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Native vs Hybrid App: Guide On Native/Hybrid/ Mobile Apps

Native vs Hybrid App development – Check the difference between the Native and Hybrid app with a comparison. What is the Best to build Mobile Apps? Why Progressive Web Apps are a Better solution?

What is a Native mobile app?

A native application term used to refer to an application that has been built to work on a specific platform. Because it is built to work on a specific platform it can access the key features of the hardware. That enabled it to be more interactive. Also, it provides higher performance when compared to other application types.

The main platforms for mobile applications being IOS, Android and Windows applications. Developed for each platform uses a certain fixed programming language. For IOS applications the language used is swift or objective C while that used for Android is JAVA.

When applications are made using native programming the application can make use of the hardware of the device completely. It does not show any lags in performance. They are also more flexible in their use and features when developed natively. In this case, the different tasks can be routed to a thread separately and taken care of in the best way possible for the selected platform. The user interface provided in the case of native applications is very fast and the maintenance of the application is also easier. When developed for a single platform. This being the case lots of extra budgets need not be allocated only for the maintenance of the application. The applications can make complete use of the device functions accurately like using GPS, accelerometer, microphone, camera, etc to provide the best user experience. Push notifications also make the user reuse the application regularly.

A native app installs in the device and the data stored can be physically seen. Native apps have the capability to work offline without the need for an active internet connection. The applications developed natively are made with the integrated development environment and so adhere closely to the framework and design enlisted by the operating system. This way the application will feel familiar to the users of other native applications designed for the specific platform. This also means that the application will be able to completely fulfill the needs of the user.

What is a Hybrid mobile app?

A lot of web applications give a very high performance while native mobile applications are optimized for the specific operating system and show better features for that particular operating system. Now both have advantages and disadvantages while going native gives a better use of native API and web browser coding being easier both can be used side by side in hybrid app development.

The application can be built using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS like any web application which makes it very easy for developers. Then this package is then wrapped around by a container that allows it to be installed like any native app. This container can be for example Cordova which also lets the application access the host system’s operating system features. These include a camera, geo-location tagging, flashlight, etc.

This way the application can be developed by using the same methods as any other web application and then using it with the same native features as an application developed for native mobiles. This way is done by using Ionic for the development of hybrid apps. In the case where react native is used the application is similar to that of a native app. The main application is built using Java and react. The simple processes are handled by using Java and React while the pages that are responsible for the interactive user interface are done by using native device code.

Applications made by hybrid development makes the apps be more easy to install and update, they can be directly deployed rather than using an app store. The main use of having this feature is that the coding needs to be done only once and then it can be deployed directly to all the app stores like IOS, Android, Windows, etc, that is the application is not platform dependent.

Native vs Hybrid App Development – Hybrid App vs Native App

Comparison of Native vs hybrid apps by using different parameters

1. Development

Native applications use fixed software development kits for their application and are thus limited to the use of native developers for building. The use of objective C or JAVA for building makes the applications limited to a certain platform and the new update of the base operating system does not affect the working of the existing The application developers provide new updates that utilize the new updates to make use of the added features and improve the performance.

In the case of hybrid app development, the use of both native features and web applications with a standing ground in-between, using both the advantages makes it perform better than web apps. The coding is done using JavaScript, CSS, HTML and the native features are made to support them by using Cordova to bride them together. This way the native operating system functionalities like camera, GPS, microphone, etc are made use of by the web applications to make Hybrid mobile apps no lesser than native apps.

The difference is that like web apps, hybrid apps are also cross-platform meaning they are not platformed dependent. They can be developed once and can be used for all the platforms simultaneously reducing the development cost greatly. Small companies usually do not have the budget to hire developers for making native apps for different platforms, so the solution would be to use hybrid apps that provide almost the same functionalities as native apps.

2. Fast deployment

The native app development takes a lot of time and needs time for ensuring flawless working. This means that the applications cannot reach the app store fast thus making other viable products with the same aim to capture the market earlier.

