How to Make an App That Links to Your Website

Any web-first business - such as eCommerce stores, membership sites, forums, online courses and digital publishers - can benefit from launching their own mobile app.

Apps are tailor-made for driving higher engagement and retention from mobile users, who now make up the majority of internet users.

An app will help you increase session time and total number of sessions, which lead to higher revenue.

When you launch an app, it's crucial that your app and website are linked together, to provide a consistent UX, and to minimize the work needed to maintain both platforms.

That’s what we’re going to guide you through in this article. Read on to learn how to create an app that links and syncs with your website.

The best way to make an app that links to your website is to convert your site into an app. MobiLoud does just that, for minimal lift, little expense, and virtually no overhead. Get a free demo with one of our app experts to see how it works.

Why Linking Your App to Your Website is Important

Launching an app that's not linked to your site is almost like starting a new business.

You’ll have a new codebase to maintain, and twice the content to publish and manage.

It's double the work and double the operating cost (at least).

Keeping the UX and branding consistent across both platforms will be a constant, resource-intensive struggle.

The increased overhead makes it harder for your app to deliver a positive ROI.

Conversely, if your app and website are linked, there's much less risk to launching an app, with the same upside.

• It's quicker, easier and cheaper to launch, as you can reuse a lot of what you've already built for the web (you're not building everything from scratch).
• It's easier to maintain, as changes to one platform automatically show up on the other.
• Your UX is always consistent, no matter where a customer finds your brand.
• Fewer staff are required to maintain your app, meaning less overhead and a stronger ROI.

For businesses that don't need to do anything drastically different on the app, building an app that is a full reflection of your website is the ideal approach.

Want to know how much new revenue an app can drive for your brand? Use our eCommerce App Revenue Calculator and find out.

If you want to launch an app that's linked with your website, there are two ways to do it. Let's go over these two options now.

Option One - Build a Native App with an API Connection

The first choice is to build a native mobile app with an API that connects the app to your website backend.

This allows you to customize every part of the user experience for app users, and reuse what you need from the backend of your website, such as logins, order details, etc.

However, be warned, this option is far from simple.

Here’s how you’d go about getting this done. First, you’d need a pair of developers to work on building your mobile apps. Why two? Because iOS and Android apps require different development frameworks.

iOS apps are built in Objective-C or Swift, while Android apps are coded in Java and Kotlin. In all likelihood, you’ll need separate teams working on each app. 

(You could also use a cross-platform framework like React Native, which allows you to share a lot of the code across the iOS and Android apps, cutting down on development time).

This is for the front end. You’ll also need your development team to write the code that allows your apps to communicate and share data with your website.

While this is a straightforward job, it's time-consuming, and requires you to have competent developers on your team.

Is this a good choice?

In short, building a native app gives you the most control over your app experience, but it's usually not worth the hassle.

Here’s a rundown on the pros and cons:

Advantages

• You have full control over how your apps look and behave, independently from your website.
• Building natively allows you to utilize mobile device features, such as the camera and GPS.
• Your apps should be fast and responsive, as they’re built from the ground up for their specific operating system.

Disadvantages

• Cost: the average salary for Android developers in the US is $108,000, and $128,000 for iOS developers. Factor this, with the complexity of the project, and you’re looking at 5-6 figures development cost.
• Time: even for experienced developers, native app development is no simple task. Especially when you factor building an API on top of it. Don't expect a finished product for at least 6 months.
• Overhead: you'll end up with three platforms (web, iOS, Android) to maintain. While the API allows you to share some data, you still need updates and bug fixes for all three. You'll need to keep multiple extra developers on staff, or rely on freelancers who may not be familiar with your product.

Option Two - Build a Hybrid App with Webviews

The second choice is to build a hybrid app, instead of a fully native app.

Hybrid apps are apps that use a combination of web and native code.

For all intents and purposes, a hybrid app is a true mobile app, which people can download from the app stores and access directly on their mobile device.

However, the content within the app is a live sync with the content on your website.

The app features something called webviews, which are essentially a dedicated browser embedded inside an app, which renders a live and fully functional view of a website.

Webviews allow you to use your website for the main content inside your app, while adding native components that make it look and feel like any other custom mobile app.

