Mobile App Development: Choosing Between Web, Native And Hybrid -

Mobile App Development: Choosing Between Web, Native And Hybrid

As you all know, technology is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Let’s take app development, for example. You can build amazing apps if and only if you choose the right tool. But how to do that when there are so many options? If this is also your dilemma then let’s solve it together. First of all, there are some key points you should consider when you want to make the best decision.

Differences Between iOS And Android

Apple and Google offer different landscapes for your app. From programming languages to design principles you need to select the one that offers you the most powerful solution according to your target audience.

Your Budget And Time

Let’s talk about money! It is crucial to decide the amount you are ready to invest in your future app and in the same time you have to know how long it takes to get it done.

Desired UX Quality

When you want to build a successful app you should be aware of the power of the chosen tool. It is essential to impress customers with an extraordinary user experience. Considering their high demands there are very rare occasions when this aspect isn’t that important.

Features Required By Your App

Last but not least, what type of features you have to integrate into your app? You need to see if the platform selected is able to offer you the wanted services.

What To Choose?

Let’s go step – by – step with native, web and hybrid apps for a better understanding of each solution.

Native Apps

Let’s start with the basics and to talk about native mobile apps.
Native apps are the ones that can be downloaded from Apple App Store and Google Play Store. When you want to create native apps you must know one of the programming languages required for each platform: Java or Kotlin for Android apps and Objective – C or Swift for iOS apps.

Features

It is time to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of native apps.

Very Fast And Responsive: The native nature of these apps gives them powerful characteristics such as fast loading and responsive aspect.

UX/UI Match With The Platform: When they build native apps, developers follow certain rules required by the guidelines set by each platform.

Ability To Use Push Notifications: If you want to create a marketing strategy based on push notifications you should go with native solutions.

Highly Interactive: Native apps interact with devices’ tools like a camera or microphone.

App Store Visibility: It is easier to bring your app in front of your customers knowing that they search on app stores whenever they need to solve a problem or to spend some free time.

Long Development Time: One of the disadvantages is that you will need more time to create a native app.

No Need For Internet Connection: Certain native apps can also be used offline.

Need For Different Codebases: If you want to upload the same app to both Apple App Store and Google Play Store you will need to write different code for each platform.

Can Be Expensive: Writing code for each app store can seriously affect your budget.

Cross – Platform Native Apps
As a solution for these inconveniences you can choose cross-platform native apps which offer the following benefits:

  • Shorter development time
  • More cost – effective
  • Can run on both iOS and Android
  • Challenging UX adjustments

Web Apps

Let’s move on to the apps that run in mobile browsers like Chrome or Safari.
Web apps are websites that look like mobile apps. When you want to build web apps you should know HTML5, JavaScript or both.

Features

There are also pros and cons when it comes to building a web app.

Easy Development: It is more complicated to build native apps than web apps.

Wallet-Friendliness: It doesn’t cost too much to obtain a web app, especially when you are using a template.

Usable On All Platforms: No more platform restrictions.

Respond Later Than Others: You will observe some small delays comparing to native apps.

Less Interaction Ability: You won’t be able to use phone’s camera or other services.

No Icon On The Screen: Your app won’t have an icon to remember users about its facilities.

Ad – Blocking Can Be Damaging: One of the biggest disadvantages is that your app will be affected by ad – blocking effects.

Hybrid Apps

If you still aren’t decided, maybe hybrid apps are what you need.
Hybrid apps are a combination of native and web apps. If you want to upload your app to the app store and to take advantage of web tools, then you can find a platform that can help you build a hybrid app.

Features

Unfortunately, not everything is black and white and in the case of hybrid apps you also need to consider the purpose of your app.

Work On Both iOS And Android: The best thing is that you don’t need to decide on the platform because your app will be functional on both iOS and Android devices.

One Codebase Needed: You can write your code once and you will see your app in both app stores.

Fastest To Develop:  The first corollary of the previous statement is that the development time is shorter.

Cost – Effective To Build: The second corollary is that it costs less than building a native app.

Interactive Components: Just like native apps, hybrid apps will interact with the features provided by the phone.

Low Performance: Sadly hybrid apps are not as fast as native apps.

Poor UX: If you want to amaze your audience with a great design, then a hybrid app isn’t what you were looking for.

Final Thoughts

Well, that’s pretty much it. Hopefully, we clarified these things for you and now you are able to choose between native, web and hybrid apps. Again, it is all about budget, development time and the features provided by each option. There are big chances to find the one that suits your needs if you remove the others that have too many disadvantages. So, what is your decision?


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