When you are planning to have an online presence for your business, the first thing that comes into your mind is whether to build a mobile app or web app or both. Even though mobile apps and web apps seem to be similar initially, based on your business requirements you need to choose the one that suits the best for your business. Many other factors like your end-users, location, features, functionalities, budget, purpose of your business, etc. will also play a crucial role in selecting mobile apps or web apps for your business. Also, it is most important to get your mobile app developed from the best mobile app development company which offers they are developed in a particular platform. Also, to launch an app across various platforms, any top mobile app development company will start from app strategy, UX design and development which will be very expensive. But, mobile apps will load quickly having more advanced features and functionalities.
Native apps
Native mobile apps are developed using certain languages based on the particular platform. Devices that run on the iOS operating system will be developed using Objective-C or Swift. For Android, the apps are developed using Java and are mostly created using the Android Studio. Most of the companies prefer to develop their apps in iOS and Android platforms as they occupy around 75.85% and 22.87% in the World’s Mobile OS Market Share respectively.
Hybrid apps
Hybrid Mobile apps are built on platforms which offer code that is compatible with all operating systems. As the mobile app development companies use a single code-base to develop Hybrid mobile apps, they are most preferred by small businesses and startups. The most popular platforms for developing Hybrid apps are Flutter and React Native.
How are web apps built?
Web apps are developed using JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. When compared to mobile apps, web apps do not have any software development kit to develop web apps. But the web developers in a web app development company will be allowed to access templates. Web apps can be developed easily and quickly with simple features when compared to mobile apps.
Progressive Web Apps
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are the latest advancements of web apps where they can quickly load and even work offline. You can use Progressive Web Apps without any internet connectivity. It also has some special functionalities like mobile apps which includes native video and audio capture, push notifications, etc. Similar to web applications, progressive web apps also do not need any download or installation. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) seem to offer the best results because of their advanced functionalities. Features like application cache makes PWAs to eliminate the dependency on the network. Many leading web app development companies build PWAs which have various advantages like: fast and reliable, easy to develop, cost-effective, scalable as they use a single code base, updated in real-time.
Benefits of Web apps vs Mobile apps
Both mobile apps and web apps have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of accessibility, compatibility, etc. Let's discuss the benefits of mobile apps and web apps in detail.
Easily accessible
Web apps are easily accessible as you need not download or install instead you can access them instantly with a single click. On the other hand, to access a mobile app you need to go to the app store, download and install the app to view the content in that app which is a time-consuming process.
Compatibility
Web apps can be easily compatible with any device as users can access the data from any device whereas mobile apps require different versions and programming languages to be built for each device. Also, web apps URLs can be easily integrated in other mobile technologies like QR Codes, SMS, etc
Upgrade
When compared to mobile apps, web apps are very dynamic and flexible in terms of updating content. In case you are looking to modify the content or design of a web app you can find the modifications done immediately. To update a mobile app needs the updates to be pushed to app users and then the app needs to be downloaded and updated on different types of devices.
Easy to find
It is easy to find web apps as their web pages can be easily displayed in search engine results. Also, the web pages are listed in business directories in specific pages which makes it easy for the visitors to find your business website. Also, users who use your website regularly will be sent automatically to your web app when they are using their mobile device. On the other hand, the mobile apps are not much visible to the users as they will be in the app store only.
Lifecycle
According to some surveys, the average duration a user will make use of your app will be less than 30 days if your app is not very useful for them or unique. In such cases, it’s unsure how long your mobile app will last on a customer’s device whereas web apps are always available for customers as they can check the web app for any updates whenever they want.
Reach
As a web app is to access across all the platforms and also easily shared not only among users but also most of the search engines, so, web apps can reach customers easily compared to mobile apps.
Share easily
Web URLs can be shared easily between customers through a simple link in a SMS, Email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. SEO experts can easily redirect users to a web app from a blog post or web content. On the other hand, it is not possible to share an app in this manner
Time and Cost
Coming to cost and time to build web apps and mobile apps, web apps take more time to build and are more cost-effective than building a mobile app, mainly if you require to build apps on different platforms.
Support and maintenance
As just launching the mobile app or web app is not enough, it also needs support and maintenance services. Compared to web apps, the support and maintenance like upgrading, etc. for mobile apps is much more.
Conclusion
Although both the web apps and mobile apps are equally popular, both have different kinds of advantages. So, based on your business needs you need to choose the one that best suits your requirements. Nextbrain Technologies is the best mobile app development company in Bangalore with expert mobile app and web app developers to assist you in choosing the right development platform for your business.
Saran
June 03, 2021 Author