Last Tuesday, a founder asked me: "Should I build a mobile app or a web app first?"
I asked her three questions:
- Where are your users when they need your product most?
- Can they accomplish the core task on a laptop?
- Do you have 16 weeks or 8 weeks to validate your idea?
She went quiet. Then: "I haven't thought about any of that."
Most founders haven't. They just know they need an app—capital A, as if "app" only means one thing.
Let's fix that, because this decision will either accelerate your startup or drain six months before you realize you chose wrong.
The Unsexy Truth About Platform Choice
Here's what nobody tells you: The "right" platform isn't about what's trendy or what your competitor built. It's about where your specific users need to solve their specific problem.
A meditation app that expects users to sit at their desktop three times a day? Dead on arrival.
A B2B analytics dashboard that sales teams only check from their phones? Also dead.
The platform isn't a preference. It's a constraint dictated by user behavior.
When Mobile Makes Sense (And When It Doesn't)
Mobile apps are seductive. They feel "real" in a way web apps don't. You can hold them. They have an icon. Your mom can find them in the App Store.
But mobile is expensive and slow. Here's when it's worth it:
Your product requires mobility
Not "would be nice to have on mobile." Requires it.
Examples that require mobile:
- Ride-sharing (obviously)
- Fitness tracking (people don't run with laptops)
- Food delivery (customers order from anywhere)
- Field service management (technicians work on-site)
- Location-based social apps (the whole point is you're out in the world)
Examples that don't require mobile (despite what founders think):
- Most B2B SaaS (decision-makers work at desks)
- Project management tools (detailed work needs screen space)
- CRM systems (sales teams can wait until they're at a computer)
- Analytics dashboards (complex data needs real estate)
You need native device features
The camera. GPS. Push notifications. Biometric authentication. Offline functionality that actually works.
If your core value proposition depends on these, mobile is non-negotiable.
But be honest with yourself. Do you need the camera, or do you just think it would be cool to have? Because "cool" costs weeks in development time.
Your users are mobile-first (actually)
Not "they use their phones a lot." Everyone uses their phones a lot.
I mean: they're solving this specific problem primarily from their phones, and forcing them to a desktop is friction you can't afford.
Consumer apps targeting Gen Z? Mobile-first makes sense.
Enterprise software for finance teams? They're on desktops with three monitors.
You're competing in an app store
Sometimes the distribution channel IS the strategy. If your users expect to find solutions in the App Store or Google Play, you need to be there.
But remember: App Store discovery is brutal. Getting featured is lottery-odds. Organic downloads without marketing are basically zero.
A web app can be discovered through Google, shared via link, and accessed instantly with no install friction. Don't underestimate that.
The Web App Case (Stronger Than You Think)
Web apps get dismissed as "less serious" than mobile apps. This is nonsense.
Slack built a $27B company on a web app. Notion became a household name with web-first. Linear, Figma, Airtable—all web-first, mobile later.
Here's when web wins:
Your MVP needs to ship in weeks, not months
Building a mobile app means:
- Developing for iOS (Swift/SwiftUI)
- Developing for Android (Kotlin/Jetpack Compose)
- Or building cross-platform (React Native/Flutter) and fighting framework limitations
- Submitting to app stores and waiting for approval
- Dealing with versioning, updates, and review cycles
Building a web app means:
- One codebase
- Deploy whenever you want
- Update instantly for all users
- No approval process
- Iterate based on feedback the same day
For MVPs, this velocity is everything. You're trying to learn if your idea works, not create the perfect product.
We recently worked with a founder on a contractor management platform. They initially wanted mobile apps. We asked why. "Because our competitors have apps."
We talked them into web-first. We built and launched in 8 weeks. They got early users, learned what features actually mattered, and are now building a mobile companion app for the one feature that needs it: time tracking on job sites.
If they'd gone mobile-first? 16 weeks, and half the learning because updating the app requires app store approval.
