Web App or Mobile App? Choosing Your MVP Platform

Source: Dev.to

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
• 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.

Be honest: do you need the camera, or do you just think it would be cool? “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 $27 B company on a web app.
• Notion became a household name with web‑first.
• Linear, Figma, Airtable—all web‑first, mobile later.

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 because “our competitors have apps.” We talked them into web‑first, built and launched in 8 weeks, 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 many 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 forcing them to download an app before they can even try your product adds 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

• Native iOS MVP: several months
• Native Android MVP: another several months
• Both platforms: significant time investment (or cross‑platform with compromises)
• Responsive web app: 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, platform‑specific UX expectations, 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 complexity that can slow learning and increase risk.