Native vs. Hybrid App: What’s the Best Approach?

Native Vs. Hybrid App: What’s the Best Approach?

Native vs. Hybrid App: What’s the Best Approach? Choosing between a Native vs. Hybrid app has always been one of the most confusing situations for businesses. If you are experienced enough to understand the distinction between choosing the right app development model, you know which one to go for based on your project’s requirements and goals. 

However, things turn up pretty difficult for persons not well versed in app development and cannot distinguish between the Native or Hybrid models for their next line of the task regarding app development. 

Here, we are covering a detailed overview of both Native and Hybrid apps to help you walk through the best option based on your time and tech constraints. 

Our comparative analysis between Native and Hybrid apps is based on how they differ, followed by their pros and cons.

Native Applications

Before we start to discuss Native apps, let’s try to understand the term “Native” first. According to Wikipedia, any native application is designed to work on a particular OS or operating system. Therefore, Native apps are designed to run on mobile OS, such as swift app development for iOS, and Java or Kotlin used for android application development. 

In other words, Native mobile apps leverage proprietary mobile OS and hardware functions of OS vendors, such as Apple/iOS & Google/Android. Native android apps, for example, use libraries with all custom functions dedicated to android OS and other hardware/firmware variants. 

Also, Native iOS apps are programmed in Swift or Objective C programming languages, whereas their libraries can maximize the OS functions and hardware elements built by Apple.

The main difference between Native apps and non-Native apps is that the latter is designed in higher programming languages, like JavaScript or Python, etc. but can’t take advantage of proprietary operating system functions and hardware components. Another difference is Native apps are compiled directly into binary code, something that non-Native apps don’t feature.

Advantages of Native Apps

Demonstrates high-level performance

Native apps are designed for a specific platform and so are optimized to deliver impressive performance output. Fast and responsive, these apps take advantage of proprietary mobile OS and hardware components. As a result of how these apps are compiled into binary code using the platform’s core programing language and APIs, they are more efficient and useful for users in navigating through the contents and visual elements of their phones. 

Highly secure 

Native apps come equipped with powerful security features, assuring users of reliable data protection. 

Advanced Customization

Native apps take advantage of most of the features within the OS of a Native platform. As a result, they can be tailored to provide a unique user experience. Since Native apps eliminate the need for combining the features of two operating systems, they assist developers in focusing on creating custom-tailored solutions for mobile users. 

Interactive and Intuitive 

Native apps smoothly process user input and output, thanks to their default OS interfaces giving out a great look and feel to the users. They are intuitively designed to render a superior user experience. 

Moreover, they can’t compromise on quality since they are designed for a specific operating system. They rigorously follow the guidelines regarding user experience. Being interactive and intuitive enables these apps to have a natural flow.

Native apps – Disadvantages

• Native apps are designed for a specific platform, so building a Native app is a huge time-taking exercise. Moreover, it doesn’t feature the reusability of codes, which means you would need another development team to write codes for every specific operating system. 

• When you create a Native app for both iOS and Android operating systems, the entire process yields an expensive resource deployment and maintenance for each platform, thus causing you to bear huge costs.

• Native apps require extensive procedures for downloading from their dedicated App Store or Play Store. Users must go through various lengthy steps to download a Native app, including reading and consenting to its terms and conditions. 

• Building Native apps for multiple platforms costs more money and effort. Moreover, these apps also require expensive maintenance phases, resulting in cost accumulation in a big way.

Hybrid Applications

A Hybrid app entails components of both Native and web apps, written in HTML5 and CS web technologies, and runs offline on the devices. Users can download the app and install it locally. Once installed, the app can be accessed on the internet via a browser. 

One of the biggest benefits of a Hybrid app is that it allows developers to use the same code for a mobile app for multiple platforms. Though the navigation elements of a Hybrid app are similar to those of a web app, whether it will work offline depends largely on its functionalities. 

Pros of Hybrid apps:

• Works on various platforms, such as both iOS and Android
• Takes less time to build than Native apps
• The cost of building a Hybrid app is less compared to building two versions of Native apps for two distinct platforms
• Simple maintenance and development
• Patches and updates of the apps are easier to launch
• The apps can work both online and offline

Cons of Hybrid apps:

• Lacks in overall speed and performance
• The performance of the app depends on the speed of the user’s browser
• The look and feel of the UI and navigation of the app may vary on two or more platforms
• Requires testing on different devices for proper orientation
• User experience may get compromised if the user interface clashes with the browsers of the users

Conclusion 

Based on the comparative analysis between Native vs. Hybrid apps, our conclusion is that both platforms are viable for your mobile application development purpose. However, it largely depends on the goal and requirement as well as how much money you are willing to spend on resource deployment for a successful software release at the end of the day. 

We advise you not to cut corners just because one option seems relatively more cost-saving over another one. It would pan out counterproductive outcomes for the quality and usability of the app. Focus on the end user’s preferences and balance them with the end goal of the app. At last, consider hiring a custom software development company to get an intuitive app designed for your business needs without having to go through the detailing of choosing the right platform for your project. Consult us and we would be glad to walk you through the mobile app development processes regarding a creative app for your company.

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