In the future of mobile application development, users and developers will face the real dilemma of developing their apps natively or hybridically. Either choice affects user experience performance, development time and cost, and long-term maintenance.
Native apps provide granularity in performance and a more native feel/experience for users, while hybrid apps offer going beyond faster development with cross-platform compatibility. Which is better? “A Jack of all trades” (hybrid apps) or the “Master of one” (native apps)?
Both work as promised, so many business houses wonder whether they need to spend money on two native app developments when a cross-platform hybrid app development works on both. So, let’s have a detailed look at the issue.
What is the Difference Between a Native App And a Hybrid App?
First, decipher the terms ‘native app’ and ‘hybrid app.’ A native app is an app developed for a specific operating system (OS), such as iOS or Android. That means one OS-specific app cannot work on the other OS. It is developed in specific programming languages and follows the guidelines for that platform. On the other hand, a hybrid mobile app is developed using tools and programming languages that can work on both iOS and Android.
iOS native apps are developed in Objective-C or Swift. Xcode IDE is used to develop iOS native apps. Android apps are developed using Java and Kotlin. Android Studio is used as an IDE to develop native Android apps. These are dedicated IDEs, so they are easier to use and fully featured. React Native and Flutter are cross-platform frameworks for developing hybrid apps. Facebook and Google developed them. Various editors are used for React Native, like Sublime Text, Webstorm, and Atom, but it doesn’t have a dedicated, fully-featured IDE. Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEs are used for app development in Flutter.
Differences Between Native Apps vs Hybrid Mobile Apps
What is a Native App?
A native application is that which is built specifically for a particular platform, say iOS or Android, using its own programming languages and frameworks. Some examples of native applications are as follows:
- Android apps have been developed using Kotlin or Java.
- iOS applications have been developed using Swift or Objective-C.
Native applications are created to exploit the maximum potential that, in turn, a device’s hardware and software capabilities can endow, providing a superlative user experience and undoubtedly very high performance.
What are the Key Features of Native App
1. Fully Optimized Performance
Native applications are specifically developed for an operating system, such as iOS or Android, through the respective programming models Swift and Objective-C for iOS and Kotlin and Java for Android. Native apps run faster and are credited for superior load time; they make animations much smoother and have a minimum lag compared to hybrid and web applications. Native applications are compiled to machine code directly; thus, their execution speed and performance turn out to be higher; hence, such applications are best suited to resource-consuming apps, like games, video streaming, and AR/VR.
2. Full Access to Device Features
Because native applications directly connect hardware and software resources, they offer developers complete access to features built deep within devices such as:
- Camera and Microphone: With this, seamlessly take pictures and video, or voice commands.
- GPS and Location Services: With this, take real-time tracking, navigation, geofencing, etc. features.
- Push Notifications – Gives easy access to push notification services such as Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Android and the Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) for iOS.
- Sensors and Biometrics – Native apps can connect with fingerprint sensors, Face ID, gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, and other sensors in the device.
- Bluetooth & NFC – For environments such as wireless connection, payments on Apple Pay or Google Pay, as well as IoT applications being applied.
On the other hand, hybrid applications often rely on third-party plug-ins for accessing those capabilities, which may create performance bottlenecks and security risk.
3. Seamless and Intuitive User Journey
Native apps conform to the platform-specific standards set down by the respective companies (Human Interface Guidelines, especially for Apple, and Material Design Guidelines for Google), ensuring that UI components look and behave as expected. As a result of this:
Similar navigation patterns across the different OS. Responds to intuitive touch gestures, making them more engaging in interaction. Well adaptable layouts that can fit different sizes and resolutions of screens. Better animations and transitions, leading to high engagement of the user. All these factors make the native apps a lot smoother and polished user experience as compared to that of hybrid apps because they suffer from UI inconsistencies in most cases.
4. High Security & Data Protection:
A really major thing is security because every app feels the heat whenever it handles any sensitive information. But the appropriate native application knows how to house the sensitive data, be it any payments or personal data or business transactions. Here are some of the best advanced security mechanisms provided by native applications:
- Platform-specific encryption- Where OS-level security layers like those in iOS’s Secure Enclave and Android’s Keystore system are used to secure data from trusted applications accessed by unauthorized users.
- 2FA-Two Factor Authorization- Native integration with the authentication tools such as Face ID, Touch ID, or OTP verification.
- Secure API Communication- Secure communication through encrypted backend services with the use of HTTPS, OAuth, and token-based authentication.
- Regular Security OS Updates: Update of latest OS security patches on the native application reduces the susceptibility of apps to the emerging threats.
This is not the case with hybrid apps, as they tend to use web-based security purposes and thus have more claims against cyber threats such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection.
5. Offline Availability:
This means that the applications can work without having the user being connected to the internet and allow the users to use some functionalities offline.
- With applications like Google Maps, users can download maps and use them offline.
- Apps such as Spotify allow users to save music on their application for offline playback.
- Some note-making applications like Evernote get updated automatically once the internet connection is restored.
