Tools for Mobile Apps and Websites

Great tools that help you manage your mobile app and web app business

Need a helpdesk, analytics, or bug tracking tool for your web app and mobile app business? We made a list that can help.

Here are the top mobile and web apps tools to help app makers run their business.

 

 

Heatmaps for Mobile Apps & Web

 

Heatmaps are a neat way to see what your app users like. They show you what users tap on and where they do it. Until recently, heatmaps were easier to find for web apps. But the mobile space has matured.

Web app heatmaps like Crazy Egg, Inspectlet, and Click Density are all the same. They show how far app users scroll, hover, and click. Mobile heatmap tools are more useful, since most mobile devices use touch. Tools like Heatmaps, Appsee, and Heatdata show taps, swipes, and gestures.

Right now, no tools work for both web and mobile. I’m sure this will change soon.

 

Analytics for Mobile Apps & Web

 

Analytics tools are popular. We all need them to track what’s going on in our apps. For web apps, the big guy is Google Analytics. But alternatives like Woopra, Chartbeat, and Clicky exist.

 If you need a cross-platform analytics tool, use Google Analytics. But fair warning, lots of people hate Google Analytics Mobile.For your mobile app, try Countly, Flurry, and Apsalar. They’re all free. But each has a different user experience. Just choose the tool you like to use.

Lifecycle Analytics for Mobile & Web

 

Lifecycle analytics differ from standard analytics tools. Lifecycle tools track users (who buys what). Other analytics show app actions (what they see).To track users, use a lifecycle tool.

Multi-platform apps can use Mixpanel and Trak.io. Mixpanel helps you focus on engagement and retention. It’s free, easy to use, and good looking. It even has extras like in-app notifications. Trak.io only shows the app metrics that matter. It’s simple, organized, and has great 3rd-party integrations.

For a web only option, try Kissmetrics. It has the same features as Mixpanel and Trak.io.

For a mobile app only option, try Distimo or Mobile App Tracking. They’re both free and track conversions from ad click to install.

Market Analysis for Mobile & Web

 

Market analysis sounds hard, but to be successful you have to do it. Market analysis is just learning about the market. You want everything you can get about the market and competitors in the space.

Web apps use tools like Similar Web, Compete, and Quantcast. They all find similar web apps, estimate their traffic, and give audience data.

For mobile apps use tools like App Annie, Mopapp, Applyzer, and Appdata. They show things like competitor app ratings, sentiment analysis, and ranking.

App Annie is free, popular, and has data on all the top mobile app stores. Mopapp is also free and pulls lots of data from the top app stores. App Data gives you iOS and Google Play data for a monthly fee. Applyzer is free, shows the top 1000 apps, but only works for iOS apps.

Feel free to use as many tools as you need to get the info you need.

ASO/SEO Keyword Tools for Mobile & Web

 

Using the right keywords helps users find your app. But guessing doesn’t cut it. Keyword tools help you find which keywords to target and how competitive they are.

There are lots of keyword tools to help web app teams. Some of them are trashy, but a lot are helpful. Use tools like Long Tail Pro or Wordstream to find keywords that get new web app users.

App store optimization (ASO) tools help users find you in app stores. Try ASO tools like Sensor Tower, Search Man, and App Tweak to get keyword suggestions and track keyword rank.

Just remember, choosing the right keywords may get your app seen over competitors. Using more than one tool is quite common to help you find hidden gems.

Beta testing tools for Mobile Apps & Web

 

Releasing a beta and getting user feedback is no easy feat. Sometimes testers just want a free app, don’t know what to test, or have clue how to give feedback.

This is why there are tools to help web and mobile developers. For web apps, tools like Beta Easy and Prefinery help.

You can track things like user activity and feedback right in your web app.

Mobile beta tools are helpful since beta distribution is so hard on mobile. There are 12 tools to help you share mobile app betas. Most allow you to share over the air. Some are free like HockeyKit and Apphance which both work on iOS and Android. But paid tools like AppBlade have more robust features.

Try a few and stick with the one that makes it easy for your beta testers.

 

Bug Tracking for Web and Mobile Apps

 

 

Bugs wreak havoc on any app. So track them before they get out of hand.

For web apps, track bugs with tools like Exceptional and Bugherd.

For mobile apps, try free apps like Bugsense, Crashlytics, and Crittercism. Bugsense and Crittercism work on every top mobile platform. Crashlytics works on iOS and Android. They all have features like real-time crash tracking and troubleshooting tools. Just choose the tool that works for you.

