Native App vs. Hybrid App vs. Web App

You will come across lots of well-known mobile apps on the market at present. The good thing is that most of these apps are successful in generating lots of revenues simply because they enable us to perform things while we’re traveling or even while we’re at our residence. Moreover, they also help us to save a considerable amount of time.

It is not that simple to create an app, and you have to make lots of decisions. One of those decisions will be going for a native app, hybrid app, or web app. It will be important for you to figure out how frequently your targeted audience will use the app and how long they like to be on it. It is a fact that what you decide will depend on your product objectives and business goals.

In this article, we have mentioned which will be best for you, native app, hybrid app, or web app.

What exactly are Native, Hybrid, and Web Apps?

As mentioned earlier, it will be feasible to create a mobile app in 3 primary ways – native app development, web app development, and hybrid app development. They all have their advantages and drawbacks, which we have discussed in the following paragraphs.

What do you mean by a Native App?

We call an app native when we make use of platform-specific programming languages for creating them. Right now, the two most popular operating systems happen to be Android and iOS. The languages used for building native apps are Objective-C or Swift for iOS and Java for Android. Programmers also employ SDKs (software development kits) for creating these types of apps.

Native App Pros

• Outstanding performance – Native apps offer outstanding performance since they are created for a particular OS. These apps will be ideal for you in case you like to play games on your smartphone.

• No Internet connection is required – Native apps can function even without any Internet connection. This makes it extremely convenient for the users while using native apps.

• Enhanced usability – Native mobile apps created by a reputable native app development company will provide a remarkable user experience. They’re also quite simple to use besides being more intuitive.

Native App Cons

• The apps might not become accepted – The apps must get approval from the app store or play store after being developed, which can be an extremely monotonous and time-consuming process. However, there is every possibility for these apps to become rejected as well.

• Development cost is more – More time and resources will be required for developing native apps since they have to be created from scratch. Moreover, the cost of development is also quite high.

Must Read: Top 12 Benefits of Native Mobile App for Business

What do you mean by a Web App?

We refer to a responsive website that can be launched in a browser on any mobile device, tablet, or desktop computer by the term web app. There is no need to download a web app since it can be accessed through a URL. However, one cannot deny that a web app will provide you with a native-like experience despite having the ability to run on all types of devices and browsers.

Web App Pros

• Compatibility with more than one platform – After creation, it will be possible for you to run the web app on virtually any platform without any problem whatsoever. Moreover, no additional time has to be invested in developing it.

• Instantaneous updates – No updates have to be downloaded since it will be feasible for users to access the app’s most recent version.

• Traffic – Web app development services can indeed receive traffic from Google and other search engines. However, it will also be able to send your website visitors to the web app on mobile gadgets, and for this, you need not download anything whatsoever.

Web App Cons

• Performance is not outstanding – Web apps are suitable for simple applications like online outlets. However, they are not able to provide top-notch performance if required.

• Cannot function without Internet connection – It is not possible to access web apps without a stable Internet connection such as Wi-Fi.

• Cannot be accessed through app stores – It is possible to access web apps through links, although you cannot download them directly from the app store. Consequently, your app has to be promoted in some other ways.

What do you mean by a Hybrid App?

A hybrid app is going to combine the attributes of native as well as web apps. Therefore, it is possible to run the hybrid application on virtually any platform with some slight enhancements. Apps produced by hybrid app development services are backed by a hybrid development framework based on HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

Hybrid App Pros

• Development is quite simple – There is no need for developers to master quite a few technologies for developing a hybrid app.

• Consequently, the time required for developing these apps is considerably less.

• Less expensive – A hybrid app has to be created just once to be run on virtually any platform. This helps to make the development process less expensive as compared to native apps.

• Simple to scale – It is simpler to scale hybrid apps to another platform. After building it for one particular platform, it can be launched on another one quite easily.

Hybrid App Cons

• Performance is not that great – Unlike native apps, hybrid apps can’t support heavy games and complicated applications.

• Poor user experience – As compared to native apps, hybrid apps are often much slower. It is not possible for apps developed for more than one platform to make use of the native features on all gadgets.

Must Read: Why Native is still on Top compare to Hybrid?

Conclusion

Whether you like to develop a native, hybrid, or web app is entirely up to you. This will, of course, depend on the requirements of your application. Hopefully, after going through the advantages and disadvantages of each approach mentioned above, you will be able to make a sensible decision.