Overview
Are apps and websites the same? The short answer is no. While apps and websites can share the same programming languages to create them and both can be called apps, in principle they are different.
What is an app?
The word app is short for the term application. An application is a client-facing software program that is developed to perform a specific task or a series of tasks. The term app is usually universally used to describe a mobile application whereas the term application is used to describe a desktop application1.
What is a website?
A website is a page or pages of information shared on the Internet through a web server.
Prior to the world wide web (www), applications were built to function natively, either directly on machines or through a local server. An application interacts with a database and performs database related tasks such as calculate numbers or track customers.
Evolution of the Application
When the world wide web became mainstream, initially it provided information only. As it became more widely used, it began to be used to perform application related tasks. Due to the nature of being able to use the Internet anywhere, the concept to move applications online became widespread. This is when applications became a part of website development and shifted websites from being information only to containing functionality.
As time progressed mobile technology became the primary method how society accessed the Internet. This gave rise to mobile application development. Mobile application development an application that is explicitly designed to function on mobile devices.
Website development has grown with the need to keep up with the various types of devices that view websites. In this effort, the HTML5 standard was released in 20142. HTML5 and various frameworks, provided a means develop websites that adapt with screen sizes. This ability is called responsiveness.
Accessing Apps on Mobile
Often, people are confused by the ability to access a website through a mobile device and the use of an app on their phone. The difference is in how you access the resource. If you visit an app store such as Google Play or Apple App Store to download an app to access the resource – you are using a mobile app. If you access a website by using a web browser, you are accessing a (hopefully responsive) website.
Difference Between an App & Website
A notable difference between apps and websites is that a website can contain an app, but an app cannot contain a website. At the basic level, a website will provide information to a user and at an advanced level, a website can incorporate application features that will perform actions or a series of actions like an app.
In conclusion applications perform tasks other than displaying information and have the ability to function off and online, apps are explicitly designed for and used by mobile devices, and lastly, websites largely function online, can contain application functionality and is viewable on mobile devices. Mobile applications integrate application technology solely for the purpose to function on the mobile device.
I know – this is a lot, but hopefully there is some understanding of the difference that can be learned.