Native Vs Hybrid Mobile Apps: Deciding The Right Mobile Apps For Your Enterprises
Author Name: Rajiv Kumar Email: rajiv.kr.147@gmail.com Date: 21th June 2016
Native Vs Hybrid Mobile Apps: Deciding The Right Mobile Apps For Your Enterprises Abstract Many times we have come across upon a lot of interested entrepreneurs who were confused trying to decide how to build their Mobile App, which framework to choose and how to do Mobile Application Development in the proper way. If you’re one of them, then don’t worry - this article will help you to decide the right framework for you. Most of us will start working on the idea of developing a mobile app, and we faced a familiar question: whether to go with a native or hybrid mobile app.
Native and Hybrid apps – A quick overview Native mobile applications are specially built for the specific mobile operating system and are written in the language specific to that operating system: iOS (Objective-c or Swift), Android (Java) or Windows Phone (C#/Visual Basic & XAML). Hybrid applications are, at core, websites packaged into a native wrapper. Hybrid mobile applications are cross-platform apps which can be used between different app stores without developing the app in different platforms (iOS, Android and Windows Phone). The hybrid app development used in cross-compatible technologies are HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, etc. in the form of native apps. Hybrid apps are great for small scale projects that need to be developed rapidly on a budget, but they are not a good option for apps that are computationally intensive or require extensive access to low-level device functions. Top 5 Hybrid Mobile App Frameworks: Ø Ionic Framework - Ionic is one of the best hybrid app frameworks. The Ionic framework has made development a lot easier. The apps developed by Ionic framework work like a genuine native application.
Ø Sencha Touch Framework - Sencha Touch is the most popular hybrid application framework. This framework has the complete package; framework, UI and MVC all in one. It is the fastest mobile app framework. Ø Titanium Appcelerator - provides a different environment to create impressive native application across different mobile devices. It also contains a rich group of APIs. Ø Apache Cordova (Phone Gap) - A developer who is familiar with HTML, CSS, Javascript then Cordova will find this the best framework to work with. Cordova allows reuse of existing web application in mobile devices. It has various APIs and plug-ins which help to interface with native app functionalities. The Phone Gap Application Development has been a very popular and effective framework in recent years. Ø Xamarin (Premium) - Xamarin is the only IDE (integrated development environment) that allows the development of native Android, iOS, and windows apps in Microsoft Visual Studio. It integrates with mostly all mobile features on each sustained device. It also supports testing of your developed mobile app. HTML5 UI frameworks If you’re just leveraging Cordova to build your app, and not a full Hybrid framework such as Ionic Framework, there are a lot of great UI frameworks to choose from, including: • • •
Onsen UI Kendo UI Sencha Touch
When to Opt For Native/Hybrid Mobile App Development? It really depends on your mobile app development requirements. A company that seeks to give its end users/customers a rich experience in navigation, look, performance - Native apps is the way to go. If an enterprise is in a hurry to get a MVP out on a minimum budget - Hybrid apps can be a possible solution.
How important are App Performance and user experience for your app’s success? App Performance Native applications have very good response times and are limited only by the device specifications. Hybrid apps also have good response times but only on the latest devices and will be sluggish on specific devices with low processing capabilities.
Source: Dynatrace
User experience Native apps offer the best user experience when compared to hybrid because it is built within a mature ecosystem by following technical and user experience guidelines of the OS like – swipes, app defined gestures etc. Hybrid apps permits a compromised user experience and to match a native mobile app user experience is a far stretch and involves lot of an impossible effort.
Source: Dynatrace
Decision Tree You can use the following decision tree as an alternative to make the right decision for your business.
Source: Sapient
With increasing competition between iOS and Android, how do you determine which platform will be best suited for your app?
Lets compare the pros and cons of developing both a native and hybrid apps. The pros of Native mobile apps Ø Excellent performance - Since native apps work with the device’s built-in features, they are easier to work with and also perform faster on the device. It means they are faster and more polished than their hybrid apps. Ø Better User Experience - Native apps have better user experience design thus making it easy for the users to use both Android and iOS apps. They have some specific features. Ø Easier access to built-in skills - Native apps have the ability to work with a device’s built-in features like camera, microphone, calendar, GPS, etc., often making them faster and easier to work with on a device, while hybrid apps can only allow limited access. Having an app fully integrated with a device can be extremely helpful. Ø Have more users - Native apps get full support from the concerned app stores and marketplaces. Native apps can be easily discovered by the users in the App Store because of its better user experience and user interface design. Thus, users can easily find and download apps of their choice from these stores. Ø Flexibility - Native apps work out better for developers, who are provided the SDK and all other tools to create the app with much more ease. Ø Provide Access to the Latest Features - Another advantage in a native app is the ability to access the latest features of an updated operating system. Ø Security - Each native app must get the approval of the app store, so the security and performance of the app is generally assured. The cons of Native mobile apps
Ø High Cost for Maintenance and Updates - The costs associated with maintenance and updates are higher, especially if the app is compatible with more than one type of device. Ø Multiple Codes for Maintenance - In native apps, a single application has to be maintained for multiple platforms. Users of different mobile devices may be using different versions of the app, which makes it difficult for the developer to maintain and offer support.
Ø Approval Process - The process of getting the app approved at the app store can prove to be long and tedious for the developer and need not always result in success. Also, there is no guarantee that the app becomes instantly popular with users. Ø Need More Developers - Native apps require many developers because of multiple languages. The pros of Hybrid mobile apps Ø Less Development Cost - The cost of developing a hybrid app is lower than a native app. This is one of the biggest pros of hybrid apps. This means you don’t have to create two separate apps for Android and iOS, instead, a single app is used for both platforms. Ø Lower Requirements - The hybrid app has much less requirements in comparison with the native app because only one app is developed for all platforms. Ø Single Language and Code Base - The hybrid apps are developed in a single language and have a single code base thus that makes updating more feasible and faster in comparison to a native app. The cons of Hybrid mobile apps Ø User experience - The user experience of hybrid apps can never be like native apps. And first user experience is very important for apps because a bad experience can drop the potential user and perhaps results in bad reviews. Ø Visual and interactive components - Although visual and interactive components such as games and 3D animation are available in hybrid apps, they still perform better on fully native apps. Ø Glitches - Another common concern about hybrid apps is that the way they render or load content is “glitchy”; for instance, by loading different elements of the app at different times (just like websites do). This is in contrast to the smoother and more polished native app user experience. Ø Lack of Some Native Features - Each specific operating system has some specific features that are only available in native apps.
Ø Slower Performance - Hybrid apps are lot slower and less polished than the native apps, so running a high-performance app will be quite frustrating for the end user.
Conclusion Each approach has its pros and cons but at the end of the day a native approach will have the biggest benefits for a company’s bottom line. In order to decide if you want to develop a Native app or Hybrid app, you need to consider the following points: Importance of speed and performance for your application. Your app includes any device-specific features. Your app need to be Internet-enabled. How often do you need to update your mobile app? How quickly do you want the app to take to the market? Your app to support multiple mobile platforms and devices and if yes, how many. ü Your budget, vs. the estimated cost of developing your app. ü Would you would like to monetize your app in the future?
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References https://teamhunt.co http://inoutput.io http://www.sapient.com https://info.dynatrace.com