DO I NEED AN APP?
If you are a business owner or startup you may be asking yourself if you need an app as it is so popular for people to use these days and that people are using their mobile devices so much.
Apps VS Websites
A lot of people jump to the conclusion that they need an app so to prevent that let’s look at some information about apps and websites and their differences.
Considerations to Make
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Scale and Load time
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A lot of people have tried to load a website on their phone and it turns out looking bad. They have to zoom and pan and the website may look weird and may take forever to load.
- If this is your reason alone for building an app then look into responsive websites that will scale based on screen size.
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A lot of people have tried to load a website on their phone and it turns out looking bad. They have to zoom and pan and the website may look weird and may take forever to load.
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Easy access icon
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Many people forget they can bookmark a website and put the icon on their dashboard area. This is a genuine concern to pay attention to. People are lazy and the concepts between program and website are kept separate in their minds most of the time. Even most people don’t realize they can put a shortcut to a website on their desktop on their personal computer. They just go for the bookmarks but that is an extra click. We are a lazy race. The icon wins.
- If the icon is the reason, give people an easy method of placing a bookmark of your website on their phone desktop.
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Many people forget they can bookmark a website and put the icon on their dashboard area. This is a genuine concern to pay attention to. People are lazy and the concepts between program and website are kept separate in their minds most of the time. Even most people don’t realize they can put a shortcut to a website on their desktop on their personal computer. They just go for the bookmarks but that is an extra click. We are a lazy race. The icon wins.
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Push Notifications
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Push notifications are notifications by a ring or flashing or what not that happens even if you do not have your app open. It alerts you of new messages, new friend requests, if you are near something, etc. A website cannot do this if it is not open. As soon as you close the browser, things are done. That website limitation may change however.
- If push notifications are your reason for things, you can use your HTML and other web based programming instead of proprietary coding methods. How? Try PhoneGap using the push notifications plugins and tutorials on their website.
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Push notifications are notifications by a ring or flashing or what not that happens even if you do not have your app open. It alerts you of new messages, new friend requests, if you are near something, etc. A website cannot do this if it is not open. As soon as you close the browser, things are done. That website limitation may change however.
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Availability
- With an app you can use it when you are not connected online. You can’t use a website when you are offline. There is no good way around this one.
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Uploads
- At the time of this writing, information is showing us that you are not allowed to upload things from a phone to a website so an app is the only good solution to that. Some phone operating systems may allow it but most don’t.
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Marketing
- Having an app for your website or your business is considered a bonus and therefor adds value to your business. Sometimes looks are worth something.
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App Store Visibility
- You get more visibility by having an app in the app store. You can’t have your website jammed into the app store. That would just be silly.
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Ability
- There are just some things that should be apps due to being able to hook right into the phones abilities in which you could not do with the browsers limitations. This goes further than just uploads and push notifications such as using GPS or how the phone is orientated to effect some piece of information.
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Context
- Is it a game you are making? Is it something that utilizes the phone functions? Sometimes things work best as a program vs a website. You just have to realize when it would make for a terrible website and would make for a great application.
The conclusion is that if you NEED features that only an app can provide, then you should look into having an app developed. If you can get away with using a responsive website and do not need the extra functionality an app would provide, it is best to stick with a responsive website that will adapt to the screen size of the device your visitors are viewing it through.
If you want to build an app still, then there are many solutions you can choose from.
How To Make Mobile Apps
1) COST OF DEVELOPMENT
2) FUNDING DEVELOPMENT OF MOBILE APPS
3) GAME APPS
4) DO I NEED AN APP?
5) BEFORE DEVELOPING YOUR OWN APP
6) HOW TO MOCKUP AN APP
7) HOW TO MAKE A MOBILE APP WITHOUT CODING USING APP BUILDERS
8) LEARN TO CODE FOR MOBILE APPS EASIER THAN YOU THOUGHT
9) GET APP DEVELOPMENT HELP
10) HOW TO FIND AN APP DEVELOPER
11) TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND STRATEGY FOR APP DEVELOPERS
12) MARKETING MOBILE APPS
13) PAID ADVERTISING AND AD NETWORKS FOR MOBILE APPS
14) MOBILE APPS MONETIZATION STRATEGY AND WORTH