When smartphones kept growing in popularity, most websites were not built to be accessed on a small screen. Which left business owners trying to make their sites work well on mobile quickly + cost effectively. For many already on WordPress, the idea of recreating their theme was too costly — time + money. That’s when mobile WordPress themes were born.
Mobile themes are separate themes that you have on your site for mobile devices (typically tablet or smaller). For WordPress sites, these are added in the form of a plugin so that you can have 2 themes for your site.
The reason that mobile themes worked so well for businesses is because they could get a mobile-friendly site in minutes. And typically for free with the WordPress plugin solution.
The problem with mobile WordPress themes
A mobile theme is yet another theme + plugin to maintain + manage, very rarely were they on brand (occasionally you could add in your brand colors), and they ditched any theme customization that you may have had set up just for your business.
Not to mention the fact that they often caused problems with shortcodes + other plugins that the site relied on to function.
Which is why it is best to use a responsive theme on your site.
It may be more costly up front, especially if you take an existing theme that isn’t mobile-friendly + make it responsive. But it will be better for your business in the long run.
By taking your website theme + making it adjust to the screen being used, you are keeping your brand + design elements in place. that’s great news for brand consistency + recognition.
You’re also saving yourself the headache of managing yet another plugin for your mobile theme. The fewer plugins you have installed, the better it is for your site speed, site security + your sanity.
Did you know that we can take most WordPress themes + make them fully responsive for $600-$1,000? And you then get to ditch your mobile WordPress themes. If you’re interested in setting up your theme to work on all screen sizes, let us know!