Web, Native, or Hybrid app development? People often face a lot of options while choosing the right mobile applications. Choosing the best solution for website development is not an easy task especially for beginners. Many queries come and go in the mind of the person. The selection of the right solution depends on various factors such as cost, timeline, experience, and in the end, your target audience.
What is a Web application?
The web application is a program that makes use of web technology and web browsers to perform different tasks on the internet. These applications are mostly coded in a browser-supported language like JavaScript and HTML as they rely on the browser to execute the program. Some of these applications require server-side processing (Dynamic) and some do not require any processing at the server (Static).
What is a Native mobile application?
Native mobile apps are the applications that are coded in a specific programming language such as Objective C for iOS or Java for Android OS. These mobile apps offer great reliability and quick performance. You can also use them without having an internet connection. As these apps are tied to one type of OS, they are costly which makes the company create duplicate versions of the app that work on other platforms.
What is Hybrid app development?
What is Hybrid app development? The answer is simple. If we combine both Native and Web applications, the solution would be a hybrid application. In hybrid applications, the core of applications is written using web technologies ( JavaScript, HTML, CSS ) which are summarized within a native application. These apps can have complete access to mobile device’s features through the use of plugins.
What is the difference between Native and Hybrid App?
Native applications only work on one platform either Android or iOS. A native Android app is written using Kotlin or Java whole a native iOS app is written with Objective-C or Swift. Android Studio compiles Android apps while Xcode compiles iOS apps. On the other hand, hybrid apps are developed for more than one platform and require the best cross-platform framework. Web technologies including HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are used to develop hybrid apps. They are better in ease of use and faster to create, but they lose in the comparison of being faster than native apps. Hybrid apps are cost-effective and single code-based with which you can develop each app for more than one platform.
What are the pros and cons of Hybrid applications?
Pros
- Operates on multiple platforms
- Offers quick build time as compared to native apps
- Can work offline as well
- Is cheaper as compared to building two versions of a native app
- Easy to launch patches and updates
Cons
- The appearance of an application may vary from one platform to another
- It may have variations because of leaning development on one platform
- If the user interface is not similar and well-designed to what browsers the user is used to, then the user experience might fail
- You have to test the application on a range of devices to make sure it is operating properly.
Which framework is best for hybrid app development?
If you want to develop a great hybrid app, then you should have the best framework for hybrid mobile app development. Choosing the best framework can be a hefty task especially for beginners. The Number9 mobile app development company can help you get the best hybrid app development frameworks.
Ionic
Being one of the most popular hybrid app development frameworks, Ionic is the first framework on our list. Its front-end is built on the top of AngularJS and Cordova with the help of the most upbeat APIs that include Custom elements and Shadow DOM. Building PWAs ( Progressive Web Apps ) becomes easy with Ionic. Being easy to learn, Ionic is enjoyable for the developers. To enable you to create an astounding PWA, it contains a rich library with front-end building along with premier user interface components. Developers can also create amazing graphical representations as well as fantastic designs in the apps. The Ionic hybrid mobile framework allows the developer to use the UI design aspects such as typography, themes, image design, and placement.
You can use the Ionic CLI tool to develop hybrid apps build with TypeSrcipt and Node.js. You can build a hybrid mobile app and get regular updates with its help. If you use Ionic, then you get debugging tools with catalyzed other pit facilities and an inbuilt development server. Its minimum requirements for Android are 4.1 and for iOS is iOS 7.
Pros
- It contains pre-generated app setups with creative layouts
- It is very popular
- Apps that are built are really easy with simple updates
- Contains native functionalities
- Abundant UI components
Cons
- Not so good with heavy applications
- No hot reloading
- Depends on the plugin too much
- When the browser does not provide the right information concerning the mobile phone’s surroundings, testing gets native at times.
- React Native
Released in 2015 by Facebook, developed as a web-interfaced development platform in 2013, React Native is one of the best hybrid app development frameworks. People think of React Native and Ionic as competitors. Experts agree that Ionic offers better performance among apps and leads to a better UI. While React Native offers a native-like experience to its clients with more stability.
Reactive Native’s command depends on its usage. It means that you can not be an expert in React Native only in the first few usages. To gain expertise in React Native framework, one must spend time with the mobile hybrid framework to understand the reactive pattern. Developers have to code a lot because of its restricted UI features and the native features.
React Native is mostly used to build Android and iOS apps. Developers can create innovative mobile applications by using only a single JS codebase. It is best for developers who are fluent in Java and Swift. To boost the performance of an app, React Native comes with Native modules and components. A lot of hybrid app development companies are using React Native for the creation of hybrid mobile apps for the future.
Pros
- It is easy to use for a budding developer with the NPM (Node Packet Manager)
- Cost-effective
- Node.js supported
- Native code rendering
- Can identify bugs easily
- Less time is taken for the development process to take place
Cons
- Insufficient custom modules
- Requires improvement for the access of hardware components
- Shortcomings in navigation components
- Not good for multiple screens, special effects, UI transitions, and lots of interactions.
Flutter
Flutter received an amazing amount of hype in the previous two years. Being Google’s premier open-source SDK, it has earned the love and respect of developers from all around the world. It uses Dart, the magnum opus of Google, and C++ rendering engine language. This mobile app development framework also uses Skia to make visuals. Being very fast, it helps to create superb foundation libraries and widgets. As it has a single codebase for iOS and Android, developers can create apps with high-productive value. Big brands want Flutter for the development of their apps as it makes room to create highly creative UIs with flexible designs and allows compelled interaction that leads to creating brilliant MVPs.
Pros
- Quick speed
- Apex choice for cross-platform development
- Smooth UI designs
- Hot reload feature
- The absolute choice for MVP
- Offers own widgets
- Dynamic code writing
- Compatible with Fuchsia
Cons
- Still has a lot of ground to cover
- Lack of profile data completion
- Some features offer minimal support
- You need to learn Dart before using Flutter
What are the Number9 hybrid app development services?
Number9 offers robust, high-performance, extensible, safe, and secure hybrid app solutions that make us better than other hybrid app development companies. We conquer other companies with our hybrid app development tools. Our tirelessly working team of UX designers and hybrid app development experts uses hybrid app development tools to give the best services to our clients. With our team of Flutter, React Native, Ionic, and other hybrid framework experts, expect nothing but perfect.
Conclusion
Hybrid mobile app development frameworks have their pros and cons. And being so popular and richly featured, it is hard to choose one of them. Choosing the right framework is crucial for good application development. So which framework is best for hybrid app development? As we explained earlier, it is a hefty job. So what one should do is to choose the framework that suits their business perfectly. Number9 mobile app development company offers all sorts of hybrid app development services. Our experts can help you choose the best frameworks for you as well as do all the development processes for you.
Frequently asked questions
Does Number9 offer hybrid app development using PHP?
Yes, Number9’s expert developer team offers hybrid app development using PHP.
What is hybrid app development?
The development of an application that is the combination of a native and web application is called hybrid app development. Number 9 agency offers all types of hybrid app development services.
Which is the best framework for hybrid mobile app development?
It is hard to choose the best framework for hybrid app development. So, it is recommended to choose the framework that suits your business perfectly.
What is the difference between Native and Hybrid App?
A native app only supports a single platform such as iOS or Android while Hybrid apps support all types of native and web applications.