Should you build a mobile app, or is a strong mobile website enough? I get this question from clients almost every week, and my honest answer has shifted over the last couple of years.
It used to be a clean either/or. Today that framing misses most of the picture. People are downloading fewer apps, not more. Appfigures reported that global app downloads fell again in 2025, the fifth year running, even as in-app spending hit a record. Clutch found that almost half of users install an app only when they genuinely need one.
The answer rarely lands on a straight app-or-web. There's a sensible middle ground now too, which I'll come to.
When mobile web wins
Not every product belongs in the app store. For a lot of businesses a fast mobile website, sometimes as a progressive web app (PWA), is the right first move. A PWA is a website that behaves like an app. People can add it to their home screen and use it offline, without a download.
Big consumer brands do this too. Starbucks built a PWA for ordering that even works offline, and Adidas rebuilt its shopping site the same way. Both feel like an app without a download, and the pages stay discoverable in search, so your SEO keeps working.
Mobile web is usually the smarter call when:
- Less than 30% of your traffic comes from mobile
- Your customers buy seasonally or once in a blue moon
- Your product doesn't lean on login, personalisation, or frequent use
I've sat across from clients who assumed an app was the ambitious choice and web was the cheap one. That's the wrong way round. For an occasional-use product, a good mobile site beats an app nobody opens twice.
One of our e-commerce clients put it plainly: "We weren't sure about building an app as it's a big investment, and we didn't know if the ROI would be worth it. Etnetera's team suggested a mobile web instead, and it was the right call. Our conversions went up, and our users love the experience."
When a dedicated app wins
Some products earn their place on the home screen. When people come back often and the phone itself is part of the value, a dedicated app pulls ahead of anything a browser can do.
I lean towards an app when:
- Your customers return at least once a month
- Over 70% of your transactions already come from mobile
- Personalisation is central to the experience
- You need the hardware: camera, GPS, Face ID or Touch ID
The clearest advantage is reach. Push notifications land at open rates up to 50% higher than email, and that adds up over time. Native access handles the rest, from identity checks to location-aware content. In our experience an app built for a high-frequency product converts 2 to 3 times better than mobile web.
The strongest apps rarely stay single-purpose. Once someone opens yours every week, it becomes the natural place to bundle more services: payments, loyalty, booking, support. That is the idea behind super apps and digital ecosystems, pulling things people once kept in separate apps into one. You don't build that on day one. A high-frequency app is what makes it possible later.
Building for both platforms
Say you land on an app. You still don't have to build two of them. There's a middle path between a single mobile site and two separate native codebases. You build the app once, share the core logic across iOS and Android, and keep the interface native on each. It costs less than running two native teams and does far more than a website can.
For a mature product that has to work well on both platforms, this is usually the sensible route. Our Head of Technology has written about when multiplatform makes sense if you want the longer version.
What to do now
Still unsure? Here's the test I come back to. Would you want to open this app every month, or once a year? If your customers buy at least monthly, an app tends to pay back through engagement, conversion, and retention. If they show up occasionally, a fast mobile web serves them without the ongoing cost of building and maintaining an app.
Either way, you don't have to decide everything at once. For a newer business I usually frame it in four steps:
- Mobile web. Quick launch, broad reach, low risk.
- Analytics and feedback. Track behaviour, test your assumptions.
- App. Build it once recurring usage justifies the investment.
- Maintain. Keep it healthy with regular checks so technical debt doesn't pile up.
That way you build the app once real usage data backs it.
In the end it's about the user
Technology should serve your users. So start with how they actually behave. How often do they come back? What do they expect from you? Where do they drop off?
Answer that honestly and you'll usually know whether to build an app, look at multiplatform, or sharpen your mobile web instead.
If you want a second opinion on where your product sits, a few options:
- Book a call with us to talk through your roadmap
- Try the Etnetera Mobile App Cost Calculator to model a build
- Request an App Health Check if you already have an app and want a clear read on it
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