#41 - 6 Reasons Why Apps Are Harder Than Websites
I'm a web developer turned app developer.
6 months into building my startup, Wednesday Waffles, I'm here to concede that mobile app development is way way harder.
Here’s are the top 6 reasons why:
Apps Need Approval
Our app was rejected 6 times before we were finally approved. Every new release is a new battle.
Meanwhile, you can deploy a site in the next 5 mins if you want to. Aside from SSL certs & CORS, the web is as close to a permissionless world as you'll find.
iOS/Android Nuances
For sites, you basically never need to think about what browser your users are running—everyone's on Chromium.
For apps, even if you're using a hybrid framework, you'll still end up writing platform-specific code for iOS & the many flavors of Android.
Client-Side Patching
Bug on your site? Redeploy and get your users to press "Ctrl+Shift+R". Bug in your app? Submit a fix to both app stores. While it's in-review, stop the bleeding by patching with "Shorebird". Pray it worked, or you're doing it all over again.
Versioning Matters
On the web, you can deploy major front-end and back-end changes concurrently.
For your app, the "Expand-and-Contract" strategy becomes your best friend. There's a long tail of users that won't update their app for a while, but still need it to work.
App Store Reviews
Web or mobile, SEO is tough.
But at least when someone sees your blue link on Google, they don't also see a 1 to 5 star-rating.
Apps need great SEO + great reviews. You need to make sure you request reviews from your users and do so at the right time.
Native APIs
This is the big one.
Why do you download the app instead of going to the site?
Chances are it's because the app to enriches the experience using your camera, contacts, geolocation, notifications, deep linking, background video/audio etc.
You're probably building an app and not a responsive site because you need these native APIs.
You need to request permission from your users to access all of these features, and often also maintain core app functionality for the users that reject them.
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That’s my top 6. What did I miss?
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See you next week — Rayhan