Web app or mobile app: how to decide
Before choosing between a web app and a mobile app, you need to know who uses it, where, and how often. The three answers are usually enough to decide.
In this article4 sections
Three questions before technology
Who uses it? Staff at a workstation, or people on the move?
Where? In a connected office, or on a site with no network?
How many times a day? An app opened twenty times a day justifies an icon on the home screen. An app opened once a week doesn't: nobody will install it.
What a web app does better
There's nothing to install: a URL is enough, on any device. It updates for everyone at the same time, without going through an app store or waiting for approval.
It's also cheaper to maintain, because there's only one codebase instead of two or three.
- Use on a workstation or connected tablet
- Internal tool shared between several teams
- Need to update often, without friction
What a mobile app does better
It works offline, accesses the device's sensors (camera, location, code reader) and can send notifications. It lives on the home screen, which completely changes how often it's used.
These are real differences, not sales arguments. If none applies to you, the mobile app will cost you more for the same result.
- Use on the move, sometimes with no network
- Need for the camera, geolocation or scanning
- Daily use, where the icon matters
The case where the answer is "neither"
It regularly turns out that the real need is a better-structured spreadsheet, an automation between two tools you already have, or an unused feature of the existing software.
Developing an app to replace a process that was never clarified amounts to freezing the mess in code. Process first, tool second.
Web by default, mobile when a specific need calls for it. It's not an absolute rule, but it's the right starting point, and it avoids paying twice for a use that won't exist.
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