Recently I have received some inquiries asking whether it is necessary to develop a small program for my project (a small project with a small number of users) that already has iOS and Android clients, as well as a web version.

Our suggestion is that it is necessary to develop small programs for the following reasons:

First, the cost is low. Since the backend server has already been written when developing the app, and a complete API interface is provided, the cost of the backend server is extremely low, and the API used by the app can be reused into the mini program with only slight adjustments.

Second, it is easy to promote. Mini programs are based on billions of users and have abundant traffic entrances. It is very difficult to promote some niche apps, and the installation threshold for users is also very high; while the promotion threshold for small programs is much lower, after all, no installation is required. We can even let mini programs drive traffic to the app. For example, we can restrict some advanced functions in the mini program and guide users to install the app.

But what I have to say is that it does not necessarily take a very short time to develop a small program. For example, I saw some development companies claiming that it would take 3 months to develop an APP and a mini program with the same functional modules, but it would not even take a month for the mini program. In fact, this is a sneaky concept, just to belittle the app and elevate the mini program to achieve your own goals. In fact, they calculated it like this:

APP development time = requirements communication + UE design + UI design + background server development (including API) + APP client (Android and IOS) + other changes or testing time.

Mini program development time = mini program front-end development time.

Such a calculation is obviously unfair to APP, because mini program development also requires demand communication + UE design + UI design + backend server development (including API) + other changes or testing time.

In general, when the required functional modules are the same, the workload of app development does need to be more than that of mini programs. After all, apps need to develop both Android and iOS, while mini programs only need to write the front-end code once and can be applied to each platform, but the gap is not as big as many publicity.