Hybrid VS native app, which one is better?
In the last 5-6 years, the usage of smartphones has raised to unpredictable number. This gave a good opportunity for large and small companies to launch mobile apps to increase the customer base and business. The businesses are sure about app functionality but they’re not aware of the best and quick development methodologies. When you googling for app development you will probably see native & Hybrid app development.
The Native apps are built in a specific programming language as per the platform, making them compatible only with the corresponding platform. Android apps are developed primarily in Java, whereas iOS apps are developed in Apple’s Swift.
Hybrid apps are developed using web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS in combination with native elements. They are essentially platform-independent websites displayed using a native web view, which is a native component provided by operating systems like Android and iOS to load web content.
The following multiple factors need to consider while selecting a specific platform.
1. Cost
The biggest factor that influences the choice of selecting native or hybrid development. The hybrid platform has the advantage of developing multiple platform apps at the same time that eventually reduces the development cost of the app. In recent years, the cross-platform app development framework is improved and overcoming native development. In the hybrid, the apps can be built for any platform from a single code base, they are much cheaper to build than native apps.
In some cases, the hybrid app development provides the app at half costs compare to native app development. The companies can save a lot of money by selecting the hybrid method.
2. Performance
Absolutely every company’s wish to have great performance for the app, according to recent statistics, the users are giving 15-30 seconds time to look at the app, only 20% of the customers or users come back. If you don’t want to lose your customer then select the platform which is best suitable to develop the fast loading apps. Native apps are built with platform-specific programming languages, which allow developers to fully optimize them for maximum performance. Hybrid apps add an extra layer between the target platform and the source code that eventually reflects on the performance of the app.
“The biggest mistake we’ve made as a company is betting on HTML5 over native,” explained Mark Zuckerberg Facebook’s decision to move away from hybrid apps in 2012. In fact, there are many types of apps that don’t need many optimizations to run great on virtually all mobile devices, and such apps can benefit from the hybrid approach the most. Still, native apps win then it comes to performance.
3. Time
The hybrid platform needs or consumes less time for developing the apps because hybrid apps are developed with web technologies like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS, which makes it proceed further from a rough idea to a working prototype very much faster than platform-specific programming languages.
In the hybrid development, the single codebase is used for multiple platforms(android, ios) and also reduces the time to bring the app on the market. Companies that decide to build a native app often end up launching on one platform sooner.
| Pros | |
|---|---|
| Native | Hybrid |
| Performance | Quick and Easier Development |
| Great UI/UX | Flexible UI/UX Dev |
| Better Security & Reliability | Cost Efficient |
| Offline Operable | |
| Better Integration | |
| Can Update Tools & SDK | |
| Cons | |
| Higher Cost’s | Performance & Integration |
| Complex Maintainance | Integration issues |
| The need for Tech Specialist’s | User Experience & Update Issues |
4. Maintenance
Users today have very high expectations for mobile apps. According to one Compuware survey, 42 percent of mobile app users expect mobile apps to load quicker than mobile websites. On average, smartphone owners expect apps to load in two seconds, which is something that’s often possible to achieve only with regular updates and bug fixes.
Developing native apps means there are multiple codebases to maintain (one for Android and one for iOS, at least). Because Android developers are typically not fluent in iOS development—and vice versa—companies that decide to develop a native app should be ready to keep at least twice as many developers on their payroll as companies that choose the hybrid approach.
5. User Experience
Most users don’t care about the technology that powers the apps they’re using. All they care about is the user experience itself. According to a study commissioned with Equation Reach, 79 percent of users would only retry an app once or twice if it failed to work the first time. But having a working app is not nearly enough these days. The app must also look and behave in a way that’s consistent with the platform and support common gestures and platform-specific features.
While hybrid apps can look and feel like native apps, the user experience they offer is still not as polished as the user experience offered by native apps. That said, frameworks for mobile hybrid apps, such as React Native, Xamarin, Ionic, NativeScript, or PhoneGap are constantly getting better, simplifying the creation of native-like user experiences.
Conclusion
The verdict of this hybrid vs native app showdown is clear: hybrid apps are perfect for developing minimum viable products with limited budgets and timeframes, while native apps are suitable for products that require flawless performance and custom features.
