Native Mobile Apps vs Hybrid Mobile Apps (Pros and Cons)
Customer experience for the mobile is more important to our business at Latitude Technolabs than the average developers think.
The evolution of customized app development has touched new heights. Developers at Latitude Technolabs are not only ready to work with smartphones and tablets, but also with various wearables and smart devices which contain the Internet of Things.
At Latitude Technolabs, we do detailed planning about various types of processes to dive into the development of apps and specifically the Hybrid App and Native App development. During the preliminary research for the app’s development, developers would face a couple of challenges like what should be built – Native v/s Hybrid App? Which platform would be the best for the organization and end-users? The answers to these queries depend on the following features:
Key features of Native and Hybrid Mobile Apps
| Features | Native Apps | Hybrid Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Device access | Full | Full |
| Performance | High/Fast | Medium/Good |
| Development Language | Objective-C/Swift for iOS or Java for Android operating systems | HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript |
| Development Cost | Expensive | Reasonable |
| Development Time | High | Medium |
| Maintenance | High | Medium |
| Speed | Very Fast | Good |
| Cross-platform Support | No | Yes |
| User Interface (UI) | Good | Good |
| UI/User Experience | High | Moderate |
| Advance Graphics | Moderate | High |
| Security | High | Low |
| Complexity | Less complex to code | More complex to code |
| UX | Better UX | Less UX than native apps |
| Graphics | Better graphics | Lesser graphics than native apps |
| Portability | Harder to port to other systems | Easier to port to other systems |
| Integration | The camera, address book, geolocation, and other features native to the device can be seamlessly integrated into native apps | Some device features may be harder to integrate into hybrid apps |
| Gestures Support | Yes | Yes |
Native Apps and Hybrid Apps provide a way to meet different needs and purposes of users and developers, and neither type of app can be said to be the perfect solution. Customers have to decide which one suits their needs better or which app is ideal for the business needs, including budget and specific goals.
| Difference | Native App | Hybrid App |
|---|---|---|
| User Experience | Native apps provide the best user experience as it is specifically designed for a mobile app can be the best fit. | Whereas with the hybrid apps the UX will be lower as it is not possible to provide a good UX with just one app for all platforms. |
| Development cost and time | Native apps take longer time and cost more compared to Hybrid apps as it requires an app developer for each platform. | Hybrid apps take the least amount of time and are developed at a fairly cheaper price compared to a native app. |
| Developing Language | Native apps use Eclipse for Java for Android, XCode and Objective-C for iOS while Windows Phone uses Visual Studio and C#. | Developed with a web language such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. |
| Integration | Camera, GPS and other features native to the device can be seamlessly integrated into native apps. | Some device features may be harder to integrate into hybrid apps. |
| Portability | Native apps are hard to port to other systems. | Hybrid apps are easier to port to other systems. |
Native Mobile Apps
A native app is a program that has been coded in a specific programming language for the devices that have a specific Operating System. For iOS, the developer usually uses swift and for Android it is Java. As native apps are for a specific platform, they can take advantage of operating system features. It has the advanced ability to use device-specific hardware, software, and it can use the latest technology available on mobile devices.
A large number of the most popular apps out there like Pokémon Go, Twitter, and Waze, are fully native. Building cross-platform for native apps is Xamarin, React Native, Titanium.
Pros of Native Apps
Cons of Native Apps
Hybrid Mobile Apps
Pros of Hybrid Apps
Easy scaling: Hybrid apps are known as cross-platform apps that are easy to scale on different platforms and different operating devices.
Cons of Hybrid Apps
Conclusion:
Mobile development is transforming with modern businesses approaching different apps. We know different apps have limitations in execution, but developers at Latitude Technolabs are increasingly coming up with solutions to overcome those challenges. At last, what matters are a great user experience, intuitive, responsive, security and speed. Developing an app that matches all the needs of the client is the clear winner.
