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Hybrid Vs Native Application Development
Before we dive into the detailed aspects of the native and hybrid mobile apps, there’s one thing you should be aware of – mobile phones are extremely personal devices.
You will never hear someone say “oh it’s alright if I lost my cell phone”, the individual will go nuts. The biggest priority will be to find the cellphone or replace it. Everything else goes right out the window.
Your mobile phone becomes your extension and therefore you expect it to be responsive and reliable, giving you the answers to every problem you have witty nitty.
Mobile users do not have time for bad experiences – whether it’s customers or an employee. Everything comes down to the user experience. It’s a known fact that native apps are better than hybrid apps. If you choose to use the hybrid apps then you are making the conscious decision that your user is likely not having the same experience as a native application but hybrid applications are much closer to native applications than ever before with some state-of-the-art hybrid frameworks available out there.
Customer experience for mobile is more important to your business than you might think – Ashish Toshniwal, CEO of YML
Whatever decision a company takes, each will have its fair share of tradeoffs and hurdles. In this article, we will cover the main factors that will help you decide which is the better choice for your business, hybrid or native, based on the main factors.
A Quick Overview – Hybrid vs Native Apps
The native app is a smartphone application. Users need to download them from the app stores. These are written in Kotlin or Java for Android, Swift or Objective-C for iOS.
Since the native app has the advantage of faster performance, it feels as if it is the right option to choose from for the technical and user experience. The in-app interaction is consistent and the user is more likely to use the app without any hurdles. These apps are easy to access and utilize built-in capabilities like GPS, address book, etc.
A user is using a native app when they send the text message, capturing pictures using the default camera app.
Some of the quick advantages include;
- Easy to use experience
- Easy to discover in-app store either Apple or Play Store
- Access to device hardware/software
- Improves user experience
A hybrid app is a straightforward approach to developing a single application that runs across multiple platforms. It reduces the development cost as the developers only have to code a single codebase. A single codebase works for both ios and android and in some cases web as well.
It’s all thanks to the popular frameworks, the super technologies used for the cross-platform mobile application development like;
Flutter – An open-source UI software development kit by Google allowing app development for Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows, and the web from a single code base.
React Native – Open-source technology by Facebook for better cross-platform compatibility (to help increase performance).
Ionic – A framework for mobile applications with standard web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and so on.
Xamarin – An open framework introduced by Microsoft for the support and maintenance and enables the accessibility of the code across various platforms.
They look familiar to the native app but owing to the code reusability developers can easily build an app that runs with minimal complexities. Some of the given advantages include;
- Portability i.e. one code base on multiple platforms
- Access to various hardware/software capabilities
- Cheaper origination costs
- Faster speed
There are some major factors that affect the decision making the right choice;
The goal of the app (what it’s trying to achieve)
The user experience
Features of the app
Speed and performance
Budget allocation
App Goal
Native apps are built for the specific operating system (like iOS and Android) while a hybrid app is built across any OS, sharing the same code base.
This means that hybrid apps are cheaper and easier to develop as compared to native apps. they are less time-consuming and will require less maintenance too. But, native apps are more flexible in performance and security. So the major difference relies on the implementation of the app. So as the developer you must set the goals straight. Depending on the project’s requirement you can decide which one to opt for.
User experience
Native apps are user friendly than hybrid apps. But it clearly depends on the target audience and the types of services you are planning to provide. For instance, hybrid apps are preferable for a content-oriented app but if you are a financial company, then it’s better to build a native app because it offers better security.
Modern software is all about the user’s experience. The app must be highly integrated with the platform’s extensive style guide.
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App Features
Which type of app has the most updated features? If you are looking for a 360-degree enterprise solution for the next-gen technologies look at the hybrid apps. Hybrid apps are the fastest ways to get things done. With its unprecedented growth, both, medium and small-based enterprises prefer to opt for hybrid mobile solutions.
The easier prototyping gives detailed insights about the app features and makes the necessary adjustments like code reusability, .net compatibility, native UI libraries, faster GUI prototyping, etc.
Speed and performance
A native app has a seamless speed and highly durable performance. It grants easy access to the built-in features. Perhaps the foremost reason behind the fast speed and flawless performance. The response time is excellent.
Although hybrid apps are improving in terms of performance, they still do not run as fast as native apps.
Budget
A hybrid app doesn’t require a higher budget. This is one major advantage for the developer. Typically it costs less than native app development and is also less time-consuming. No separate team is required unlike for the native app (two teams are working on Android and iOS).
If you are focused on a simple user-oriented application, then the hybrid app is your best bid. It’s also easier to maintain the hybrid app rather than maintaining two apps at the same time.
Which Approach to Choose?
Now both apps have their bright and dark side. It mostly depends on the demands of the organization and the end-user about choosing the application. It is always advisable to discuss this with your expert application developer. eSketchers make sure to understand their client’s needs and value their goals and satisfaction to the very end of any project.