The moment you think about investing in a mobile app, you’re instantly faced with a storm of terminology. More importantly, the first decision you’ll face is which is the most suitable app type for your business? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer. The debate between Native vs Web vs Hybrid mobile application development is still ongoing, with no clear winner – all three choices have their own benefits.

Mobile apps can help you reach an extensive audience that is increasingly using apps to get things done all day round. These include social media apps, news apps, online education apps, eCommerce apps, travel apps, and more. Looking at such a situation the mobile application development has separated into 3 basic types of mobile app development service — web app development, native app development, and hybrid app development. 

So which one is best suited for businesses? Businesses should select the type of mobile app development service depending on the business objectives and product goals they need to achieve.

Let’s take a look.

What is Web Mobile Application Development?

Most people get confused with web app development and websites. But generally, a website offers comprehensive information or data compared to a web app. Therefore a web is considered as a compressed form of a website. Also, a web app is known to improve functionality compared to the website.

The web app can be rendered in commonly used browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Above all, a web app doesn’t need to be downloaded from the app store as we do with other mobile apps. In addition to this as a web is rendered on a browser, it does not take any physical storage space on the user’s mobile device.

If your objective is to offer mobile-friendly content to an extensive range of audiences then you should consider developing web apps. Web apps are cost-effective too so that you can introduce your product to a lot of users. A bottleneck with this kind of mobile app development is increased load times of small images if the network connectivity is poor.

How to Build a Web Application?

Web apps can be developed by applying tools like JavaScript CSS and HTML5 which can be executed inside a web browser. There is no particular development toolkit for the developers to build the web app. But the developers can make use of templates for the development procedure. Moreover, the web app development process is straightforward and quick, yet it does not offer a similar feature set as a native app.

What are Progressive Web Apps?

Progressive web apps serve as a combination of regular web pages and native mobile applications. As we discussed before, web apps do not have similar functionality as native apps like push notifications and offline accessibility. However, browsers and web apps are progressing with time. Therefore, progressive web apps can offer features like native apps which consist of push notifications, accessing device hardware like vibrations, and improved touch gestures.

The only drawback here is progressive web apps are compatible only with Google Chrome. This means that iOS users cannot have access to a progressive web app. If your business is planning to develop a progressive web app, then the exclusion of iOS users can prove to be a huge disadvantage. 

Advantages of Web Mobile App Development:

The advantages of web mobile app development are:

1. Web apps need low maintenance as they use a common code base across different mobile platforms.
2. As long as a web app can be executed in an appropriate web browser, you can develop web apps for all the platforms.
3. Compared to native app development, web apps are quite economical.
4. Web apps don’t follow standard OS protocols and don’t require approval from the marketplace. Therefore they can be launched at any time as well as in any format.
5. A web app does not need manual updating, and whenever a new version is available, it is executed automatically.

Disadvantages of Web Apps:

Let’s discuss some disadvantages of web apps:

1. Web apps cannot leverage device features and functionality and have limited access to the hardware.
2. Web apps run on web browsers. Therefore a user has to type a URL or search a particular page to accomplish a purpose. This complicates the user experience.
3. Since there are a lot of browsers available in the market, there are several usage patterns and performance metrics that vary from browser to browser. Hence, product roadmap development turns out to be a difficult process.
4. Webs apps have poor accessibility and without proper marketing, users will not be able to discover them. Similarly, web apps are not listed in the app store.
5. Web apps are comparatively slow and less responsive to native apps.
6. They offer limited interaction and an instinctive interface compared to native apps.
7. Since a web app is not listed on the app store, you don’t get any branding prospects.

What is Native Mobile App Development?

The most common method of mobile application development is native app development. Native apps are developed for specific platforms using languages that adhere to the platforms. Popularly used languages for native Android mobile app development are Java or Kotlin. Whereas the iOS mobile app development process utilizes Swift and Objective-C for native app development.

In addition to this, the native app development is built using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for designated operating systems. Major platforms like Apple and Google provide their specific development tools, interface elements, and standard development toolkit (SDK). There are various benefits of building a native mobile app therefore lots of companies prefer native mobile app development.

Advantages of Native Mobile App Development:

1. Of all the approaches available, native apps offer enhanced performance.
2. All app stores and marketplaces support native apps completely.
3. Ever since a native app is listed in an app store, there are better chances of a user discovering the app.
4. Native apps offer interaction, an instinctive interface, and smooth execution as much as user input and output are concerned.
5. With the native app development, the developers can have access to the complete feature set of the targeted platform.
6. With native apps, the user experience is improved since the native app follows the guidelines of the mobile operating system.
7. As a native app is accepted by the respective platform the app comes with quality, security, and device compatibility.

Disadvantages of Native App Development:

1. Native app development needs experienced and skilled developers to build the app.
2. Native app development is a costly affair compared to web or hybrid app development.
3. If you want to build a simple application native app development should not be preferred.

What is Hybrid Mobile App Development?

As the name suggests Hybrid App Development works on various platforms and still acts similarly to native apps. A hybrid app is a combination of a web app and a native app. Even though a hybrid app is installed on a device like a native app, technically it is similar to a web app. Developers can build hybrid apps by utilizing HTML, CSS, or JavaScript and execute them in a WebView. A hybrid app is a web app that offers access to added native app features. The hybrid app is comprised of two parts:

1. Back-end coding where the code is built using the languages like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
2. The native shell is downloadable and extracts the code through a WebView.

Advantages of Hybrid App Development:

1. The user does not require a web browser to have access to hybrid apps.
2. Hybrid apps can access a device’s internal API and hardware.
3. For hybrid app development, the developer needs only one codebase

Disadvantages of Hybrid App Development:

1. Hybrid apps have a relatively slow speed as compared to native apps.
2. You have to depend on a third-party platform to deploy the app’s package with hybrid app development.
3. Increased customization takes away the purpose behind hybrid app development. Furthermore, this becomes a costly affair where you can save money with native app development.
4. It becomes tough for the developers to fix issues that stem from both native and hybrid app development.
5. Ever since the hybrid apps are rendered in a WebView the performance is lowered.

Native vs. Web vs. Hybrid — Which one is a better choice for Businesses?

As we have discussed each type of mobile app development along with its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is significant to analyze the business objectives before you can decide which type of app development process you want to follow.

Before deciding the type of development process you should consider the following factors:

1. The speed of the app
2. The type of user experience that you want to have in your app.
3. The feature complexity in the app.

With the increased use of mobile apps the users demand enriched mobile experiences. Therefore it becomes crucial to meet their demands.

What so ever mobile application development approach you decide to adopt, you should keep the following things in mind:

1. The content and services of your app should have comfortable admittance to the API infrastructure of your app.
2. Ensure that the mobile app you built is an extension of your brand rather than being a copy of your company’s website.
3. Always understand and think through the users’ expectations, behavior, and adopt the approach accordingly.

Conclusion:

The process of selection between native, web, and hybrid app development depends on various factors. Which include business requirements, app requirements, the experience of the developer, and the timeline for mobile application development. You need to understand that every single app offers a different experience to the user. Hence, it is vital to understand the merits and demerits of each concept before starting the development process. 

Whether you choose to go with Web, Native, or Hybrid Mobile application development the development team must have the correct mix of technical expertise and domain knowledge to tackle the job at hand.

However, If you want to drive results for your company you can hire mobile app development services from a reputed app development agency like QuadVentures.com.my

Keep Growing!