Hybrid vs Native App Development: Pros & Cons You Should Know

Choosing the right app development approach is a critical decision as it can significantly impact your app’s performance, user experience, and overall success. Two main approaches to consider are hybrid and native app development, and it’s important that you understand them both before moving forward.

👀 In this article, we define both native and hybrid app development, provide examples, and outline the key pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision.

Hybrid vs. Native App Development: Definition + Examples

💡 What’s the best programming language for each app development? We have a quick guide here.

Native App Examples

Some popular examples of native applications that you definitely know are:

📌 Facebook: as a leading social media platform, Facebook requires efficient handling of large volumes of real-time data, smooth scrolling, and quick loading of multimedia content. By developing the Facebook app natively for iOS and Android, performance and access to features such as push notifications, camera and location is smoother.

📌 Spotify: a popular music streaming service that relies on high-quality audio playback, smooth navigation, and seamless integration with device features such as playback controls thanks to a native integration.

Hybrid App Examples

Some popular examples of hybrid applications are:

📌 Evernote: a note-taking and organization app that focuses on syncing and organizing text, images, and other multimedia content across devices. Developing Evernote as a hybrid app enables the developers to maintain a single codebase, which simplifies the process of keeping the app’s functionality consistent across platforms.

📌 Uber: Uber (transportation “taxi” services) uses web views to show content from m.uber.com inside a dedicated browser in the app. The mobile app features native level functionality in many areas, but also runs on Uber’s core web application.

Native App Development: Pros and Cons

🌟 Pros

• Optimal Performance: Native apps offer the best performance as they are built specifically for each platform, utilizing the device’s full potential and ensuring smooth operation.
• Seamless User Experience: Native app development allows developers to create a user interface that adheres to platform-specific design guidelines, resulting in a more intuitive and familiar user experience for app users.
• Access to Platform-Specific Features: Native apps can access all the device’s hardware and software features, such as GPS, camera, push notifications, and biometric authentication.
• Better Support and Updates: As a native app owner, you would benefit from better support from platform vendors such as Apple and Google (as well as support forums etc.) and more frequent updates, ensuring that your app remains up-to-date with the latest technologies.

❌ Cons

• Higher Development Costs: Developing separate apps for iOS and Android for example can naturally lead to higher development costs, as it requires separate teams, tools, with expertise in each platform’s programming language.
• Longer Development Time: Building separate apps for each platform can increase the development time, which might be a concern if you need to launch your app quickly.

💡 Did you know? If you’re on budget, it’s possible to create an app for free (with some limitations of course!)

Hybrid App Development: Pros and Cons

🌟 Pros

• Lower Development Costs: Developing a single app for multiple platforms using web technologies can reduce development costs, as it requires fewer resources and a single codebase.
• Faster Development Time: Building a single hybrid app can save you time, allowing for a faster time-to-market.
• Easier Maintenance: Updating a single codebase for a hybrid app can be more straightforward and less time-consuming than maintaining separate native apps.

❌ Cons

• Potentially Limited Performance: Your hybrid app may suffer from performance limitations as it relies on web technologies and are not optimized for specific platforms.
• Risk of Inconsistent User Experience: Hybrid apps may struggle to provide a consistent user experience across platforms, as they do not adhere to platform-specific design guidelines.
• Restricted Access to Device Features: While hybrid app development frameworks have improved access to device features, they may still be limited compared to native apps.

Conclusion

If you’re on a limited budget, short on time for development, and your app specifications don’t require a perfect optimization with devices’ features, a hybrid app could be the way to go for you.

However, if you have more capabilities for your project (in terms of time and money), want to curate user experience, need spotless performance and integration with devices such as an iPhone and Android phone, you may want to develop native apps for each platform.