Today, mobile applications are one of the most dynamic business tools. Their efficiency in building up a connection with customers is unparalleled. A wide variety of services use mobile apps to provide their users with a convenient experience. Services ranging from banking to car-pooling and all use apps. According to Comscore, mobile users spend 90% of their time using applications, and only 10% on the web. Statistics predict that mobile apps are going to generate a revenue of $935.2 billion in 2023. Investing in a mobile app for your business right now is the best investment you can make.
There are many reasons that build up in favour of mobile apps for business. Mobile notifications interact directly with customers and keep them up to date. The use of mobile apps over websites also help improve customer retention. The most popular mobile development platforms are iOS and Android. Most applications developed are for either or both of these platforms. The most crucial issue that companies have to go through with during app development is whether they should build a native app or a hybrid app. If you do not know the difference between the two, there is no need to worry. Here is everything you need to know about native apps and hybrid apps.
Native apps are programmed to work with specific operating systems. An app coded for iOS will not work with Android and vice-versa. Native mobile apps follow particular guidelines to enhance user experience. Developers can build apps that leverage all the features of an operating system. Native applications required developing separate apps for each platform. Hence, the development of such apps can take more time and cost. The benefit though, being better performance.
The development of native apps in Android and iOS requires different frameworks.
Native apps can also better utilize offline mode capabilities. Focusing on a single platform increases the efficiency of the app. The combination of all these factors improves the overall user experience.
When an app is coded for a particular operating system, it has high-performance metrics. This is due to better optimization of memory and storage achieved through code. Native mobile apps are also easier to maintain and update.
Unlike hybrid apps, native apps can fully utilize the hardware capabilities. Hence, it offers high data security to users. Can read more about the security of apps here.
Native app development offers access to the latest features as soon as they launched so developers can easily integrate them within the app.
Native apps can help adjust the layouts. With these apps, you can have the best design while delivering an excellent user experience.
With the increased complications of developing native mobile apps, the price increases too. The need for excellent resources and experienced developers makes the entire process expensive.
Since applications need to be developed separately for both platforms, it requires more time. Even developing one native app takes more time than a hybrid mobile app.
While native apps are developed for a particular platform, hybrid apps have cross-platform properties. This means that hybrid apps can run over multiple platforms. Developers can make one application that will run on both iOS and Android. These applications can be viewed as websites put into containers. Mostly they use the rendering engine of the built-in operating system browsers.
The three most popular frameworks for hybrid app development are as follows.
Hybrid applications can run on both iOS and Android with the same base code since they do not have to develop separate codes for both platforms.
One code will run on both iOS and Android platforms. A hybrid app developer only has to work on a single code, making it very time-efficient.
Since there is only one base code, it becomes effortless to update the program. There is no need for the user to download the latest version to fix a bug.
Only one base program needs to be built for both platforms, which drastically decreases development costs. As a result, it is much cheaper than native mobile apps.
Since in some cases they are basically websites wrapped in native apps, you need to be connected to the internet to use all features. This might not be true in the case of React Native.
As the interface needs to be compatible with both platforms, several functions are compromised. UI in hybrid apps is not as strong as native apps.
Many functionality issues in hybrid mobile apps require a native app developer to solve them which could lead to additional costs.
| FEATURES | NATIVE | HYBRID |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | High development costs | Comparatively cheaper |
| Performance | Great performance metrics | Downgraded by a bit |
| Channel | Hosted in the OS | Hosted on the web |
| H/W Utilization | Can utilize maximum power | Can only leverage some features |
| User Interface | User-friendly | Restricted user interface |
| Maintenance | Challenging to maintain | Easy maintenance |
| Used For | Single platform app with high optimization | Apps that need to work on multiple platforms |
So what technology path you should take.
As described above, both sets of technologies have their unique advantages and disadvantages. While you can choose native to build the best user experience and responsiveness within the app backed with state of the art features, the cost can go high.
With Hybrid you can start with lower investment and still build an app, costs could increase with complexity. That being said, it’s worth using especially to test the waters.
Don’t think about the concept of native vs hybrid app. A few questions that you should ask yourself before choosing technology would be about your timeline, budget, complexity in features (Are you building something that pushes the technology envelope), the security requirement, and so on.
Read more on choosing the right tech stack for startups here
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