HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST FROM NATIVE, WEB, AND HYBRID APP DEVELOPMENT?

When making an app for your business, it's difficult to decide on the ideal framework from the different types of choices. One of the crucial decisions while developing an mobile app for your company is selecting the best model for app development for your company. There are also other important elements to be considered outside of the structure of your app. These affect the final results, such as the amount of time you need to market the app, development cost, maintenance costs, or whether you have an in-house team of expert developers or if you want to engage professional developers.

This blog will provide you with an understanding of various types of mobile apps with distinct development models as well as technologies used to ensure that you are able to make the best choice.

There are three different kinds of mobile app development namely- native, web and hybrid app development. The main difference between these three types of mobile applications is the operating system that they are designed for. This means that the programming language utilized and the technology utilized differs and so do the corresponding apps.

Let's begin by giving a brief overview of the various kinds of mobile app development models.

Overview of the 3 kinds of mobile apps on the basis of the development of apps

Native app development

First-party native apps are apps developed with the tools created by the creator of either iOS or Android that refers to Apple or Google in turn. Native app development first party tools are:

• For iOS: Xcode, the programming language in which it is written in Swift / Objective-C

• For Android: Android Studio in the programming language Java or Kotlin

Since native apps are built in the native environment for one platform, they offer the advantage of optimizing the user experience. For instance gestures, buttons, swipes are available customized for each platform.

Hybrid app development

Hybrid apps (also called cross-platform native apps) are created to be a single app that can run on different operating systems and platforms. Thus, there is no need to create special apps specifically to cater to iOS and Android users. Here, one codebase is used to create a mobile application that is suitable for Android and iOS.

The main benefits of hybrid app devlopment is the cost of development and time since there aren't two teams of developers to develop for two different operating systems i.e, iOS and Android.

Some of the popular tools for creating hybrid apps that use various frameworks include Xamarine, React Native, Flutter, Uno, Kotlin native.

Web app development

Web apps are apps that run through an internet browser on a device. The interface of web applications is very similar to websites. The development speed of web applications is quick because the same code is used for different platforms. A few of the most popular web app development frameworks include Microsoft blazer, Native Script, Angular js, React, Ionic.

One of the downsides with developing web-based applications is that if ever you want to change the UI elements of your web application you will have to completely rewrite the UI of your web application, unlike native apps in which you only must recompile your UI in such case.

You're now familiar with the different types of mobile apps as well as their main distinctions, so let's discuss the way in which the technology or framework that is used affects the functions of the overall app development. One important thing to keep in your mind is that they're built differently and hence the most effective of the three kinds of mobile apps would differ in each need of the business and the resources available.

3 different types of mobile apps and their technology and framework

Native apps

Native applications are extremely user-friendly and extremely efficient. The native app development tools are compatible with their operating system's UI/UX, updates etc. They are offered through the marketplaces such as the Google Play Store and the App Store. The development process of native apps is slow because it's necessary to develop the same application on different platforms using different codes or teams of designers. Here are the main characteristics of native apps according to the technology used.

Framework owner: Apple/Google

UI/UX: Native

Development speed: Slow

Maintenance cost: High

Performance: Very High

Programming language: Swift/Java

Maturity: Very Mature

Feature Access: Complete

Open-source: No

Pros:

• Native apps offer high performance and speed.

• The hardware resources required are few because of the efficient code.

• They have optimized the UI/UX as a result of their native environment used during the development

• They can increase app usage by the ability to leverage push notifications based on the requirements you want to meet.

• Native apps work offline.

Cons:

• More development cost and time.

• Similar to maintenance and updates, they also take longer.

• No code flexibility to accommodate different operating systems

Hybrid apps

Hybrid or cross-platform native applications comprise both native and web application technology. There are numerous tools and frameworks available to develop a hybrid app. The basis of a hybrid application is developed using web programming languages such as HTML, CSS and Java and is run within an application that is native. The speed of development and the cost are much lower than native applications. There are many modern hybrid frameworks like Ionic, Native Script, Xamarin, React Native that offers high-quality UI elements closer to that native apps.

