Today’s Mail Bag question comes from Krissy and they ask why there isn’t a mobile app available for USCoinNews. It’s a fair question and it comes down to a couple of different factors.
Hi,
I looked in the App Store for a mobile app for your site but could not find one. Is there one available? If not, are you going to make one? It would be helpful so I don’t have to go to the site every time.
Thanks,
Krissy
The issue with a mobile app for USCoinNews comes down to a couple of different things Krissy: Economics and the actual content of the site.
To develop an app for the site, either Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android, costs a few hundred dollars to get done and published. The site currently is just now breaking even on its monthly costs (thanks to readers like you clicking ads and buying things through Today’s Deal) and fronting the costs for a mobile app isn’t viable right now. Sure, you can make the argument that having such an app would drive more traffic thus more views thus more revenue but the likelihood of that is slim given this is a coin collecting centric site. There are only so many of us in the hobby.
Perhaps more significantly though is the actual content of the site itself. When I started USCoinNews back in May 2019, I specifically focused it on the hobby and providing news, information and other content around it. I don’t have an eStore or other content that really drives the need to have an app. Instead, I focused on the functionality of the site on mobile devices. I made sure it was fast and somewhat clutter free (meaning there are fewer adverts than on the desktop version of the site). Based on analytics on the site, more than half of readers visit from their mobile phone or tablet. It would seem that effort to optimize for mobile has paid off.
That’s the background on why there isn’t an app Krissy but not all is lost for you. If you are using Chrome on Android (or iOS) or Safari on iOS, you can easily add a quick shortcut to USCoinNews to your Home Screen on your phone. This will give you one-touch access to the site.
In Safari on iOS, open up the site then tap the share button. Scroll down and you will see the option to “Add to Home Screen”. Tap that, rename the site to maybe just USCoinNews and tap OK. You will then have an icon on your Home Screen that you can tap to get straight to the site. It simply opens up Safari and brings you straight to it.
In Chrome for Android or iOS, it is fundamentally the same way. Go to Chrome and use the 3-dot menu to open up the Menu of the app once you are on USCoinNews.com. There you will see the option to “Add to Home Screen” which you can tap, rename the site, and it will be an icon on your Home Screen.
Tada! I know it isn’t the same as a mobile app but it is a close facsimile of it. Oh, and if you use Chrome on your desktop – Windows or MacOS – you can do the same thing. Just go to the site, then use the 3-dot menu to go down to Apps>Install This Site As An App. It will “Install” USCoinNews as a progressive web app on your desktop which provides you one-click access.
Thanks for taking the time to write in Krissy and thanks for your continued visits to the site, be it on your desktop, tablet, or mobile phone.
If you have a question for the Mail Bag, send it in! Use the contact form on the About Page here on the site to reach me.