How Are Everyman Mobile Apps Different From Business Apps

Apps are small pieces of software, typically used on mobile devices. Their size and accessibility make them hugely beneficial, and this has seen them become popular with consumers, but also with business users. While the apps are effectively the same, offering this mobile functionality to users, the actual functions differ, and so too can the experiences of users.  

What Are Consumer Apps And Business Apps?

Business apps are usually functional tools that offer a service to business users. Services can range from financial to administrative, but the apps usually have a cost associated with or are supplied by other businesses looking to convert users to customers. Consumer apps are targeted at individual users and can range from personal productivity and health apps to gaming and gambling apps like Sizzling Hot developed by Novomatic. The eponymous physical fruit machine game is still used in brick-and-mortar casinos around the globe, but it’s more practical to play it online, with various bonuses and diverse payment options. 

Consumer Apps Tend To Be More Accessible

Business apps might be made available to all business owners, but many target a very specific group of businesses. If an app is only targeting businesses in one country or even in on particular industry, it doesn’t have the same accessibility requirements as apps that are trying to appeal to everybody, everywhere. However, it is important that business apps offer accessibility to those with eyesight problems or other disabilities. 

Consumer apps generally need to attract as large a number of users as possible. This means they have to be more accessible. For the best results, the app needs to be translated into multiple languages, offer accessibility features, and it needs to be made available across many different platforms.

Security Still Matters With Consumer Apps

Business users demand the highest possible levels of security. In a lot of cases, the app will contain or access data relating to the business itself, its employees, and even its customers. Losing this data can not only prove expensive for users but can also lead to a loss of reputation. It can have similar negative effects on the app makers, too.

Consumer apps still have high-security demands, but they don’t necessarily have enterprise security demands. Consumer apps should still protect user data, and this is especially true of banking apps and other apps that collect financial data. 

Less Functionality From Consumer Apps

Business apps and consumer apps both serve specific purposes. And, in both cases, apps can be basic or offer more advanced functionality. However, because business apps usually attract higher costs, they tend to offer more functionality than consumer apps.

Consumer apps still need to meet the requirements of end users, but these end users are less exacting and demanding. Personal users are also willing to install multiple apps to get the data and results they want, whereas business users want streamlined processes from a small number of apps.

Less Room For Experimentation With Business Apps

Business apps have very specific requirements. An accounting app should deal with all aspects of accounting, and it should do so using tried and trusted methods. Reporting, submitting, and filing returns, and other account functions need to be precise, and this is not a time to experiment with functionality.

Consumer apps do have room for experimentation, and this has seen the launch of some seriously innovative apps. This can be a good opportunity for app developers to develop new skills and features before deploying them elsewhere.

Some Consumer Apps Have Fewer Updates

Business apps need enterprise security, and this requirement alone means that the app will need regular updates. And, because most business apps are commercial, updated features, optimized design, and other support will be considered part of the service by business users. Regular updates are commonplace with business apps.

Consumer apps do provide updates, but they are generally only supported for a limited time. This is especially true of free and low-cost apps. Paid and premium apps will generally offer more frequent and bigger updates.

Business Apps Demand More Information

Most apps require users to share some information to be useful. With consumer apps, this might mean submitting an email address. Paid apps don’t necessarily even need payment details, as these can be processed through app platforms and marketplaces. Individual consumers are wary about providing too much information to app developers.

Business users understand they have to provide more data because this data will prove useful in the use of the app itself. And, because business apps tend to have tighter security, business users trust them more.

Business Apps Need To Be Tight

Business apps have very specific purposes and are used by professionals looking to fulfill certain tasks. They are also usually premium apps, with premium price tags, which means users have very high expectations. As well as requiring decent security and demanding regular security updates, this means the app needs to be tidy and reliable.

Consumers can be a little more forgiving, although this isn’t always true. Apps should still be tested and updates should be provided to patch known errors or problems, especially if the app costs money. While consumers may be a little more forgiving of delays, they don’t have endless patience, so an app that is riddled with security holes and poor performance will ultimately suffer.

Consumer Apps Are Less Expensive

When distributing apps, the developer or distributor can set their own price. Consumer apps tend to be relatively inexpensive, with many of them offered as freemium models: i.e. with in-app advertising or some other form of monetization. With that said, research suggests users are willing to spend more than $30 per month on total app subscriptions, so there is room for premium apps.

Business users don’t want to see ads, and businesses themselves tend to have bigger budgets than individual users. As such, business apps can have higher price tags. Some even use a subscription model which provides the developer with recurring payments and makes the price more appealing even to business users.

Conclusion

Apps are convenient because they are installed on devices that most of us carry around, both personally and professionally. They can be highly functional, entertaining, or fulfill very specific purposes, but whereas business apps tend to be professional, have less advertising and cost more, consumer apps are more widely available and have greater accessibility requirements.