Hybrid vs. Native App Development – Which Is the Best for Your Business

Android App Development | iOS App Development | Mobile App Development

We are running the web and mobile software app development company for offshore clienteles who indeed are striving for quality work at reasonable rates. Most often our clients are considering us as a dependable consultancy team for the web and mobile software requirements. Therefore, they pose several queries to our development teams before jumping into the true development process. In due course, our developers face some standards and a few challenging questions from our patrons and new visitors as prospective clients. Out of those myriads of queries, we have picked up one frequently asked query regarding mobile application development and it is regarding Hybrid vs. Native mobile application development. We have observed that offshore clients are well-informed and tech-savvy so they always come up with prior research on nearly all aspects related to their projects. Therefore, they already know what hybrid mobile application and the native mobile app are. Many of them already know pros and cons of hybrid and native mobile app development. Unfortunately, due to lack of technical depth/expertise, they cannot reach the most appropriate decision. For this very reason, we have initiated this post to make it comprehensive for all levels of clients to make the right choice for them. For every decision, we define some parameters, particularly when a comparison is in question. Therefore, we may try to define our decision parameters and analysis accordingly.  

1. Cost-efficiencies

Hybrid App Development:

We know hybrid app development technologies are web technologies used generally for the web app development such as:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• Angular JS
• Media Query and some other scripts along with a few lines of native codes

Therefore, finding right and cheaper skill sets is easy with a low-cost infrastructure. The second thing is development timeline. Since hybrid app development requires a single code base, time needed for the finished app is short enough compared to native mobile app development for more than one mobile OS platforms. The third thing is the development of API for integration of various services and native features with third party services in the case of native app development. These all we can eliminate in hybrid app development, as it does not need any API development at all and manage all through the web connections with web services.

Native App Development:

Native mobile application development involves different technologies, tools, and development environment according to the specifications defined by the respective mobile OS platform. Unfortunately, our mobile industry suffering from OS fragmentations too so we have to deal with a number of different mobile OS platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Symbian, and so on. Among these, all, iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile had the biggest share and considered as the major mobile OS platforms. Therefore, you need to have skilled and experienced developers for

• iOS technologies and tools including Objective-C or Swift, Xcode, and Mac expertise
• Android technologies and tools such as Java programming experiencewith Android libraries, Android Studio, and other tools
• Windows Phone technologies and tools requireexpertise on Microsoft technologies and Windows development environment

It means you have to keep three different skill sets and invest in three different development infrastructure including hardware, software, and networking. Thus, native mobile app development undoubtedly is a costly affair, and it is a very reason for that small and startup businesses are refraining from custom native mobile app development for their needs. Conclusion-1- Native app development is loser

2. Time-to-Market

Hybrid App Development:

As we have discussed before that, hybrid app development needs a single code base. The programming technologies of the hybrid app are simple. Therefore, any web developer with hands on expertise can accomplish the hybrid app development in the shortest span against the intricate native programming and the tools needed for it. Therefore, hybrid app development is the best choice when you are in a hurry to deploy your app in the market. Moreover, some categories of hybrid apps hardly need approvals of app stores that again saves time-to-market.

Native App Development:

Unfortunately, native app development could not be fast as the hybrid app development due to complications involved in the development processes. For iOS app development, Swift has changed the scenario to some extent, but not rapid as well as hybrid app development technologies are. If the project is of big scale app development involving tons of features, integration, and native API development, the job of developers indeed becomes tough and time-consuming. Therefore, we cannot expect rapid turnover for a native mobile app development with the best performance and user experiences. Conclusion-2- Native app development is loser

3. App Updates

Hybrid App Development:

App updates, debugging, and OS upgrades are easy with the hybrid application. Hybrid apps are mostly connected with the web services in real-time, and their functionality is heavily relying on it. Therefore, hybrid app developers simply update the web services on the web servers and rest of updates hardly need approvals of the app stores. Thus, updating, upgrading, and maintaining hybrid app is an easy and quick process.

