The problem it answers
- A customer relationship that dies on the website
- No owned channel on the phone
- Support that could have been self-serve
How this category works
Mobile work is part of a wider system: a customer app needs a backend and a measure of whether it helped; a field app needs offline behavior and a record when the van is back in range. Native and cross-platform are choices we make from the audience, not from habit.
1. Choose the surface
Native when the platform or performance demands it. Cross-platform when one codebase should serve both stores.
2. Design for the hand and the job
Field tools and customer apps fail for different reasons. The flows are designed separately.
3. Connect the backend
Accounts, data, and analytics are part of the build.
4. Ship and keep shipping
Store release is the start. Updates and maintenance are a named service.
Questions
- Native or cross-platform?
- Cross-platform when you need both stores and the experience can be shared. Native when performance, device hardware, or a single-platform audience justifies two codebases.
- Do field apps work offline?
- When the job happens away from reliable signal, offline capture and later sync are part of the scope.