Hybrid or Native Apps

When asked to develop an app there are two main routes that we can choose to go down either a hybrid app or a native app. But this choice all depends on what the client is looking to achieve. Some clients come to us with the option they would like to go with, others like more guidance.

So what's the difference?

The difference between a hybrid and a web app is the way that they are developed. Hybrid apps are written using a single codebase, often using web technologies: HTML, JS and CSS. Whereas a native app is developed specifically for their respective platforms, i.e. one for Android and one for IOS. Both of these apps can be packaged and deployed to the app store and the play store. If you don’t want the app to be released publicly you can create an APK file for android that you can release locally so that the app can’t be accessed by everyone, for IOS it’s a little trickier to make this but is still possible. This feature can be handy if you are writing an app that works with local databases and networks, for example inside a factory setting.

Hybrid Apps

A hybrid app, adopts a write once run everywhere approach to building an app.  It combines both use of web technologies as well as access to the phone native features, such as: the camera, file storage, security features like the fingerprint scanner, etc. Due to this it is a lot quicker to develop and maintain a hybrid app due to the shared codebase.

Some examples of hybrid app frameworks include:
Ionic - https://ionic.io/
React Native - https://reactnative.dev/
Xamarin - https://dotnet.microsoft.com/apps/xamarin

The Pros of Hybrid Apps

• They use a single code base for all platforms, meaning developers can write once and run anywhere.
• Hybrid apps achieve the same hardware based performance as native apps.
• Hybrid apps are able to create the same user interface easier across multiple platforms.
• Contrary to belief they can work both online and offline.
• As they are written with web technologies, some can also run-on web browsers, due to Progressive Web Application (PWA) technologies.

The Cons of Hybrid Apps

• Sometimes their appearance can vary between Android and IOS users, depending on how the app has been designed.
• What works on one device, might not always work on the other device. Hybrid apps require a lot of testing to make sure the user experience is the same on all platforms.
• 3D and HD graphic intensive applications may not work as well as a native version.
• Some Hybrid apps rely on third party plugins to access native features, so major operating systems updates may require these to be updated, but as they are third party there may be a delay in this.

Native Apps

Whereas a hybrid app is written with a single codebase, a native app is built using software development tools, or SDKs (software development kits). An Android application is written using the Java development kit and may use the Android studio as it’s developer environment. An IOS application is created using the IOS SDK, and their swift programming language although you can use Objective-C which was the original programming language, this is all developed inside their own IDE, XCode.

The Pros of Native Apps

• Native apps look more like their operating system’s default applications.
• Native apps can access device features out of the box without the need for plugins to access them.
• Native apps tend to be somewhat faster as they are developed for their own specific platforms.
• Graphic intensive applications, like games, work better when written in their native languages.
• Testing can be much more focused to a particular subset of users.

The Cons of Native Apps

• They take longer to develop, meaning an increase in time and money, because two apps will essentially have to be written to cover both IOS and Android.
• Native apps have individual code bases so a new feature, for example, will have to be built into two separate applications.
• Different development skillsets are required to develop both applications because they use different programming languages and technologies.
• Multiple development teams will have to work in tandem to get the release done at the same time.

Conclusion

Unless you are looking to create an Augmented Reality (AR) experience or a graphic heavy game a hybrid approach is suitable for the majority of mobile apps. It allows you to reach the largest number of users, on the cheapest budget and shortest time. The quicker the application can be developed and tested the sooner you can get it to your users. If you ever wanted to alter the application, add more features, change design, etc this can also be done in half the time of having multiple native applications to maintain.

Need an App?

If you’ve got an app idea, want to enhance your customer experience or need an internal application we’d love to hear more.