There is no denying that responsive website design has come a long way in the last few years. Creating a mobile-friendly website is no more challenging task with the availability of ready-to-use templates. Not only do responsive websites look great on any phone or tablet, but they also work excellently. Developing a website is often less expensive than building an app and gives even small companies a better chance to create a digital presence. However, with the changing psychology of customers and shifting shopping habits, it’s time for businesses to convert their website into an iOS app.

In that case, a few of the questions juggling into your mind are:

Let’s move towards the details of these statements and get an answer…

Why Converting Your Website Into an iOS App is a Worthy Decision?

With constantly evolving technology, the dynamics of doing business are considerably changed. With the increasing number of smartphone users, 80% of shoppers have started using smartphones to look up stores and explore products and service information. So hiring an iOS app developer will be a considerable decision. With the changing scenario, more and more users prefer using a mobile device for online shopping. While mobile apps are not taking over the responsive website in any ways, users are finding apps much easier and quicker to navigate.

If you are still wondering why converting your website into an iOS app has become a worthy decision, then here are the quick factors you need to check. 

• In 2022, indeed, when it comes to deciding between having a website or an app, indeed creating a native app will be an obvious choice. This is because smartphone users spend 92% of their mobile time surfing mobile apps on average.
• Mobile apps are much more integrated with advanced features; therefore, they offer far more value to businesses in terms of customer loyalty and brand management. 
• Native apps are faster and quicker and ensure ease of usage. It runs 1.5 times faster than a website as apps are used to store data locally on the app itself, whereas websites store their data on the server. 
• Enhanced customer engagement with your brand as it allows you to send push notifications to broadcast important information right away.
• Integrated with advanced functionalities like order tracking, in-app payment, search and scan products, GPS to locate the location and more automatically. The features and functionalities of the app can deliver a better user experience.
• When you convert a website into an iOS app, you can provide support for face detection and fingerprint support. This will increase the security measures in the app.
• Further social media integration to your app can help you expand your business reach and increase your business conversion rate.

With these reasons, it’s time to convert your website into an app. Industries from healthcare to travel, lifestyle to food are leveraging the benefits of a mobile world. Before you go on the next stage to hire an iPhone app developer, think of your requirements. But the way the world has gone mobile, businesses can no longer afford to stay away from this opportunity. Now is the alarming time to take the next logical step and convert your website into an app. 

How to convert your website into an iOS app?

So what is the right strategy for converting a responsive website into a native app? If you use the term “ how to convert my website into an iOS app”, you will notice a plethora of online converters. But are they reliable enough to take a chance? Maybe these tools help you convert your website into an app in less than 30 minutes. But surely the results will not be satisfactory. 

The online website converting tools simply put your site into a WebView-wrapper. Therefore the UX of the native app is not so great, and your users will quickly uninstall the app. So when you decide to convert your website into an iOS native app, you need to follow some guidelines to avoid app rejection in the app store. Moreover, Apple App Store always aims to maintain the app standard; therefore they have strict guidelines and are more prone to reject the app.

So the simple strategy to gain revenue and expand the user base is to not look for such quick alternatives. It’s better to hire an iOS App Development Company to create a unique product to boost your business’s success. So let’s understand the procedure of converting the website into an iOS app?

How to turn your website into an App on iPhone?

To keep it simple, straightforward and easier to understand, here we have mentioned a step-by-step guide for you:

Step 1: Project Planning and Understanding the Requirements

Instead of diving straight into the app development process, it is worth planning your project carefully to ensure success. So let’s divide this step into two sections:

1:1: Understanding the Requirements of Building an iOS App

Whether you convert your website into an app or create an iOS app right from scratch, the development process will remain the same. To get started with the app development process, you need to hire a project manager, Software architecture, UI/UX designer, app tester, business analyst and more to convert your requirements into an app.

Next, what project methodology do you need to use? Initially, you can consider launching a “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) solution using Agile methodology.

1.2: Zero is the Recommended Development Approach

Zero is one of the practical development approaches to execute the app-building project effectively. But when converting your website into an app using Zero, I recommend such things to take care of:

• Keeping an eye on the app security.
• It is worth using managed cloud service platforms such as “Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service” to avoid getting confused. 
• Create APIs and use 3rd party APIs for your app features. 

