So, you have built a cool WordPress blog. You promote it among your followers actively. You try hard to make it as informative and useful as possible. The traffic flow starts to grow and you think that everything is doing OK. But! There is a thing that you have probably missed. Have you created an app from your website?
Taking into account the rapidly growing number of the mobile web users, there is a growing popularity of iOS and Android apps. Installing these on a smartphone, a user receives notifications about the freshest news and updates once those become available. So, if your WordPress blog still lacks a mobile app, it's high time to think about spreading the borders of operating systems.
What's the Best Choice to Build an App?
When you decide to build a mobile app for your WordPress blog, you will need to make the major decision whether you would like to build a custom app or use a WordPress plugin for this purpose. Converting a WordPress blog into a custom app is always a great idea. However, there are some issues that you cannot ignore.
- It's more expensive to build an app than to construct a website. However, if your online project has both a site and an app, then you are likely to be ranking higher in the search engines.
- It's likely that your iOS or Android app will be browsed from a range of screen sizes. Unlike responsive WordPress sites that can adjust the content to a range of screen sizes, working with a mobile software you need to consider uploading the app with the visual content supporting different dimensions, thus making your app more user-friendly.
- One of the biggest downsides is the lower searchability of mobile apps. Native iOS/Android apps are not as searchable as websites.
Top Reasons to Create App from Website
Your WordPress blog needs an app, there is no doubt in this fact. What are the top benefits that you can derive from this?
- Mobile apps provide enhanced mobile experience, which makes the users spend a long time browsing your content.
- Native iOS and Android apps provide easier social sharing options. A user can pair your app with a popular social media software just once and share the preferred pieces of data with a single click in the future.
- Using push notifications, you can keep the users always alerted on the new pieces of content that roll out on your blog.
- Once a user installs your app, he becomes your loyal reader automatically. Once you've captured his attention, do your best to keep him coming back for further updates. At this point, you need to remember that content is the king.
- On seeing your brand icon on the home screen of their smartphones, people will familiarize your project out of the number of other web resources.
Top 10 iOS/Android WordPress Mobile App Builders
Here comes the most interesting part. how can you build an iOS or Android app if you have little to no software development skills? How to spend the minimum effort on the mobile app development and derive the maximum value from the results of your work? This is when WordPress plugins come in handy. There are both free and premium solutions that you can add to your site.
WordApp
WordApp is a WordPress plugin that will convert your blog into a usable and fully-fledged mobile app or mobile website. The plugin installs directly to the dashboard of your WordPress site, giving you a chance to tweak the look and feel of the software without living the working space.
Features:
- builds fast mobile apps;
- includes 30+ free themes;
- lets you publish your mobile app to Google Play Store or Apple App Store;
- push notifications are included;
- mobile app monetization with Adsense and AdMob;
- BuddyPress compatibility, etc.
MobiLoud
The plugin lets you publish native mobile apps, which get automatically updated when a new piece of content appears on your site. With its help, you can run fast iOS and Android apps that offer offline support. Native image galleries, mobile ads, sharing options, and more handy tools are included in the download pack.
MobiLand contains 2 different solutions that are intended to make mobile apps creation easier and more affordable.
These are:
- MobiLoud News - the tool making it easier for bloggers and large news portals to publish mobile apps;
- MobiLoud Canvas - a product which helps you turn any existing responsive or mobile website into a native mobile app featuring offline support, push notifications, native tab menu, etc.
AppPresser
With AppPresser, you can create and customize mobile apps in the real-time mode. It easily integrated with your site via a couple of adjustments in the settings panel. If you are not afraid of applying some modifications as you write a custom code, you can go ahead and apply the needed changes to your app.
Features:
- this is the base code for integrating your AppPresser app with your WordPress site;
- activates AppPresser code and theme when your site is viewed in an app;
- modifies WP-API requests to add featured image urls, used in the app;
- adds Ajax functionality used in other AppPresser theme and plugins;
- adds a settings page.
WiziApp
This is one of the most popular premium mobile apps that will help you create native iPhone and Android apps in minutes. As soon as your app is ready, you can go ahead and publish it to the mobile app stores, thus gaining a wider audience reach. In addition to the fully-fledged native mobile app, WiziApp provides you with the advanced online tracking options, letting you keep a closer eye on the user interaction with your project.
Features:
- unlimited push notifications;
- quick and easy mobile sharing;
- wide choice of mobile themes;
- app monetization tools are provided, and much more.
Androapp
There are no programming skills required in order to create native iOS and Android apps with Andropapp. The plugin is installed directly on your site. Within a couple of minutes, you can start browsing the mobile app featuring your WordPress site's content.
Features:
- unlimited push notifications;
- monetize your app using Admob and Appnext ad units;
- Deep linking Support;
- Inbuilt Sharing channels with image share;
- WordPress/Facebook comments support;
- Offline Save;
- Image Zoom, Share and Save;
- Parallax Effect for featured image on post detail page, etc.
WPAPP.NINJA
The plugin is used for the construction of native mobile apps for iOS and Android. You get the entire control over the look and performance of the app, including the management of social sharing settings, comments, mobile ads, etc.
Features:
- push notifications;
- real-time stats;
- support of all the major WordPress plugins;
- SEO boost;
- offline content;
- monetization options, etc.
Appful
The software is mainly intended to be used by companies, publishers, and magazines that are looking for the ways to establish a better contact with their audiences. This is an all-in-one solution that lets you create a custom design for your native mobile app as you customize the pre-designed themes.
Features:
- push notifications;
- real-time editing;
- social media sharing;
- comments;
- logo replacement, etc.
WPtouch
This is one of the most popular and well-establish mobile app software, with more than 8 years of successful operation. It is recommended by Google officially. It will instantly enable a mobile-friendly version of your site that passes the Google mobile test. It also ensures that your site will have high SEO rankings. With its help, you can build a fully-fledged mobile app for your site without tweaking a single line of code.
Features:
- Google mobile-friendly;
- includes themes;
- keeps the content the same as on the desktop version of a site;
- full control over the pages, menus, devices, etc.
WordPress Mobile Pack
Use this plugin to transform the content of your desktop site into a usable mobile app. There are plenty of custom mobile themes available, which provides you with the freedom to build a truly versatile native mobile app. The apps are compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones.
Features:
- Web app install banners give users the ability to quickly and seamlessly add your mobile app to their home screen, making it easy to launch and return to your app;
- web push notifications;
- smooth animations, scrolling, and navigations;
- secured via HTTPS;
- responsive UI.
Blappsta
This is the last but not the least useful WordPress mobile app builder on this list. With its help, you can create an app out of your WordPress blog easily. There are no coding skills required in order to build a native iOS or Android app for your site. As soon as your app is ready, your readers can download it straight from the popular app stores.
Features:
- send push notifications to iOS and Android devices;
- social media sharing support;
- allows commenting and reading comments in your native app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices
- a list of the most popular articles instead of the categories or the latest articles up front;
- support for videos;
- show related articles at the bottom of your post in your native app.
This is our selection of the best WordPress blog apps for iOS and Android usage. Now, it's your time to speak up. What software do you use to create app from website? Please share with us via comments?
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