Complex interfaces or data-heavy workflows
Phones have 6 inches of screen space. Some tasks need more.
Financial dashboards, spreadsheet-heavy tools, design software, code editors, complex configuration interfaces—these fight mobile constraints instead of embracing them.
A responsive web app gives you desktop power when users need it and mobile access when they don't.
You're targeting businesses, not consumers
B2B users work differently than B2C users.
They're at desks. They have workflows. They need integrations with other tools. They want to open fifteen tabs and toggle between them. They're doing focused work that requires real estate and a real keyboard.
Yes, they'll eventually want mobile access for certain tasks. But if you make them download an app before they can even try your product, you've added friction to an already-complex B2B sales process.
A web app with a clean, bookmarkable URL beats "download our app" every time in enterprise sales.
Budget and timeline matter
Let's talk reality.
A native iOS app from a competent team: several months for an MVP
A native Android app: another several months
Both platforms: significant time investment (or you go cross-platform and deal with framework compromises)
A responsive web app that works everywhere: 6-10 weeks typically
Those numbers aren't arbitrary. Mobile development is just more complex because you're building for multiple platforms or dealing with cross-platform framework overhead.
If you're bootstrapping or pre-seed, that timeline difference is the difference between shipping and not shipping.
The Cross-Platform Middle Ground (Proceed With Caution)
"Why not React Native or Flutter? Then I get both platforms for the price of one!"
In theory, yes. In practice, it's complicated.
Cross-platform frameworks have gotten good. React Native powers Facebook, Instagram, Shopify. Flutter powers Google Ads, Alibaba, BMW. These aren't toys.
But they come with trade-offs:
You're fighting framework limitations
Native iOS and Android features take time to get implemented in React Native/Flutter. Sometimes they never do. You're always waiting for the framework to catch up.
Need the latest iOS feature Apple just announced? Native developers get it immediately. Cross-platform developers wait months for library support.
The 80/20 rule applies
80% of your app works great cross-platform. The other 20%—the weird edge cases, the platform-specific UX expectations, the native integrations—costs 80% of your development time.
Experienced mobile developers can navigate this. But if you're hiring an agency or junior developers, expect headaches.
Performance isn't quite native
For most apps, this doesn't matter. But if you're building something graphics-intensive or performance-critical, you'll notice the difference.
When cross-platform makes sense:
You need mobile (not web) but can't afford two native apps. Your app doesn't rely heavily on cutting-edge platform features. You have experienced React Native or Flutter developers. Your app is utility-focused, not trying to feel "premium" or compete with highly-polished native apps.
For MVPs, I'm skeptical. You're adding framework complexity when you're trying to learn fast. But if you're confident mobile is the right call and you need both platforms, it's a reasonable compromise.
The Decision Framework
Stop guessing. Use this:
Start with your core user behavior
Where are users when they need to solve the problem you're solving?
At their desk working? → Web On the go constantly? → Mobile Could be either? → Web first, mobile later.
Identify your must-have features
Make a list. Be ruthless. Not "nice to have"—must have for v1.
Any of these mobile-only?
- Camera/photo capture
- GPS/location tracking
- Push notifications for time-sensitive actions
- Offline functionality
- Biometric authentication
If yes → Mobile app If no → Web app is probably faster and cheaper
Consider your distribution strategy
How will users discover you?
App Store/Google Play discovery → Mobile SEO and content marketing → Web Direct sales and demos → Web (easier to demo, no install friction) Viral sharing/invites → Web (links beat "download this app").
Run the economics
Time to MVP:
- Web: 6-10 weeks
- Mobile (one platform): 10-14 weeks
- Mobile (both platforms): 14-20 weeks
Maintenance and updates:
Web: Deploy anytime, instant updates
Mobile: App store approval, versioned updates, user update friction
Be honest about your timeline. Ambitious founders always underestimate how long mobile takes.
