One of the ways to take your brand’s online presence to the next level is to have a mobile app or native app. Both have striking differences, read on to know more and choose the one your business deserves.
The advent of smartphones had presented a new way of communicating with your customers. Instead of inviting them to your shop, you can put your shop as an App on their phones. The good thing about having an app for your business is that it lets you have direct communication with your customers and clients just with a touch of a button.
Having an App is the best way to give your customers a truly mobile experience.
That is, they don’t need to go outside their phone before they can communicate with your brand and they won’t miss out on anything concerning your brand, once they are with their phones.
When you give your customers the luxury of accessing your services just with their phone, they tend to like your brand and this can lead to greater customer loyalty.
Now that you know the importance of having an App for your business, you might be asking which is better. A native App or a Mobile Web App?
Let’s quickly understand the difference between the two
Native Web app vs. Mobile web app
The designs for these two kinds of apps are similar and follow the same color scheme and fonts, but they are essentially two different products.
Native App
They are also called mobile apps.
A native app is built for a particular operating system(either Apple IOS or Android) and it leverages the functionalities of a mobile device which makes it unique.
It needs to be installed on a device for it to work. The apps can be available on App Stores like the Apple app store or Google play store.
Advantages of native App
- It is faster than web apps because they work with a phone’s built-in features, like location services, microphone, and camera, files, and so apps built for the mobile device usually work faster.
- They give a better user experience: Since they are created specifically for a particular operating system, they sometimes offer a better user experience.
- They can work without the internet: Once the user downloads the app, the app can work without the Internet. Although this will depend on the specific functionality of the app.
- It is easier to develop: This is due to the availability of developer tools and interface elements
- Gives more engagement: Native apps allow you to send users reminders which come as notifications. This helps to increase brand engagement.
- It is more secure: This is because mobile apps need to be approved by app stores and security is one of the major requirements to get approval.
- Can serve as a form of promoting your brand online: listing your app in the App Store or Google Play extends your reach to a broader audience. Your app can even pop up when people search for something related to your brand.
Disadvantages of native app
- It is more expensive to build: This is because you’re building a mobile app to fit a particular operating system. The one you built for an Apple Ios will be different from that of Android. This takes time and money.
- It requires constant maintenance and upgrades: Mobile apps require regular maintenance updates for bug fixes, security issues, etc. This is because operating systems are constantly changing and as they change, the apps that work in them need to be upgraded to fit.
- It is usually not easy to get approval from an app store and so it takes more time to launch a mobile app
- It requires download: This is a setback because some users may not like to download the app on their phone due to limited space or other reasons.
Mobile Web App
These types of apps can only be accessed through a mobile device’s web browser.
It is not built to fit a particular operating system and it is accessible to any device capable of surfing the web. It doesn’t need to be installed on a phone device.
Advantages of web app
- Requires less update and maintenance: This is because a web app can be built to update automatically. They are developed in HTML and CSS and so require a singular language other than mobile apps which are designed to fit a particular operating system. Developers make changes to a common code base, so updates are simple. And developers can push updates to a server quickly for instant visibility across all devices.
- They don’t need to be installed or downloaded: This is convenient for some users and it helps them save space on their device.
- Store approval is not needed so it can be launched easily.
- Easier and faster to build: This is because it uses a single language and does not need to be built for separate operating systems.
- It is less costly to build: You just need to build one version of a web app to serve all operating systems.
Disadvantages of web app
- It needs the internet to work: This may not be convenient for users who don’t like using the Internet all the time.
- Lower security: Web apps do not need approval and so developers may not prioritize security while building the app.
- It is difficult to discover them since they are not on any database like play store or apple store.
- It is slower than mobile devices: This is because it is not built to fit the device’s operating system and they don’t work with a phone’s built-in features. A phone will not easily adapt to the web app features, hence the slowness.
Website vs Web app
A web app is part of a website with special functionality.
The major differences between the two are how they are built and why they are built.
A website is hosted on a single or multiple web servers. It is accessible via a network like the Internet or a private local area network via IP address.
While a web app is usually created using languages like HTML, CSS, Javascript, which are supported by major browsers. While the backend could use any programming stack like LAMP, MEAN, etc. Unlike mobile apps, there is no specific SDK for developing web applications.
Websites are usually created to place your business online and make it accessible to anybody. But for a web app, the goal is for interact with the end-users.
A website displays collected data and information on a specific page while for a web app, the user not only reads the content but also interacts with it and takes specific actions, manipulates data, and makes requests for different outputs that are not available on websites.
Web applications are websites with functionality and interactive elements. Gmail, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. are all web apps that are dynamic and built for user engagement.
Native app or web app, which one is better for your business?
What determines the kind of app you would build for your business depends on these things:
- The kind of thing you want to achieve with the app
- The nature of your business
- Your budget and
- Your monetization strategy
In summary, choosing the kind of app for your business requires you to compare the pros and cons of both native and web apps, weigh the options and choose the one most suitable for your business goals.
Are you ready to have an app for your business and do you need professionals to do it?