This is the simplest way to make an app that links to your website. That’s because the app is your website. When the user opens the app, they’re seeing the same content and functionality they'd see if they went to your mobile website.

And if you're worried that a hybrid app will sacrifice performance or quality, modern webview apps are very difficult to differentiate from true native apps - as you can see from these hybrid app examples.

Let’s dive deeper into the pros and cons of building a hybrid app:

Advantages of a hybrid app

• It takes a lot less time to build and launch your app.
• Less time also means a much lower cost compared to building a native app.
• You can completely convert your website to mobile apps, without rebuilding anything.
• It’s much easier to maintain, as changes on your website update automatically in your app.
• You guarantee a consistent UX across each platform.

Disadvantages

• You have less freedom to customize your app experience.
• It can be harder to tap into some mobile device features.
• You may lose a little in terms of performance (though for most types of apps, the difference is unlikely to be noticeable).

Hybrid vs Native Development: Which Is Best?

So, what's the best way to build an iOS/Android app that links to your website?

While you can do more with native development, the advantages are really not worth it when you consider the added time, cost and complexity.

Hybrid apps are much cheaper. They take significantly less time to build. And, done right, it will be difficult to tell that you’re using a hybrid app and not a fully native app.

If your goal is to take an existing, successful website or web app and convert it to a mobile app, hybrid is undoubtedly the way to go.

Along with being easier to build, hybrid apps are easier to maintain, and guarantee that people get the same experience on web and app.

There best argument for native development is if you need to build app-specific features separate from your website, and you have the budget and resources to build a native app.

But for most businesses, every part of the equation points to hybrid apps as the way to go.

Learn more about native apps, hybrid apps and web apps in this deep-dive.

How to Create a Hybrid Webview App for Your Website

Here's how to build your own hybrid app, and launch a fully-functional mobile app that links to your website.

Your best option is to use MobiLoud, our custom website-to-app service, which has been turning websites into apps for more than 10 years.

Instead of waiting 6+ months and spending 6 figures on your app, you may be able to go to market in as little as two weeks, for a low 4 figure cost.

MobiLoud converts everything that already works for you on your website to your mobile apps, plus app-specific UI, such as a mobile navigation and menus, loading indicators and splash screens, plus native mobile features like push notifications.

We do all the work for you - no need for you to hire developers, or for your existing developers to have to get to know a new codebase.

This includes technical updates, maintenance and support after you launch (which could save you 5 figures per year).

You cannot understate how much time, cost and complexity you save compared to native development, with little to no drop off in quality.

Want to learn more about how MobiLoud helps you build and launch the perfect mobile apps? Get a free consultation now.

Can You Build High-Quality Apps with MobiLoud?

MobiLoud makes it easy to convert your website to iOS and Android apps.

But what about quality? Are these apps good enough to represent your brand, and grow your business?

The thousands of apps built with MobiLoud can attest to the quality. You can read numerous case studies here to see examples of high-quality, high-revenue apps we delivered for MobiLoud users.

This includes eCommerce apps, such as:

• ‍ONLY‍
• ONLY & SONS‍
• John Varvatos
• Jack & Jones
• Rainbow Shops

We've also built apps for digital publishers, online courses, communities, web apps, and much more.

Check out our full list of case studies here.

"We couldn’t find another company that could offer the same features at the same price point, same time to market, and make it as easy as MobiLoud could."
- Svend Hansen, Product Owner at Bestseller

The only limit to what you can do with MobiLoud is what you can build with the web.

As long as you can craft a quality user experience on your website, you’ll be able to translate that experience to your mobile apps without a problem.

Wrapping Up

If you want to build an app that links to your website, recreates the user experience from your website, and updates when your website does, MobiLoud is the best way to do it.

It costs low 4 figures and takes just a couple of weeks development time, compared to 5-6 figures and half a year plus, if you build natively.

You don’t need any tech expertise, or to hire expensive, sought-after developers with mobile app experience.

All you need to do to get started is book a free, personalized demo call with one of our app experts.

In this demo, we’ll discuss what you want to get out of your app, walk you through the process, and show you a free preview of your site as an app.

We let you enjoy the benefits of having your own mobile apps, without any of the added headaches of building or maintaining them.

Get started with a free preview of your app -- get in touch now to learn more.