We often get asked why schools should develop an app instead of a mobile friendly website. The main reason schools look to comission an app and/or a mobile friendly website is to effectively communicate with their parents. At Apps for Schools, we suggest schools get both an app and a mobile friendly website because both systems have communication advantages that the other one lacks. Luckily, having both a mobile website and a school app does not require any more administration time as both systems can be synced automatically so, for example, a news article only has to be written once and is automatically displayed on both setups.
The list below details just some of the advantages of each setup. The possibilities are endless, so I will try to keep it short:
Advantages of a School App
- Unlimited, free Push Notifications - Send your audience alerts even when they are NOT viewing the app. These alerts can be targeted to year groups, subject areas of even individuals!
- Handy, on-the-go information - Does a parent need to find the schools term dates in a hurry? Not a problem!
- Save money and the Planet! - School apps are now expanding to include E-Planner systems. Not only does this add extra functionality over the traditional paper planners, but it also saves money and trees!
- Marketing - Have your schools branding displayed on the Apple App Store and Google Play store for all to see!
Advantages of a Mobile Website
- Easy access - No matter what your device or window size, mobile websites will stretch to fit.
- Speed - Mobile websites tend to be much faster than non mobile friendly websites as they are optimised to run nicely on smaller, less powerful devices
- Marketing - Want to be further up the list in Google for schools in your area? Having a mobile website helps immensely with SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Sync with your app - Don't want to have to manage two different platforms? No problem! Mobile Apps can easily sync News Feeds, Calendars and other information from your mobile website.
It's worth pointing out that not only do we produce Apps for Schools, but we also produce Mobile Friendly School Websites too! Updating content is as easy as riding a bike and we can even sync the two to work off each other. Get In Touch for more information!