Mobile app or website

Mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic for the first time back in 2016. Since then, it has been only growing and in 2022 reached 77%. According to Statista, the average user spends as much as 5 hours a day on their smartphone. This attention can go to your brand or to your competitors if you do not use mobile app development services. 

For some tasks, of course, people will prefer to use the service on a desktop. For example, if you need to examine a kitchen set before buying. Or if you need to write to a colleague in the middle of the working day. In this case, you will likely open a corporate messenger from the desktop. But people are used to solving a much larger range of tasks with smartphones in their hands. If the users will not use your product to write long texts or examine pictures in the smallest detail, it’s worth to make an app for your business. And if a user may need your service at any time and in any place, then a mobile app is a must have. For example, finance and banking apps or meditation apps and habit trackers.

It may seem that a mobile version of the site is enough. But it’s not. Here are just main advantages of apps that a mobile version does not have:

• Best customization. An app gives more opportunities to track user data: their geolocation, browsing history, purchases and searches, contacts and device data. This means that you can better personalize the content, and it will be more valuable to users.
• Using device capabilities. With an app, you can ask a person to turn on the camera or geolocation. This will help improve the quality of your service. For example, with geolocation, you don’t have to enter your address yourself to call a taxi or order a delivery. This is another reason to make an app.
• Ability to work offline. This is relevant if an app offers content to the user: books, music, dictionaries, articles. Sometimes there is no access to the Internet. With an app, you can keep key functions available for offline use. For example, Google Maps app allows users to download and use any map offline.
• Sending push notifications. These are great marketing tools: they can help you stay in touch with users and manage their attention.
• Increasing customer loyalty. When people download an app, they are more likely to use it periodically. It is unlikely that they’ll want to look for a competitive service when yours is already installed — and a few clicks away.

A mobile app is a business solution that outperforms a website in many industries. But consider the situation. If your service is user-friendly, regularly needed and the user may require it anytime, anywhere, it is probably worth it to make an app. And if in doubt, in the article below, we analyze when a business needs a website, and when an app.