Hybrid APPs Vs Native APPs: What is best for your business?

Revealing the truth behind the misconceptions surrounding the Mobile APP development, we are here with the pros & cons of both Hybrid Apps Vs Native APP; approaches and which one almost always leads to the better customer experience. Let’s start with few questions about your requirements & priorities:

1. How soon you need the APP?
2. Do you have any in-house developed module of APP?
3. What is your budget?
4. What features you need?
5. How much the speed of APP matter to you?

With the answer to these questions, now, let’s discuss the differences between the Hybrid APPs Vs Native APPs:

What is Native Application?

Native APPs are developed on a particular environment or platform using software development tools (SDK) for a particular framework or operating system. Like Android APPs are built on Java platform using Java Development Kit, iOS APPs are built using iOS SDK, Swift & Objective-C, and windows APPs are built using the .NET platform.

Thus, Native Applications are native to the user’s OS and are built as per those guidelines. They are consistent in look & feel and have good interaction. User is more likely to navigate and use the APP faster.

Advantages of Native APPs:

1. Native code performs faster than HTML & JavaScript, hence, Graphical Applications, HD Games, Intensive Applications perform well in Native.
2. Native Applications do not have many dependencies on open source libraries and platforms like Cordova & Ionic.
3. The native APP allows accessing device features (such as camera, GPS, Address book, etc.) without dealing with the complexity of native plugins.
4. These APPs have a high degree of Reliability and are best to exploit Native features.
5. They are simple yet fast in Performance and have a better User Experience.
6. Native APPs support both Online & Offline transactions.

Disadvantages of Native APPs:

1. The development time of Native APPs is more than Hybrid APPs. As for each platform, Native APPs require separate development efforts and different skill sets.
2. The code of each platform has its own release cycles & updates which adds up to more development time and cost.
3. Due to the different code-base, it is always challenging to release the same features on all platforms.
4. For updates in APP, the user needs to update the APP from the APP Store.

What is a Hybrid APP?

Hybrid APP runs in a Web view and is built using Web Technologies like HTML, CSS & JavaScript. They can be built for any platform using a single code base and have performance closer to Native APPs. We can consider them as Websites packed in a Native wrapper with most of the information loading on the page as the user navigates through the APP.

These APPs require Native plugins to access the Native features of the platform such as Camera, Mic, etc.

Advantages of Hybrid APP

1. Write code once & run on any platform, which means, they are single code-based for all platforms.
2. Effort only from one Development team is required, they can deliver APP for any platform including the Website too.
3. Since Hybrid APPs are based on Web Technologies, hence, the same APP can be run on a browser like a website or can be run as Progressive Web APP (PWA).
4. The user experience of Hybrid APPs is consistent across all the platforms irrespective of the devices & browsers.
5. The APP development is faster and less expensive. Low-cost maintenance is required.
6. Simple & easy to maintain and is integrated with the device file system.
7. In case of updates, the user doesn’t need to update the APP in APP Store, it is directly loaded on the page from the server.

Disadvantages of Hybrid APPs

1. The performance of Hybrid APPs doesn’t go well for Game APPs, high Graphics-oriented APPs, and other high-performance required APPs.
2. They are dependent on Native plugins to access device features. Sometimes, native plugins are not readily available for entirely new device features. In such cases, Hybrid APPs are the problem.
3. Hybrid APPs have dependencies on different libraries & frameworks such as Cordova & Ionic. They are to be synchronized with the latest versions and releases of platforms.

So, the conclusion is:

Both Native & Hybrid APPs have their pros and cons. But frankly speaking, Native APPs are always beneficial in long run. They provide high-level security for Mobile Applications. With Native APPs, the company can offer an industry-standard user experience and best performance to their users.

But when it comes to less development time, cross-compatibility, easy updates, and availability of resources on a low budget, then, Hybrid APPs are a good choice.

Therefore, the decision on which approach you should take for APP development, depends on the need, priorities, and objectives of your business.