Mobile app or web app? Choosing the right path for your idea

People often ask whether they need an app, when the real question is where their customers will use the product and how often.

A web app works in any browser with nothing to install. It is quicker and cheaper to launch, easy to update and well suited to tools people use at a desk or occasionally. A progressive web app can also be installed and work with weak signal.

Choose a mobile app when you need deep phone features such as the camera, notifications or offline use, or when customers will open the product every day. It costs more and needs store approval, but the experience can feel much better.

Answer these honestly before you spend anything.

• Will people use it daily, or a few times a year?
• Do you need phone hardware or reliable offline access?
• Can you launch faster with a web version and learn from real users?
• Is your budget enough to build and maintain two platforms?

Tools such as Flutter let one team build for both iOS and Android from a single codebase. For many first releases this gives the reach of a mobile app at a lower cost.