Native apps vs responsive design or perhaps both ?

There is a big influence of technology on our daily life. Especially the Internet is becoming more and more important. For nearly everybody, it is one of the newest and most forward-looking media and surely “the” medium of the future. Most people go online and research products and companies before they make a purchase, so its important to establish a mobile presence for business or an organisation. Many business owners and entrepreneurs struggle with whether they should design a responsive website that works across devices or focus exclusively on building a native mobile app (for iOS device,android devicewindows device) or perhaps both. Native apps vs responsive design,  can look very similar at first-glance, and determining which is most suited to your needs will depend upon a number of  below factors including the target. Determining your target audience, to a large degree , will help in determining your target platforms.

1. Features in app

If you are planning to make a game app , or if camera, GPS, scan features, or other phone functions are needed then native app is likely the way to go.

2. Budget

If you have less budget then choose mobile responsive design.It is less costly undertaking because it’s quicker to develop and deploy than native applications, typically requires fewer dedicated resources to bring an idea to market, and only needs one code base to ensure it works across all devices.

2. UI Design

At certain level of complexity, HTML5(responsive web) may not work to achieve your goals.HTML 5 can indeed deliver customised user experiences, but native apps tend to provide most tailored UX.

3. Purchasing

If you have product that offers potential for ongoing micro-purchases, then a native application is the way to go . A shopping cart on your website can facilitate this, but the in app purchasing system is so simple and tied into all the rest of a user’s purchases on the platform that it is second to none.

4. SEO

If part of your strategy is to increase visibility among search engines and drive traffic to your site, then stick with a responsive mobile website. Apps are closed environments and cannot be crawled by search engines, they won’t impact your organic search ranking.

5. Data and Network connection

If you need to provide offline access to content or perform functions without a network/wireless connection then an app makes sense. A native application is standalone – it does not need a cellular data network or external services to function. Once installed, it will always work regardless of where and when the user uses it. A mobile web site, on the other hand, is susceptible to slowness or service unavailability. While the data networks are generally reliable there are many network components that impact how your visitors perceive your mobile web site and consequently your destination.

6. Updates

If you have an frequent updates then responsive app is the better option.Native application updates need to go through the lengthy approval  while submission on application store with is not needed in responsive websites.

7. Universal Access

If your goal is to offer mobile-friendly content to the widest possible audience then a mobile responsive website app is probably the way to go.

Conclusion

As long as mobile remains a relatively new frontier, the “native apps vs responsive design” question will remain a very real consideration for organisations seeking to establish a mobile presence. If your mobile goals are primarily marketing-driven, or if your aim is to deliver content and establish a broad mobile presence that can be easily shared between users and found on search engines, then the a mobile responsive website is the logical choice. On the other hand, if your goal is interactive engagement with users, or to provide an application that needs to work more like a computer program than a website, then an app is probably going to be required.For any more queries feel free to contact us.

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