Serious question...
What tasks are mobile apps uniquely good at accomplishing? Why would an organization turn to building a mobile app rather than using a desktop application, email, or web-based application? What can a mobile app do well that nothing else can?
This is an important question for anyone trying to sell a potential client on the need for a mobile app, or for anyone who wants to design an app people will download - an in-demand app should include features people can't get elsewhere.
So what needs can only be satisfied with the creation of a mobile app?
Please post your thoughts! Thanks!
Top comments (4)
When it comes to this question, one common point people usually bring up is utilizing native features. However, don't forget about UI/UX: achieving a smooth, fast, and edge-to-edge user interface isn't possible with a mobile version of a website. Another significant aspect is an offline-first mode. If you create a web to-do app, users will need constant internet access. In contrast, a mobile app allows storing data locally in a database and synchronizing it with the server once the app goes online again.
However when talking about native development for each platform, the situation is quite different. Cross-platform tools like Flutter and React Native enable most of those features. And if I'm not mistaken you actually can access camera or set up push notifications with those tools. I discovered that the only three main reasons to develop separate apps for each platform are:
But the matter is in most other cases cross-platform development is quite popular among startups. As technology advances, the gap between native and cross-platform development is gradually narrowing.
I'm not one of those people who go panic about things like something will be gone or AI will replace developers but at the same time I acknowledge the facts and believe that native development skills will eventually become less relevant.
Thanks for an interesting topic, Monty! I suggest adding a #discuss tag to your post.
Hi Daniel, thanks for your thoughtful reply, and for the tag suggestion - I'll do that!
I'll kick off the comments with the obvious - allowing the user to utilize the hardware tools on their device. For example, only a mobile app could extend the functionality of the camera on your phone. Only a mobile app would allow you to take a photo on the go and drop it directly into a database record.
Honestly that's pretty much it. Offline availability is shared by web apps using local storage. I'm unfamiliar with the limitations on local storage, so maybe more space can be had on the phone itself.
Software stability. The web's technology is chaotic, particularly on the browser. As a developer, if you don't like JavaScript then the grass may look greener closer to the metal. As a customer, this situation may not be apparent because developers are paid to solve the problems that result.
Native look&feel? If nothing else, the browser UI makes a web page feel more foreign, but that could be due to me understanding the difference between the platforms.