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The IT industry is growing at a neck-breaking speed, and one of those reasons is the accumulation of smartphones. Hardly anyone is ever seen without their smartphones these days, and as a result, businesses have adopted this outlet to acquire new customers and increase their growth rate.
The primary question that arises by deciding on mobile development is whether you’d be opting for native or hybrid apps. With more than 400 million apps, this is undoubtedly a crucial decision to make.
Are you seeking a way to revolutionize your business with mobile apps but confused in building a hybrid or a native application? Here’s what you need to know to help you get started.
NATIVE V/S HYBRID: A QUICK OVERVIEW
When looking for the difference between a native app and a hybrid app, each approach’s benefits are vivid and clear. Every company’s task is to clarify its purposes from the very beginning to get the expected results.
Native apps provide better functionalities, so they are widely chosen by big companies who can afford the applications for different platforms. Whereas the cross-platform framework is more appealing for startups with restricted funding and business focused on content delivery.
The difference between these apps has not caused competition but has revealed opportunities for companies and businesses to provide their users with the best experiences. To execute them well is the company’s primary target.
Below you will get more detailed analysis on native vs. hybrid mobile app development, pros, and cons.
NATIVE APPLICATIONS
A native app is developed to work on a specific device or platform. It can use device-specific hardware and software since it is created to operate on a particular mobile device and its operating system.
- iOS apps
iOS applications are created by Apple Inc. and use Objective-C or Swift as a programming language. It takes a modern approach to application performance, security, and software patterns for mobile app design.
- Android apps
Android applications are designed by Google and use Java or Kotlin programming language for native app development. Java is a commonly used programming language used by more than 9 million Android app developers, whereas in recent years, Kotlin is gaining more popularity in native Android app development.
KEY BENEFITS OF NATIVE APP
- Native apps are built with a native framework for fast and smooth performance.
- Native apps follow specific UX/UI standards making it more straightforward for users to understand them. They run more smoothly in terms of user actions.
- Native apps are more secure for reasons like the more straightforward implementation of two-factor authentication and access to built-in security features like TouchID.
- Native apps tend to be more maintainable and scalable, thanks to the flexibility in resources management and the available tools.
- As they are built for particular platforms, they tend to dominate the app stores of all platforms.
DRAWBACKS OF NATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Apart from the benefits they offer, they do have a few cons to consider:
- Releasing the same feature on all platforms simultaneously is quite tricky and time-consuming because of the different code-bases.
- Separate development efforts for each platform can be complicated, which adds up to the development time.
- Each platform code will need its release cycle and updates, ultimately adding cost and development time.
- Different skill sets are required to develop and manage the same application on a different platform, ultimately adding to the cost.
EXAMPLES OF NATIVE APPS
WhatsApp is a commonly-used messaging service in many parts of the world, developed as a native app for iOs and Android phones. This native app example is a potential option regarding business communication tools in the workplace.
Features:
- Voice/ video calls, voice messaging
- Ensure secure messaging with an end-to-end encryption
- Offer group function, with up to 8 participants per call
- Allows all types of media sharing
NETFLIX
Netflix is a popular streaming service that offers a wide variety of award-winning TV shows, movies, documentaries, and more on thousands of internet-connected devices.
Features:
- A way to password protect your profile
- It can hide things from reappearing in suggestions
- The ability to see what your friends are watching
- A feature to watch with other people at the same time
- A more comprehensive selection of movies and TV shows
HYBRID APPLICATIONS
Cross-platform development i-e hybrid application creates an app that works on multiple platforms without changing its core architecture. Using this approach, you can compile the code and execute it on various platforms.
KEY BENEFITS OF HYBRID APPLICATIONS
- One of the most significant key factors of a hybrid app is the economic cost of development.
- A hybrid app can be built just once and published on both iOS and Android stores.
- Due to a single code-base, hybrid apps are much quicker to develop than native apps.
- Developers don’t need to learn multiple programming languages, frameworks, and technologies for creating these apps.
- It’s simpler to maintain and update due to hybrid technology
- Developers run a single cycle of development to create an app for both platforms.
- They offer better performance and customer experience across different operating systems.
DRAWBACKS OF HYBRID APPLICATIONS
While hybrid apps have many key benefits, they also aren’t perfect:
- Hybrid apps tend to have lagging issues as they are run on different operating systems, and interfacing complications can lead to lagging.
- Due to the nature of hybrid apps, the appearance of the app can vary between users. It depends on the version of the software they’re using. It requires excessive testing to avoid these complications.
- They depend on various libraries and frameworks, such as Cordova or Ionic. They need to be synchronized with the most recent platform version releases and changes.
- Because different platforms also have other hardware choices, you may have to develop various features and user flow, which increases development costs and time.
EXAMPLES OF HYBRID APPLICATIONS
Gmail
Gmail is one of the famous hybrid app examples that has redefined today’s cross-platform market.
It is a robust email service tool with millions of downloads in the modern business world. After adopting the mobile version, it has successfully combined both HTML and native elements within a single application to produce a seamless performance.
Top features:
- An organized inbox to better categorize social and promotional messages.
- Automatic blocks spam email before it comes to the user’s inbox.
- Allow users to store a massive number of messages
- Multiple accounts support.
Twitter is a popular social networking site and one of the most in-demand hybrid app examples over the last few years. One of the notable things is it sorts out all the downside points of the cross-platform apps, mainly about performance issues.
Twitter has positively changed users’ perceptions about hybrid applications. Thanks to the smooth performance and fast loading speed, this boosted the demand for these apps among businesses.
Top Features:
- An appealing user experience through live video streaming directly from the mobiles.
- Tweeting thoughts to share it with the world
- Allow users to keep their eyes on viral and exciting stories.
- The interesting news is updated regularly.
WRAP UP
To make the right choice, it’s essential to understand the differences of each option, and your final decision will depend entirely on your objectives.
In today’s digital world, when everybody is going mobile if you’re still in a stage thinking about whether it would be a good idea to develop an app for your business, chances are yes; it would be one of the best decisions you can make.
Go for it! Dive into it: do some research, gather a list of requirements, set your audience, and there you are set to build a native or a hybrid version for your company! But if you are still finding all of this cumbersome, do not hesitate to contact us. We at Genetech have experience developing apps for both platforms.
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