Types Of Apps. And Which App Is Right For You?

Intro

Have you ever heard about web, native, hybrid, and PWA apps? And also, what Cross-platform apps are? These are types of apps that your business needs and this article will guide you through the pros, cons, the differences, and which one you should choose for your app development project. 

But for those in a hurry and need a quick answer, here’s the quick response to this question. 

Web Apps– Any browser on any system can use these apps, even your mobile phone browsers also comes under this development type. These apps need the internet all the time to operate fluidly and responsively.

Native Apps – These apps you use daily; on your smartphone, that is. Native means either it is developed for running only on iOS or Android, but a single code cannot run on both platforms. Apps may or may not need an internet connection to operate but need the internet while downloading them.

Hybrid Apps – These apps are developed for multiple platforms with the use of a single code only. This means these apps can be operated on both iOS and Android by creating only a single code. 

Now, for people who need more than just a summary of what these technologies mean and how they can affect your development project. Let’s get an in-depth analysis of these apps.

Web Apps

Web apps mean an application that is supposed to work on web browsers irrespective of the platform the browser your customer is using. To access a web application, a direct link or URL is created to access the web application. So, in theory, as long as a browser with internet access and valid URL, the user can access your web applications.

Just having those above two is not enough; web apps should be intuitive and responsive to help the business gain profit. Any company which exists in the 21st century needs to have a quality website, and so does yours.

Now any technology has its advantages and disadvantages, let’s get into if your business gets more benefit or less from web apps:-

Advantages

• Standard languages are used in the development of web apps. Languages like HTML and CSS. It is easy to procure someone as these two are widespread languages in the IT industry.

• Below you will learn that apps are restricted to their platform it is developed for. But not web apps, these can be operated on any platform as long it has internet access and has browser support.

• Web apps are not supposed to be downloaded like other apps. According to your phone, either you are using App Store or Play Store to download apps, and they need data, for big apps, massive data. So you are automatically saving money by saving your network data.

• Updates are for apps downloaded from app stores. Not web apps, they are updated from time to time but not requires your customer to update them by spending a considerable amount of data.

• The significant advantage is that web apps are way cheaper to develop compared to native apps or hybrid apps even. Creating web apps demand less hourly rate professionals as the languages used are common in the IT industry. 

• The other significant benefit of web apps is that they need less time to develop and spend less time testing compared to other web apps.

Disadvantages

• Web apps are versatile and can be run on any platform’s browser through the internet. If the web app is not responsive, your customers can have a hard time understanding, and they will see wrong font sizes, incorrect image sizes, etc.

• Whenever a website is in trouble loading, don’t assume your web app will be working fine, your web app relies on the performance of your website. If your website URL is taking long to open and cookies are interfering between, your web app will also have the issue. 

• As mentioned in the advantages, web apps don’t need you to download them and run on the internet. It also can be interpreted that if your target audience has the lake of internet, it will not be advised to get with web apps. 

Native Apps

In the overwhelming majority of smartphone apps, that would be either iOS or Android. If the programmer isn’t using a cross-platform kit, then he or she develops the app employing a native programing language. Native apps are designed for a selected device, iOS, or Android. And can take advantage of operating system features and other features particular that platform.

Everybody has smartphones nowadays. You, I, your friends, your family, my family, everyone. In this era, having a mobile app for your business can be a huge benefit over your competitors. Native apps focus on one technology related to that mobile operating system. If you have:-

Apple -> Swift and Objective-C

Android -> Java and Kotlin

Windows -> .Net

Now native apps development requires a personal mastery in the technology used for that platform. This means according to your audience of mobile users, you can target which native technology you will use. For example, in India, it is beneficial to go with android development as the majority of the audience there uses android smartphones. But let’s assume your business touches the wealthy of India, there going with native iOS app development will be beneficial.

Here are some advantages & disadvantages of native app development:-

Advantages

• The primary benefit of native app development is that they are created for the specific to the platform. This means the native apps are faster, take a low time load, are refined compared to hybrid apps.

• Native apps are developed on technologies only specific to them. You have total control over the experience your customer is going to get. From push notification to the in-app interface, everything can be curated precisely the way it is supposed to be.

• Both Android & iOS have UI standards, and since native technologies curate to, it’s a platform only. You provide a seamless and consistent experience over any device.

• Native apps are accessible completely through app stores. These apps typically need to be approved by the app store wherever they’re going to be downloaded before they can be offered to users. This implies they generally are entirely tested before being submitted.

