Five Tips for Migrating your WAB Apps to Experience Builder – Exprodat

If you build mapping apps in Esri’s ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, you’ve probably heard that Web AppBuilder (WAB) is in the process of being retired. For organisations still using WAB to create their GIS apps, now’s the time to move to ArcGIS Experience Builder (ExB).  

It’s called Experience Builder because it lets you craft full, interactive ‘user experiences’ — not just maps! — by combining data, apps, and widgets into tailored, web-based solutions. For those designing and configuring apps, this increased flexibility comes with added complexity and something of a learning curve. This might seem daunting, but with a bit of planning, it presents an opportunity to improve your user workflows and increase your stakeholder engagement. 

Here, we’ll explore five tips to help you smoothly migrate your WAB apps to ExB, ensuring you stay ahead of the retirement deadlines while maintaining continuity and enhancing the usability and value of your apps.

Experience Builder App Example – UKCS Renewables: Lease Agreements | NSTA. 

1 – Start Planning 

While there’s still a little time left in which to make the transition, the clock is ticking, and it is a good time to put plans in place to make the migration.  

As per the retirement plan, WAB will be retired from ArcGIS Online in Q1 2026, while ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5, released in May 2025, is the final version to include it – although note that you cannot create new WAB apps at 11.5. The Developer Edition was retired in July 2024, coincident with the retirement of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript 3.x (ExB is built on the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript). Existing WAB apps should continue to work, albeit with no functional enhancements, and only critical fixes. All of which should focus the mind on embracing ExB! 

ExB currently offers much of the functionality provided by WAB (see comparison matrix), but brings new opportunities including additional widgets, enhanced customisation and 3D capabilities. Since not all existing WAB widgets will be available in ExB, it may be necessary for custom development to plug the gap. Those, and any existing custom widgets, will take a bit more planning.  

To get started, make an inventory of your existing WAB apps – if you’ve got a lot, the ArcGIS API for Python is a good way to automate this. Your inventory should include basic details such as usage information (view counts, user feedback, etc.) as well as purpose and ownership. By taking stock of what you currently have, you can understand your app ecosystem and prioritise migration of your most critical or frequently-used apps. 

2 – Revisit Your Workflows 

Once you’ve compiled your app inventory, talk to your users to find out if the WAB apps still fully support their workflows, or are no longer useful. The migration to ExB is an opportunity to not only take stock of what you have, but look at how it can be improved, retired or reworked, including using alternative template apps, such as ArcGIS Dashboards – see tip 4. 

It is a good idea to prioritise your app migration based on criticality, such as which business functions they support. Dealing with core support functions such as HSSE and operations might take priority, though you may also want to bear in mind how often they are used, and their complexity. For instance, starting with heavily used but less complex apps allows you to get comfortable with ExB and gives your users a chance to get their hands on new apps more quickly and understand the changes themselves. More complex apps, requiring greater configuration or custom development may be best left until later in the process – again, depending on their criticality to the business. 

As you dig into your apps and workflows, it will likely be necessary to get down to the widget-level to review which WAB widgets are essential and whether they are available in ExB. If functionality is missing, check if there are other available widgets that could meet the need, or whether custom widgets need to be developed. For those using ArcGIS Enterprise, widgets in ArcGIS Online may not yet be available in your version of Enterprise, so you might need to upgrade to access the latest and greatest. This Esri script is useful for identifying ExB equivalents of WAB widgets.

Experience Builder app Example – wrapper with multiple pages: Geothermal | Utah’s Energy Resources

3 – Sort out your Web Maps 

You’ve figured out your workflows and prioritised your migration strategy. Time to start building some apps? Not yet…first you need to think about the web maps that your apps are built on. WAB uses Map Viewer (Classic), but ExB requires the newer Map Viewer (this University of Texas page provides guidance on the differences in the Map Viewers). To ensure existing WAB apps continue to function without any issues, it’s a good idea to retain Web Map (Classic) maps. Rather than overwriting these, save them as new Web Map versions – preferably with a suffix in the name to distinguish them easily. This will help you avoid conflicts with your existing WAB apps while you work through the configuration of the new apps in ExB and ensure your WAB apps remain functional as you build and test your ExB apps. 

4 – Consider your app options 

Now can I make an Experience Builder app? Not yet! Whilst it’s tempting to dive straight into Experience Builder, it may not always be the best option for every app. Depending on your workflow and requirements, you might want to consider other solutions, such as ArcGIS Dashboards or ArcGIS Instant Apps. 

ArcGIS Dashboards are ideal for data visualization and real-time monitoring, and they offer advanced features like Arcade scripting for data formatting. If your primary need is to interact with dynamic data, ArcGIS Dashboards might be a better fit than Experience Builder. Instant Apps provide another alternative, especially for simple, targeted applications that don’t require much customisation. They are lightweight and good for users who need tight, focused apps. It is also worth noting that ExB can integrate ArcGIS Instant Apps, supporting the creation of powerful multi-map apps. 

As you migrate, take a step back and evaluate which approach is best for each app. ExB may not be the solution for every app, but can work in many scenarios. 

5 – Think About Your Audience 

Migrating apps isn’t just a technical challenge — it’s also a people challenge. Will you tackle one user group, department or suite of apps at a time (see tip 1)? How will you communicate the change to your users? Will there be a transition period where both WAB and ExB apps are running in parallel? Or will you make a harder cut-off from WAB to ExB? Plan for clear communication and consider how migration will impact your users. 

Also consider using this transition as an opportunity to introduce new functionality and workflows. For example, ExB allows you to integrate 3D Scenes in a web browser, as well as providing a framework for more nuanced apps, allowing multiple pages and windows to be used to integrate a mixture of apps, dashboards, Survey123 or other components into a single experience. This could be a way to engage your audience with more interactive, immersive experiences. 

Also consider the branding of your new ExB apps. It allows for customisation of themes, so you can bring a corporate look and feel into the app, including custom colors, logos, and fonts. This ensures that the new apps match your organization’s visual identity.

Experience Builder app example –  USA Energy Data | GEOACE 

Summary 

Having considered all this, the next thing to do is to get cracking, and build some apps. If it’s still feeling daunting – we’ve been there before, so please do get in touch.  

Experience Builder isn’t the only migration users of core Esri apps may be going through. The standalone Esri Story Maps website was retired and replaced by ArcGIS Online’s ArcGIS StoryMaps in June 2025. Users will need an ArcGIS Online account. And of course… ArcMap entered mature support in 2024, so if you’re yet to fully embrace ArcGIS Pro, and would like some help – again, please contact us! 

Posted by: Ian Peebles, Head of GIS Services. 

For more inspiration, see ArcGIS Experience Builder Gallery | Explore & Showcase Your Apps.