Through the past decade, the number of people using mobile devices to access the internet has skyrocketed. In fact, now people consume 2x the amount of content on mobile than they do on desktop. Businesses and website owners should be excited about this in 2021 as the opportunity to reach and engage mobile users is still is growing. There are several effective ways to go “mobile-first” and create a mobile experience that really meets the expectations of modern users. Firstly, there’s a responsive web design, which creates a mobile-friendly web experience that is frankly the bare minimum.

Native mobile apps are built for a specific platform, such as iOS for the Apple iPhone or Android for a Samsung device. They are downloaded and installed via an app store and have access to system resources, such as GPS and the camera function. Mobile apps live and run on the device itself. Snapchat, Instagram, Google Maps, and Facebook Messenger are some examples of popular mobile apps. Web apps, on the other hand, are accessed via the internet browser and will adapt to whichever device you’re viewing them on. They are not native to a particular system and don’t need to be downloaded or installed. Due to their responsive nature, they do indeed look and function a lot like mobile apps — and this is where the confusion arises. Now we know the fundamental differences between mobile and web apps, we can recap the pros and cons of each:

Pros: • Faster than web apps • Greater functionality as they have access to system resources • More control over what the end-user can see and access • Can work offline • Safer and more secure — native apps must first be approved by the app store and are less harder for mid-level hackers to access • Easier to build due to the availability of developer tools, interface elements, and SDKs • Can use to pro-actively sell rather than reactively. Cons: • More expensive to build than web apps • Compatibility with different platforms (i.e. iOS and Android) usually means designing and building the app from scratch • It may prove difficult to get a native app approved by the app store

Pros: • Do not need to be downloaded or installed — web apps function in-browser • Easy to maintain — they have a common codebase regardless of mobile platform • Will update themselves • Quicker and easier to build than mobile apps • Do not require app store approval, so can be launched quickly Cons: • Do not work offline • Slower than mobile apps, and less advanced in terms of features • Not as discoverable as mobile apps as they are not listed in a specific database, such as the app store • Quality and security is not always guaranteed — web apps don’t need to be approved by the app store • Reactive rather than proactive and has less functionality.