A Complete Guide On How To Expand Your Native App To A Web App

 In recent years, we saw that the startups that began with a native mobile app expanded into a web app. Uber and Instagram are the most popular examples. These native apps realized that they need to change for surviving this ever growing IT market. Thus, they expanded to the realm of web and achieved success as well.

       So, if you own a native app and you want to improve it further for making it best suitable for the audience then you have arrived at the right place. Here we shall discuss the aspects that one needs to consider while expanding the native app to a web app.

Why Expand Native App to Web App?

The first question that might come across while expanding your native app is why? Why do you need to expand your app? Why does it require web exposure? 

       As a matter of fact, Uber and Instagram are big names and they have expanded their native apps to web versions and so there has to be some reason! We are first going to find out the reasons.

Native Apps have reached Saturation Point

In 2018, Instagram has received 1 billion active users. On the other hand, Uber became the dominator in Taxi hailing services. This is the case where both the apps reached their saturation point. A point where there will be very less or no progress at all.

       It was a high time for both of these apps to find a new platform and web application was a perfect solution. They placed their foot in the web world to increase their reach.

       Though Instagram came up with a web app back in 2012 on high user demand, it refined its app in 2017 to attract users dealing with a slow network. The idea was to provide an alternative source to users who were unable to download the native app due to network issues.

       Soon after this, big brands like Uber and Whatsapp came up with web solution to give a light web app to the audience.

Capture Better Web Experience

The web apps provide several benefits over their native counterparts. These benefits are:

• Web apps have got more space as compared to the native ones and so one can experiment with it.
• More features can be added to the additional space provided by web apps.
• More visual elements and content can be added for the best use of space.
• Web apps get the visibility over the entire web and not just the app stores which itself is a great marketing exposure.

So, now we have discussed the benefits of expanding the native app to a web app. We shall further direct the discussion to understand the difference between both in terms of development.

Difference between Native and Web App Development

Clicking vs. Tapping

Native apps allow for click gestures like pinch, swipe, and long press. On the contrary, web apps have gestures in form of mouse clicks.

Native apps give fluid user experience with instant reaction to user action like zoom in/out for pinch, advance page for swipe, and show more options for a long press.

Building such apps for the web is a tough job provided there are several varieties of browsers and hardware to consider.

User Experience: Native vs. Web

Native apps provide a variety of experiences including entertainment, music, navigation and more. On the other hand, web apps are utility-centrist focusing on completing a particular task.  Web apps have complex functionalities with long user sessions. As the user sessions are long, the color patterns and font size should be regulated to prevent eye strains.

Aspects To Keep In Mind While Designing Web App

Authentication

It is necessary to safeguard a web app with the proper authentication system. The web apps are being used over several browsers and so they are prone to threats like dictionary attacks, session hijacks, spoofing and others.

Authorization

The security of web app involves designing a robust and effective authorization. Authorization involves tasks for identifying an authenticated identity. It is imperative as otherwise, it will cause information leaks, data tamper, and elevation of privileges. 

Caching

Caching is used to reference data lookups, and avoid duplicate processing. It prevents delays in loading data. The first step in caching is to choose when to load data into the cache.

Logging

Logging is crucial in terms of security of the web app. The logs can identify any suspicious activity which also provides an early indication of a potential attack on the system. It also serves as a proof of repudiation hazard in case the user denies it.

Navigation

The navigation of your web app is important in terms of providing a good user experience. The navigation should be such that it allows users to navigate through screens in a rapid manner. It reduces the complexity of app and minimizes confusion. 

Session Management

Session management involves determining where to store data, what to store and how long is the data stored. This determines the overall performance of the web app.

Web App Back-end Architecture and Security

•  If you have a native app backend architecture sorted then you need to analyze the impact of web app development on existing resources.
•  Expanding from a native app to a web app requires scaling in terms of storage for new records and even encryption.
• SSL certificates can be availed for making web app more secure and reliable.
• If in case your web app is associated with online payments and transactions then you need to put extra stress on the security of your app. The payments must be guided by following all necessary payment service’s protocols.
• Server load testing is required to ensure that it does not go down to excess onboarding of several users. Before launching your web app, you can test it for 10,000 users initially. Another alternative is to use an auto-scaling method which adds more resources only when it detects excess load over a limit.

Conclusion

 Expanding a native app to web app is not an easy job. It requires considering several aspects like features, security, and scalability. However, the efforts are worth if you want to expand your business. A web app provides new possibilities of expanding your business through increased web traffic and global visibility.