Accept that you might need both eventually
This isn't web OR mobile forever. It's web or mobile FIRST.
Most successful products end up with both. The question is sequencing.
Slack started web. Then mobile. Instagram started mobile. Then web. Uber started mobile. (They had to.)
The pattern: start where your users are, nail the core experience, then expand to other platforms once you've proven the concept.
Don't try to be everywhere at once. You'll ship slower and learn less.
What About Progressive Web Apps?
Someone always asks about PWAs—Progressive Web Apps that work like native apps but run in the browser.
The promise: Best of both worlds. Web development speed with app-like features.
The reality: Promising but limited.
PWAs can do:
- Work offline
- Install to home screen
- Send push notifications (on Android and some browsers)
- Access camera and location
- Feel app-like with proper UX
PWAs can't do:
- List in the App Store (Apple doesn't allow it, really)
- Access certain native features
- Match native performance for complex apps
- Get the "legitimacy" signal of being a "real app"
For certain use cases—especially consumer web apps that want app-like features without the overhead—PWAs are great.
But if your strategy depends on App Store distribution or advanced native features, PWAs won't cut it.
Real Talk: What We Actually Recommend
At SociiLabs, most of our MVP projects start with web apps. Not because we don't build mobile (we do), but because web gives founders the fastest path to learning.
Here's our usual recommendation flow:
Phase 1: Web MVP (6-10 weeks)
Build the core functionality as a responsive web app. Launch fast. Get real users. Learn what actually matters versus what you thought would matter.
Most features you think are critical? They're not. You learn this by shipping and watching what users actually do.
Phase 2: Iterate on web (1-3 months)
Fix what's broken. Add what's missing. Find product-market fit. Build out the features that drive retention and revenue.
This is so much easier on web. No app store approvals. No version fragmentation. Just ship.
Phase 3: Mobile companion (if needed) (8-12 weeks)
Once you know what works, build a mobile app that focuses on the specific use cases where mobile actually adds value.
Not "our whole product but on mobile." A focused mobile experience for the workflows that benefit from mobility.
Example: We built a project management tool for construction companies. Web app first. They used it for planning and reporting. Then we built a mobile app specifically for job site updates and photo documentation. The mobile app does three things really well. The web app does everything else.
That's the pattern. Prove it works, then expand strategically.
Not Sure Which Way to Go?
We build both web apps and mobile apps at SociiLabs, so we don't have a dog in this fight. What we care about is helping you make the right call for your specific situation.
If you're stuck on this decision, we're happy to talk it through. No sales pitch, no commitment—just a conversation about your users, your timeline, and what actually makes sense.
We use AI-assisted development to move faster than traditional agencies, which means we can typically deliver MVPs in 6-10 weeks instead of the usual 4-6 months. But speed doesn't matter if we're building the wrong thing on the wrong platform.
So before we talk about timelines or scope, we'll ask the annoying questions: Who's your actual user? Where are they when they need this? What are you really trying to learn with this MVP?
Because here's the thing: most founders who come to us wanting mobile apps actually need web apps first. And the ones who need mobile usually need a more focused version than what they're imagining.
Our job isn't to build what you ask for. It's to help you figure out what you actually need, then build that really well.
Want to talk about your project? Book a time here. We'll give you our honest take.
The Bottom Line
Web or mobile isn't about technology preferences. It's about user behavior, business constraints, and strategic sequencing.
Ask yourself:
- Where are my users when they need this product?
- What features are actually essential for v1?
- How fast do I need to learn if this works?
- What can I realistically build and maintain?
Answer those honestly, and the platform choice becomes obvious.
And if it's not obvious? That probably means web-first is the safer bet. You can always build mobile later. You can't get back the months you spent building the wrong thing.
What's your take? Have you launched web-first or mobile-first? What did you learn? Drop a comment—we'd love to hear what worked (or didn't) for your project.
Top comments (0)