Mobile App Vs. Web App: Choosing the Right One: Many companies need some form of software to facilitate their model. In this regard, two options are usually available to an enterprise. On the one hand, you can go for a mobile application. For example, you can create a learning program for the students in your school. On the other hand, creating a website with clear application features is also possible in many cases. Obviously, the choice is far from obvious today, and the best option is to address a web and mobile app development company. Still, we’ll try to offer some theoretical insights into the problem too.
The Difference Between a Mobile App and a Web App
A mobile application is something that you typically create for, well, a mobile platform. All those apps you have on your smartphone (even some small cooking books)? They’re all mobile applications, yes. Contrary to that, a web app is something you can access via your browser on a PC. You’d have to go on a website, register, and then use the interface inside. Web apps for mobile platforms can exist, but they’re unlikely to make sense. Generally, one type of technology relies on your smartphone or tablet. The other primarily deals with browsing programs such as Chrome and Firefox. Considering that there are differences in the development tools for the platforms, you can expect some big positives and negatives.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile and Web Apps
Mobile apps have the following advantages today:
1. Development platforms for them don’t require many intersections: you can develop on one-two platform at best;
2. The developers have access to various internal devices of a smartphone (for instance, the camera);
3. The overall usage of the application doesn’t necessarily rely on a limited number of spaces and the availability of an Internet connection.
Still, there are some problems too:
1. Mobile applications usually need to have limited functionality: the resources of a smartphone are typically limited by its controls and hardware;
2. The security risks rise as the users have more ways to access the internal data of your program.
As for the web apps, they have their own set of positives:
1. The overall complexity can be higher due to controls and improved hardware;
2. Security is higher as you store the majority of files on the web servers instead of installing anything to the user device.
Nonetheless, some problems with the platforms of this kind exist too:
1. They require the use of several programming platforms for development;
2. The costs of maintenance shall rise as you’ll have to, for instance, constantly uphold some servers;
3. The overall usability is likely to be lower since the platform would require a connection to a PC. Constant Internet connection is also an obvious problem in the analyzed case.
4. You’ll rely on the existing browsing platforms, the optimization of which is far from optimal.
5. You have to focus on cases that don’t include some hardware. For example, a web conference platform should account for people without cameras or even microphones (via chats). More use cases and preparation for them become essential.
Conclusion
To summarize, the outlined information rather clearly shows that mobile and web apps have both positives and negatives. In this regard, we recommend our readers focus on different use cases. Let’s say you want to create something for complex mathematical calculations. Well, a web app can be better here since it will give you better controls and computing opportunities. Contrary to that, if you create a chat program for casual users, it can easily fit into the web app platform. It all depends on your needs here.