For years, building a mobile app felt like an essential part of any publisher’s digital strategy. If you were serious about digital subscriptions or reader engagement, an app was almost a given. 

But then it became expensive to build — let alone market and maintain — an app, so some publishers started opting out. Now that AI makes it cheaper to build apps, does that mean we should have an app for everything?

The answer is not straightforward.

Recent data from Appfigures highlights an interesting shift. Global app downloads continued to decline in 2025, falling 2.7% year-over-year to an estimated 106.9 billion installs. Yet consumer spending inside apps reached a record US$155.8 billion, growing more than 21%. 

In other words, fewer people are downloading apps, but the people who do are becoming significantly more valuable. Which is our ideal audience. 

So should we start building more apps? Or is it a distraction?

This topic sparked a lively discussion during INMA’s recent Product & Tech Advisory Council, and what struck me most was how quickly the conversation moved beyond technology. The consensus wasn’t really about apps at all; it was about strategy.

The pros

One of the strongest arguments in favour of building an app is the opportunity to develop a more direct relationship with your audience. As search traffic becomes less predictable and social referrals continue to evolve, publishers are increasingly looking for channels they can control. An app can become one of those direct connections.

More importantly, the audience inside an app often looks very different from the audience on the mobile Web.

Several participants argued that while app audiences are typically smaller, they are often your most engaged readers. These are the people who return daily, subscribe, complete puzzles, save articles, listen to podcasts, or make your product part of their routine.

One participant shared that nearly half of their subscription revenue now comes through their app, a reminder that success isn’t always about reach but about serving your highest-value users exceptionally well.

Another point that surfaced repeatedly was that building an app has become considerably easier. Modern development tools have lowered both cost and complexity, making experimentation far more accessible than it was just a few years ago.

Ironically, that accessibility may also be one of the biggest risks.

The cons

When something becomes easier to build, it’s also easier to build for the wrong reasons.

Several participants cautioned against treating an app as a solution to declining Web traffic or shifting audience behaviour. An app cannot compensate for an unclear editorial strategy or an undifferentiated product. If it simply replicates your Web site, it is likely to struggle to earn a permanent place on a user’s phone.

And while launching an app may be cheaper than before, maintaining one certainly isn’t. Supporting multiple platforms, continuously improving performance, managing technical debt, and creating experiences that genuinely stand apart from the mobile Web all require sustained investment across product, engineering, editorial, marketing, and customer support.

The strategy

Perhaps the most interesting part of the discussion centred on what makes an app genuinely valuable.

The strongest examples weren’t digital replicas of Web sites. Instead, they offered a distinct utility: personalised experiences, puzzles and games, cooking companions, offline reading, audio, or workflows that encouraged frequent habit formation.

In other words, successful apps tend to solve a specific problem or become part of a user’s daily routine.

That distinction feels increasingly important as AI assistants and operating systems continue to evolve. If more information is surfaced directly through conversational interfaces or OS-level assistants, simply having an app may become less valuable over time. Publishers may need to think even harder about what unique experience only their app can deliver.

The conclusion from our discussion wasn’t that publishers should — or shouldn’t — build apps. It was that apps should be the outcome of a clear product strategy, not the strategy itself.

If you have a clearly defined audience with high engagement potential, a unique experience that works better inside an app than on the Web, and the organisational commitment to continue investing after launch, an app can become one of your most valuable products.

If not, improving your existing digital experience may well deliver a better return.

As with so many product decisions, the technology is often the easy part. Understanding the problem you’re trying to solve remains the hard work.

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Banner photo: Adobe stock image By amenic181.

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