- Fewer people download apps than they used to. Most want one tap to book from a link a friend shared on Instagram or WhatsApp.
- A custom app costs a lot of time and money for something that converts worse than a good web experience.
- Going it alone, you'll miss the tools other communities use: memberships, messaging, merch and brand partnerships.
Once a community takes off, one idea comes up again and again: "we should have our own app." It feels like the grown-up move. In my experience it's usually the wrong one, and here's the short version of why.
1. Conversion rate: people don't want to download an app
The share of people willing to download a new app has dropped a long way in the last few years. Think about how someone actually finds your next event: a friend shares it in a WhatsApp group, or they tap a link on Instagram. At that moment they want to see what's on and book with one tap.
If the next step is "go to the App Store, download this, create an account", most of them are gone. They just want all the information, and one click to book.
What to do instead: make sure every event has a fast web page that opens straight from a shared link, shows everything on one screen and books in a tap.
2. Time and expense
A custom app means designing and building for iPhone and Android, getting through app store reviews, fixing bugs and shipping updates, forever. That's months of work and real money before your first booking.
And after all that, you've built something that converts worse than a web experience. It's time and money you could have spent on the thing that actually grows your community: running great events.
3. Lack of features
A platform built for communities improves every month because it's built alongside hundreds of them. If you build your own, you start from zero and you're on your own, without the tools everyone else is using:
- Tickets and payments, including tiers, deposits and refunds
- Memberships with recurring billing
- Your own member database, so you're not relying on Instagram or WhatsApp to reach people
- Email, WhatsApp and SMS to message your community
- Merch sold alongside your events
- Insights on attendance, revenue and repeat bookings
- Brand partnerships, so sponsors can find and pay you
Building all of that yourself would take years. Using the best technology that's already out there means you get it on day one.
What to use instead
Pick a platform built specifically for in-person communities, and judge it against the checklist above. Full disclosure: I co-founded Tribe IRL for exactly this reason, so I'm biased. But the same checklist applies whichever platform you choose.
Community Leaders Club members get free access to Tribe IRL, with monthly credits against the platform fee on Group Coaching and 1:1 Mentorship.
When an app might make sense
There are exceptions. If your members use your product every day (booking classes several times a week, say) and you've already proven that demand on the web, an app can earn its place. Build the web experience first, and only build an app when your members are asking for one.
Frequently asked questions
Almost certainly not. Most people find your events through a link shared on Instagram or WhatsApp, and they want to book in one tap from there. A fast web booking page does that better than an app they have to download first.
You can, and they're fine for selling tickets. The gap is everything around the ticket: memberships, owning your member list, messaging your community, merch and brand partnerships. Look for a platform that covers the whole community, not just the event.
Community Leaders Club members get free access to Tribe IRL. Tribe charges a 5% platform fee on sales, and Group Coaching and 1:1 Mentorship members get monthly credits against it.