Mobile App vs Mobile Website: What to Choose?

Statista proudly proclaims that for the first time ever, internet access rate via mobile devices exceeds the one that is performed via desktops. If 8 years ago only 0.7% of overall global website traffic was generated through smartphones and tablets, in 2017 this share surpasses 50%. Moreover, in some particular countries these figures may reach 90%!

What does it mean for you as an entrepreneur? It means that today, having an effective mobile presence is a must for any self-respecting business. Here another question arises: how to cover this broad audience? Should you develop a mobile version of your site or build a mobile app? Or maybe you should opt for both? The answer doesn’t lie on a silver platter.

That is, each business should consider various factors before taking a decision. They include defining your target audience and the needs of your potential customers, building up your business plan, estimating your resources and the exact characteristics your web product should have.

Before evaluating the reasonability of developing either a mobile website or an app, let’s turn our attention to the key peculiarities of the two. Both of them are accessed via smartphones (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry etc.) and tablets.

Mobile Websites

Their operation principle is similar to the one that is used by regular websites, accessed via desktops and laptops — they consist of sets of HTML pages, interconnected with each other and can be visited via browsers. Thus, a user obviously needs an internet connection to be able to use them. Their design is what differs them from the desktop versions, and makes them adaptable for gadgets with small screens.

Apart from using a mobile version, there is another approach to optimizing mobile user experience — namely, a responsive design. A responsively optimized mobile website is displayed properly on all sizes of screens, providing a comfortable navigation. Be it a tablet, a desktop or a tiny smartphone, all the content is in its proper place. Thus, such sites work well on practically all screen sizes.

Mobile Applications

In their turn, mobile applications are written programs that are downloaded from app stores (App Store, Google Play Market, Blackberry App World etc.) and installed on subscribers’ devices. Many apps do not require an internet connection to operate since they already contain all the data necessary for the operation. However, some of them pull the data from the Internet, which means they rely on the net just like the websites.

Each of the above said products has its peculiarities, so let’s move to considering them.

Key Features of Mobile Websites

• Availability. Mobile websites are available to all internet users. They do not require downloading and installation and are instantly accessible via browsers. The overwhelming majority of sites are free.
• Compatibility. Access to mobile sites does not depend on OS type of the device.
• Upgradability. Mobile sites are updated in a very flexible way. When you need to edit the website’s content or design, you make all necessary corrections, and the changes will be immediately seen.
• Reach. Usually, sites are easy to find since they can be shown in browser’s search results. Moreover, users often share simple links to the sites they find useful. This empowers sites with a high reach capacity.
• Support and Maintenance. Websites are economically viable not only in terms of creation but also in terms of further maintenance and upgrade.
• Offline access. Web pages can’t work in offline mode. The exception is provided by cached pages.
• Easy creation. Mobile development is a relatively easy process, especially considering all the tools developers have today, including the availability of various libraries, templates etc.

Key Features of Mobile Apps

• Convenience. Many users find smartphone applications more convenient than their browser alternatives. A well-designed mobile app offers excellent user experience, loads content quickly and is intuitively comprehensible.
• Unique functions. Customers appreciate special features, push and in-app notifications, reminders, possibility to share updates and other goodies offered by applications.
• Personalization. If you are dedicated to some specific service that you use regularly (be it a personal organizer or a health tracking utility) a mobile application is a perfect choice to interact with it. Applications allow customers tailoring everything possible to their needs, creating and setting up personalized accounts, setting preferences etc.
• Offline presence. The majority of applications can work in an offline mode. After an app is installed on a device, customers have a full access to all its features without the need to establish an internet connection.
• Compatibility. Smartphone applications can’t suit all the operation systems, i.e., if you want your application to be seen on all popular platforms (Android, iOS etc.), you need to develop a separate app for each of them.
• Extra efforts. When you have an app built for several platforms at a time, your fixing and upgrading efforts multiply by the amount of the versions you have. All his, consequently, leads to price rises.

So, a Mobile App or a Mobile Website?

Since both of these online presence tools serve similar goals, they are pretty interchangeable. However, there are some cases when a more specific choice is recommended.

If you have ambitious marketing goals, and content plays an important role in your product, or you wish to cover the broadest possible audience without hassle, opt for a responsive website. If you plan to create an interactive, abound in specific features mob product, a mobile app is a safe choice. These can be customizable tools for everyday use, services that imply regular actions and tracking progress, marketplaces or social networks, investment or banking services and interactive games.

In any case, it is unreasonable to develop an application without having a website for your business up and running. Thus, we recommend building a site at first instance anyway. A viable mobile strategy usually involves having both of these tools simultaneously. This ensures that your business approaches its customers from all the ways possible.