Since a past few years, mobile apps have turned out to be a key player for innovation. With the constantly evolving market of smartphone devices, nearly all companies are adopting approaches to integrate mobile apps in their business stream for improving their market outreach.

To develop the mobile app, the hybrid app development and native app development companies must do detailed strategizing about different kinds of procedures. Well, prior to going for mobile app development, you must decide upon the way wherein you might like to build and deploy the mobile app.

A question that constantly that bothers the new-age modern mobile app development landscape is whether to build a native app or a hybrid app. As a professional mobile app developer, you must take some time to think about a few considerations prior to running off to build software.

So, here is a comprehensive comparison between the native and hybrid approaches of mobile app development to assist you take the right decision!

A Quick Overview on what is Native App Development & Hybrid App Development:

1. Native App Development: A native app development is done it to use it in a single particular platform or device such as Android, iOS or Windows. A native app is specifically created and coded for a particular mobile platform in its native programming language- Windows Phone (C#), iOS (Objective-C or Swift) and Android (Java, Kotlin). There are different rules for each of these platforms and mobile app developers must abide by them as they differ in typography, graphic styles, gestures, visual effects, data entry etc.

2. Hybrid App Development: A hybrid app is built as a single app to be used on multiple platforms such as Windows, Android and iPhone. Hybrid apps are actually a combination of native apps and web apps. It is a single product which works on several operating systems such as Windows, iOS, Android etc. Hybrid apps look and feel like a native app but are really run by the company website. Built with HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, it is essentially a web-based program set in a native app covering and connected with the device hardware.

Primary Advantages of Native App Development:

• Seamless Performance: In native app development, developers require doing coding for different platforms by making use of different programming language explicit to every operating system. So, developers build different versions of a single application specifically for every platform. Being particular to that operating system, it functions seamlessly on it.

• Data Safety: For protecting your data, 100% efficiency of hardware resources are necessary and that is just possible in native app development.

• Speed: Considering that the app has been optimized for iOS or Android operating system, it will attain higher marks in the speed and performance tests. While you build native apps, everything is considered such as use of the memory and the battery. It is extremely simple in native app development to execute gestures support for the app and incorporate new functions.

• Customization: With several Android devices available in different screen sizes in the market, only native app development can adjust the layout on each of them.

• User Experience: It is extremely important for the mobile apps to leave a good impression for not getting deleted instantly after installing them. When it come to the native apps, the feel and experience are a lot better with improved scrolling, explicit gesture identification, deep effects and animations and many other pleasing elements.

• Flexibility: Native apps provide quick access to inbuilt device uses such as the camera, GPS, calendar, microphone and other functions of the smartphone. Although, hybrid mobile app development has specific limitations when building the interface since one single app will be utilized on multiple platforms. In native apps, without any limitations, everything can be executed that the technology has to proffer.

Key Drawbacks of Native App Development:

• Time of App Development: Native apps require more time to build in comparison to the hybrid apps. Building and executing the design for each device dimensions such as several varieties of Android phones, iPhones, tablets etc., takes a lot of time to finish developing the app.

• Cost of App Development: Developers are generally specialized in a single platform like iOS, Android etc. While building a native app, you will require many development teams because of the platforms you want the app to be built on demand that. Multiple development teams entail multiple budgets. Also the changes or updates done in future will draw costs multiplied with the number of teams.

Primary Advantages of Hybrid App Development:

• Less Cost of App Development: If you have a strict budget then, hybrid app development happens just once for all the platforms such as Android, iOS & Windows and you do not really require hiring different programmers.

• Lower Maintenance: Since we already know that hybrid apps are web apps integrated in a native shell, thus its content can be easily and quickly updated for as many times you need. Therefore, hybrid apps require less maintenance.

• Less Time to Promote: Since the market is highly competitive and the same concept gets pitched by more than one business entrepreneur, therefore you must introduce your app to your target audience as speedily as possible. In this case, you must surely opt for hybrid apps.

Key Drawbacks of Hybrid App Development:

• Performance: Hybrid mobile apps add an additional layer between the source code and the target mobile platform, more specifically the hybrid mobile framework. It can also result into loss of performance, but it differs from one application to another.

• User Experience: In comparison to the native app development, it is tough to maintain a correct user experience between the Android and iOS app. If you concentrate more on iOS then, the user experience can worsen for the Android users.

• Debugging: The additional layer from hybrid mobile app development framework also makes debugging a bigger and tougher affair. Professional developers must depend on the structure itself to play properly with the targeted operating system without bringing in any new viruses in the app.

There are several different directions that you can take your app. However to make an ideal choice, it is essential to understand the differences between hybrid app development and native app development and their advantages and disadvantages as every option has its own strengths and weaknesses and the final decision should rely on your business requirements.