Advantages of Mobile Application over Websites

Despite different functionalities and services, they have their specific usability and preference of use. The list will be long when we will start thinking about that when a mobile app makes sense? Let’s get started with the introduction, pros, and cons of Mobile Application and Website.

Mobile Application 

The mobile application is an application software which runs on mobiles and provides necessary services to the users. Mobile applications commonly referred to as a mobile app or simply an only app. There are different types of mobile applications are there mainly Native applications, Hybrid applications, and Web applications. Mobile applications mainly run on smartphones and tablets rather the computer system. 
Examples of some mobile applications are Whatsapp, Instagram, Uber, YouTube, etc. 

Pros Of Mobile Application

1. Offline Access- Provides an opportunity for the user to use offline.
2. Extensive capabilities- Provides a lot of features and functionalities to the user.
3. Personalization- Provides personalization to users to set preferences, creating accounts, etc.
4. Brand promotion opportunities- Provides an opportunity to promote a company brand in various ways.
5. Convenience- More convenient to use in terms of user experience, loading content, the usability of functions, etc.
6. User experience- UI elements give a better user experience.
7. Speed Performance- Provides a faster performance than the website.
8. Functionality- Provides greater functionality than the website.

Cons of Mobile App –

1. Support and Maintenance- Provides frequent updates and feature addition which is an irritating task for users to update frequently.
2. Cost- Native mobile apps are costly as for different Mobile OS different apps need to be developed.
3. Compatibility- Mobile apps need to maintain the requirements of a particular Operating System to meet the compatibility for proper functioning.
4. Use of User’s resource- Mobile apps uses user’s resources in terms of money for buying some application, also space of mobile for storage.

Websites

Websites are a collection of web pages that are linked with each other where the web pages share the single domain name. Websites are published on any web server and this website is publicly accessible. Websites can be accessed on any digital platforms supported with search engines or web browsers for example a website can be accessed on a mobile, in a computer, and in a tablet. Websites commonly referred to as simply Sites only. They are particularly dedicated to any topic like these are developed for various purposes like social networking, education, news, business/organization, entertainment, etc. 
Examples of some websites are Netflix, Instagram, Amazon, YouTube, etc. 

Pros of Website

1. Compatibility- Provides users to use the product regardless of the device and the operating system that the device runs on.
2. Cost-effectiveness- It is cost-effectiveness in terms of development and usability also with principles of interaction with users.
3. Broader Reach- Due to multi-device support it reaches a large user set.
4. Updates and maintenance- It costs less to upgrade. Users don’t have to worry about it.

The Cons of Mobile Website –

1. User Experience- It’s often impossible to fit everything onto one page and fails to provide a good user experience.
2. No Offline Access- Requires good internet connectivity to operate fully.

Advantages Of Mobile Applications Over Websites

1. Mobile applications are faster- Mobile applications are a little faster than websites, that’s why users always prefer to use application for any use rather than a website. As the applications store their data locally so it gives a bit faster data accessibility experience to the end-user.
2. Offline Access- Many applications works in offline mode means without connecting to the internet they can provide the required services to the users whereas websites need an active internet connection to load and access information. It is one of the important advantages of mobile applications over websites.
3. Better Personalization- Mobile applications take end user’s preferences based on their interests and the latter recommends customized content based on preferences whereas websites can’t provide personalized information like a mobile application. This is one important advantage that makes mobile applications more user-friendly.
4. Use of Mobile Device Features- Mobile applications use device features like Camera, phone call, GPS, Contact list, etc. Such device features make the mobile application more interactive and user-friendly. These features solve any actions/tasks efficiently in a reduced time.
5. Easy access to information- To access any website user needs to have internet connectivity as well as he/she has to use a web browser to access any information from that site but it is quite easy to access any information from the mobile app as it does not require an active internet connection(except some application) and opening of any browser. Also accessing any websites requires remembering its URL whereas it’s not required in case of using a mobile application.
6. Brand & Design Benefits- With the increase in smartphone users, love for using mobile applications is also increasing. Everyday users visit most of the applications they have in their smartphones. Also, if they don’t open any application still the app reminds them about the branding of specific companies or organizations through their icons on the application. So the icon helps in a mini advertisement for the brand near the customers.
7. Push Notifications and instant updates- Enterprises and businesses find it helpful to send instant and non-intrusive notifications to app users which makes it easier to promote products and services to users through mobile applications. When a user opens the app he/she starts to receive the notifications also without opening push notifications are received.
8. Productivity Improvement and Cost reduction- Mobile application takes less cost for development and maintenance whereas the development and maintenance cost is a bit higher in the case of websites. Also, mobile apps help to reach a customer with little effort and little marketing cost and in a very short time.
9. Increased Security- Mobile apps integrate with the device’s existing security features to provide better security to the users. Within mobile devices, safe access, modification, and sharing of data with a high level of security can be done.