In my exploration, I found that many developers are discussing or debating whether to choose hybrid app development / native app development to develop mobile applications.
However, they have a lot of questions about the options available to them, which need to be answered.
Before we get into our discussion, we will discuss about the mobile web, native and hybrid app difference.
What is a native app?
Native applications are developed exclusively for specific operating systems/platforms with the platform SDK, languages (Java, Swift, Objective C, and many more), and tools, typically provided by the platform vendor.
The native mobile app developed for the native Android platform does not work on iOS devices, Windows and vice versa. These apps take longer to develop and cost more.
What is Hybrid app?
Hybrid applications run native applications on the device and are developed with web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Hybrid mobile applications run inside the local container and affect the device browser engine to process JavaScript locally and provide HTML. Hybrid app costs less compared to native apps.
What is Mobile web app?
Mobile web applications are server-side applications that are developed using server-side technology that reinforces styled HTML so that it is well-focused from device to device.
Although web applications are often over-simplified and do not provide the same features, the native application delivers.
What should opt for?
Hybrid app Vs native app: Which is best? This is one of the most common concerns of web developers who are new to the field of mobile application, not knowing what the learning curve is or hybrid application required for local application development.
This is my personal thing for developers, before making a single path, consider the user experience and what each option offers for you.
As it is more difficult to write code compared to a hybrid app, there is no doubt that native apps offer faster performance.
While the user experience you want to create requires a speed style game, you do not use local technology to run the app for every mobile platform you aim to get top notch graphics information.
When it comes to the next Foursquare development, a hybrid app is the perfect solution for using geolocation and displaying and updating data and allowing you to build it once, publish through app stores, and work across multiple platforms. .
Like any other technology you choose, you need to look at customer experience to decide between local and hybrid mobile apps and determine the level of investment you need to make to achieve the goal.
Native applications always require more investment because they are written in more languages
Native as hybrid apps always allow you to build for more platforms faster if you are willing to sacrifice small amounts of performance.
Recommend: React Native Vs Iconic
Now, we will be discussing hybrid apps definition, advantages and disadvantages of hybrid app.
What is Hybrid App?
Hybrid is defined as anything derived from heterogeneous sources or composed of elements of different kinds.
It is a software application that combines elements of native applications and web applications. Hybrid applications are web applications that work inside a local container on a mobile device or what you call living with web technology and local implementation.
Hybrid mobile application use a web view control to present the HTML and JavaScript files in a full-screen format with the help of a native browser rendering engine. Webkit is the browser rendering engine used in Android, IOS, Blackberry, and many more.
No longer are you forced to using HTML & JavaScript for only in-browser implementations on mobile devices.
The secret behind hybrid apps is the implementation of an abstraction layer that exposes the device capabilities to the hybrid application as a JavaScript API. It is not possible in mobile web implementations because of the security between device APIs and the browser.
Also Read: How to create Hybrid app?
When the native wrapper is compiled around the CSS, HTML, and JavaScript resources, there is an interop layer added that connects the JavaScript APIs with the platform-specific APIs.
To give a clear view of that, let us take a simple example of hybrid app.
Imagine I build a mobile app with Apache Cordova, in which I can use JavaScript to access a native API, like the camera, using a single API call regardless of what platform the hybrid mobile app will run on.
Under the covers, the JavaScript is making an interop call that accesses the native API for the camera. It means that on an IOS device, this JavaScript is calling into the native layer to instantiate a UII magePicker controller, and on Android, it creates intent to use the Media store.
We need to do is call the JavaScript function and respond to the outcome.
Recommend: Top 20 Android development Tools
Features of hybrid applications
- Integration with web-based services.
- Integration with the mobile device’s file system
- It has an embedded browser to improve access to dynamic online content.
- It can work whether or not the device is connected.
Recommend:
- Top features required for a successful mobile app
- Mobile app development trends you cannot miss in 2020
- Guide for mobile app development
- Cost to develop an app
Advantages of Hybrid apps and App Development:
Hybrid application development is faster and cost-effective. It is the most sought after style, thanks to the growth in the number of mobile app users, device fragmentation, app usage, and many more.
Continue reading to know more advantages
- Enhanced UI/UX
Hybrid app development provides a consistent and flawless user experience across all platforms such as IOS, Android, Windows, and many more. Hybrid applications are about building it works for mobile by embracing the web.
Moreover, the lightweight hybrid app UI (User interface) helps in loading graphics and content quickly. The apps adapt faster to various screens for faster data display and seamless data streaming.
- Easy to maintain
Another advantage of hybrid mobile app development is its easy maintenance. For native apps, the development teams required to roll out advanced versions with each update.
Further, the customers need to upgrade their apps with every version announcement. A hybrid app bypasses versioning and marks app maintenance as simple as modernizing a web page, that too, in real-time.
- Time saver
The next advantage we are looking after is a time saver. It allows companies to leverage their existing web development talent tool to lead the mobile market.
Once we write code, we can use it for various platforms such as Android, IOS, and other platforms.
- Improved performance
Hybrid apps give you performance and speed like native apps. In fact, in some times, they are even quicker than progressive & responsive apps. Further, even apps with a higher number of users exhibit better speed on all devices.
Hybrid apps have proven their high speed and performance standards with brands such as LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Offline support
Mobile applications mostly agonize from limitations arising due to the lack of offline support. It is a challenge for organizations that cater to extend their support to customers from rural areas or places where there is no availability of internet connection.
Statistics state that 70 percent of users abandon an app because it takes too long to load. As it is a most significant challenge, end-users will have uninterrupted access to the app’s data without performance glitches.
Disadvantages of Hybrid App Development:
In my childhood, my father said whenever you are beginning a project, first of all, you have to look after the negatives rather than positives because it gives an idea of whether we need to go with or not.
- Hybrid apps run slowly when compared with the native app because still, it depends on the browser speed.
- Hybrid app performance can be sluggish when it accessed through a web browser.
- The appearance will differ from platform to platform.
- User experience may fall if the UI is not similar to and well enough designed to what browsers the user is used to.
Recommend: Most popular mobile app development frameworks for 2020.
Final words
I hope you got every bit of information regarding the hybrid app development.
Now it is in your hand to whether to go for hybrid mobile app development, and it is not so easy as you think.
Everyone in the mobile app development world has his or her opinion on every approach and which one is best. Nevertheless, the fact remains that every project is unique and has its priorities, which ultimately dictate how it should be completed.
Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid mobile app development allow you to make an educated decision and choose the approach that works best for you.
Are you willing to develop a hybrid mobile app, and looking out for the right mobile app development company and the professional hybrid mobile app developer team?
If so, reach out to us.
We are going to help you, and we will sort out all your doubts.
FuGenX Technologies is one of the best hybrid mobile app development companies in the USA, India, and UAE, experience in developing and delivering custom hybrid mobile applications.