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Will Manuel

Native vs Hybrid App Development: Which One Should You Choose?

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Smartphones and tablets are practically worthless without the apps that run on them. Since the emergence of smartphones, developers are seeking ways to deliver the best types of mobile applications for users to download.

The rise in mobile app popularity is evident by simply looking at the latest market data reports. According to Statista, mobile phone users downloaded a total of 178.1 billion apps globally in 2017. This figure is expected to surge to 258.2 billion in 2022.

As more and more people are glued to their smartphones, companies and entrepreneurs are scrambling to establish a connection to mobile users by utilizing one of the two types of app development protocols – Native or Hybrid.

The question is which one should your company or start-up choose?

Here is a detailed walkthrough on Native and Hybrid apps as well as their pros and cons.

What are Native Apps?

Native mobile apps are created for a specific device/platform. These often times include Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry. Mobile app developers often use the software development kits (SDK) of certain hardware platforms, software frameworks, or operating systems. These applications are developed using the following programs:

  • Objective-C or Swift for iOS
  • Java or Kotlin for Android
  • C# or .NET for Windows Phone

Advantages of Native Apps

  • Rich user experience – App designers and developers can focus on customizing the app’s functionality to a specific platform with its language, specific elements, and set gestures. All these aspects enable developers to achieve a sense of unity and let users navigate through the interface more intuitively. Moreover, native applications can also extensively use offline mode capabilities.
  • High performance – An application created and optimized for a specific platform will have a high level of performance. Since the developers “speak” using the language of the device, they can deal with the battery and memory consumption issues to achieve the best results.
  • Better security – Native apps can take full advantage of the built-in security features of a device’s platform and operating system(OS). Moreover, native apps have the privilege of obtaining the performance enhancement updates of the OS.
  • Full functionality – Native apps have full access to databases and hardware features of a device. Moreover, their functionality will not get compromised by plugins or any other third-party programs or tools.
  • Can Run Offline – Native applications don’t need an Internet connection to run. Since they are installed within a device, they can work anywhere as long as the device is functioning properly.

Disadvantages of native apps

  • Higher development costs – The development process of a native app is complicated and requires the participation of many qualified development team members.
  • Longer development timeframe – Native apps generally need more time to be completed and launched, mainly if you’re targeting to launch apps for different platforms at the same time. You may choose simultaneous development if you need apps for Android, iOS or Windows Phone.

What are Hybrid Apps?

Hybrid apps are created as a single app but can run on different platforms, meaning this application acts like a native app but is developed using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. It is basically a web-based program stored in a native app shell connected to the device. Because of this feature, it behaves very similarly to a native app.

Just like Native apps, users can download them from a certain platform’s app store (Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play Store for Android).

Advantages of Hybrid Apps

  • Ability to work across multiple platforms –  Its capacity to run on different platforms makes it appealing to many stakeholders. Hybrid apps can run both Android and iOS, even with just one code base. Unlike native apps, there is no need to build an app for each platform.
  • Faster to build –  Creating a hybrid app is far less time-consuming compared to native ones as developers don’t have to create a separate programs for each platform.
  • Easier to adjust and update –  Because there is only a single codebase, developers do not have to work with each platform separately to make adjustments and updates of various elements. Often, the change can be applied to all platforms. Updates related to bug fixes and enhancements are better implemented in hybrid applications. Users do not need to download the latest version of your app manually through app stores to get rid of an annoying bug that has appeared for quite some time. If any problem takes place on a page loaded from the server, developers can fix that quickly, and users will get the updated or corrected version the next time they launch the app.
  • Cheaper to build –  Developers can create hybrid applications that can run on both iOS and Android in just about the same time required to build one native app for another platform. This shorter development time tends to make the final cost of the app cheaper.

Disadvantages of Hybrid Apps

  • Needs Internet connection(sometimes) –  Hybrid apps are essentially websites displayed as an app. Thus, users usually need a constant internet connection to access the full range of its features. Moreover, hybrid apps often take more time to load all their elements so some work slower. Because of this feature, hybrid applications are best suited for content-oriented apps, which are not overloaded with complex functions.
  • Limited capabilities –  Hybrid applications can rely heavily on plugins to be able to access the built-in features of a particular device. In time, these plugins get outdated or unreliable/unstable. Also, developers may need to come up with plugins on their own when there are no ready-made solutions to access a specific part of the devices functionality.
  • Slightly compressed user experience –  Because of the cross-platform operability, the user experience of hybrid applications can be less than stellar since it should run using the interface of both iOS and Android platforms. If the app focuses on Android users, the experience would be worse for iOS users and vice versa.
  • May require native app developers –  Hybrid app development still falls short in addressing a variety of functional problems for native development. You may still need a native developer as a member of your development team to create a quality product.

Summary: Which one should I choose?

