A branded event app
without the App Store queue.
Attendees scan a QR at the venue and the app installs from Safari or Chrome in one tap. Your logo on the home screen, your colours everywhere, agenda cached for offline use. Ready in a day, not the six weeks Hubilo needs.
From QR scan to home-screen icon in four taps.
No app store, no downloads over hotel wifi, no waiting for Apple review. Attendees leave the check-in desk with the app already installed.
What Bizzabo charges lakhs for, delivered by Safari.
Native apps cost six weeks of dev, an Apple review cycle, and 30% of revenue if you sell tickets. A PWA gives attendees the same experience, deployable the day you sign.
The six-week app build we refused to sell.
Every conference client asks for "a mobile app". Then they see the Hubilo quote. Then they see the six-week timeline. Then they ask if there's another way. There is.
The honest truth is that most attendees at an Indian conference will not install a native app. They're in the parking lot at 9.15am, they're already late, they're not going to hit App Store and wait for a 40MB download over 4G. We tried that path once with a Chennai fintech summit. 40% install rate. The other 60% used the paper program.
So we went the PWA route. Scan a QR at the venue, one tap on "Add to Home Screen", done. Your logo sits on their home screen next to WhatsApp. The agenda works offline because we cache it aggressively. Push notifications work on Android natively and on iOS 16.4+ (which is most of the room).
What we lost by not going native: nothing users noticed. What we gained: an app that ships in a day, not a quarter.
A 1,200-attendee summit, from install to check-out.
- 3 weeks out. Client picks colours, uploads logo, sets the event name. We generate a QR poster: "Scan to install our app". 90 seconds of admin work.
- 1 week out. Registration confirmation email has an "Install app" button. About 22% install before arrival, based on our last three events.
- Day of, entrance. Big printed QR poster at the door. Ushers point at it. Median install time from our logs: 11 seconds. 78% of walk-ins install within the first hour.
- During sessions. Push notification 5 minutes before each session begins: "Track B, Hall 2, starting in 5 min". Attendee taps, agenda opens to that session, room number and speaker photo right there.
- Networking break. "Meet Priya Nair, suggested match" push. One tap opens the 1:1 booking screen.
- After. Feedback prompt at 8pm same day. Response rate in-app runs about 3x higher than email. We measured that on 7 events, consistent every time.
Total client build time on our side? Under 2 hours from brief to live QR. Total client build time with a native app studio? Six to ten weeks and a lakh-plus invoice.
Native app studios vs the PWA route.
Estimates for a branded conference app, 1,000-attendee event in India, 2026.
| Tool | Model / Cost | Notes | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whova | ₹3.5L - ₹8L / event | Native app, listed under Whova brand. Setup 2-3 weeks. | Not white-label at this price |
| Hubilo | ₹5L - ₹12L / event | Full white-label. 4-6 week onboarding. | Too heavy for most Indian events |
| Sched | ₹2L+ / event | Agenda-first, weaker on networking and check-in. | Good for education, thin for corporate |
| SignupDesk PWA | Included | One-tap install from QR. Ships in a day. Your brand on the home screen. | Ship this week, not this quarter |
Vendor prices vary by region and negotiated discount. Native studio work often adds four to eight lakh on top.