, new competitors that embedded local payment gateways from the start gained back the market share they’d lost.
They Cheap on Design, and They Wonder Why Customers Quit.
Four weeks to create an appropriate UI/UX design is not excessive; it is the price you pay to make sure whatever you release doesn’t look like it was stapled together over a weekend.
Apps such as Tawakkalna, Absher, and foreign applications such as Netflix have trained Saudi users. Your app competes with those experiences. When your navigation is confusing, load times are slow, or the interface isn’t premium, you lose users.
Design ROI is not like cotton wool. Applications with easy-to-use UX are 2 to 3 times more likely to convert than applications with a poor UX. That is money that you are leaving on the table.
They Construct Everything all at Once.
Members of this team have seen it ( Founder ). Vision becomes a feature list. Instead of producing an 18-week, SAR 500,000 feature list as expected, feature list design becomes a bloated application that takes 24 weeks and SAR 500,000 to complete. Launch happens. The market has moved on.
Build an MVP. Test your core assumption. To build a fitness app, don’t put a 50-workout program in your MVP; code one good program that benefits people and shows you are not wasting their time.
I realize that it is difficult to trim things you are eager about. Do it anyway. Your roadmap is not of interest to the market. They care whether your app solves a real problem today.
They Also Forget Apps To Feed.
Your app launches. Congrats. Now what?
The vast majority of startups do not take into consideration that apps require 20-30 percent of the initial development expenses every year to remain a current and relevant site. Bug fixes, security patches, OS patches, new features–all of that is not optional.
The problem is that stagnant apps lose traffic to rivals that keep developing. You are not creating a site to launch and forget about it. You are building a house that needs maintenance.
The Bottom Line
The Saudi Arabia opportunity exists. Vision 2030 is injecting billions into digital infrastructure. Smartphone penetration is more than 97 percent. The startup ecosystem has grown by 200 percent in recent years.
Opportunity is not easy money.
If you are developing a custom mobile app with your startup in Saudi Arabia, this is what really counts: an initial, narrow MVP that solves one problem you do extremely well. Budget compliance won’t go away on day one. Design specifically for Saudi users rather than general users. Retention of tracks matters, not downloads. Not only on launch day; plan to keep developing.
Winners in this market aren’t the ones with the largest budgets and most impressive features. They are the ones who realize that custom mobile app development to open startups in Saudi Arabia is not about creating an app, but something that people actually want, in a manner that does not ignore the colossal potential of the market, but at the same time, striking at very specific needs.
Once you have those fundamentals under your belt, you are already a step ahead of most of your competition.
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I’m a technology writer passionate about AI and digital marketing. I create engaging and useful content that bridges the gap between complex technology concepts and digital technologies. My writing makes the process easy and engaging. I encourage participation I continue to research innovation and technology. Let’s connect and talk technology!
