Do you have a mobile app to accompany your web app? Why or why not?
Curious about the reasoning behind whether or not companies use mobile apps to complement their web apps. If you do use a mobile app, why? Why not just use the web app?
If you don't, what prevents you from creating a mobile app to go along with your web app?
I don't because I target laptop/desktop users. The site is responsive, but the design will cater to people with keyboards and mice anytime there's a trade-off between mobile and PC user experience.
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I am experimenting with Progressive Web Apps as an alternative to going native. For me it is hard the justify the time commitment to maintain separate platforms when one platform may be good enough.
I can definitely see this. Maintaining multiple platforms seems like a nightmare. Do you ever feel like you're missing out on anything by not having a mobile app? Do you think you miss out on a lot of potential user acquisition or interaction if you don't have a mobile app?
For context, what space is your business in?
I think a better question is will the product be missing any critical features by not going native?
PWAs are relatively new territory so some browser engines will not support native functionality such as push notifications, service workers, and web app manifests.
Additionally Microsoft is committed to support PWAs in their app store, so products will soon get a desktop experience for 'free'.
Personally I don't know and I don't have the numbers to form a concrete opinion.
I think it depends on the product strategy. 'Having a mobile app' can mean wrapping a PWA in a mobile shell much like what React Native or Ionic accomplish.
I am building an MVP for a mobile first scheduling app (PWA). There are a ton of these already, so being able to compare data won't be an issue.
Right now a responsive web app is just as functional as a native mobile app for what I'm trying to accomplish. However, if the need arises, I built the web app in a way that exposes the service layer in an easily consumable manner that a native mobile app could use. The time building a mobile app would be spent on the functional interface component as opposed to heavy back end development.
I'm a solo developer so prioritizing the list of needs has put native mobile apps near the bottom for now.
I'm curious about the idea of building an app that allows businesses with web-only interfaces to send push notifications to their users on their mobile devices. So the business sends the notification info to the app API, which then triggers a notification on the correct user's device.
It looks like your business (which is a fantastic idea, BTW - definitely a need for that out there) could be the type of business that could benefit from this kind of thing. Any initial thoughts about whether or not that would be valuable? No hard feelings if not, just trying to get some general feeling about this initial idea I've been thinking about.
Aboslutely - notifications are a big part of my application. Right now they're handled through email entirely, I'd be interested in a way to push notifications to their device in a similar way product hunt does. It would need to be an opt-in service - i know a lot of users really hate automatic push notifications but there are many that need immediate updates.
I'm a .NET developer so my real-time data (chat) is handled via SignalR but could handle some sort of queuing/messaging via rabbitmq or hangfire.
I work in the financial services sector in my 9-5 job, there's a huge need for real-time information. I would look at financial tools and see if there's any integration you could offer companies that deal with financial data.
Thanks for the insight, Michael! Is there a reason you don't use Chrome notifications like Product Hund does? I have my reasons for not thinking they're ideal, but I'm curious if you share those reasons or have ones I haven't thought of.
This idea I have - it would definitely be opt-in only, and could theoretically work for any industry so long as the business sees the value in mobile notifications but doesn't want to deal with building or maintaining an app. Great to know that the financial industry might be a good target sector.
Got it. Thanks Michael!
Currently I only use a web application. I am not experienced with creating native apps and do not have the time to learn for my current projects. The biggest loss for me with not having a mobile app is the ability to send my mobile users push notifications. I read some of your replies to comments and it seems that this is a service you would potentially provide. If that is part of your business model, I am basically already sold. I can think of a few questions regarding your planned service if that is infact what you will be doing. Let me know, thanks!
Hey Ken,
Yeah! It's something I'm thinking about and researching right now. I'd have to check the app store terms to see if this is even something that's allowed. I'd love to chat with you about your use-case, though. I'll shoot you an email.
Just wanted to say this is a very informative post for me, so thank you! I have actually been thinking about testing out a service that brings web apps mobile!
Discovery and user acquisition is a lot harder for mobile apps, so I would always go with a web app first.
Imo, a mobile app only makes sense when you want to use specific features that aren't available on web (e.g. camera). Or if you want to create a lock-in effect (user is more likely to use the app on his/her homescreen than a competitor's service) - but that's usually more of a long-term problem.
That makes sense. Thanks Julian!
We use a mobile app to complement our web app at Leadme. This is because we are offering a lead capture solution for trade shows, which are notorious for having bad internet connections. The app allows us to have a device on the trade show floor capable of caching data during the show, and pushing it to the cloud later when the internet is more stable.
Besides situations like that, where the is a functional necessity to have both web and mobile platforms available, I usually prefer to develop just for one platform, whichever best complements the product.
Got it, thanks Marcus!
We're (there are 4 of us) doing the opposite. We're mobile first and building a bunch of dynamically populated screens as a web app based off of the data from the mobile app. They will act as value adding landing pages to funnel people to the app store to download the app but will be interesting and useful on their own... later we also plan to build some admin tools into the web app to help a specific type of user to leverage our app better.
Interesting. Why did you choose to go with a mobile app first?
We are a B2C social media app. Our target audience are all on mobile.
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Yeah, these are all really great points. I'm also a much bigger fan of the freedom of the web :) Thanks for your input!
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