 

Charts for Mobile Apps & Web

Oh Charts! We love to look at them, but hate to code them.

The good news is, someone did the hard work already.

There are only a couple of cross-platform chart tools like Google Charts and TeeChart.

For iOS apps, try CorePlot, JB Chart View, and BESimpleLine Graph. There’s also FRD3DBarChart, PNChart, and Chartreuse.

For Android apps, you have Holograph, Android Chart Library, and ChartDroid.

For web apps, you have tools like Charts.js, High Charts, and Plot.ly. There’s also Vida and Zing Charts.

Choose the chart tool that’s easy to install, lightweight, and looks good.

 

 

URL Shorteners for Mobile Apps & Web

 

URL Shorteners are big on the web. They make web links short and trackable no matter where they are.  Mobile apps don’t have as many options. It’s hard to get good data from the black holes we call the app stores. But, there are tools to do it on mobile now.

Just need to shorten a URL? Mobile devs can still use services like Bit.ly or Goog.gl. But you won’t get all the data you need to make good decisions. If you need to know what a user did from click to install, there’s nothing better than Tapstream or Alau.me.

A/B Testing For Mobile Apps & Web

It seems like every app team is A/B testing or learning about it. But mobile teams didn’t have the tools to A/B test, until recently.

For web apps, there’s Optimizely, Unbounce, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), and more. They’re all similar. People like Optimizely and Unbounce because they’re easy. Other’s like VWO and Google Experiments because of their advanced features. Choose what works for you.

To A/B test your mobile app, you don’t have to look far. Abba, Switchboard, and Clutch.io are all free and open source. There’s also Amazon’s free A/B testing tool. With Amazon, you get most of the same features as web tools for free.

There aren’t any cross platform options, yet. But, Optimizely’s site hints that will change soon.

App Monitoring for Mobile Apps & Web

Slow, crashing apps suck. That’s why it’s key to track app performance for your web and mobile apps.

Log Entries and New Relic are free and cross-platform. If you have both a web and mobile app, it’s easy to just use one of these.

For web only apps, try tools like Pingdom, Graphdat, and Datadog. For mobile only apps, watch performance with tools like App Dynamics.

Remember, your app users are picky. Prevent errors and crashes when you can.

Share Buttons for Mobile Apps & Web

Every app seems to have some sort of way to share. And for the most part, web and mobile app users expect it. You don’t even have to code your own. There are many ready-made tools you can add right into your app.

Do you have both a web and mobile app? Try a cross-platform tool like AddThis. It’s a bit heavy on the web, but is feature-rich and finally looks good.

If you only have a mobile app, use ShareKit, REActivity, or Socialize. You don’t get the analytics you get from AddThis, but they work.

If your app is web only, try tools like ShareThis or Add To Any. Some slow your web app down, so test them.

Help Desk For Mobile Apps & Web

If you want users to stick around, you have to help them. But don’t make it hard. Try support tools to make things easy.

For web apps there’s Zendesk, Help Scout, HappyFox, SupportBee, and more. They all do the same thing in unique ways. Each has FAQ and support tickets to help users. For the same features on mobile try Helpshift, Freshdesk, or Uservoice.

Freshdesk and Uservoice have FAQ, support tickets, and work for web and mobile. Helpshift goes one step further with device details and bug logs.

Any tool you use is better than email. Improve your app support with a good tool.

 

Chat for Mobile Apps & Web

There are plenty of tools like Zopim, Olark, and Snap Engage that make it easy to chat with web app users. And just a few for mobile apps. You have options though.

For mobile apps there’s Hipmob, Apptentive, and Awesomatic. They all handle chat and much more. Hipmob works on both web and mobile. Apptentive has chat, surveys, and app rating prompts. Awesomatic adds forums to their chat tool.

Just pick a tool that helps your users. It’s a bonus if it works on both web and mobile.

Push Notifications Mobile Apps & Web

There are lots of push services for mobile apps, but few for web apps. Luckily, there are good options for both.

Try tools that work on both web and mobile like Autosend. This will help keep your code base small.

As you can see, there are lots of tools you can use to make your mobile app as full-featured as your website. This shows how fast the mobile space is maturing. Of course, not every mobile tool made it on the list. But it’s a good start to help you build rich multi-platform apps with ease.

Need more mobile resources? Here’s a list of 200+ resources that can help.

 

Remember to Share!

Want more like this in your inbox?

If you liked this, check out our Beginner’s Mobile App Security Guide or How to Go Broke Making Apps!

Summary