Hybrid vs Native apps - which one should you opt for?

For each and every business, there are particular sets of goals and objectives that must be followed in order to successfully grow in the market. On top of that, the smartphone advancement has made it important to come up with some strategy that can allow a business to grow at a rapid pace. This is done with the help of mobile applications that can be developed in a number of ways. Out of the multiple ways, two are extremely famous and most-used – hybrid and native. Now, you might be confused on which one to opt for to gain the best. Here is everything you need to know to sort out your doubts.

Native apps

The most common application is the native one as described by name. In this type of applications, the codes are written in the language that can be easily understood by a specific platform. You can take an example of iOS applications that are written in Objective-C and Swift language where Android works specifically on Java. In addition to this, the IDE – Integrated Development Environment is used by the Native application to build and develop as per the specific operating system.

Google and Apple offer set of interface elements, development tools and even Software Development Kit – SDK. There are countless benefits that make companies run for Native Application Development.

Advantages of native apps

• They are responsive and fast due to their focus on a particular platform
• User-friendly performance
• Intuitive, interactive and smooth in the aspect of output and input
• Better access to features with performance optimization
• No requirement of internet connection but require functionalities

Disadvantages of native apps

• If the application is simple then it is better to avoid this method
• Expensive
• Requires experienced developers

Hybrid apps

This platform is somewhat similar to native applications in terms of behaviour. These apps are a blend of the web app and native features. Hybrid apps do everything done by HTML5 with the perfect incorporation of features of native applications.

There are mainly two essential parts of the hybrid application. One of them is backend code that is developed with the help of JavaScript, CSS and HTML. Another one is a native shell that renders the application.

Advantages of hybrid apps

• Latest web technologies used for development such as CSS, JavaScript and HTML making it easy
• Cheaper as compared to native
• Single code, multiple platforms
• Much faster than native in terms of development s due to the use of single code base

Disadvantages of hybrid apps

• Slower than native apps (low performance)
• Dependence on third-party platforms like Cordova, Flutter etc
• At times native device functionality is difficult to use (like geolocation where accuracy is affected when used in a hybrid app)

So which should you pick?

No one can tell you what is the best possible way to work on, it will be determined with the help of your business objective. It will help you to come up with the best native and hybrid model. However, before you decide on any one of them, you need to keep a few of the points under consideration.

• If you are aiming for the speed then what is the ideal speed of an application as per you.
• How are you going to enhance the user experience quality with the help of your application?
• What is going to be the feature complexity of your working application?
• What is the exact budget of your application?

Still not sure whether you should get a native app or a hybrid one built? Tell us your requirements and we'll help you out.