The rise in the use of smartphones is not something that can be neglected. Users have been relying heavily on smartphones for almost all of their tasks and transactions. Online shopping, bill payment, calling, messaging, video transfer and more are easily taken care of by a single mobile device. Considering the usage of smartphones, businesses have been taking advantage of mobile phones by introducing their own apps. These apps are designed specifically to take care of user needs and requirements.
Many mobile app development companies follow different methodology and framework to develop mobile apps. In fact, there is a constant discussion around the native and hybrid app development. The choice always depends on the type of customers you are developing the app for. It’s the customer experience that is going to help a business sustain and no type of development that you are offering them. A customer has nothing to do with backend details. All they care about is the performance, speed, features, design, and user experience of the app.
While these are taken care of during the development phase, top mobile app development companies still need to pursue one development type, either Native or Hybrid. To clear out the confusion, let’s see how these two are different and which one is better.
What is a Native app development?
Native app development is the development type that is preferred by developers when they want to develop an app that offers a specific and defined functionality. These apps are created on a single platform i.e. either Android, iOS, Windows or Blackberry. Native apps are coded in a specific language for each platform. To elaborate this further:
· Android – Java Development Kit on Java platform, Kotlin
· iOS: iOS SDK, Swift and Objective C
· Windows: .NET, C#
What is Hybrid app development?
The hybrid app is no different than native apps. In simple terms, it is a combination of native apps and web apps. The app is developed to be sued on multiple platforms. Just like native apps, hybrid apps too can be installed from the platform’s Appstore.
· The language used to build Hybrid apps: Web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
· Unlike native apps, Hybrid app runs in WebView
· Hybrid apps are altogether web-based program that is put in a native app shell and connected to the device hardware.
Why Native Apps?
1) User Experience
As explicated above, it’s the user experience that counts the success of the app in the market amongst users. If the app is not user-friendly then there are high chances users abandoning the app after one use. Complex apps are another reason why users don’t turn up on the app for the next use. Apps developed using native app development strategy are focused on improving the user experience of the app. The apps layout, design, simplicity, effects, animations are all-inclusive in a very subtle and creative way. The navigation is easy, the scrolling is better and more to enhance the user experience on the app.
2) Security
The major concern of any mobile app development company today is data protection and app security. There are regular inflow and outflow of data in the app which is very critical as it carries user’s personal information, bank details and more. It’s important to safeguard the data from external threat. Native mobile apps offer efficient hardware resources that are necessary to safeguard data and information. Users don’t need to worry about their data being misused at any point in time.
3) Performance & Speed
Native apps development is different than hybrid apps as different codes are used for different platforms specific to the respective operating system. This makes the performance of the native apps brilliant than hybrid apps. Also, if we talk about speed, since the apps are augmented for iOS or Android OS, it is sure to achieve higher speed easily. Both performance and speed are a huge drawback in hybrid apps as one single codebase is used to develop all platform apps.
4) Flexibility
Another advantage of developing native apps is that the apps are highly flexible and come with features like camera, calendar, weather report, GPS and more. With hybrid apps, there are limitations of flexibility as one single app is used on multiple platforms while native apps offer the advantage of including everything in the app that technology has to offer, which makes both business owner and a mobile application development company reluctant to choose hybrid.
Final Verdict
It all depends on the choice of end users that you are catering to. The success of a mobile app is usually measured in the user’s approval. If users are comfortable using the app then the app is claimed as successful. Both native and hybrid are developed considering users in mind. But it’s the native apps that offer flexibility, performance, and speed which are the main ingredients that define the success of the app. Though naïve app development has its disadvantages like development cost and time, yet it promises the quality output. Hence most development companies follow the lead of native mobile apps.