Framework owner: Multiple

UI/UX: Native

Development speed: Fast

Maintenance cost: Low

Performance: High

Programming language: Multiple

Maturity: Mature

Feature Access: Complete

Open-source: Yes

Pros:

• Lesser development time and cost than native.

• Ability to use native features of the device.

• Supports multiple platforms via the single codebase.

• Simple deployment of updates.

• Ability to work without internet in cases where database support is not required.

Cons:

• Lower in performance than native applications.

• Some features might not work in certain operating systems.

• It is possible that customizing will cost more.

• It is necessary to make adjustments to two platforms simultaneously which can impact the user interface of one or the other.

• Not compatible with older devices and browsers.

Web apps

Web applications are accessible through the web browser of your mobile device. Web applications are written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They do not need apps to access them and thus avoid any restrictions that exist in app stores. And can be used across different devices. In the year 2017, Google launched Progressive Web Applications(PWA) that included more features that resemble apps than the traditional web apps.

Framework owner: Multiple

UI/UX: Bespoke

Development speed: Fast

Maintenance cost: Medium

Performance: Medium

Programming language: Multiple(Web)

Maturity: Adolescent

Feature Access: Limited

Open-source: Open Source

There are certain attributes that are accessible to PWA and some aren't These are:

• Bluetooth

• Local notifications

• Touch gestures

• Geolocation

• Camera

• Device Motion

• Offline storage

The following features are not available on web apps:

• Bluetooth

• Local notifications

• Touch gestures

• Geolocation

• Camera

• Device Motion

• Offline storage

Features that are not available in web applications:

• Push notifications

• Battery Status

• Vibration

• Geofencing

• Augmented reality

Pros:

• Faster development time and lesser cost

• App distribution is easy due to the lack of restrictions on app stores

• Allows for multiple platforms to be supported by one codebase

• Faster updates in the absence the app store

Cons:

• It is not able to fully exploit the capabilities of an device

• Lower speed than native

• Needs internet access to work

What is the ideal solution for developing an app for your company?

• It is recommended to go with native app development when you need high performance and usability of your app. Adding to it the high quality user interface that is intuitive and provides a great user experience is an enormous plus feature of native apps.

• If you're looking for integrations from third parties as well as speedy loading for your application, an app that is native might be the best option. If you're looking to have a basic user interface and a lower budget, the hybrid apps could meet your needs. Hybrid applications also have an enormous user base.

• Choose web application development if you require fast deployment and less expensive option and if your application requires access to the internet.

• However, the speed of web applications is lower than native apps; for example, if a native app's response time is 10 milliseconds, then a hybrid app's time to respond would be 100 milliseconds. This is still below the threshold that people are required to notice, but should you require apps with the highest performance, like for gaming, a native app would be better suited.

5 Questions to consider before making the decision between hybrid and native apps development

Before you set out to develop your app, it is important to start at the beginning and ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is the primary purpose of the application?

2. What features are required to be included in your application?

3. Who are target clients of your business?

4. Should you opt for in-house app development as opposed to outsourcing?

5. What sort of users experience will you aim to offer?

The trusted and proven 6 step approach in building apps through Hybrid app development

We follow a comprehensive 6 steps process for hybrid and native app development for clients. Have a look at the following:

1. Analysis & planning

2. UI & UX design

3. Mobile application development

4. Mobile application integration

5. Mobile application testing

6. Mobile application maintenance

Lastly, there is no one size-fits-all developing mobile apps. There is a range of frameworks and plugins available for you to design the most effective app for your business. We have provided you with insights about hybrid, web and native app development so that you can make the right choice. The choice is dependent on your specific business objectives and requirements.

If you are deciding between the various types of app development for your business, think about the pros and cons of every kind of mobile application. The foundation should be identifying the specific business requirements of your company. Contact our team of expert app designers and specialists at Markovate to help you with creating the app of your dreams that meets your clients' requirements.

Markovate provides a variety of frameworks for hybrid app development like Xamarin, Flutter, Mobile Angular UI, Ionic, and React Native for native app development. We can help you with choosing the best one for your needs. Talk to our experts for more.

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