The difference between mobile apps and responsive website and which one you need

While a mobile app is an ideal situation for your business, the time might not be right for you to build one. There is always a cheaper alternative, mobile website development. A mobile website is specifically a website your customers can access through their smartphones. How do you know the difference between the two and which one do you need? Let’s find out

Difference between mobile website development and mobile apps

Before we figure out what you need, a responsive mobile website or a mobile app you should understand the differences between the two.

Differences in development

Mobile websites are like your typical website except built for smaller devices. They use HTML coding to access the internet via the phone’s network. In fact, responsive web designing is getting even more popular with many businesses as it is a cheaper alternative to mobile applications.

Mobile Apps, on the other hand, are built from scratch. They’re not just the mobile version of your website. They’re downloaded, installed, and used directly from your smartphone. To download an application you need to visit a specific marketplace for your phone software provider. For instance, Apple has the AppStore, Google has the PlayStore. The now-defunct BlackBerry (which might be making a comeback), had the App World.

Costs Associated

Obviously, since mobile apps need to be coded from scratch the costs associated with them will be more than the costs associated with mobile website development. However, working with the right mobile app development company in Pune can help you with your problem. There are some affordable mobile app development companies in Pune that can help you when working with a shoestring budget. Having said that, mobile apps will always be more expensive to develop just based on the nature of the work involved.

Usability of Mobile Apps vs Mobile Responsive Sites

Since mobile websites are just the regular site optimized for smaller screens the usability is very limited in term of the features you want to build into the site. The mobile app, on the other hand, can be custom designed to provide exactly the kind of features that you’d want.

Which One Should You Pick?

If you have the budget for it the optimal solution to your problem is to build a separate mobile application. However, not all companies can do so, or even need to. When it comes to marketing your website, mobile responsive websites are much better. They have a much broader scope.

The advancement of technology is such that you are able to add mind-blowing features to your website which would not have been possible a few years ago. This directly translates to a much better experience for the user. You can build all the features into the website itself. It probably makes the need for the mobile application kind of redundant.

Mobile Applications do serve a purpose though, especially for businesses that rely on users taking specific actions. Since mobile apps are already installed on the user’s phone, they’re also very handy. The brand recognition with a popular app is much higher than with a mobile responsive website. Mobile apps provide much better usability than mobile websites in spite of them having improved their functionality.

Conclusion

The final decision, as they say, is up to the company. A good mobile app development company like CodePlateau will definitely be able to guide their customers in what meets their requirement. In case you need to figure out what you need for your company, give CodePlateau a call and well figure it out together. Get in touch today.