If you are a beginner in App development, this one question must have crossed your mind. You must have read various answers on stack overflow, Quora,...
"What should I choose, Hybrid or Native App Development ?"
In case you are not sure about what these above two words mean:
a) Native Apps : Native apps are installed through an application store (such as Google Play or Apple's App Store). Each android and iOS have different code bases.
b) Hybrid Apps : Hybrid applications, such as native apps, run on the device and are written with web technologies (HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript). Here only one code base is enough for both android and iOS.
For more information do read this,
Now, just like any beginner, I even stumbled upon the above question. Before that, let's understand the necessity of these two development ways.
Why in the first place do we need hybrid Apps?
Developers can create Apps for both iOS and android. But this process will some what time consuming and the same logic, coding will be implemented twice.
What if we could have one code base and that will create both the android and iOS files respectively behind the scenes.
That's where hybrid apps come to play.
You only need to write one code, which will work for both android and iOS ( after the code, creates respective files for each operating system).
Some of the recent and popular frameworks for hybrid app development are React Native, Flutter, Ionic , etc.
Comparison?
Why do startups usually prefer hybrid Apps?
As of now, I have worked on one project and done one internship in App development, in startups.
Both of them used hybrid app development. As per my observation, usually start ups go for these hybrid apps. The reason for this is that,
Hybrid apps are less time consuming, and startups are usually in need of apps as early as possible for marketing purposes, for both android and iOS.
As startups are new, the funding is very less. Thus they employ developers efficient in hybrid apps, as less number of developers will be required to look after and take care and so cost will be less
Even with latest updates in hybrid apps, with advanced APIs, you can make use of the device’s in-built functions
On the other hand, You will need more developers for both android and iOS separately, which is so expensive and the process of building an app takes time.
Is Hybrid App development the next big thing?
Well, there are several factors to judge this.
If User experience is taken into account, still a lot of work needs to be done on hybrid side as it still does not exploit all functionalities available for each operating system.
For example, when I was trying to implement toast in React Native, I was not able to, as the Toast feature is available only on android.
There are even some libraries on hybrid apps that sometimes work only on one operating system.
Because a hybrid app relies on plugins, you might not be able to incorporate all of the built-in features a user’s device offers.
Since you’re relying on someone else’s code, plugins may not always be available or may be unreliable or out of date.
You may even find you have to write your own, which can defeat the purpose of opting for a hybrid app.
Also, there is not a single app, made using hybrid framework, that is in top 100 on both play store and app store.
Which shows that apps in native are still way ahead in terms of user interface, performance, all such factors .
Native apps also have an added stability factor as they are usually backed by giant corporations like Google and Apple, which means that the platform is supported for a long time in the future with regular bug fixes and updates.
But like I said before, if necessities like as of startups arise, hybrid apps may win over native.
So who actually who wins, answer to that depends on the circumstances and the purpose for which the app is built.
So, hybrid apps still have a long way to go, to be considered as replacements for native apps.
But the daily progress and updates of hybrid apps show good signs, and eventually chances are good to be the next big thing.
Conclusion
Finally, what should one prefer to start his app development journey with?
Honestly, I will say that if you are a beginner, I will say that go with native app development first.
Master any one (or both if you want) native development platform, android or iOS.
This will give you a clear picture of what exactly is going on, you will get to know the behind the scenes, can use various device specific built-in features and the process of learning will be more fun.
Once You have mastered any native platform, go for hybrid ones.
Again, it is up to you to decide which suits your purpose.
I will leave you with this question,
" What do you prefer; fast and easy developer experience at the cost of App performance OR
Classic App Quality at the cost of developer coding time. "
Your answer decides your path.
All the best and Thank you for reading.
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