Hybrid Apps vs Native Apps in the Mobile App Development World

Mobile devices have become a staple in our daily life. In fact, it is hard to recollect the days before mobile phones. It is so difficult to imagine how we communicated before mobile, how we played games, how we kept in touch and how did we find our way among other things. This small hand-held device has not only altered how we communicate, but the way we live. There is even a phobia called as Nomophobia ascribed to phobia of losing one’s cell phone.

With mobile presenting ceaseless opportunities at the fingertips, it’s no wonder that people are getting more and more addicted to it with each passing day. One of the huge reason of this rising popularity can be attributed to mobile applications which make every day activities easier and entertaining. Naturally, everyone wants a slice of this pie. So if you have an ingenious idea and would like to develop an app around it, the first thing you need to consider is whether to develop a native application or a hybrid one.

Hybrid Mobile Applications are built using HTML, CSS and Java Script. Instead of targeting to web browsers, they are targeted to WebView embedded inside a native container, as a result they get access to various features like hardware accessibility of the gadget. They use the features of both native apps and web apps. Similar to native apps they have to be downloaded from app store and at the same time they are written in HTML, CSS and JS.

Native Applications are the applications which are written completely for a particular platform or operating system. The popular operating systems available are android, iOS, blackberry and windows. For e.g., if a person needs an application on android, then the application is built on JAVA or for IOS applications, objective-C or swift is used.

Both hybrid and native apps are playing a crucial game in the present day scenario, but they have their own pros and cons. Check out some advantages and disadvantages of using hybrid or native applications to help you make an informed decision.

• Cost of development : Hybrid apps or HTML5 apps are generally cheaper to maintain as compared to native apps. A single developer can create hybrid app but for native application, separate apps for windows, iOS or android needs to be created and this increases the cost of creation and maintenance.

• Speed and efficiency : Native apps are far more fast and efficient as compared to hybrid applications. A lot of changes have been made in the Java Script interpreter for a Hybrid app but still they cannot function as fast and as efficiently as a native application.

• Hardware : Native apps can interact with a vast range of hardware available on the device while HTML5 have some limitation in terms of hardware performance. This is the reason why most of the games and high performance applications are native in nature.

• Updates : HTML 5 apps are portable on all operating systems. When an update is required, a single update is sufficient for all the devices and is available immediately. Native apps by definition are unique to their operating system.  To support multiple operating systems, a separate app must be written for each operating system. So any time we need an update, we need to write and test it for different operating systems.

• Platform Independence : If platform independence is the feature one is seeking for with limited budget, then definitely hybrid apps are the best solutions. With one time development, requirements can be met.

In this hyper evolving world of technological developments, we at Carmatec, keep our finger on the pulse. We continually strive to raise the bar, and this is what sets us apart from the competition, putting us ahead of the game. Talk to us to build your next big mobile app!