In the current generation where people expect to get their tasks done at their fingertips, on their mobile devices, the usage of Android and iOS applications have increased drastically. Be it an e-commerce platform, or gaming application, or any online learning platform or social media platform, the Android or iOS applications have taken off at a higher pace in the digital world. To survive your website in this digital era, you need to turn your website into a mobile app.
In such a scenario, it has been proven statistically, and also there are very lesser chances that people would visit a particular website, especially when there are alternatives available in the form of Android or iOS applications.
Talking about the statistics mentioned above, some of the observations that might justify the above-mentioned claims of more usage of mobile applications can be listed as follows:
1. More than 85% of people have mobile apps open on their smartphones instead of web browsers.
2. More than 180 million USD revenues have been generated for the business after launching their mobile applications for their customers in the year 2020.
3. Taking an example of an e-commerce platform, even if the people might have ordered goods using the website on their laptops or desktops, more than 40% of the people have switched over to the mobile application of the same e-commerce platform for further processing and communication.
4. More than 80% of the people involved in digital marketing profiles feel that one can promote their business in a better and efficient way by launching their business’ mobile applications.
5. More leads hence the rise in the conversion ratio of the business have resulted in the increment of the development of those businesses by 120%.
These were just the statistics taken from various surveying campaigns carried out. Let us have a look over the reasons why a business might need to turn a website into app iPhone and Android app.
Why convert a website into an application?
Let us discuss some of the reasons why it is necessary to convert a website into an equally functioned mobile application.
These are as follows
1. The era of using smartphones is intact. As the number of users of Android and iOS phones increases day by day, there are no chances of mobile technologies getting extinct. Hence, this technology will periodically introduce several updates that are useful to automate the daily workflow of its users. Hence, day by day, newer applications with high-end features can be introduced and the need for these applications will also see remarkable growth.
2. One application can run on all devices of varying sizes. Whether you have a mobile device having a screen size of 4 inches approximately or an electronic tab, the same application can run on all these. Hence, there won’t be any need to create separate applications or there are no issues of compatibility of the application with the size of the screen of the device, which is usually seen in the web browsers in the mobile, and the website visible on the screen is dependent on the display of the device.
3. The application only needs to be installed once, and the user can open it anytime they want to access it, unlike reloading the website every time a user wants to visit. Hence, a mobile application can become an integral part of one’s daily routine, whereas a website fails to be one.
4. Advanced features like location tracking, camera access, passing the messaging, etc. can be accomplished on a mobile application, which cannot be implemented on a website.
5. Easy navigation to different functionalities of the application is something that a website does not offer while opened from a mobile browser. As the layout of the website might change when opened on the mobile, although being a responsive website, it does not provide the look and feel to the users as they get confused in finding the tabs to navigate to other pages.
In the next section, let us discuss the ways that could be of use to convert a website to web app.
Convert your website into a mobile application!
This section tends to provide you with guidance on how to convert a website into its equivalent web application. Let us have a look:
1. Make use of Progressive Web Apps:
This is a tactic used and developed by Google, in which a user can simply add the web application to his mobile device, and access it just like an application.
Some of the topmost companies that have already been developing applications using the progressive web apps can be listed as Flipkart, Trivago, Jumia, Twitter, Pinterest, Forbes, etc.
Simply add your website to the home screen as a separate icon, and to accomplish this, all a developer needs to do is to generate a manifest file for the web application he wants to convert and develop a service worker that allows the web application to run offline, hence loading faster and also enabling to send the push notifications. We can easily convert the website to an android app with push notifications.
Currently, web applications can be converted to Android apps only using PWAs. The user will be prompted on his mobile screen whenever any web app will be loaded in the form of a mobile app. Some of the advantages of using a PWA for your application can be less costly, enabling the app to run even in offline mode, also the applications can be searched on the search engines. Some of the cons of this method can be its no compatibility with iOS, limited support for hardware and software, and works with some browsers only.
2. Go for Hybrid applications:
We can define a hybrid application as a single application that can run on Android, iOS, blackberry, etc. operating systems. Hence, it can be known as a one-stop solution for all platforms.
A hybrid mobile application can be considered as a summation of the web application and a native application. There are mainly two frameworks that are the most important and widely used in developing hybrid applications, namely React Native and Ionic. Let us have a brief of each.
React Native:
If a web application is built using React.js, then React Native is the best solution for creating its equally functioning mobile application.
Also, if an application is already developed, you can migrate its development environment to React native quite easily. This will help a developer in creating applications that use the native environment and elements of the OS, giving the look and feel of native apps.
Ionic:
If you want to go for developing applications using HTML, CSS, and javascript libraries, Ionic is one for you. It enables the developer to create simple and reusable code for the applications to build.
The ionic framework has been developed using AngularJS and Apache Cordova. Hence while developing the applications, and running them efficiently, you will need to implement Cordova as well as Phonegap.
3. Opting the Native Application Development:
This tactic will create platform-specific applications that might not be compatible with the other platforms.
If you have a readily available web application, all you require is to create the mobile clients for the platform you want to create the application on. Designing, testing, deployment, etc. can be taken care of by the Android professionals, in the case of Android app development. By creating the mobile client, will connect your application backend with the website backend.
What are the benefits of converting websites to mobile applications?
In this digital world, simply being online will not help you run. You must go with a mobile app to get more customers and make your business a great success. So, if you own a business website and are still thinking of building an mobile app, you are losing many great opportunities for your business. With a mobile application, you can make your products and services available to your customers instantly and accelerate your business.
How much does it cost to convert a website into an application?
The cost of converting a website into an application depends on the many features and technology you choose for the project. A simple website or web application will cost you between $ 2,000 and $ 10,000, while development time rarely exceeds 1 month. If you want to develop an application for your business, do not hesitate to contact us. We know how to turn a website into an app that suits your needs and budget.
