RunEvr
Agentic project management environment for creatives
Start new thread

📱 When Does SaaS Need a Mobile App?

by
•

Does every SaaS product need a mobile version?

For some products, mobile feels essential.
For others, it feels like forcing a desktop workflow onto a smaller screen.

We’re building a mobile version for RunEvr - mainly to stay up to date, chat with the team, check project progress, and quickly respond when you’re away from your desk.

A few things I’m curious about:

  • Do you expect the SaaS tools you use to have a mobile app?

  • What do you actually use mobile for - checking, approving, messaging, or doing real work?

  • Have you ever stopped using a product because it had no mobile version?

  • And for founders: when do you decide it’s finally worth building?

Do you build mobile from the start, or wait until users ask for it ?

405 views

Add a comment

Replies

Best

For me mobile is mostly just checking and approving stuff, actual work still happens on desktop. I'd say I've abandoned tools that had no mobile at all though, mainly for the "quick check while away" use case, not for doing actual work on my phone. I think for RunEvr, the approach of keeping it to chat/progress checks/quick responses rather than trying to cram full desktop workflows onto mobile seems like the right call

 what’s the biggest thing that still keeps you tied to the desktop when you’re working?
We’re now building the mobile review flow to let you do a complete review from your phone. Would that be useful for you?

 biggest thing that keeps me on desktop is anything that needs actual focus, multiple tabs open, comparing stuff side by side, that just doesn't work on small screen. and yeah, a full review flow on mobile would actually be useful, there's usually a window between checking on my phone and getting back to my desk where i just can't act on it yet

 Thanks for sharing your experience! That’s a really good point about the gap between checking something on mobile and actually being able to act on it.

Having an app on the App Store can increase user trust, but it’s not necessary for success. The real question is not “does everyone have an app?” but “does an app actually improve the user experience?” Build one if it creates real value for users. Don’t do it just for credibility or because others are doing it. Following the crowd isn’t always a good strategy.

 Agree! I think makers should rely on the specifics of their own product.

In our case, since we manage and coordinate our production in RunEvr, we feel the gap of not having a mobile version ourselves. That’s why it’s on its way =)

What are you working on? Is it a SaaS?

 Thanks for asking! Yes, it's a SaaS. I'm working on Everview — actually launching here on Product Hunt August 25.

We're in a pretty adjacent world to you. Everview gives teams a single source of truth for execution: it sits on top of the tools you already use — Jira, GitHub, Slack — without migrating anything, and pulls your scattered status into one place that surfaces what moved, what's quietly drifting, and whether you're still on track to land. Less "here's what changed," more "here's what it means."

Basically the "where do things actually stand?" question, answered without chasing five tabs or waiting for standup.

What part of production are you coordinating in RunEvr? Curious how much of that same pain you're hitting đź‘€

 Very interesting! If I understand correctly, you have integrations with project management and communication tools, and your product keeps everything up to date in one place?

RunEvr was created in the animation studio we run. We started using it internally to coordinate the animation production flow - materials received, passed to artists, a new version is ready, it goes through internal review, then external review, and back again until the task is approved.

In our case, the main problem is losing context while working on tasks that require a creative approach. Switching between tabs and constantly looking for references, sketches, conversations, etc. interrupts the creative flow.

So we’re trying to keep everything connected to the task itself, rather than making people jump between different tools.


I would probably build mobile around the away from desk jobs first rather than trying to recreate the whole SaaS. For RunEvr, the check → chat → approve flow sounds like the right starting point.

 Thanks for sharing your opinion!
What are you building? Does it have a mobile version?

  I’m working on a small SaaS/product project at the moment. It’s still pretty early, so I haven’t built the mobile version yet. I’m actually leaning toward waiting until I know which workflows people really want to do away from their desk your RunEvr approach got me thinking about that.

 What problem does your product solve?

Honestly, I have built a few SaaS Web applications and mobile rendering from web app (PWA) works in mobile browsers just not the best on every mobile device. Users can actually install the PWA just like a real mobile App. I think most SaaS don't need a mobile app and could be a waste of resources.

Having said that, having a mobile version of the application can help your growth especially when it's distributed on App store or Play store since most people trust anything listed on these platforms.

 I think for products with daily updates, changing data, and ongoing communication, having a dedicated app can be really useful - you always have a place to quickly check updates, chat, and review things.

I agree that PWA can be a good middle ground for many SaaS products, especially when a full mobile app doesn’t add enough value. But in our case, we feel a dedicated app makes more sense because staying up to date and acting on things quickly is an important part of the workflow.

In my point of view, building a mobile app as complementary to the SaaS product, I only do in case the product is a right fit. Looking at your product looks very web based that require large screens to work with the system.

