Since most coming of age businesses in the world have moved to a mobile-first approach, the industry leaders and developers are still exchanging views on how to correctly address mobile app development in the first place. The decision of mobile app development very much whirls around three wide options i.e. – Native, Web, and Hybrid. The deciding factors in mobile app development such as technical functionalities, target users, testing, release planning, etc. play a vital role, though the user requirement and functionalities are requisites to conclude the decision. Customer experience is one of the things that can make or break the success of an app and this is why it is important to wade deeper into the world of mobile app development.
If you too are considering investing in a mobile app but still not sure of either you should be adopting a native, web, or hybrid app approach, this article will dive you right into gaining an understanding of each of the terminology in detail.
Native App: Advantages and Disadvantages
Native apps are software applications built in a specific programming language for a specific platform (either for Android or iOS). So basically native apps are all those apps that you have downloaded or saved in your wishlist with Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store. As mentioned earlier that native apps are built for specific platforms, the programming language in which both are developed is different. Android and iPhone apps are written in Java and Objective-C respectively.
Each app developer offers a wide variety of interface elements and SDKs, with respect to Android, giving oodles of opportunities to the development team making mobile app development relatively easy. Since native apps come with advanced UI interactions, the companies often turn to a progressive mobile app development company in order to launch a customized solution catering to user-specific requirements.
Advantages
- Accessible and utilized with built-in capabilities of the user’s device.
- Offers faster speed with many pre-loaded elements.
- Works offline with less maintenance.
- More responsive, quicker, and offer a greater user experience.
- Chances of exposure to fewer bugs.
- Do not require third-party attention to download apps.
- Caters to user input and output constructively.
Disadvantages
- Requires regular updation by users.
- Costlier to develop apps as compared to hybrid and web apps.
- The complex approval process in app stores are challenging for developers.
- Offering support for two platforms becomes quite difficult to manage.
Web App: Advantages and Disadvantages
Ever since websites and applications have become an indispensable part of our lives, the majority of businesses are relying heavily on shaping and adjusting their business in the new paradigm. Amongst many, web development in terms of apps has taken the app world by storm emerging to be the newest ever trend in the app development industry. The particular functions of web applications are performed via web-browser.
All the operations performed by the web-apps are accessed over the remote server and delivered over the Internet through a browser interface. Web applications commonly use a combination of server-side script and client-side script so that users, irrespective of the platform, can use the apps only by having access to the internet. In short, all the web-apps are responsive to user actions. Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft 365 are some common and great examples of web-apps.
Advantages
- Easy integration between multiple sources of data.
- Totally flexible and offer access from any browser.
- Scalable to business needs.
- Comes with an easy and fast update.
- Do not require installation and would not eat up device storage.
- Can effectively be customized according to user requirements.
- Provide a prominent degree of interoperability.
Disadvantages
- No offline availability is the biggest con.
- Have limited features and accessibility.
- Stability depends highly on web-browsers.
- Less security due to the cloud environment.
Hybrid App: Advantages and Disadvantages
Similar to native apps, hybrid apps are applications that are installed on a device. The only difference is unlike native apps, hybrid ones are available for both platforms. Hybrid apps are different from native and web-apps. Some users confuse the hybrid apps with cross-platform because of their interoperability with multiple platforms, however, they are way too different.
The only common feature both hybrid and cross-platform possess is code shareability. The best thing about hybrid apps is it easily adapts to the mobile WebView object. The core of hybrid applications are written using web-technologies while some of its features replicate native apps. So it would not be wrong to tout hybrid apps as a blend of native and web-apps.
Advantages
- Cost-effective to build multiple versions of apps.
- Developed easily with a simple back-end structure.
- Interoperable with multiple platforms.
- Beats native and web-apps in terms of speed and performance.
- Easy for developers to offer superior UI experience.
- Offline support is the biggest advantage.
- Unlike native apps, hybrid apps are convenient to change and update.
Disadvantages
- Requires consistent internet connection to access all the features.
- Have limited capabilities due to multi-layered architecture.
- Poor user management.
- Slow loading time in some apps.
Conclusion
So now we have reached a conclusion and I hope as you are reading this, you might have settled upon a decision of attaining either native, web-app, or hybrid for your next project. However, if you are still struggling to decide, let me help you. Before jumping into mobile app development, consider a few elements in mind such as – speed, UI/UX, features, offline availability, etc. which will give you a thorough idea of what is best for your app and then proceed with any development freely.
