Users are now spending more time on mobile apps than on mobile websites. A report found that users spent 2 hours and 19 minutes per day on apps last month, up from 2 hours and 15 minutes a year ago. In contrast, time spent on mobile websites dropped from 20% to 14% of daily mobile use. The report concludes that apps have become the dominant format for mobile interactions, with the mobile browser now just one of many apps. Whether to develop a mobile website or app depends on goals - apps are best for interactive experiences while websites reach a broader audience.

1. Apps vs. the Web

2. Pull the iPhone out of your pocket and look at
the home screen. Likely, you’re seeing some
well known brands on the web: Facebook,
Flickr, and Google to name just a few. You’ll
also see companies like Amazon, Target, and
Walmart which sell a lot of products via the
web.

3. Like you, these sites and companies know
how to build an effective website using the
latest and greatest web technologies. The
iPhone’s Safari browser also supports
HTML5 markup with CSS3 styling and is
powered by a fast JavaScript engine. So why
is there a proliferation of apps instead of web
pages that can do the same thing?

4. New data from app analytics provider Flurry released
today states that native app usage on smartphones is
continuing to grow at the expense of the mobile web.
The company claims that users are now spending 2
hours and 42 minutes per day on mobile devices as of
March 2014, up from 2 hours, 38 minutes as of a year
ago. Meanwhile, mobile app usage accounts for 2 hours
and 19 minutes of that time spent, while mobile web
usage has dropped from 20% of the U.S. consumer’s
time in 2013 to just 14% – or 22 minutes per day – as of
last month. Says Flurry CEO Simon Khalaf, the changes
indicate that the mobile browser has become just “a
single application swimming in a sea of apps.”

5. Facebook, combined with Twitter (1.5%) and
Social Messaging apps (9.5%) grew to 28%
of time spent on mobile, up from 24% last
year, indicating the broader shift from
socializing on Facebook to sharing within
smaller, more private messaging applications.

6. When it comes to deciding whether to build a
native app or a mobile website, the most
appropriate choice really depends on your
end goals. If you are developing an
interactive game an app is probably going to
be your best option. But if your goal is to offer
mobile-friendly content to the widest possible
audience then a mobile website is probably
the way to go. In some cases you may decide
you need both a mobile website and a mobile
app, but it’s pretty safe to say that it rarely
makes sense to build an app without already
having a mobile website in place.

7. Generally speaking, a mobile website should
be considered your first step in developing a
mobile web presence, whereas an app is
useful for developing an application for a very
specific purpose that cannot be effectively
accomplished via a web browser.

8. Meanwhile, new social category YouTube
accounted for 4% of time spent.
Entertainment (including YouTube) and Utility
apps saw their shares remain the same at 8%
each, year-over-year, while productivity apps
doubled their share from 2% to 4%.

9. This is best suited if your app will offer micro-purchases,
which our low price point products
or services within the app, like buying virtual
goods, membership to the premium version
of the app or access to additional content.

10. This is best suited if your app will offer micro-purchases,
which our low price point products
or services within the app, like buying virtual
goods, membership to the premium version
of the app or access to additional content.