If you give a native and a hybrid app to a normal app user and ask him/her to decide which is which just on the basis of user experience, They won’t be able to tell the difference. Let this statement be an unofficial disclaimer that hybrid apps are no less in any way to native apps. They just like any other native app of Android, iOS or Windows platform. You can build a Hybrid Mobile App for games, social media, health and fitness, M-Commerce, dating, ride sharing, finance, insurance claims, email, music and much more.
What are Hybrid Mobile Apps?
Then again there are hybrid apps and web apps, hybrid apps are more like a mix of web technologies and native app development. Hybrid apps are hosted inside the native application that uses the mobile’s Web View. Also due to its traits of native app development, such apps can access the device’s capabilities like camera, contacts, and device sensors like accelerometer, proximity sensors, etc. These features are restricted for web apps but not for Hybrid mobile apps.
Hybrid vs. Native Apps
Pros of Native Apps:
- Native apps get better support and exposure form app stores.
- Better user experience, due to full access to device’s hardware and software.
- It’s easier for users to learn using app features in a native environment.
- Higher security from app attacks.
Cons of Native Apps:
- App development cost is more.
- Not advisable if the time for app development is less.
- App for every new platform needs to be built from scratch.
- Need a different team for every unique platform.
Pros of Building a Hybrid Mobile Apps:
- One code works on multiple platforms.
- Using various plug-ins, access to device hardware and software is possible.
- One time build cost gives the app for multiple platforms.
- App development time and cost is very less compared to building an individual native app for each platform.
- Easy to make changes in design and updates.
- The coding language to build a Hybrid Mobile App is known to every coder.
- Hybrid apps are easier to scale to another platform.
Cons of Building a Hybrid Mobile Apps:
- Performance of Native apps is always a little better than hybrid apps. (but this gap is shortening day by day)
- Debugging is difficult at times due to not being able to pinpoint the exact cause of an issue.
- To build a Hybrid Mobile App less time is required but the QA testing and integration phase takes more time.
- Need a different team for every unique platform.
Why should you build a Hybrid Mobile App?
If your target is to reach a larger audience base but you don’t have the resources to pull it off, building a Hybrid Mobile App is the most feasible option you have. However, Android is inconsistent between OS but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go for hybrid app development, instead hire a good hybrid app developer.
If you don’t want to hire multiple teams for different platforms app development then building HTML5 mobile app is what you should be thinking. Why hire a developer for each platform when you can hire one for all and almost every developer knows the languages used to build a Hybrid mobile app giving you a very broad spectrum of developers to choose from.
If your developers don’t want to be limited to proprietary platforms (including programming languages and SDKs provided by platform vendors) for their app development skills then Hybrid should be your choice of platform.
If you want more than a web app, Hybrid is the right call for you. Many mobile device abilities are restricted to web apps and web browser. If you wish to access and make the most of these abilities then build a Hybrid mobile app for yourself.
Benefits of going Hybrid
App Integration
Highly Scalable
Low Development and Maintenance Cost
Larger Reach
Best Framework to Build Hybrid Mobile Apps
React Native
Using React Native app development services, you can have a hybrid mobile app that is completely indistinguishable from a native one built using Java or Objective-C. The basic working of React Native is similar to other Native platforms i.e. putting together building blocks using React and JavaScript.
Ionic
PhoneGap
Xamarin
SEE ALSO: Best Hybrid Mobile Apps Examples