What are the Different Types of Mobile App Development?

Introduction

There are thousands of mobile apps launched every single day. It becomes challenging for companies to decide the type of app that will be suitable for their business needs. Native, Hybrid, and Web are the different types of mobile app development options to choose from. There are multiple parameters such as performance, hardware features to access, debugging and profiling tools, dev support ecosystem, development cost, development time, ease of finding developers, easy to deploy and build size to be analyzed before narrowing down to one type of mobile app development suitable for you.

Native Application Development
When building an application for a specific operating system, native application development is used. This means those applications are native to a particular operating system. For developing an app for iOS and Android, these native applications will be separately developed by utilizing and exploring multiple technology stacks. There are all significant features related to the compatible devices and the developing platform supported by the native application development. The native apps can be downloaded from the respective application stores. For example, Android apps from the Google Play Store, iOS apps from Apple Play Store, and the like.

Pros

• Higher responsiveness and profoundly secure.
• Good performance and highly reliable.
• The app’s features are easy to understand.
• More interactive and intuitive.

Cons

• It is built only for a specific platform.
• The programming languages for the development of these apps like Swift and Java are difficult to learn.
• Maintenance is difficult and it is costly to develop these apps.
• The time required to develop the native app is more and the development is complex.

Hybrid Application Development
In Hybrid application development, apps are built using multi-platform web technologies (for instance HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript). Hybrid multi-platform apps are preferred these days as their development is easy. A single code base across all platforms guarantees support and trouble-free updates. Broadly utilized APIs are available like accelerometer, geolocation, and gyroscope. But the hybrid applications lack the overall optimization, speed, and performance in contrast with native applications. Also, there are design issues as the apps fail to get the same look on multiple platforms.

Pros

• Building up a Hybrid App is less expensive than building up a Native App.
• It can be developed for cross-platforms which decrease expenses for App development and has easy maintenance.
• It can be accessed via the App Store.
• The app has a browser that is embedded in the app itself.
• The user experience can be similar across different platforms.

Cons

• The performance of the hybrid apps isn’t great as it loads in a web view.
• It is costlier as compared to web apps.
• Not as interactive as the native apps.
• The user experience is less optimal as different customization isn’t possible for every platform.

Web Application Development
Web apps are different from native apps and are not available on App Stores. However, web applications are just like websites designed solely for cell phones and tablets. The functionalities in a web app are very limited but its security, internet speed, and technology are advanced. Web apps are software applications that act in a style like native applications. Web applications utilize a browser to run and are typically written in HTML5, JavaScript, or CSS. Web applications require less device memory as the databases are stored on the server. Users just need an internet connection to access from any mobile device. That is the reason why a bad internet connection can give an awful user experience.

Pros

• Web applications run in an internet browser thus this responsive web application can be utilized across different devices.
• The cost of development is less.
• Installation is not required on local machines as host servers are used to run web apps.
• The users don’t need to download web applications that save internal storage.
• No need to download the updates now and then. You always use the latest version.
• You can share the web app with its URL, unlike other apps.

Cons

• The web application cannot be accessed without an internet connection.
• It isn’t available on app stores so to reach out to users; promotional work needs to be done.
• A significant amount of traffic from app stores is missed as it can’t be redirected to the app in any way.
• Nowadays social media apps have built-in browsers which reduce the use of web apps.

Conclusion
With the help of the above points, you should be able to choose one from the varied types of mobile app development. All in all, for the applications that are targeted to be launched on single platforms, that requires many customizations, higher optimization level, a stable UI, etc. are considered in native application development. Hybrid Application Development is done for the applications that are planned to be launched on multi-platform or those apps that are developed for multiple app stores. The applications with fewer resources, funds, or that don’t need App Stores are developed with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into a Web App.