HYBRID VS NATIVE MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

Google developed Android Operating System and Apple developed iOS. These are the two main OS along which most of the devices are based. In fact, a recent survey shows that more that 90% of the mobile market is covered by OS which have either of these two.

Specifically, 49% of the Operating Systems in the market are of Android while 41% of the market comprises of iOS. These apps are developed for both. This was just to give you an estimate of how much bigger a share of market does these apps holds.

What Is Mobile application development?

Mobile application development is a complex procedure which requires several rounds of revision, testing and fixes before the actual release. This makes the entire process complicated as well as time consuming. To any person who knows very little about the issue may find the procedure of Mobile App Development very cumbersome and complex. But this is not as difficult as it seems.

                                                  Hybrid V/S Native App

 

Hybrid and Native app- An Overview

Hybrid and Native are the two procedures out of many available along which a Mobile Application can be developed. These are the most famous and widely used procedures. But when you want the best out of the two, there is no clear-cut answer to this question. And it depends on the context along which the developer wants to design the Mobile Application. Let me explain the above point to you after give a brief of each one.

                                       Hybrid V/S Native App

Native app is a smartphone application developed specifically for mobile Operating System. Its features include Swipe Gestures, alignment on the left side of the page. It is developed taking into account the technical issues of the users. It provides fastest, responsible and most reliable experience to the users. They can easily access all the features like Camera, GPS, etc. and utilize the built-in capabilities of user’s device itself. Most of the Video Games are designed in this format only.

Hybrid Apps are much like core website packages wrapped into a                                       Hybrid V/S Native App. Big websites like Facebook and Netflix doesn’t develop Native apps because they have to recompile the whole application just for adding a new feature if they do so. It is a tiring and time-consuming task to write the whole code all over again. Hybrid apps can also use features like camera, GPS, etc. just like Native ones. But, they can access them only via third party plug-in. A large amount of code is required to be inculcated in doing so.

For a large and reputed company like Facebook and Netflix who deal in a great amount of data, should always look for Hybrid applications. This is because Hybrid involves comparative less amount of coding than Native Apps.

For a company that is looking to just getting started in the mobile market, it is advisable that you must get some time and do some research. And understand where your targeted audiences lie, whether it’s on Android or iOS. In India, Android must be your first choice when launching your application. In the United States, go for iOS. If it’s a paid mobile application, then also go for iOS. But if it an unpaid one and is intended to target most of the audience, go for Android.

How Important IS Mobile App Performance?

If you are new to this market and want to learn about Mobile Application Development, there are two options. Either if you have some earlier knowledge about web development, then go for the Native Apps and you will feel at home. You will enjoy it. But if you are a complete beginner and want to study Hybrid V/S Native App right from the core, go for the Native apps as it would be better for you.

Native Apps are most costly because they are required to be coded for each particular device specifically. And more coding fairly means more money. The programming languages used for developing these apps are Java, Kotlin for Android and Swift, Objective C for iOS.

Hybrid apps holds an advantage as they are multi-platform friendly which means that they don’t need to be written for each device specifically. It involves one-time coding only. HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the programming languages along which these apps are developed. “Khan Academy” is an example of this type of application.

The performance is fast in Native when compared to its counterpart Hybrid apps. Also, Native apps are more secured than Hybrid ones. But, when it comes to code portability, Hybrids apps holds an upper hand. An example related to this is provided at the end of the article.

Here, I will not give you a clear winner among the two procedures but will give you a winner based on some parameter and thus choosing one will depend on the developer. The developer will choose depending on the parameters which he prefers over the others. the distinction is given as follows:

 

User Experience:

The users are the main blocks and are the ones who use the end-product. The success or failure of a procedure will most probably depend on the user experience. Native Applications usually have better performance with rendering and animation than their counterpart Hybrid Applications. The App Navigation and other utilities like Calendar, Microphone and Camera have exceptional performance in Native Apps when compared to Hybrid Apps.

Winner: Native

 

Development and Testing Cycle:

 In Native Application Development, if we have common changes in two different applications, we need to change all the platform specific codes. But the Hybrid Application procedure is written only once. It follows the written once, run everywhere approach. Thus, it requires less effort for the changes and requires only fewer resources when compared to Native Application Development.

Winner: Hybrid

 

Application Capabilities:

Native Applications have no limitations for accessing into all the device’s functionalities such as Calendar, Camera, Microphone, GPS, etc. The Hybrid apps can also access them but only after lots and lots of coding. Apart from this advantage, the Native Applications does not require an Internet Connection which is required in Hybrid Applications. This is a major advantage as not everyone will have an internet connection everywhere.

Winner: Native

 

Time and cost for developing and maintenance:

Apart from user experience and internet connection, the next most important factor to be kept in mind is the time and cost in developing and maintenance of Applications. The most cost-effective way is Hybrid Applications when compared to their Native counterparts. This is because it requires only less resource and effort for developing and maintenance as well. Hybrid Application requires less time duration for the development and testing.

Winner: Hybrid

 

There were a group of students in Noida, studying in one of the Top Colleges in the country, they spent a total of six months to design an application. The application was a native one. Just three hours before the presentation, their laptop stopped working due to some reasons. So, they simply started opening it in another laptop but here comes the worst part, since the code being of a native app, it wasn’t portable. Hence, didn’t run at the presentation.

Both of these apps hold an equal importance and it’s just the requirements of the developer that will define which one will be chosen.

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