PWA, native app or cross-platform: what suits your business?

"We want an app" is rarely the real question. Usually a hair salon wants customers to rebook easily, a restaurant wants guests to order ahead or a yoga studio wants members to see their classes. There are three ways to do that: as a PWA, as a native app or as a cross-platform app. They differ in what they can do, how customers get them and what upkeep they require.

The three routes in brief

PWA

A PWA (progressive web app) is a website that behaves like an app. You open it with a link in the browser and can then add it to the home screen, with its own icon and without an address bar. There is one version for iPhone, Android and computer, and an update is ready for everyone straight away. You do not need the App Store or Google Play.

Native app

A native app is made separately for iOS and for Android, using each platform’s own programming languages and building blocks. It has the most access to the device and appears in the stores. On the other hand, you are effectively building and maintaining two apps.

Cross-platform app

With a cross-platform approach, such as React Native or Flutter, you write largely one codebase that runs as an app on both platforms. The result is listed in the stores as usual and has wide access to the device. You share most of the work, but you have store accounts, reviews and releases just as with native.

What a PWA can and cannot do

A PWA can do more than many people think, but the limits differ by platform. These are the points that matter in practice:

• Installing: on Android the browser often offers to install the web app itself. On the iPhone the user has to add it to the home screen via the share menu; no automatic install button appears.
• Push notifications on iPhone: since iOS 16.4 web apps can send push notifications, but only if the user has added the web app to the home screen and then gives permission. A visitor who only opens the site in the browser does not get them.
• Push notifications on Android: also work from the browser, once the user gives permission.
• Working offline: a PWA can store pages and data, so that a job sheet, for example, can be opened without signal. What needs to work offline does have to be decided and built in advance.
• Hardware: connecting to Bluetooth or NFC from the browser is not available on the iPhone. Camera, location and scanning a QR code with the camera do work.
• In the background: a web app cannot keep running in the background for hours, for example to track a route continuously.

What the app stores ask of you

An app in the App Store or Google Play brings fixed obligations, separate from the build:

• Developer accounts: Apple charges an annual fee for its developer programme, Google a one-off registration.
• Review: every new version is reviewed before it goes live. That takes time, and a version can be rejected.
• Updates on the user’s device: a new version has to be downloaded to the device. Old versions stay in use for a while.
• Commission on digital purchases: if you sell digital content or subscriptions in the app, Apple and Google generally charge a commission. That does not apply to physical goods and services, such as a meal or a haircut.
• Upkeep for new operating systems: new versions of iOS and Android come out every year, and apps have to be updated for them.

Which choice suits which business?

• Hair salon, yoga studio or hotel: customers book a few times a month or a year. A good booking page or web app that works well on a phone is usually enough. Anyone who wants to can add it to their home screen.
• Restaurant or takeaway: online ordering works perfectly well in the browser, including via a QR code on the table. A download is actually an extra hurdle there.
• Installer or garage: engineers work with job sheets and schedules. A web app that can still do something without signal often fits well here.
• Business with many regulars: if you want a loyalty card, messages to your regulars and visibility in the stores, an app of your own can be worthwhile.

How Vorlyo approaches it

In our software per sector, booking, ordering and the client portal work in the browser, without your customers having to download anything. If you do want an app of your own for your regulars, there is the loyalty card app: an app under your business name in the App Store and Google Play, with a digital loyalty card linked to your till. We handle the store submission and the updates. If you first want to know what having an app made involves in general, read the guide on the cost of having an app made.