Native apps work best if you need applications that require full functionality, speed and security. Apps with advanced features like banks and e-commerce sites will work better if developed under the Native approach. However, if you want an app where you need to update your content frequently, such as ones for blogging, the hybrid version is better. Hybrid apps are usually the way to go for start ups due to lower costs and faster development times but it’s completely up to you in which approach will be the best for your specific project.

Sources:

https://codeburst.io/native-app-or-hybrid-app-ca08e460df9

https://clearbridgemobile.com/mobile-app-development-native-vs-web-vs-hybrid/

https://appinventiv.com/blog/seven-reasons-native-app-development-better-solution/

https://techjury.net/stats-about/mobile-vs-desktop-usage/

https://hackernoon.com/native-app-development-vs-hybrid-app-development-dd83122a738c

https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/native-or-hybrid-app-development-what-to-choose

Will Manuel

10 Key Signs Your Business Needs a Mobile App

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In a time where more and more individuals are spending their increased percentage of time being glued to their phones and mobile devices, it is important to create a space where they can still vital connection to the world. With the rise of smartphone addiction, Dr. Caglar Yildirim, an assistant professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the State University of New York at Oswego, feels that many people will completely cut off their social relationship and can ultimately affect how they lead their lives.

With numerous businesses popping up left and right, it becomes more critical for those in power to create avenues for interaction and discussion. Not only does this reinforce the need for relationships, but it can also improve the ways organizations conduct their day-to-day operations.

As social media influencers shed a spotlight on the importance of having their own mobile apps, maybe companies can also learn a thing or two on how they can step up their branding and customer relations.

So, whether you are small, medium or big enterprise owner, below are some signs your business needs a mobile app:

Your Competitors Have One

In a cutthroat industry, being left behind by your competitors is bad for business. As a matter of fact, Justin Smith and his study of mobile e-commerce statistics in 2018 point that at least 40% of users will go to the competitor after an awful mobile experience. When this happens, chances are, your consumers will run in the opposite direction, thereby allowing you to miss an opportunity to direct these people to what you offer.

By investing your time in designing your company’s own application, you can take pride in knowing you have your own program which perfectly reflects your brand and ideals.

Your Site Isn’t Doing Well on Its Searches

Ranking high on the Google index often equates to brand visibility in the sphere of marketing. If your website has not been ranking well in this competitive industry, you may be close to becoming obsolete. With your very own application, you can become more noticeable in the public eye, especially when you offer everything your customer could ever want.

Always Trailing Behind

Many individuals fail to realize the potential these applications could bring to organizations. More than generating profits and increasing prominence in the public, these programs allow corporations to raise awareness not only about the type of business they do but who they really are.

You Don’t Have Public Engagement

Staying relevant in the public eye is one way to generate engagement with the consumers. In many ways, building an application can be considered a PR stunt. Aside from drawing in customers around the world, this is also an effective way to build credibility in a cost-efficient way. Media practitioners, social media influencers and other brand managers who trust your brand can market your offerings, thereby getting your company the exposure it needs.

With a responsive and user-friendly application in mind, you can send out push notifications which help provide customers developments in your business. By keeping in the loop, you are creating avenues for discussion between the community.

Building Brand Recognition

As a brand looking to expand their horizons, you want to be able to create an effective program that’s stylish, sleek and has a seamless performance. More than this, you want a program that can reflect the values and ideals of your organization. By putting out a mobile app, you can provide one-of-a-kind features that will certainly get customers to identify your brand.

Enhanced User Experience

Oftentimes, the mobile app is considered a one-stop shop. From providing general information about the company to the availability of booking forms and having exclusive deals and discounts, this app is a marketing channel that provides everything a customer can look for.

Gain Customer Insight

Mobile apps have the power to let business owners know user patterns and preferences. Through the features put forward in the program, developers can gauge the behaviors customers exhibit. This knowledge allows the company to fine tune their services according to their consumers’ tastes.

Platform to Showcase Products

Let’s face it. Today, where social media networks are very much prevalent, launching products has definitely become easier. Often, introducing new offerings to the market require extensive advertising, thus taking a huge chunk away from the overall budget. With a faultless application, entrepreneurs can easily showcase their products, helping reduce marketing costs.

Stand Out from the Crowd

Many small to medium enterprises choose to forego having a mobile app. If you belong to this sector, making the jump and being the first in the field will be a revolutionary step for your business. Not only will this create a competitive edge in the industry, but it will also leave the public in awe about the way you approach your venture.

Further Business Goals

There’s no denying that the very core of your business goals includes expanding your reach and increasing your profits. What better way to do this than by creating your own mobile app, right? Doing so can help you create a more unified and strengthened identity as well as a boost in employee production and motivation.

Working with reliable and highly advanced app developers and designers is a worthy investment. If you aren’t offering a mobile app to the public, seeing the wealth of advantages these professionals bring might be worthy to consider.