Native App Development:

Native mobile apps are residing on the client devices of the end-users, so updates and upgrades are at the mercy of users. Moreover, app store connectivity for updates and upgrades downloads are in question for many handheld devices users as not all users have Wi-Fi connections and using 3G or 4G network is a costly affair in several instances. Therefore, regular or frequent app update is not possible practically for native mobile applications. Thus, it is daunting to offer the latest features compatible with the latest release of OS upgrades. Conclusion-3- Native app development is loser We know users are always expecting great user experiences with your mobile app. When they are going to use your mobile application, they expect quick and hurdle free installation, app opening, intuitive app usage, quick screen loading and interactions, and satisfaction with it. Many of the above expectations are falling into two distinct categories performance and UX. Let’s first talk about performance.

4. Performance

Hybrid App Development:

Technically, hybrid apps have only a native wrapper with little or no navigational elements when it downloaded the first time. The most of the data have downloaded from the web services either from servers or cloud services. The dependencies on the server or external resources create two issues. The first one is a number of server requests and the second one is the load balance requests. These are deteriorating overall performance. Moreover, the web connectivity is always remaining in question for the mobile devices whether it is Wi-Fi or LTE connectivity.

Native App Development:

For native mobile apps, content, structural elements, visual elements, data, and other essentials are residing on the mobile devices as local storage. Therefore, access of all and instant loading is naturally rapid and capable of providing seamless user experiences. No need to worry about connectivity issues, bandwidth issues, and loading issues. Thus, native apps are the best bet for high-performance expectations of your targeted audience. Conclusion-4- Native app development is obvious winner

5. User Experiences

Using mobiles is quite different from the desktops. Therefore, when mobile users are finishing steep learning curve, they naturally believe that all apps on their mobile devices are following conventions according to the guidelines provided by the respective mobile OS platform. Therefore, they develop habits of usage patterns for:

• Controls
• Interactions
• Visual cues
• Gestures

In a set pattern. Unfortunately, mobile OS fragmentations are acute, and no two platforms are seemingly working in an identical manner in this regard. Thus, developers have to create platform specific architecture to build a native application with pure native experiences.

Hybrid App Development:

In the case of the hybrid app, software architecture designers have to take care of more than one mobile OS platforms and follow their extensive style guides. In fact, the most brilliant UX architecture cannot build an app architecture that can satisfy more than one mobile OS users. For instance, iOS device users expect altogether different user experiences that the Android OS users. In short, it is not possible to follow the user experience guidelines of more than one platform in a single source code and even with web technology like constraints. The second aspect where hybrid app falls short is offline working mode support, so when a user enters in an area with poor reception or no reception at all, the app might stop working after a while. The third and most important thing are access to native APIs to exploit device specific capabilities such as GPS, LBS, and Beacon like Bluetooth enabled services with specific electronic chips. In hybrid apps, the introduction of such functionality and features are not possible with true user experiences.

Native App Development:

Fortunately, native mobile applications are devoid of the constraints mentioned before.

• Native mobile app developers can follow platform specific guidelines and can give true native user experiences with the least trade off
• Native app supports offline mode and can update the integrated web services once the connectivity has restored
• Native apps have complete access of device and OS specific features, functionality, and capabilities to accomplish the latest and intricate functions

Conclusion-5- Native app development is obvious winner

Final Words:

More than 80% mobile app users, in a survey, have opined that they consider app performance as the first criteria for app retention and app engagement. Therefore, app performance override other criteria we have defined earlier. The same is true for app user experiences, so native app development, particularly iOS App Development and Android App Development are true winners for the businesses, which are looking for long-term strategies to win the battle in the fiercely competitive market. If you are thinking of a mobile identity for your business and in a dilemma that which one is the best for you, we surely advise you to go for native mobile app development using our impeccable mobile app development services at Addon Solutions. If your company is following ‘Falling Forward Fast’ philosophy, it is better that you go for the Hybrid App Development and learn from the user analytics by potentially reaching out up to 90% users. Otherwise, native is the perfect choice for enterprises and SMBs alike. If you want to avert your mobile app failure in the market, wait for native app development with a right team because your target audience cannot know that what technologies is using your app, hybrid or native. Users are simply expecting the high-end performance and the excellent user experiences, no more than that!