In this situation, the use of hybrid mobile applications enables faster development and also due to the cross-platform nature it is easier for the development to be faster than native applications that need to be coded separately for each platform. The deployment is faster in the case of hybrid apps cause they can just be used from the web rather than through an app The updates also can be sent directly in the case of hybrid apps.

3. Access of the functionalities

Native applications being developed for the particular operating system can access the hardware functionalities almost completely. This means they can provide a flawless performance and a clear-cut user interface that is more interactive than any web app.

Hybrid apps bridge the gap between native and web apps and make use of the native functionalities while still making the development easier because of the use of HTML and CSS for the development of the UI. This makes the user interface almost equivalent to the interface provided by a native app.

4. Offline support

The ability to use apps offline is an important feature that was unique to natively developed apps. Almost all the features were available offline and needed only updates or internet connection for refreshing the content. the upcoming of hybrid apps, offline functionality was available, but all the content was not available for offline use as the applications were basically web pages. For urban areas with high-speed internet access, it is not a problem but for other rural areas. The applications failed to provide the functionalities that native apps could.

5. Scalability

Native apps are highly scalable as they are processed by the hardware capabilities that the device can handle. Due to this, they can be made highly interactive and still be complex to handle the requirements. They can be made navigational with a lot of features like a social networking application. Hybrid apps are also equally scalable and depend only on the underlying platform. When paired up with a good provider they can be made to target any platform easily.

6. Performance

The difference in performance is not so much when the application is small, but the native app shows better performance in general. In the case of a large application, the use of hybrid apps over native is not so advisable. This can be derived from the change of FaceBook from HTML based hybrid app to the use of a native app.

7. Debugging

The debugging of native apps is not so difficult when compared to the behemoth of a task of debugging hybrid apps. Not just debugging but maintenance is also a difficult task in hybrid apps. When trying to fix a bug in the hybrid app the developers need to be very careful about not creating any new bugs in the process. Figuring out the exact cause of the bug is also difficult in case of the hybrid app because the developer does not possess a deep knowledge of the platform.

The development in technology has given rise to a new development method that surpasses the formerly available methods of developing the applications.

Why Progressive Web Apps are a Better solution?

The most important advantage of using PWA is that it can be used on any screen. This means that you can use it on laptop, tablets or mobile phones or anything with a web browser in it. It is very adaptable and hence has a very good user interface due to the use of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. An issue we have with any web application is security. The apps developed as a PWA is always served only under HTTPS. This makes sure the web application has very good security and there is enough user privacy.

Major marketing

The major marketing strategy for any web application is social media. It will be great if you can share your content on social media platforms. This is made very quick and easy with the use of Progressive Web Apps development. You can share the required content with any of the apps that are share enabled. These applications are very useful because they work even when the network connection is very slow.

You can add all PWA applications on your home screen, hence, making it easily accessible. It is very easy to find just by doing a search online. You can just click on the URL that has been shared with you or as it has a very good user experience, it is always on top of the search engines and is easy to find. The best way to make someone notice you is by grabbing their attention. This is very easy with the use of PWAs Development Services. It sends push notifications and increases the number of users directed to the application.

Compared to other web applications, applications created with PWA are very easy to use. The additional point is that they load very fast even if you have a very bad network. This feature makes it more reliable. There are a lot of very good features. Just adding the PWA function to your website will enhance the speed and performance of the web application. You can keep adding features to the webpage when you need additions.

PWA

PWA provides very reliable loading speeds and features with very limited data consumption and also works offline like a Native app.  The other main advantage of choosing PWA over native apps is that it does not occupy much space when compared to native applications but has all the interactive and immersive features with lightning fast loading speeds.

When compared to hybrid mobile apps paired with Cordova to access native operating system features, the use of the application offline or high loading speeds and performance of Progressive web apps makes it very far from comparable. All these are made possible by using service workers. They act as a proxy in the background pushing various features to work offline. They are very flexible and thus hard to understand but pretty much take care of making the offline features of PWA work.

The use of progressive web apps can make the development process and the overall performance better than hybrid apps and native apps. But as it is only upcoming with more advancements. The next question of whether to use native apps or hybrid apps will be answered by progressive web applications.

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