Pros and Cons of Native and Hybrid Mobile App Development

In previous article about options of Mobile App Development we have narrated the basic understanding and differences of Native and Hybrid mobile app development as options.

In this article, we have listed the specific pros and cons of both the available options. Hope it helps.

Native app

Native apps are developed for one type of device, and then installed directly onto that device, usually from an online app marketplace.

Pros

• A native mobile app can produce the best user experience: fast graphics API and fluid animation, which is a very big deal when you’re using a lot of data or require a fast refresh.
• Obviously you can also get full control over what you are making. It’s easy for you to use camera, address book, geolocation and all other native features.
• A native mobile app usually developed by IDEs which can provide a full tools environment including building debugging, project management, version control, and other tools professional developers need.
• Native apps have the ability to work with a device’s built-in features, often making them faster and easier to work with on a device. Having an app fully integrated with a device can be extremely helpful.
• Each native app must get the approval of the app store, so the security and performance of the app is generally assured. Because native apps are associated with an app store, they also are easy for a user to find and download.

Cons

• Perhaps the biggest weakness of native apps is their lack of portability to other platforms.
• Native apps often cost more to develop and distribute because of the distinct language and tooling ecosystems, which require more investment in developer skills if you need to develop for more than one platform.
• Native apps tend to be more expensive to the developer. The costs associated with maintenance and updates are higher, especially if the app is compatible with more than one type of device. 
• While the app store can be beneficial to a developer, the process involved with approving an app can be arduous, and success is not guaranteed.

Hybrid app

Mobile hybrid apps are very similar to web applications, but they give you much greater access to different platform capabilities. For instance, on iPhone, your app can have access to the user’s address book, GPS, and many other features.

Pros

• Many developers prefer hybrid applications over native applications because the development process is very similar to that of building a website. This is because JavaScript and HTML are typically used, amongst other familiar building blocks.
• Quicker development, especially for a long time experienced web developer.
• Ionic can offer a good full angularJS environment and works well with cordova plugin which means we can use some native capabilities like iOS native tab bar or Android native tab bar and so much more.
• Most hybrid tools can enable portability of a single codebase to the major mobile platforms.
• UI frameworks can achieve a fairly native look.
• Speaking of HTML, when it comes to the features that you want on your apps, hybrid is often a great choice because using HTML allows for very few limitations. This means you can have an app that is very rich in features, feel and animation.
• If your company has a BYOD policy, hybrid applications are typically a great option for you, as they are multi-platform. This means that you can use the app on a variety of different devices.

Cons

• Because developing a hybrid app is very similar to developing a website, many developers make the mistake of simply copying their web applications to mobile without any kind of redesign. However, this can result in a number of problems, such as a slowdown in page load time, or non-optimized components that aren’t made for mobile.
• One of the earliest concerns of early hybrid apps was performance. While a number of performance issues have been fixed over time, there are a number of framework methods and specific architecture fixes (typically a framework like JQuery Mobile) that can make a hybrid app perform more like a native app.
• Mobile phones (even today’s tablets) are not fast enough to smoothly run a hybrid app. Android platform is a nightmare, page transitions don’t work smoothly not to mention lacking CSS/CSS3 implementation. IOS fares better but still has a lacking CSS3 implementation.
• Not all device APIs can be accessed.

Conclusion:

Device feature : Native app is definitely better if you need device features like camera, notification and gesture etc. • Native app is better if you want your app to work when there is no connectivity. Although In-browser caching is available but it is limited. • Speed: Native is better in speed. • Maintenance: Multiple native code maintenance difficult more complex and expensive method. Hybrid is easier to manage.

Platform independence : If platform independence is important then you should go with Hybrid/HTML5 over native. • User Interface: If you want user experience to be consistent with the platform then native is better option. This does not mean that HTML5/Hybrid cannot have good UI. But native app will make more like actual platform.