Difference Between Online and Offline Mobile Apps
                     Difference Between Online and Offline Mobile Apps
Jenny Knight
Writes for 
Small and Medium Business Corner & 
SMB Corner
A mobile application also called as a mobile app is a type of 
software application that is specifically developed for small 
handheld devices such as smartphones or tabs. Most of these 
mobile apps do not run on desktop computers and are 
developed only for mobile environment. While some apps like 
calendar, calculator, web browsers, email client etc are 
available to the mobile users as pre-installed software, other 
premium apps require purchase from the mobile app store. 
Mobile apps operate both online and offline based on their 
functionality. Online mobile apps require WiFi or internet 
connectivity to run the application whereas offline apps can run 
in the absence of internet connection to their devices.
•Online Mobile Apps:
•Online mobile apps are best when mobile users have WiFi internet 
connectivity to their mobile devices. Generally, it requires no download 
or software installation to use them on your devices. It can be directly 
accessed real-time through online activity. Online mobile apps may 
require some add-ons or extensions if applicable but any failure in 
network activity may affect the performance of the application. Popular 
examples of online mobile apps are mobile banking apps, games, email 
clients etc.
•Advantages:
•Online mobile apps can be downloaded to the mobile devices for 
repeated use. The app may pre-cache some of the static data such as 
drop-down menus or other reference information which can be used 
later while app is running.
•Just like web based applications, online mobile apps also 
present updated information to the users as it connects to the 
back-end servers to get the real-time data. For instance, mobile 
bank apps almost work like real time web applications barring 
the user interface features. The data or the account details that 
you see on mobile app will be similar to the information 
available on the web based application.
•Online mobile apps offer higher flexibility to the users than 
offline. It not only provides up-to-date information but simplifies 
most of the user transactions through online connectivity. For 
instance, now-a-days users are hardly going to their desktop 
computers to check their accounts or pay bills. By downloading 
the respective online apps on their mobiles, they are able to 
make their account transactions easy and simple.
•Disadvantages:
•One of the biggest drawback is, online apps often take more time than 
offline mobile apps because of the dependency on network for data 
transfers. It also depends on the number of users actively using the 
network connectivity. The higher the network users, the poorer will be 
the performance of online mobile app.
•The mobile user experience and application performance is dependent 
on the type of network connectivity. If network speed is inconsistent, 
then the performance of the app will not be the same. In case, if user is 
unable to connect to the network, the app will not work on mobile 
devices.
•Offline Mobile Apps
•Offline mobile apps are best when mobile users have limited 
accessibility to wifi or network connectivity. These apps are often called 
as native apps because the reference data to run the app is stored 
locally on the device. Offline apps are gaining popularity now-a-days 
due to their consistency in operation even in the absence of network 
connectivity. That means, the functionality within the mobile app is 
available even when there is no connection to the back-end application. 
However, it may require download of all reference data during 
initialization and then later connects with the back-end to synchronize 
the updates.
•Advantages:
•Takes very little time to bring out the data as it is using the cached 
record sets. These apps are not functional to get the real time data from 
the database or back-end servers.
•It provides continuous operation even when there is no network 
connectivity. Due to this reason, the data that you see is not up-to-date 
information as it is not coming from the back-end servers.
•There will be less performance issues in offline mobile apps as it is not 
dependent on network connectivity.
•Disadvantages:
•Initialization of offline mobile app may take a several minutes, based on 
the amount of reference data required on the device.
•The performance of the app depends on the storage capacity of the 
device. For extended operation or functionality, sometimes offline mobile 
apps may require network connectivity.
•The data that you see is not real-time or updated. Offline mobile apps 
are recommended where it requires no dynamic features such as static 
content or games.
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