A hard decision on app development: Native app or hybrid app

Fatih AkgözeUX EngineerSHERPA

With smart devices, apps have become one of the most essential parts of our daily lives. Today, no service provider can claim there are no mobile device users in their target audience. However, the world of apps is confusing as well as it’s exciting. If you ask, “What type of app should we develop?” it’s quite possible you would get many more questions than a clear answer. In this article, we will talk about perhaps the most important of these confusing questions, “Native application, or hybrid application?”

As mobile devices continue to evolve rapidly, all recent advancements lead to significant changes in the users’ lives. Especially as the IoT devices became real and entered into our lives; usage of mobile devices introduced us a completely different world. It started with reading emails, taking notes and playing games; now the apps are a part of our lives in almost every environment from car controls to the food in the oven. From the safety and the cleanliness of your home to your health checks. Perhaps this is why there are no services and/or products left without the target audience of mobile device users. At the same time, various new technologies and options have emerged in the app development industry and are having a tremendous impact.

Native apps

We definitely loved the apps that came into our lives with the rapid rise of smartphones; and by the third quarter of 2018, the number of apps stood at 2.1 million on the Android platform, and at 2 million on the iOS platform. Native applications, which were the pioneering format, to this day continue to be the first format that comes to mind in the mobile application world.

The “App Store” standards, which emerged with the iPhone, brought specific rules that must be followed by both developers and software infrastructures. By instituting restrictions such as not allowing the installation of apps from external sources, Apple made it compulsory to comply with these standards. Developers have begun developing apps per these standards using only the necessary software development infrastructures.

Various operating systems — such as the later Android — have continued the concept of App Store created by Apple, even though they didn’t have any restrictions on external app installation. They also started developing their own standards for app development. However, the difference between these software infrastructures and the operating-system standards began causing various problems — especially higher costs — for the app service providers. There are many differences between the user experience and how the devices which are designed  The differences between the user experience, as well as the device usage brought about by variation in design and software, has made it necessary to consider devices both in respect to its design and the user experience from various angles.

These limitations in native applications, in fact, provide significant advantages in terms of user experience and performance. These standards, based on the hardware features of the device, allows you to offer the most satisfactory experience for your application.

Advantages of native apps:

  • They provide users fast, reliable and consistent software.
  • They may access all the hardware and software functions of the devices.
  • Especially for continuously updated systems such as publishers; they allow using the device’s own notification system.
  • Users generally spend more time in native apps.
  • Native apps may be more easily adapted to newly developed technologies in devices.
  • Designers can use the device’s own design kits with native apps.

The primary disadvantage of native applications is that they can only work on the platform they are created for. Because of the differences between operating systems, the app created for a platform needs to be re-created with a completely different infrastructure and hardware to be able to work on another platform. As mentioned above, it may even be necessary to redesign the usage habits of the devices. A native application that is supported on multiple platforms cannot be created. However, if your budget is sufficient, designing a native app is an ideal solution for better user experience.

Web apps

Web apps are displayed on browsers just like mobile-compatible websites. No installation is needed for these apps. They can also be added as shortcuts to your device’s screens. You can even run them like an application view, by editing the manifest.json file to force the browser to go full-screen.

Web applications can be indexed by search engines. They can be shared as URLs and can be given links, and on top of that, they do not require updating.

Web apps can be designed in a native app appearance. Their creation is remarkably fast and easy. However, this simplicity is also the most significant drawback of web apps. Web applications are limited in their ability to feature development, and they often need an internet connection. They cannot connect to the hardware of the device. They have limited hardware access, such as microphone access provided by HTML5. Therefore, they cannot access any hardware in mobile devices, and they cannot use the notification systems. They are unable to be used when there is no internet connection available; also problems may occur at slow connection speeds.

Hybrid apps

Hybrid apps can be positioned between native apps and web apps. They are usually faster than native apps, but they work better than browser-based web apps. Hybrid apps are also designed with HTML, CSS, and JS, like web apps. To gain access to some functions in the devices, they can use almost all of their software and hardware features. This allows them to take full advantage of the native apps above. Thanks to the improvements in the hybrid app development frameworks, the gap between hybrid apps and native apps are closing.

They do not need different development software and hardware for different operating systems. The app can be published in the market. It can be converted into an app to be downloaded and installed by users.

There are many frameworks in the hybrid app development world. These frameworks accelerate the hybrid app development process. They also enable the apps to be strengthened at their weaker points compared to their native counterparts.

How should we choose?

Native apps are preferred in projects for which high frequency of use is expected. In such cases, performance and device usage habits become more important.

In the whole process, from the creation to the launch of web apps, considerable savings in terms of cost and time are possible. Projects for which low frequency of usage is expected, web apps are the way to go.

Hybrid apps are widely preferred because they can benefit from the advantages of both web apps and native apps at the same time. With the advancements in hybrid application development frameworks like ionic, hybrid apps are getting closer to the experience of native apps. In many apps, you may find it difficult to recognize the differences between the two. There are two operating systems at the top of the mobile world: Android and iOS. When you think you might have to give up 2 million users when you choose only one of them, the world of hybrid apps become more attractive. The critical factors in this choice are, being familiar with your target audience, their needs, the mobile devices, and the operating systems well. Also, of course, your budget is critical.