Should I build an app ?

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I am seeing a lot of people building mobile application which is great but...

  • do you really need it ?
  • Is that the right medium for you ?
  • Are there better options ?

It would be sad to spend time and energy on an app that would end up not being used at all. Those are questions you should ask yourself before getting started. Answering to those questions is first step toward delivering the best product through the right medium. Let's give it a try

Summary

  • Pros/cons of an app ?
  • Considerations for an app as product
  • Web is the new native

Pros/cons of an app ?

If you can't answer to this question you should not build an app. Bare with me, I am not saying that you should not learn how to do it. You should learn, practice and be good at it. But being good at it, does not mean that your product should be an app.

Pros

Cons

Considerations for an app as product

Web is the new native

Web can give you everything the native app gives you. You can have access to

  • camera
  • location
  • notification
  • cache or offline mode

Those features were firstly why we used to build an app

Wrap up

I think you should always build a web version as you would definitely need it for your policy page:

  • terms and conditions
  • privacy policy
  • return policy
  • shipping policy You might as well then build the website from the start From there you can have progressive enhancement with:
  • responsive design so that users can access it from their different devices (smartphone, tablet, pc or mac)
  • service worker to cache digital assets ie images, css
  • push notification for marketing purpose (ie cross sell, promotions, suggestions)