In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg stated that he made the biggest mistake by developing Facebook in a hybrid application. However, it was replaced by a native, as it provided a better response than a hybrid app. Nowadays, the constant growth of users of mobile devices is increasing with the demand for mobile applications. Smartphones in this era have become a handy instrument that provides great utility such as instant communication, social networking, web surfing, entertainment, and more.
One of the most common challenges that most of the company faces is to build a native app or a hybrid app. A native application or hybrid android mobile application development have their benefits and drawbacks. Therefore, the following points will provide key differences between a native app and a hybrid app:
Time and Cost Efficiency
When it comes to Hybrid apps then they are cost-effective and take the least amount of time to develop. With this, Hybrid apps are easier to maintain, as they consist of a single code base. Native apps on the other hand have multiple code bases as they cater specifically to each platform. As a result, it takes much more time than Hybrid apps to build.
User Experience
Designs of the native app are meant to focus on a particular app store, which allows them to provide the best user experience. Furthermore, native apps also consider hardware capabilities and screen size. However, as hybrid apps consist of one code base for almost every platform, it becomes difficult to provide a good user experience.
Apps offerings
For businesses that are looking forward to launching their paid app on the app store, it would be wise to use native apps. It is so because native apps provide a better user interface (UI). However, when it comes to creating free apps, then choosing a hybrid option would be a great idea.
Cross-Platform Functionality
If the objective of the business is to run its mobile app across different platforms such as Android, Apple, Windows, etc, then hybrid apps would be a great option as it saves time. During the process of hybrid mobile application development, the business needs to create an app only once. It is so because it involves a single code base, and then the app can be easily published on different platforms. However, native apps require individual programming for each platform such as JavaScript for Android and Objective C for iOS.
Availability of Developers
A business that needs demands in different platforms, and if they lack the specialized mobile app developers, it would be best to create a hybrid mobile app. In this way, the business would be able to leverage the existing coding skills such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, rather than learning the languages for each platform.
Installation & Maintenance
After almost every update, native apps are required to be re-hosted in the app store. However, the hybrid application needs updates on the page and content in the form of the mobile site. Both native and hybrid apps must be installed on the device and provided permission to access the software and hardware platform.
