Native vs. Hybrid App Development: A Quick Overview

Native app development or Hybrid app development approach? Which one should you go for? If you are drifting in the dilemma then you will find this article insightful. From the business point of view, you will learn about the advantages of both app development frameworks and which one leads to a better customer experience for your users.

Here we will consider different factors that determine the winning attributes of Native & Hybrid App Development. We will talk about CX, development time, time to market, UX and more.

Let’s get started…

Native VS Hybrid: Battle Of The Frameworks

CX Can Make Or Break The Success Of Your App

Before exploring the world of Native and Hybrid apps, there is an important thing you should keep in mind – the booming mobile market.

Your mobile device is always with you, every minute of the day. Responsiveness and faster notifications are just a few expectations of most mobile users. Even your customers and clients expect the best user experience.

Even the Hybrid app developers know that a Native app outperforms a Hybrid app. If you are going for the Hybrid route, you are offering a bumpy experience to your users.

Do you want to surprise your users by building a native application that integrates into the platform of their choice (either Android or iOS)? Or do you want to offer the freedom and implement the MVP approach and quickly develop a hybrid application across various platforms?

Potentially easier to build, the hybrid approach will likely result in a lesser ideal user experience.

Quick Overview

Native apps are built within a natural ecosystem and follow the technical guidelines of that environment. Native apps offer such a user experience that the users are more likely to learn how to navigate and use the app faster. Seamless UX is one of the several parameters that define the credibility of Native apps.

The native apps have the advantage of accessing and utilizing the built-in capabilities of the device. These functionalities include GPS, address book, camera, Bluetooth and other features.

Hybrid apps are websites zipped into a native wrapper. Hybrid applications look and feel almost like Native apps but outside the frame, they are powered by the website of a company. A Hybrid app is built using JavaScript or HTML5 and is wrapped in a native container that loads most of the information on the page.

Faster Time To Market Or Do It Right

Whenever companies decide to go for a mobile application, they are either catching up with their competitors or have identified an untapped business opportunity.

In any case, the businesses look for a faster time-to-market and the term ASAP often means several compromises. Both Native and Hybrid apps can get the job done but, there are a few considerations straight away.

If a company can wait for six months before the app is launched, the Native app development works the best. On the other hand, if the desired time-to-market is less than six months, Hybrid app development is a better alternative. Developers can build Hybrid apps in one source code and release them on two different platforms. This decreases the development time.

Performance

Hybrid apps may win the fights but even the hardcore cross-platform app developers admit that Native apps win the war when it comes to performance. A native Android app or iOS app is faster and more reliable according to its design.

Users may navigate to a Native mobile app, contents, structure, and visual elements that load instantly. This gives them a seamless experience.

On the other hand, a Hybrid Android app has a wrapper with most of the data being loaded from the server to the user’s device.

When we talk about performance, two key issues play a vital role:

• Number of server requests (number of users sending requests to the same server at the same time)
• Load balance requests (number of requests from mobile devices pinging the servers)

Users also agree that Native apps are seamless when it comes to performance.

UX: A Critical Differentiator

Modern app development is more about infusing the element of user experience in the development process. The controls, visuals, gestures, functions and options of the application should be seamlessly integrated with the style guide of the operating system.

UX is such an important element for mobile app users that a slight inconvenience will cause 90% of the users to switch to your competitor’s mobile apps which is quite frustrating.

Data, market analysis, current design trends, customer behaviour and other parameters are considered when choosing between Hybrid or Native app development frameworks.

When launching a Hybrid app, the application is platform-agnostic. On top of that, you do not have to maintain two different codebases. Hybrid apps are easy to build and take less time to get accepted by the market.

Defining a strategy for app development is extremely important for your enterprise. What is your strategy for app development? Do you want to implement the agile approach (launch the software in short and frequent intervals) for the Native app development or, do you prefer the waterfall model (turn-around time of months) for your Hybrid app development?

Wrapping Things Up

Both the Native app development and the Hybrid app development have their advantages, but at the end of the day, the Native approach weighs more on the beam balance when seen from a company’s bottom line.

By looking at the key differences between the two development frameworks, we can conclude that despite the heavy investment in the initial stage, most companies will choose the Native development approach instead of the Hybrid app development.

This is a perpetual discussion and can go on as far as data is relevant. Faster time to market, single code base, cross-compatible web technologies, easy updates, available resources and lower budget costs make the Hybrid apps the most loved software.

On the other hand, the biggest contraflow of Hybrid apps is that a company will spend more time, resources and budgets on fixing and tweaking the application because of the user complaints and customizations regarding the UI elements and other factors that drive performance.

The original investment will be higher and the company will save tons of money, resources and development time in the long run while offering great UX at the same time. Feeling indecisive about which mobile app development approach is the best for you? Drift no more. Contact DRC Systems today for a detailed discussion.