The need for creating apps that are suitable for mobile devices has increased rapidly in the last couple of years. Irrespective of what business you own, having an app is a great way to increase your brand awareness, gain more customers, improve your conversion rates, and more. Today, developing the right mobile apps have become a necessity, especially for small businesses and startups. Having everything accessible at their fingertips means that you need to really up your mobile app development game if you don’t want your customers looking elsewhere.
Now, when it comes to mobile app development, you can either opt for native apps, web apps, or hybrid apps. In this blog, we will discuss in detail about native apps.
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What is a Native App?
In the context of mobile app platforms, Native App refers to mobile apps written specifically for Android or iOS platforms. These apps are written using programming languages and technologies that are specifically designed for Android and iOS. This means that an app developed exclusively for Android will not work on an iOS device and vice versa. A native app is usually written using Java or Kotlin for Android and Swift or Objective-C for iOS.
The native apps are more flexible in nature, and they also perform better than apps that are developed using other methods. This is because native apps are designed specifically according to a device’s operating system. Of course, it also comes with its own set of limitations or hindrances, such as businesses who opt for native apps will have to build a separate app for every platform that uses a different code. But overall, native apps offer optimized performance, and they can also take advantage of all the latest technology.
Native apps are installed directly on mobile devices, and all the associated data is stored either on the device or remotely in cloud-based storage. Read on to find what are some of the key advantages and disadvantages of native apps.
Advantages of Native Apps
The advantages of native apps include:
- Achieving interactive high-performance user input/output as each of the app’s UI/UX is tailored to the set platform conventions.
- Native apps deliver the best performance as they are built and optimized for a single platform.
- The development phase will have fewer bugs due to the single code base feature.
- Higher level of security and data protection since the native apps will have to be regulated by the specific OS before it is distributed.
- Offline mode can be used.
- Native apps offer developers complete access to the operating system’s feature set, such as GPS, camera, microphone, etc.
- Native apps typically have a uniform look and feel as they are built with native SDKs.
- Native apps have complete assistance from Google Play or App Store.
- Developers find it easier to build native apps since there are several Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) available for development.
- Native apps also have better reach due to the support from app stores.
Disadvantages of Native Apps
Although native apps offer a wide range of advantages, there are also some disadvantages to developing native apps, such as:
- One of the most glaring disadvantages of developing native apps is that it is quite expensive to develop them. You will need more developers and money to build the same app for various platforms.
- Native apps are not one-size-fits-all, which is why developing them is time-consuming.
- Developers will need to put in extra effort and time to offer app maintenance and support services for different platforms.
- The operating system will need to be updated regularly.
- Businesses will need to hire developers who have strong knowledge so that they can work with different code bases for each platform.
Native Apps vs. Web Apps
Unlike native apps, which can be directly installed on mobile devices, a web app is an app that can be accessed through a web browser either on a desktop or mobile device. Web apps typically use responsive design techniques, allowing the app to dynamically adjust the page’s layout to fit the screen on which it is accessed. If you compare a web app and a native app, then there are some advantages to opting for a web app. For example, it is much easier and quicker to deploy web apps than native apps, they do not have to be approved by any of the app stores, the updates to the app are instantaneous for all the users, etc.
There are also some advantages that a native app has over web apps. For example, users cannot access a web app if they do not have access to the internet, but they can easily access a native app; web apps are more prone to security issues than native apps, they are also slower than native apps, and one of the greatest disadvantages is that customers may not be able to find your web app as they are not available or listed on any of the app stores.
Native Apps vs. Hybrid Apps
Hybrid apps are a combination of native and web apps. Internally, a hybrid app works like a web app but can be installed like a native app. Hybrid apps typically have access to internal device APIs, which means they can access features like camera, GPS, storage, etc. In order to build a hybrid app, developers will use web technologies to build the app instead of the native programming language of each platform. The navigational structure will also be similar to web apps.
Let’s take a look at some of the factors that we should consider while comparing native apps and hybrid apps.
- Speed – If speed is one of your key factors, then a native app is definitely better than a hybrid app. This is because the functional code of hybrid apps usually runs inside of a WebView, which means an extra processing layer is added between the code and the device.
- Development – It is easier to develop a hybrid app as you will need only need a developer who has the knowledge of working with web technologies, whereas for developing native apps, you will need at least two developers – one proficient in Android and the other in iOS.
- Deployment – Hybrid apps require less deployment time because developers will need to write the code only once for both platforms, whereas native app developers will need to write two codebases.
- Security – Compared to native apps, hybrid apps are more vulnerable to cyberattacks, such as cross-site scripting, insecure HTML5 storage, etc.
Native Apps – Yes or No
As you can see, there are quite a few pros and cons of developing native apps. So, should you develop them or not? Well, we recommend you opt for native apps if:
- You need to develop a mobile app just for one platform.
- You need to use the device’s native UI to offer top-notch graphics, for example, gaming apps.
- You need to deploy apps that are quick and fast.
Conclusion
We hope this guide helps you to better understand native apps and whether or not they are feasible for your business requirements. Make sure that you consider all the factors, run a comparison between the different types of apps, and then go ahead with the choice that best matches your needs.
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