Step 2: Manage your Development Environment

Now, you know the requirements, so start by organizing the development environment. 

2.1: Find an MBAAS Platform

Indeed, when you start building an app, your focus is on front-end iOS app design and business logic. But to make your app work flawlessly, you need a robust backend. In addition, you can reduce the time spent in building and managing the mobile app backend by using an MBaaS platform. It offers you various benefits such as:

• Ability to manage the cloud infrastructure and persistent storage which reduces the time and efforts of building a mobile backend.
• This platform can help you scale up your mobile app.
• MBaaS platforms provide the possibility to integrate APIs more easily. 
• You can sign-up for the AWS Amplify offering by MBaaS. 

2.2: Sign-up For the Mobile Device and BrowserLab on the Cloud

When you decide to build an iOS app, your concern is to make it work on almost every Apple device. So to make this happen, you need to test your app on multiple devices and analyze the bugs. Also, you can hire an iOS app developer to handle this task more proficiently. There are various automated testing frameworks, but they don’t do enough. To avoid this risk, you can sign up for the cloud’s mobile device and browser lab. Using this device-browser combination will improve the testing coverage. 

Step 3: Form and organize your team

No matter how brilliant an app idea you have in your mind. The application’s success is majorly dependent upon the skills and expertise that the app development team pours into the project. Therefore, it is worth it to onboard the right people to handle the task. And to build an iOS app, you need a team that consists of UI designers, testers, iOS app developers experienced with Swift, DevOps engineers. 

Step 4: Create a User-friendly UX Design

Regardless of the complexity of the app requirement, make sure your app is highly attractive and easy to navigate. App design is the most crucial factor of your app that either breaks or makes your app’s interface. So when you are converting your website into an iOS app, you need to make it mobile-friendly. The simple app interface and seamless navigation between multiple screens can help you improve the user experience. 

Step 5: Test Your App

You have finally designed your app and coded it; therefore, it’s time to review your app codes and test it on multiple platforms. Launching an app with bugs will make your app users quickly uninstall an app. Therefore, you need a thorough code review, and your reviewer should check the following: 

• Is your app code delivering the intended functionalities?
• Does your app code follow the standard guidelines of the app store?
• Any bugs that are affecting the scalability and performance of the app?

Test your app using XCTest to make sure your app is working smoothly.

How Much Does It Cost To Convert A Website Into An App?

Whether you convert a website into a native app or consider developing an app from scratch, the app development cost will remain the same. But how much does it cost to create an iOS native app? This is one of the most often asked questions by startups.

Well, the matter of fact is, it depends on several factors. There is no straightforward answer to this question. 

So before you get disappointed, here you need to know about such cost influencing factors that include:

• The complexity of the app- whether it be basic, modern or advanced app version.
• Choice of features and functionality to be implemented in the app.
• The choice of the operating system – Cross-platform or native
• Complexity of UI/UX design – A simple app design is always appreciated by the users.
• App development team, its hourly cost, and geolocation.
• App testing and the time it takes to debug an app. 

These are a few significant factors that drive the app development cost. If we conclude all such factors, the average cost of converting a website into an iOS app with basic features will cost USD 20,000+ and may take 4 to 6 months. These are the rough estimations, the cost and time can go up and down depending upon the requirements. So before you make any decision, it is worth booking our free consultation slot to discuss the project details in person.

How Can We Help You?

To end this blog, it is fair enough to say that there are multiple options to convert your website into an iOS native app. However, your choice will greatly depend upon your business requirements and the complexity of the app. And of course, if you’re expecting to create a user-friendly app that ensures an excellent user experience, it is worth hiring an iphone app development company. And Alcax will be one of the best choice of software development companies holding experience in crafting unmatched quality native apps for all size businesses. And having done it correctly, you can increase your business revenue. So if you have any plans to convert your website or develop it from scratch, then don’t hesitate to check our profile and check reviews on clutch. 

You can contact us or drop a query below; our experts will get in touch with you within 24 hours.