What is the difference between a native app and hybrid app?

Due to the growing marketing of smartphone devices, organizations around the world are looking to enhance their market outreach are adopting ways to incorporate mobiles apps in their business flow.

If you are planning to get a mobile app built by a professional mobile app development company, you may be faced with a challenging choice to decide if you want to develop a native app or a hybrid app.  Both have their own pros and cons. What you choose depends on a variety of factors. Some of the factors are:

• Objective of the app
• Timeline for the app development.
• Are you looking for in-house development?
• Budget to build the app
• Features and functionalities required in the app.

To make an informed decision, read on further to find out the differences between the native app and the hybrid app.

What is a Native app?

A native app is a program that has been coded in a specific programming language for devices having specific Operating System (OS).  For iOS, Objective C or Swift is used to build the mobile app, whereas for Android, Java language is used. Native apps are built using an operating system’s SDK (Software Development Kit) and have access to various functions on a device such as camera, gallery, contact list, GPS, device storage etc. These provisions allow native apps to perform the best in a mobile device.

The main features of a native app are:

• High degree of reliability
• Best and fastest performance
• Provides the best user experience since they are designed for a single app store.
• More expensive as different programming language is used for each OS. You will need an app developer for each platform. If you are developing an iOS and Android app, you will need two developers. One iOS developer who is proficient in Objective C or Swift language and an Android developer who is proficient in Java language.

What is a Hybrid app?

A hybrid app is a program that is built using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript wrapped in a native container. They combine the features of the native app and web app. They are web pages wrapped in a mobile app using WebView. They also have built in capabilities of a smartphone and are built using cross platform frameworks like React, Sencha, Ionic and Xamarin.

The main features of a hybrid app are:

• Faster app development
• Simple and easy to maintain
• Cross platform User Interface (UI) design
• Less expensive to develop hybrid apps and cost effective maintenance
• Maintain one code for multiple mobile platforms.
• Takes least amount of time to develop compared to native apps.

The decision about the choice of the type of app you want to build depends entirely on the individual requirements of an organization. It is advisable to work with professional app developers, who have years of hands on experience to bring your app idea to life. It is always better to outsource the app development than having an in-house setup.

At CodiGeeks, our consultants are always ready to share their experience and professionalism to help you choose the right app for your idea. Visit our website and contact us to discuss your mobile app development project.