Should Stocker become an app?
Emil Lykke GrannHello my fellow developers.
For some time now, I have been working on a cross-broker portfolio tracker: Stocker. It is currently a web tool as you might know and it has quite a few users now. I recently made it paid, and that has slowed down the sign-ups.
So the thought naturally popped into my head: Would making an app version enable more people to discover it and hopefully also sign up?
I kinda like the idea of making it an app. Also for myself to use it. And I think it actually makes sense. The important part is how. I do not want to build a native app from scratch right now. That feels like a side quest.
What I do want is the simplest path to an app icon on the home screen. And for that, packaging the web app into a mobile app using something like Capacitor seems perfect.
Because then I get:
- A real app install.
- Push notifications later if I want it.
- A place in the App Store / Play Store.
- And most importantly: I can keep shipping one product.
Yes, it might still not magically fix discovery. But I think it will improve the product. And portfolio tracking is something you want to check quickly. Not open a laptop for.
So I think the move is: Make the app. But make it the pragmatic way.