Native App vs Hybrid App Development: What To Pick?

Before we dive into the discussion of Native app vs Hybrid app, let’s take a look at the current mobile market scenario. According to a latest survey, about 88% of smartphone users prefer Android OS and 11% prefer iOS. However, if you go by your market segment, it can happen that your customers are more on iOS. Some may find Android as their targeted OS. Therefore, until and unless you are certain about it, it’s better to go for both.  Hence, what to build? A Native app or a Hybrid one?

To find out who’s winning the Native app vs Hybrid app war, let’s first discuss both the architectures thoroughly. We will start with Native app vs hybrid app.

Native App Vs Hybrid App
 
Native app is the one that is coded in exclusive programming language for each separate platforms. The most popular among them is Java for Android devices and Objective-C or Swift for Apple devices. Undoubtedly, native app is way ahead with  outstanding user experience and prominent performance.

Related: Objective C Vs Swift: What Should A Startup Choose?

Merits of Native App

 

1) Native apps  mostly have fast graphics with fluid animations built in. It’s also very convenient to use with a native look and feel.

2) Native app can access OS specific APIs such as camera, push notifications,  and in-app purchases, which would otherwise be prohibited.

3) If you’re developing a native app for iPhone, you will get many resources, development tools, and reading material to help you out.

4) It is a bit less painful to develop a native app as it focuses only on one platform at a time as it gets support from respective platform.

Demerits of Native App vs Hybrid App

1) It is a time consuming process to build a native app  if you want separate apps for different platforms. Here is a time estimate for your understanding:-

 
2) Native app typically requires different codes for smartphone and tablets which makes it more difficult sometimes.

3) It costs pretty high to develop number of native apps for different platforms and maintain them separately.

4) If you need to release the app in another app store then you might need to complete re-write the codes. 

Hybrid App

Hybrid app combines elements of both native app and Web apps. It takes most of the good features from native and adds cross browser flexibility from web apps. As a result,  you get an app that functions more like a native app with no platform boundaries. 

Merits of Hybrid App

1) The content of a hybrid app is easily portable and requires a native harness to run in another platform. Hence, it’s quick to develop and easy to maintain.


2) By using CSS, it makes the app design flexible and accommodates all kinds of device sizes. On the other hand HTML and JavaScript run seamlessly on every platform regardless of the OS. This flexibility helps you to reduce development cost.

3) Some software frameworks like Ionic or React provides flexibility act a web page like a native app. Hence, it can be distributed on the app stores.

Read more: Xamarin or Ionic, which one to choose?

4) Hybrid app has options to package locally or through servers that enables to access it online as well as offline.

Demerits of Hybrid App

1)  If the App Store recognizes that your app is not truly native, there is a chance it may deny listing from the App Store.

2)  When a new Apple iOS version is released, hybrid app developers would have to depend on a third party before they  design hybrid apps on the new OS.

3) Since hybrid app development is still new in the development space, there is not much support available for troubleshooting uncommon issues.

4)  Lack of the genuine UI assets of Android or iOS sometimes result in  slower performance and can brink security threats as well. Here are some examples:

How to decide on Native app vs Hybrid app:

 

  

Now as you have understood clearly about the pros and cons of both the architectures, this flow chart will help you to end up with right decision:

If you are clear about the requirements of your app and follow this flowchart with consideration of the merits and demerits of both the architectures, we hope this will help you to decide your match.

However, regardless of the architecture you choose, we are there to help you. At Valuecoders, we provide agile software teams for all kinds of Mobile App Development Services in India. Few of the benefits to partner with us are:

1.     Flexible Hiring Models
2.     On-time delivery and NDAs
3.     Zero billing guarantee
4.     Guaranteed SLAs

Android App Development : Cost Vs Functionality and Benefits

Android app development is a must for every business in gaining a strong foothold in the market. With more than one billion people around the world using smartphones and tablets you can’t afford to miss out on this target segment. Custom Android application development is at its peak with businesses wanting to manage their operations smoothly and attract new customers to the fray by using apps. This has led to newer and better apps hitting the market. These apps are user-friendly, rich in graphics and also come with highly interactive user-interface.

 

Now if you are planning to develop Android applications, two things come to your mind straightway – functionality and cost. How do you develop an app that is highly functional and adds the brand value to your business? Second and most importantly how do you keep the development costs low? At first both these seem inversely related as low cost often means compromising with the quality. Is there a way out? Thankfully there is and it lies in the adoption of new development techniques that we will discuss here.

Use of HTML5

The success and application of HTML5 isn’t restricted to web alone as this technology finds usage even in  custom android application development. HTML5 is platform independent and the same app can work on iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and other mobile operating systems thereby reducing the cost of development. It also offers you a lot of additional advantages such as better memory management, threaded performance and better graphic control. It is an easy programming language and thus you can easily find a firm that offers you these services.

Having said that, keep in mind that HTML5 does also have some shortcomings. For instance it cannot be used to handle large volumes of data or make full use of device specific features. Users also don’t have the advantage of push messages which are a must in today’s world. However these shortcomings can be met with a technology that offers you better security, manage individual device features and also handle large volumes of data.

Hybrid App Container

Some of you might be new to this kind of a technology and never heard of it before. So what is a hybrid app container? It is nothing but a native application that has been designed to process generic function calls from an application. Here the container allows an application developed in HTML5 to perform functions that are exclusive to a device’s hardware and data handling abilities. In short, it makes the HTML5 app function similar to a native app on different devices. They are also very easy to adapt for any developer.

All that you will need to do is make use of native app containers and you can use the same HTML5 app across a number of platforms and offer the best experience on those devices. So you can have a native app-like experience in each device although you develop this app using HTML5 which helps cut down on costs. Hybrid app container also offers you back-end data, data access and authentication features something that apps developed on HTML5 lack.

Making Use of Low or No Cost Tools

The great demand for Custom Android Application Development has paved the way for many low cost and no cost tools to enter the market. These cross-platform tools are nothing but frameworks that facilitate the development of multi-platform apps using the same codebase. These tools not only reduce the cost of development but also make it easy for the new developers to create multi function apps with knowledge of HTML5 and JavaScript. They offer developers basic structure to develop apps that are impressive on the first look and help promote your business in the most attractive manner.

To develop apps that are cost effective as well as highly functional you can make use of this development technique either individually or all of them in the same project if you want.

App Lifecycle

Another important consideration to make where comparing the cost versus functionality topic with Android App Development is the lifecycle of the apps. On an average an app would have a lifecycle of three months after which it needs to be upgraded to meet the newer demands arising in the market. Thus for the app to be successful commercially it needs to offer better return on investment in terms of sales or brand value within less than three months. Subsequent upgrades can also cost you lot of money and there should be a mechanism for you to earn profit from the app even if you are using it purely for the branding purpose. To cut on these costs you need to foresee your app in the future and keep it ready for easy upgrades.

Hence, now you know how to develop an android application with high functionality and low cost. However you need to hire android developers from a reputed company as well. ValueCoders is one such IT outsourcing company that offers Android application development services from dedicated android developers who are well versed with all the state-of-art technologies. So, ValueCoders is the one company for you to hire android developers meeting your specific requirements.