Ask HN: Can you get a faster traction with a mobile app vs. WebApp

6 points·youngdev··3 comments

Hi All,

I'm just wondering if you can get faster traction with a mobile app (Androrid/iPhone) vs. WebApp?

Thanks,

Mobile apps are a sequestered experience. It is easier to maintain a users attention inside your app. Many apps now, also include access to their settings and preferences inside their app to prevent users from 'thinking outside their app'. web apps leave you with the same feeling you get when paying attention to something and have HN and twitter on the monitor. there is also the matter of your app's identity. Unless you are using sencha or a similar tool, i think it is easier to convey the purpose of your a software much easier if it is an app.

It depends? :)

I think the short answer to "faster traction" is Mobile App.

But there's a lot of factors and depends on your app, of course. Instagram is a good example of a mobile-app-only that gained massive traction.

Websites tend not to explode at once as much since there is no ranking system that feeds in on itself like the App Store. Also, you're more likely to get press coverage for a mobile app than a web app.

IMO web app. Marketing and distribution methods are far better and practiced. Getting traction for a mobile app is ridiculously hard because app store discovery sucks but is the most significant source of downloads.

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