When someone asks us to build an app, the first thing we do is check whether they need one. Often a better website does the same job for a fraction of the cost and effort, and it reaches more people. Sometimes an app is exactly right.
These five questions usually settle it.
1. Will people use it more than once a month?
An app earns its place on someone's phone by being used often. Banking, ordering coffee, booking a regular class, tracking a delivery, checking in to a gym. If customers deal with you a few times a year, few of them will download an app, and fewer will keep it.
If use is occasional, a website is almost always better. Nobody has to install anything, and it works the moment they find you on Google.
2. Do you need something only a phone can do?
Some things work far better, or only, in an app:
- Push notifications that reach people when they're not looking at your site
- Using the camera, GPS or Bluetooth in a serious way
- Working offline, or in places with poor signal
- Logging in once and staying logged in for months
- Paying with a stored card in one tap
If your idea depends on one of these, that's a strong case for an app. If it doesn't, a well-built website can do most of what people expect, including logins, payments and bookings.
3. Are your customers already loyal?
Apps work best for people who already know and like you. Very few people download an app for a business they've never heard of. They find you on Google, use your website, and only download the app once they're coming back regularly.
So for most businesses, the website comes first. It's how new customers find you. An app is how you look after the ones you already have.
4. Is the app the product?
Some businesses are the app: a marketplace, a booking platform, a tool people use to run part of their life or work. If that's you, the app isn't a nice extra, it's the business, and it should be built properly from the start.
If the app would mostly show the same information as your website, that's a sign you need a better website instead.
5. Can you keep it going?
An app isn't finished when it launches. Apple and Google update their systems every year, and apps need updating to keep working well. You'll want to add features as you learn what people use. That's an ongoing cost to plan for, not a surprise.
A middle path worth knowing about
If you're not sure, there are options in between:
- A web app. A website that behaves like an app, with logins, saved details and fast screens. It works in any browser, with nothing to install.
- Start on the web, add the app later. Prove people want the thing first. Build the app once you know what your regular users actually do.
- One app for both phones. If you do need an app, it doesn't have to mean building it twice. We build iOS and Android from one codebase, so both stay in sync.
What we'd usually recommend
If people use you often, need something only a phone can do, or the app is your product, build the app. Otherwise, put the money into a fast website that makes it easy to buy or book, and revisit the app once you have regular customers asking for one.
Either way, design the screens before writing code. It's much cheaper to change a design than to rebuild a feature.
If you're weighing up an app, we'll give you a straight answer on a free 15-minute call, including when we think you don't need one. See how we approach app development, or website design if that turns out to be the better fit.