Answering your questions:

  • I don't expect any web app to have mobile, I'm expecting that they have support for mobile view when I try to access via the browser - that most web apps already do.

  • For a quick check of summary reports or stats, yes, that would be great. I find a daily report by email a great option too. With the amount of apps now in the market, during daily work the phone gets clutered of notifications and may get missed. I would go with email notifications or in-app notifications for the web app

  • I don't think so

  • When there is demand from the users that justifies the investment in a mobile app

 In our case, though it’s really a web-based product, we can’t afford to miss important messages and updates. That’s why we’re working on a mobile version right now.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

Interesting point about preferring email over notifications!

What are you working on?

 Building a platform called where eCommerce brands can connect their store - in our initial version, we're working with Shopify- and the brand can build a customised survey (white-label view) to gather information about their products instead of just being a generic survey, like "Rate our product/experience".

Then we're extending to other platforms like WooCommerce, ticketing and delivery systems, etc.

The end goal is to give full visibility to a brand over their product and how they position themselves in the market to detect issues earlier before they scale and become a bigger issue.

 And how does TrueSignal collect all that information? How does it build that clear picture?

Is there any AI model involved, or is it mainly based on real customer reviews and feedback?

 It's done through the collection of survey responses and display on dashboards. We're working on an analysis that tracks the metrics and, depending on each business's goals, shows alerts and suggestions on how to fix the problem.

At the moment, we don't have any AI model involved; in the next iteration, it will be included to assist the businesses in better understanding the results.

The primary goal of the project was to go to market ASAP so we can validate the idea and take feedback from the users to guide the next version.

For me, mobile is mainly for checking in and messaging rather than doing the actual work. I like being able to quickly check project updates, respond to a message, or approve something when I’m away from my desk.


I think that’s where mobile adds the most value for SaaS, it gives you a lightweight way to stay connected without needing to open your laptop just to check one thing.

Would you review artwork or design on mobile? We’re working on that part right now - to make reviewing videos, images, 3D models, and other media types convenient when you’re on the go.

I think it really depends on the product.

For something like Steadfolio, we initially focused on the desktop experience because learning and understanding investments benefits from having more space on screen.

But the more you talk to users, the more obvious it becomes that mobile matters for a different reason.

People don't necessarily want to do everything on mobile. They want to quickly check their portfolio, follow something, or learn something while they're away from their desk.

So I think the better question isn't "Does SaaS need a mobile app?"

It's "Which jobs do users actually want to do on mobile?"

Build for those first, rather than simply shrinking the desktop product onto a phone.

The hardest part is deciding which features are worth keeping on mobile and which ones to leave out. You know it should be lightweight and focused on quick checks, but somehow, throughout the process, everything starts to feel important =)

 Totally agree with you that, at some point, everything starts to feel important. I also think there shouldn’t be features that are only available on desktop. If I discover and like a feature on my laptop, I expect to be able to find and use it on my smartphone too. The challenge is to find a way to make the full experience work well on mobile as well.

 Can totally understand you...

We makers regret leaving out even a single feature we’ve built =D
So the mission is still really difficult - figuring out how to optimize the full desktop experience for mobile without losing anything along the way.

I have created one using Browser bookmark - does that count?

 If PWA covers your needs, I’d say it definitely counts =D What kind of product are you building?

I am of the school of thought that software should be functional (in some capacity) on mobile but I think there are a lot of software offerings that are better suited to creating on desktop - and visibility on mobile - analytics / checking leads / seeing status etc but for like a landing page builder or overall workflow building experiences etc - I think its totally fine to have that gated to desktop / optimized for desktop.

I do think you need to have the ability to onboard a new user via mobile though.

 Liked the idea about onboarding via mobile! That’s a sharp point.
What are you building?

 We're building a product (still TBD on the final name / domain haha) but good thing the product is built out in entirely. Outcome / Outcome Funnels - essentially a quiz funnel product that provides unique outputs for every user - regardless of segment.

Think Scoreapp / Typeform but with the ability go have dynamic end report outcomes. It is an evolution of a previous product where most of our users were using it to do lead capture / really loved the intersection between their expertise and user inputs - so we niched it down and built this to service that niche. is one of the active URLs - but we're not pushing anything towards it yet!

Should be launching soon once the clarity on positioning / landing page is where it needs to be.

What about you?!

 Very interesting product! I checked the landing page too - it’s good enough already. Just ping me when you launch, I’ll definitely support you.

We’re building RunEvr, an agentic workspace for creative teams. It keeps the context of creative work tied to projects and tasks, so you don’t have to switch between different apps. With just one click on a project, you can see everything related to it - tasks, materials, chats, reviews, participants, and more.

 really neat - hows the initial user feedback been? I like that niche for creative teams too - task switching kills me - I can only imagine how out of sync they could get.