When a mobile app is the wrong answer

A mobile app is the most expensive way to put a website in someone's pocket. We say that as a studio that builds apps, and we talk people out of them fairly regularly.

Here is when an app earns its cost, and when it does not.

The cost is not the build

The build is the small part. After launch you have two stores, two review processes and two sets of release rules. Devices and operating systems keep moving. You support people who cannot log in, on hardware you do not own. Selling anything inside the app brings fees. And if the app talks to a server, that server will change and the app has to keep up.

A web app has almost none of that overhead. It updates when you deploy, works on any device with a browser, and needs nobody's approval.

When an app is genuinely right

• Offline use. Field engineers, drivers, surveyors — people working where there is no signal.
• The camera, sensors or Bluetooth are central to the job, not a nice extra.
• Push notifications are part of the product rather than a marketing afterthought.
• The use case is frequent and repeatable: several times a week, by the same people.
• Performance on a poor device matters enough that a browser will not do.

If two or more of those are true, an app is worth costing properly.

When the browser wins

• Your customers use you once every few months. Nobody installs an app for a yearly transaction.
• The whole job fits in three screens. A well-built responsive site does that better.
• You want to be found in search. Apps are not indexed.
• You need to change things weekly. App releases are not built for that cadence.
• You are not sure yet what the product is. Find out with a web version, then build the app around what people actually do.

The version in between

There is a middle path people forget: a progressive web app. It installs to the home screen, can work offline, and can send notifications on Android and, with caveats, on iOS. It costs less than a native build and updates instantly. It is not right for everything, but for a lot of ideas that arrive as "we need an app", it is the sensible first step.

The question to ask first

Not "should we build an app", but "where is the person when they need this, and what are they holding?"

If the answer is a desk and a laptop, you need a better web application. If it is a van, a warehouse or a building site, you probably need an app. That one answer saves more money than any technical decision that follows it.