Do you know which popular technology stands out in mobile app development Native, Web-based, or the hybrid? Or which latest technology is proving to a boon for the developers?
Historically App development was Native as separate apps were developed for Android and iOS. The Hybrid Apps arrived so that developers can make a single app that can run on both the platforms, but at that time Hybrid App technology wasn’t great but it has improved over time and now can compete with Native Apps. So before choosing one, you must keep in mind, your budget, development time, user experience, maintenance cost, & more importantly, the skills of your developer.
Since the technology of Hybrid Apps has improved so much, now I can safely suggest you opt for Hybrid mobile app development for building a mobile app. Read the full blog to know what Hybrid Mobile app development is; how it might be a better solution for you and why you should hire top hybrid app developers for your business.
What is a Hybrid app?
Hybrid apps are the combination of web apps and native apps, or you can say – these apps are essentially web apps that are wrapped within native apps. Like native apps, the hybrid apps run on the native’s browser and can access the hardware of your smartphone such as phone cameras, microphones, push notifications, calendars, etc.… These apps also have cross-platform functionality which is generally a feature of web apps. This feature allows the same look and feels on different platforms such as iOS, Android, and Windows. So, the hybrid apps have some features of natives and some of the web apps.
For elaborating this, I would like to give you an easy example- Let’s suppose, you are standing in the middle of the road and can move to either the left-side or right-side. Now, this middle road acts as a hybrid app that can take a few features from the left-sided natives and a few from right-sided webs.
Have a glance at the picture given below; it is showing the main structure of the hybrid app:
Further adding, the code of hybrid apps is written in common used front-end technologies/languages such as HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3, just like the code written for the web app. Whereas, native apps are built with platform-specific technologies/languages such as Objective- C, Java, Swift, and Xcode. I know native apps are ideal to build a platform-specific app, but even the top hybrid mobile app development companies will agree with me on this. So making a hybrid app, is a wise and fruitful decision for any business. Make sure you will hire one among the top hybrid app developers having rich experience in building hybrid apps. Because it is hard to make a difference between an exceptionally well-built hybrid app and a pure native app.
How hybrid apps are a better option to choose over Native iOS and Android apps?
For startups, who doesn’t have any surety whether people will install their app on their phones or not, -a hybrid app is a better option. I know native apps are ideal as they can offer tailor-made User experience, but it will take a long time and money to develop them. The latest trend shows that small-firms, startups, and medium businesses are drooling over hybrid apps. But why? Read the reasons behind this new inclination, given below:
1) Everything can be managed by a single codebase.
Web apps are built with JavaScript, to build an iOS native app, a developer will need to write the codebase in the programming language- Objective-C; to build an android native app, in Java and to build a Windows phone app, most of the codebase will be written in C#. In the future, you will need to manage them all. In the case of hybrid apps, the developer needs to write a single codebase written in front-end technologies/languages such as HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 for various platforms. So, it is much easier to do the maintenance of hybrid apps as compared to others. Moreover, adding a new feature or finding a bug- are easily manageable tasks for a hybrid developer.
2) Saves time & money.
Native apps take a long time and money to build. You can create a hybrid app much closer to the native app. It can have most of the native features, but it only depends on your developer’s skills and experience. These apps are more cost-effective and take less development-time as compare to natives.
3) Easy to scale.
Another plus point is, the Hybrid apps are easy to scale on a different platform. For example- you have built a hybrid app for Android devices, now you can easily launch it at Apple’s iOS devices without any hassle. Whereas, once you have created a native app for a particular platform like – say iOS, then to launch it at Windows phone, you need to create a separate version of it.
4) Access the hardware of your mobile phone.
As I have already told you that the hybrid apps run on the native’s browser and can access the hardware of your smartphone such as phone cameras, microphones, push notifications, calendars, etc. This ability lets it bring much closer to native apps’ features. All thanks to React Native which plays as a connecting road between native’s SDK (native development toolkit) and the webviews (the place where hybrid apps run).
Conclusion
In summary, hybrid apps are the perfect combination of native apps and web apps. These smartest apps inherit some qualities of natives and some of the web apps. Hire top hybrid app developers as per your business requirement. I can say that hybrid apps have enough potential to give a good start to your business. These apps will prove to be a better software solution for you.
I hope that all your doubts have been cleared now. Only one point is remaining- “from which company, you should take the hybrid mobile app development services”. The market leader is- SemiDot InfoTech. Pvt. Ltd. It’s one of the top mobile app development company that provides world-class hybrid mobile app development to its clients. Go to the company site to hire top hybrid application developers today.
