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Native mobile apps vs hybrid

There are a lot of popular frameworks nowadays to build mobile app quickly and cost effectively. React Native, Apache Cordova, PhoneGap, Native Script and Xamarin are great tools, but when it comes to quality and stability there is nothing better than native development. Apple xCode and Android studio are the ultimate tools for programmers developed by Google and Apple. Let’s review cross-platform development vs native development tools.

Number of apps developed using hybrid technologies

Differences between cross-platform and native development

Let’s understand the difference between hybrid and native mobile app development.

A native mobile app is an application which meets the requirements of a particular operating system by using its SDK.

Native mobile app advantages: 

  • Intuitive user experience 
  • High stability
  • Excellent performance
  • Lower maintenance costs
  • Security

Cross-platform advantages

  • Lower development costs
  • Shorter development time
  • Number of programmers on the market

Talking about advantages is exciting, but let’s address negative factors that can influence your product on a long term perspective. There are two critical problems like performance and UI/UX that can mess things up in future updates of operating systems. As most of cross-platform solutions are using Java as a programming language, it will require serious computing power from a mobile device. Design wise, cross-platform apps build interface with the help of html and CSS, which have serious downside compared to native design elements created to work perfectly on a specific platform. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-app-store-apps-future-ios-2016-8

Choosing between hybrid and native app

To choose whether to develop hybrid or native app you need to answer multiple questions:

  • Does your app should have complex functionality that require custom backend?
  • The app to be developed is your main product that will generate cash flow?
  • Is stability a critical issue?

If the answer is Yes for all questions listed above, native mobile app development is always the right answer. Even Facebook in 2012 has replaced their HTML5 application with a native iOS app. At the end of the day every situation is unique, but the truth is, that if you go with native development you will not face problems that hybrid apps have.