There is a wide range of mobile users all over the globe and the users download plenty of apps for their usage. Everything that appears on the phone is an app fulfilling every major and minor need of an individual in his day to day activities. For the average users, apps are just icons on the screen that do exactly what they were made for. From developers standpoints, an app is millions of lines of codes. When you have thought of designing an app you should have an idea that your app should satisfy both the users of Android and IOS. The moment you determine to develop an app you may come across many challenges. Technical, business, marketing, branding all of them carry a certain weight and impact on the success of your app. The technical ones are certainly the most expensive in app development. These really show an impact on the success of your app and choosing between native or hybrid app development is crucial. You need to be ready for the consequences if you make the wrong decision.
According to Statista, mobile phone users downloaded a total of 178.1 billion apps globally in 2019 and this figure is expected to surge to 258.2 billion in 2022.
If you are wondering whether you should take the native or hybrid route for your next mobile application development. This blog will be extremely helpful for you. But before you decide to choose between Native and Hybrid App development, you need to understand the features and difference between both.
Native App Development:
What is Native App Development?
Native app development involves creating apps for specific platforms using platform-specific programming languages. For instance, an Android app won’t be accessible to iOS users. iOS apps use Swift, while Android apps use Java. These native apps have the capability of accessing the devices fully like taking advantage of apps like camera, GPS, contacts, etc…. They work genuinely on the platform which they are built-in.
Why Native app development?
- Native SDK enables accessing device features without dealing with the complexity of native plugins. All the new device features will be available out of the box along with SDKs
- Native apps will not depend much on open source libraries and platforms such as Cordova and Ionic.
- Native apps with animations applications, graphical applications, and HD games will perform well as the code used in the Native app development is faster than HTML and JavaScript.
Advantages of Native App:
- They are really fast in the action of execution, they are highly reliable to the user.
- They show a great way of response to the user.
- Due to efficient coding, they require the least amount of hardware.
- They can even work without an internet connection.
Disadvantages of Native App:
- They can reach the user only on a single platform and they exclude the other.
- To create a native app development of two platforms is too costly and it consumes a lot of time.
- To provide two platforms for two different apps with the same experience is difficult.
- A single platform is being specialised by many developers, you may need more teams to maintain the app.
Hybrid App Development:
What is a Hybrid App development?
These apps bridge the gap between web and native apps, offering a native-like experience. Easily downloadable from app stores, they share a single code base across platforms. They combine the strengths of both worlds, ensuring availability on both iOS and Android app stores. It is coded in HTML, Javascript and CSS. The method of app distribution is through the app store. Hybrid app development completely differs from Native app development.
Why Hybrid App development?
- In hybrid app development, there is only a single code for all platforms and can run anywhere i.e either in Android devices or iPhone devices or windows devices.
- Hybrid App development is based on web technologies, hence the same app can run any browser.
- Hybrid app development can gain similar hardware baked performance acceleration just like a native app
Advantages of Hybrid App:
- Using standard web technologies hybrid apps are quicker to develop as they are much developed.
- Native features of the device are used by the native apps.
- They only use a single code base which needs only a single team and takes less time.
- These apps also work with no internet.
Disadvantages of Hybrid App:
- They are more challenging to get the experience and the achievements of the native apps.
- They have more demands as they have to manage the two platforms by the same code.
- Their time management is more important; they have to adjust their time for the different platforms at the same time.
- The performance of these apps is greatly reduced, as the devices are getting faster, based on the capabilities of the device used by the user.
Summary: Which one should I choose for Mobile App Development?
Native Apps work best if you need mobile applications that are fully functional, accurate and secured. When you desire mobile app development with more advanced features, it will work best if developed under native app development approach. However, if you want mobile app development where you frequently update the content such as blogging, in such case Hybrid app development is better. Most businesses actually go with simple Native app development.
In case, if you have any questions and looking for a free 30 mins consultation on choosing Native or Hybrid Platforms – Please do contact us
