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Mobile Site or Native App? That’s the Question.

January 11, 2016
by Adam Churchill

There’s no question we should be designing for mobile. But you might be asking yourself if you should build a mobile website, native app, or even both.


For Delta, their mobile website offers customers the ability to do some simple tasks on the go like checking if their flight is on time. But their native app takes it one step farther.

“Customer’s can see their SkyMiles, check in for their flight, track baggage, and even change flights,” says Nate Schutta. Delta’s native app gives customers a personalized experience because they’re already logged into their account. “It knows me, so it can tell me when my flights are coming up. I can go see details. I can see my boarding pass.”

The question you need to ask is “what kind of mobile experience do our customers need?” Then go design for that, whether for a native app, mobile website, or both.

Adapted from: “Choosing Which Mobile Experience to Build,” a presentation at UXIM 2014 by Nate Schutta.