- Unlike native applications, hybrid applications require a constant internet connection for usage, and this affects much access in places of not-so-good connectivity.
6. Superior Compatibility with OS Updates
Comparison between native and hybrid applications, hence, these kinds of applications will be quickly able to adopt the new features that roll into the native applications as soon as a new OS version is released. Some of the examples of this include:
- Dark Mode-iOS 13 & Android 10.
- Widgets and App Clips-iOS 14.
- Foldable screen support-Android 10.
Because they lack native builds, hybrid applications require extra time for development updates for their features in the new operating system.
What is a Hybrid App?
A hybrid app integrates a unified code approach within a single app across various platforms (iOS and Android). It is built utilizing web tools such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and is enveloped in a native shell by means of frameworks like React Native, Flutter, Ionic, or Apache Cordova.
Key Features of Hybrid Apps
1) Cost-Effective Mobile App Development
You must develop one app for all the platforms and deal with a single codebase. So, it turns out to be a cost-effective option when you have to have apps for multiple platforms. Native apps are expensive because they must be developed individually for different platforms.
2) Quicker Mobile App Development
As mentioned earlier, only one app for all required platforms and a single codebase saves time and money. They don’t need to be frequently updated because most of their data resides on the servers. Individual app development for different platforms also takes up much time for native apps.
3) Better Advanced Graphics
When it comes to advanced graphics, for example, for gaming, hybrid apps have an edge here over native apps. Widely available tools, like Unity, have improved the advanced graphics capability of hybrid apps.
In-depth Breakdown of Native App vs Hybrid App
1. User Experience
Native Apps: Offer an admirable experience unique to each platform so that interactions and animations seem smooth.
Hybrid Apps: Can feel slightly inconsistent due to reliance on web technologies with a sometimes lack of native appeal and smoothness.
2. Performance
Native apps: They are significant, responsive, and fine-tuned valuably for a selected OS, rendering them an increasingly helpful selection for resource-intensive applications.
Hybrid apps: Performance would take a bad hit, especially in apps with maximum usage, such as high-end gaming or AR/VR.
3. Code Portability
Native Apps: Cannot reuse any code from one platform on another; thus, development must be completely separate for iOS and Android.
Hybrid Apps: One codebase can be deployed on both Android and iOS, which allows for the reduction of duplicated effort and development workload.
4. Access to Device Features
Native App: Native apps are capable of accessing all hardware features like GPS, camera, Bluetooth, fingerprint sensors, and push notifications.
Hybrid Applications: These have limited access and may require the integration of some third-party plug or code custom development in order to access specific device features.
5. Time to Market
Native Application: Longer development cycles, since two separate apps will need to be made and maintained.
Hybrid Application: Faster development and deployment, as they benefit from a shared codebase and a comparatively easier testing process.
6. Updates and Maintenance
Native Application: Updates depend upon approval from an app store, where the process is slow in rolling out new features on fixing bugs if needed.
Hybrid Application: Push updates directly over the web without app store approval. It thus minimizes the downtime of fixes and improvements.
7. Approval Process
Native Application: Has to pass through stringent reviews of Apple App Store and Google Play Store, which may consume time and might be tedious.
Hybrid Application: Approval is a must; however, it can make dynamic updates to certain elements without the need for resubmissions.
8. Developer Expertise
Native Application: Requires job-specific knowledge in a language pertaining to that platform (Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android).
Hybrid Application: The majority of web skills, like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, will be utilized to create cross-platform apps with frameworks, e.g., React Native and Flutter.
9. Cost of Development
Native Application: More expensive because of independent development for each platform, with two distinct teams or two resources.
Hybrid Application: Less costly as one team can work on both platforms, which makes it affordable for small businesses and startups.
10. Security
Native Apps: Enhanced security, with a high level of encryption built into the platform, advanced security features, and better data safety mechanisms.
Hybrid Apps: Exposed more to security threats as they use open web technologies, but they can always be secured with additional security layers.
11. Maintenance
Native applications: Maintain two different codebases and double the complexity and long-term development costs.
Hybrid apps: Easier for maintenance because updates can be made within one codebase and pushed to all platforms at once.
12. Speed of Operation
Native Apps: They load faster because they are optimized for their particular platform, allowing for smoother interactions and quicker load times.
Hybrid Apps: They have slower speed, especially taking into consideration web view components and heavy animations.
Conclusion
One can go for a native app or a hybrid app depending on various factors such as business goals, budget, and timeline, and features required in the app.
Native app would be the best option in case performance, security, and user experience are real priorities. It is the best option for a feature-rich, high-performance application requiring deep integration into the device.
If cost and speed to market are the primary requisites for cross-platform convenience, a hybrid application may provide the solution much more effectively than App native, especially when dealing with startups or other companies concerned most with speed of deployment.
In the end, this will boil down to whether you want to be “Jack of all trades” (Hybrid App) which allows freedom and speed in development, or “Master of one” (Native App) which allows for best performance and user experience. Careful assessment of project requirements will guide one in making the right decision!
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