Building a Mobile App as a Web-First Platform: Coddy's Strategy

Most B2C apps launch mobile-first. It's where users spend their time, where push notifications live, and where the app store ecosystem provides built-in discovery.

Coddy took the opposite path. They built their entire business on the web—reaching 2 million users and $1M ARR without a mobile app. Now, after a year of delays and strategic postponements, they're finally launching mobile.

On a recent episode of the Levels Podcast, CMO Barak Glanz shared the reasoning behind their web-first approach, the challenges of adapting their platform for mobile, and why they're creating a unique cross-platform experience rather than simply replicating their web app on smaller screens.

Why Start on Web?

For a code-learning platform, starting on web made intuitive sense. Coding typically happens on computers with full keyboards, multiple windows, and desktop-sized screens. The mental model of learning to code on a phone didn't seem natural.

But there was also a practical consideration. As Barak explained, building web-first gave them flexibility to iterate quickly without dealing with app store approval processes, platform-specific development, or the 15-30% revenue cuts that Apple and Google take from in-app subscriptions.

The strategy worked. Coddy scaled to substantial revenue entirely through their web platform, proving product-market fit and building sustainable influencer marketing channels before adding the complexity of mobile development.

But web-only eventually became a constraint.

The Mobile Paradox: Users Are Already There

Here's the challenge Coddy faced: while their product lived on web, their acquisition channels were predominantly mobile.

"Since we do influencer marketing, we already have a lot of people getting into Coddy the first time from their mobile phone."

Think about the user journey. Someone scrolls TikTok on their phone, sees a video about Coddy, gets interested, and wants to try it. But instead of clicking "Download" from the App Store, they have to navigate to a website on their mobile browser.

Mobile web experiences are functional, but they're not optimal. Browser toolbars take up screen space, notifications don't work the same way, and the overall experience feels less native. Users who discover apps on mobile naturally expect mobile apps.

This friction likely cost Coddy conversions. How many potential users saw an influencer video, intended to try Coddy, but abandoned when they realized it required using a mobile browser instead of installing an app?

The One-Year Delay

Coddy didn't ignore this problem. In fact, they'd been talking about launching a mobile app for over a year.

"We started working on it, to be completely honest with you, I think it was something like a year ago. And we said, next quarter, this is the quarter we're going to publish the mobile app. And then a quarter after, we're saying the same thing."

So what took so long?

The answer reveals something important about startup prioritization. Building a mobile app wasn't technically impossible—Coddy has technical co-founders who could handle the development. The issue was opportunity cost.

"It's like we just had other things which were more important at the time. So we focused on improving our metrics first. We kept all of the marketing funnels rolling. We recruited more employees. We raised a little bit more money. We did a lot of strategic things."

Revenue optimization, team building, fundraising—these activities had more immediate impact on the business's survival and growth than launching mobile. The mobile app was important, but not urgent enough to displace other priorities.

This decision reflects mature thinking about resource allocation. Many startups would have rushed to build mobile simply because "everyone has a mobile app" or because it felt like an obvious next step. Coddy instead asked: what drives the most value right now?

The Cross-Platform Challenge: You Can't Just Code on Your Phone

When Coddy finally committed to mobile development, they faced a fundamental UX challenge: their core activity—writing code—doesn't translate well to mobile devices.

"It's just not possible to code on your mobile phone in the same way you code with an actual keyboard."

This required rethinking their content strategy entirely. Rather than creating a simplified mobile version of the same lessons, they created parallel versions of their curriculum optimized for each platform.

The solution they developed is sophisticated:

"The content will be a little different. The lessons will be split into content which we had until now that you actually code and content that is more mobile friendly. So it's more like drag and drops and quizzes and stuff like that."

Every topic in Coddy now has two versions: a desktop version where users write actual code, and a mobile version with touch-friendly interactions like drag-and-drop coding blocks and multiple-choice questions.

Users can code on mobile if they want to—Coddy built a custom keyboard optimized for thumb typing—but it's optional:

"You will be able to code on your phone. We have a special keyboard which is convenient to use with your thumbs, but it will be optional."

Progress Syncs Across Devices

The clever part of Coddy's cross-platform strategy is how progress syncs. A user doesn't repeat lessons across devices—they progress through the same learning journey, just with device-appropriate experiences.

Barak illustrated this with a practical example:

"Imagine you are at a club, all right, at the evening, and then you forgot that you need to still do your code-y daily challenge because you don't want to lose your streak. So you go to the toilet and you finish your streak, right? And then the day after, when you're home, you go to your computer and you don't need to do that lesson again because you did it at the club yesterday."

The mobile lesson might have been multiple choice questions or drag-and-drop exercises, while the desktop version would involve writing actual code. But both teach the same concepts and count as completing that lesson in the learning pathway.

This approach requires significant content work—essentially creating thousands of lessons twice—but it preserves the quality of both experiences rather than compromising one for the other.

The Business Impact: Attribution, Retention, and CAC

Beyond user experience, Coddy expects mobile to impact several key business metrics.

Attribution Barak hopes mobile will help with their attribution challenges, though he acknowledged it might also add complexity:

"Hopefully it will help with the attribution because it will add a lot of noise."

Mobile app analytics provide device-level tracking that web browsers don't, which could improve understanding of user sources and behavior patterns.

Retention The bigger opportunity is retention. Mobile apps enable push notifications, which dramatically improve the ability to bring users back:

"I guess it can improve retention because people will be able to take CODI wherever they go... we will also be able to market to more devices."

Coddy's freemium energy system relies on daily engagement. Push notifications reminding users when their energy has recharged could significantly improve daily active usage.

Customer Acquisition Cost Finally, Barak expects mobile to reduce acquisition costs:

"I think it might also lower the customer acquisition cost because oftentimes it's just cheaper to get people to use your app rather than to use your website."

Mobile app install campaigns on Facebook and Google often have lower CPAs than website traffic campaigns, and the conversion rates from install to signup tend to be higher due to the reduced friction.

The Platform Fee Trade-Off

Mobile's biggest downside is platform fees. Apple and Google both take cuts of in-app subscription revenue: 15% for the first million in annual revenue, then 30% thereafter.

Coddy's approach is pragmatic: accept the fees initially, then optimize over time.

"At first we're going to... well it's actually not 30% fee that you pay... It's 15% for the first million dollars that you make so I guess it will be at least at least a few months of grace period that we have and we'll pay only 15% instead of 30."

Once they exceed that first million threshold, Coddy plans to experiment with shifting more conversions to web to avoid the 30% fee while maintaining app retention benefits.

The company recently hired someone with 15 years of performance marketing experience specifically for mobile app acquisition, signaling their seriousness about making the mobile launch successful.

Key Takeaways

• Web-first can work for B2C apps when the core use case fits desktop better, but mobile becomes necessary when acquisition channels are mobile-heavy
• Delaying mobile app development to focus on revenue optimization, team building, and fundraising can be the right strategic choice despite seeming like an obvious gap
• Cross-platform code-learning requires parallel content strategies—touch-friendly interactions for mobile, full coding environments for desktop
• Progress syncing across devices creates seamless experiences while allowing platform-optimized interactions
• Mobile apps improve retention through push notifications, reduce CAC through better conversion funnels, but introduce 15-30% platform fees on subscriptions
• Hiring specialized mobile acquisition talent signals commitment to making the channel work rather than treating it as just another feature launch

Listen to the full conversation with Barak Glanz on the Levels Podcast to hear more about Coddy's product strategy and their upcoming mobile launch.