Should you build a native app or hybrid app or web app?

Introduction

if you are running a business online or offline, you might need to make an online presence with mobile applications.

A mobile application would let you get more leads and reach a large audience. It is really essential for you to choose the right mobile application technology as different technologies are available. It has been a most essential question while getting a mobile application. 

Different unique technologies such as native application, hybrid application or web applications are available.

The most debatable question is which app should you get, native, hybrid or web application. Hence for deciding it is really essential to have information on all. Several factors are available which differentiates each other. 

Our aim of writing a blog is to give you brief information on different types of applications available which would guide you to make a decision.

What is native application?

Native applications are the mobile applications that uses the native programming languages use to develop. Native application runs on specific processors with a set of commands. Some different Native application Platforms are following.

It is the most popular operating system designed by google for different smartphones. If you want to build mobile applications for android OS, you need to get developers who work on Kotlin Programming language or Java Programming languages.

iOS is the software by Apple Inc. it is built solely for the Apple devices that uses the programming languages like Objective C or swift.

Why Should You Get a Native Application?

Native applications do have a lot of different advantages. Some of the benefits are given below:

• It works flawlessly, smoothey and with great performance. Such native applications do take full advantage of the speed of the processor in a device.
• It designs well and has great user experience. In native applications, you can get sophisticated designs and animations.
• Native applications allow you to navigate applications easily. 
• It is more secure and reliable, as different applications are developed based on the guidelines given by different OS development companies like Android and iOS.
• SDK for developers is available and it is half ready. It gets regular updates and libraries to interact with different devices.
• Native applications work great and look best. It has the best user experience, retention rates and satisfaction.

Some disadvantages are

• It does need a lot of investment, you need to get a huge amount of finances to develop a native application for every platform separately. Since native applications do not work on different OS. Like an android application would work in an android device whereas an iOS application would work in an iOS device.
• Different users and different devices which leads to complication in maintaining the application.
• It does need a lot of maintenance cost and update cost along with investment.
• It needs to get regularly updated.
• You need to hire different teams for different platforms.

What is hybrid application development?

As the name suggests, hybrid means, mixture of elements and characters. Hybrid applications are other categories within cross platform application design and development. Some different types of applications are PWAs, such as progressive webapps, responsive mobile sites. 

Some advantages of hybrid application Development

• Hybrid mobile applications are quite cost efficient. If your business does not have large resources for getting different applications for different platforms you can go for hybrid applications.
• Such applications are compiled and are able to run on different platforms. It assists you to reach a wider range of audience on different platforms like iOS, Android, windows and many more.
• It’s design and UX equality allows a wide range of users to get each detail of elements and navigate on different devices. 
• Such applications are easy to maintain, upgrade or work.

Disadvantages of Hybrid Applications

• Although Hybrid applications cost lower than native applications and work on different platforms, it does have some limitations.Hybrid mobile applications have different performance issues such as delays in clicks, scrolling and different types.
• Different issues arise for user experience since it is really difficult to align interfaces with different platforms.
•  Some integrity issues arise with different devices and OS. Such integrity issues can be like a user changing font size.
• It lacks reliances on different development tools as some tools are not able to implement functionalities.

What are web applications?

Web applications are different from websites. If you are looking for mobile friendly content and want to make it reach a wide range of audience web applications are a great choice. Web application would put your business service or product to a large number of users.

Some advantages of web applications

• Different web applications are easy to maintain, since they share a common codebase across different mobile platforms. 
• Such web applications work on different platforms and run in web browsers.
• It does not cost much and is the best choice among different applications like native.
• Web applications do not need to follow any standard OS guidelines or need any approval from the marketplace.
• It is easy to update such applications.

Some disadvantages of web applications

• Web applications do have small scp when it comes to facilitate different device hardware and features.
•  It does require you a browser to run web applications.
• Different web applications do interact with different browsers, hence it becomes difficult to design such web applications.
•  It does need a lot of marketing since it does not get listed on different digital stores.
• Web applications are less interactive when compared with different natvie applications and hybrid applications.

Conclusion: Which Application should you get for your customers?

Choosing an application depends on your business objectives. You might need to answer some questions before you decide which application you should get. Such questions are like.

• How fast should an application be?
• What kind of user interface do you need?
• What would be the complexity features of your applications.

Anlong with different factors like Cost, user experience is a major factor. Hybrid applications might have lower cost but such applications are more prone to the bugs. Whereas web applications are not much more expensive than native applications, but you need to consider several business goals and functionalities. Web applications might not be good for user experience. 

Hence Choice between web, hybrid, native application depends on the different factors, such factors include business needs, application requirements. So, A bottom line is that every application is unique in its own way and creates a unique user experience. Before you choose any technology, you need to gain all the information.