Hybrid vs. Native Apps - Which Way to Go?

One of the main reasons why people use an app is because of its ease-of-use and simple functionality, combined with a user experience second to none. Nobody has time for a clunky user interface and a bad functionality. In a recent survey, 79 percent of the consumers said that they would retry a mobile app only once or twice if it failed to work for the first time, whereas a measly 16 percent said they would attempt more than twice.

As mobile app development times keep getting shorter and time to market becomes increasingly important, a highly debated question before any mobile app development team is whether to build applications that are directly written on native platforms or use tools like PhoneGap to build hybrid apps. Hybrid apps use native code in conjunction with web languages to gain a set of unique attributes, while taking considerably shorter times to develop. At the same time, native apps, more often than not, provide the best user experience.

Hybrid vs. Native App Development - Feature-wise Comparison

Native mobile app development uses native programming languages such as Objective C, Swift, Java, etc. whereas hybrid mobile apps are built using web technologies such as HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and then put into a native container. There are benefits and drawbacks of using each of these technologies and you need to completely analyze the associated risks and business requirements before starting with the app development process.

The various pros and cons of using both the technologies are listed below -

4 Key Questions to Ask before Choosing Between Native and Hybrid App

Before you finally decide on which development mode to choose for your next app, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions -

1. How quickly do you want to get to the market?

   An app's time to market depends on several factors such as the number of features and functionalities incorporated, number of resources available, etc. If your requirement dictates that the mobile app be launched as fast as possible, it would be wise to go ahead with hybrid app development.

2. Do you need a lot of native features within your app?

   If having access to native device capabilities such as the camera, SMS, hardware buttons, etc. is your primary concern, then you should choose native app development over hybrid, as with hybrid app framework, native capabilities may or may not be accessible.

3. What is your budget?

   Although one of the simplest questions you can answer, the answer can have several repercussions if you have not charted out your finances correctly. If you have money to spare while developing for a platform(s) of your own choice, by all means choose native app development.

4. Would your mobile app need frequent updates on different platforms?

   As most developers will warrant to, an app is always under development, even after it has been published to the app store. Users require better functionality and new content updates to keep the app fresh and alive in their memories. If you need to deliver regular updates for your app, then choosing the hybrid method of development would suit your requirements. This is because updates can be simultaneously pushed to devices belonging to different platforms from the web directly. This is one reason why most banks, news apps, etc. are hybrid apps.

Native vs. Hybrid Mobile Apps: Future Trends

Today, native and hybrid apps are becoming common is the enterprise industry. The need for more business-to-employee (B2E) apps is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. This growth has led to many experts recommending choosing hybrid apps for large scale internal app development while building native apps for external customers with high performance expectations.

While discussing native and hybrid apps, it cannot be denied that native mobile apps are favored by consumers throughout the globe. If we observe the most popular apps around us, we notice that most of them are native. Facebook and LinkedIn both tried building hybrid apps but found that the performance was not up to the mark as compared to native mobile apps. However, these big companies can afford to hire many developers with the skillsets to build native mobile apps for different mobile platforms.

52% of the developers today prefer developing Hybrid Apps, and in the coming years, there will be more hybrid apps on people's devices as compared to native apps. These statistics therefore predict a dramatic shift towards hybrid app development, and it is highly possible that the next app you build might just be a hybrid one, even though you have been contemplating going native. At the same time, there is no one-size-fits-all-solution and you need to choose one over the other on a case-by-case basis.

Get Your Native/Hybrid Mobile App Developed by Outsource2india Today!

The choice between native and hybrid app depends on a number of factors including business requirement, developer skills, and development time. It's a good sign for customers that today's app developers are not strictly religious about native, hybrid, or even HTML5 apps. Instead, they choose to focus on the type of development that suits their needs, along with their customers'.

Outsource2india has been providing mobile app development services for over a decade now, be it in the form of native, web application development services or hybrid app development. Our expert team of mobile app developers is skilled to develop mobile apps on different platforms such as Android, iOS, etc. If you have any kind of mobile app idea, feel free to share it with us and we will help you develop that idea in to reality!