• Natives apps are created to guidelines of the app store they are supposed to be published. As apps are only uploaded to the app store after the strict inspection of them, you can be assured about the security, reliability of them.

Disadvantage

The only disadvantage of native app development is that it takes time, and finding the specialist of it. The right person who mastered the native technologies is not easy to find as companies don’t let them go.

Plus, time to develop a native app is almost equal or some cases, lesser to the hybrid app development. This means you could have developed a hybrid app that could run on both mobile platforms instead of one.

Let’s dig into Hybrid apps, shall we?

Hybrid Apps

Hybrids apps are applications that are developed with technologies that are supported on both iOS & Android. Technologies used are JavaScript, CSS, and HTML, all combined. Hybrid apps are websites that are placed into a native app structure to function on any platform.

Facebook React Native is a very prominent and widely used native app development technology used in the industry. Recently Google’s Flutter is relaunched, and it is showing very promises and also can be the future of native app development. Read more that flutter here.

Hybrid app development can also be known as cross-platform development. While hybrid app development is considered cheaper as in the development of one app, you can serve two platforms. But hybrid app development comes with its advantages & disadvantages let’s go over them:-

Advantage

• The cross-platform aspect of hybrid apps is the significant advantage of hybrid apps. They save you the time and money required to develop each native app for their respective platforms. Single code for both iOS and Android.

• The other aspect is the time it is going to develop a hybrid app. First, it takes less time to develop a hybrid app compared to native. Second, in the time, only one native is going to be developed, you can have your app launched on both platforms with hybrid technologies.

• As the code is single for both platforms, your need for developers is cut by half. 

• As stated above, time is cut by half for both platform development. And so is the cost. The longer your app takes to develop, the longer the price is increased payment of developers, infrastructure, office lease, etc. 

Disadvantages

• Hybrid apps are websites in native containers to operate on any platform Which means hybrid apps always need internet access.

• A hybrid app is based on the structure, which requires your work plugins and accesses the device features to function. If the plugins are not present, then you need to add time to develop certain features.

• As a hybrid and is “best of both worlds.” This line can also be said as “50% of each world”. So the user experience is not that good compared to native app development. If you focus more on the android aspect, then you lose iOS. If iOS is focused, then android experience is affected.

• Hybrid app development still requires the help of a native app developer to perfect the experience of apps. So, it’s a paradox where hybrid can fulfill the 80% aspect of both platforms but also need a native developer to complete that 20% experience.

Here is a bonus and upcoming app development technology. Right now, it is very and primarily used in e-commerce websites but can also be utilized in your project. Let’s get into Progressive Web App Development (PWA).

Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

Progressive web apps are the best of both websites and apps. PWA helps developers to install sites over your phone like apps. As stated multiple times above, sites require the internet to work, but PWA is changing that with help modern browser upgrades. Developers are taking advantage of the Push API and Cache mechanism to provide the same website experience without the internet. 

E-commerce websites are taking full advantage of this technology. You may have been getting notification form an e-commerce website yet if you are not connected to the internet. When you click that notification, it takes you to a small version of the site with details of the product. 

In Android itself, if you go news sections, they have the option to see offline stories, and that also application of PWA. You are accessing websites, even without the internet.

Depending on when you are reading this blog, we would have provided a link to PWA specific blog here somewhere, or for now, we stay tuned a blog on PWA is coming up soon.

So what’s Best for You?

Going with the web or native or hybrids is going to depend on the requirement of your business. By studying the advantages and disadvantages of the above technologies, I hope you had the clarity of them. Here are some other factors you should watch out for your app development project.

• How quickly are you looking to launch it?

• The quality of experience you are willing to provide to your customers.

• How much complexity does your project contain?

The general rule of choosing your app development is that you should look for quality at the small-time with max efficiency. Whichever way you decide to get for your app development, be sure you follow the following rules:

• The API you are going to create should be easily accessible and quick and responsive to customer requests.

• A mobile of your business should act as an extension of your business, not copy. 

• Your user’s expectations change, and so has your app. Keep it updated to the latest norms and keep your customers happy. 

The most crucial part is that if you are not coding yourself, be sure to find an expert in a particular field rather than a generic one doing everything.

Is Your Development Depending on Cost Restriction?

In short, NO. The cost should be the determining factor of your choice. Note this “User Experience Is The King.” The primary user of your app is not you, but the customers. So, user experience is the base of any app development. 

For example, hybrid app development may look good because of lower development costs. But Hybrid apps are generally prone to more bugs and subpar user experience. A specific platform creating specific apps for it is more user-experience friendly, and bugs are more under control. That’s why iOS is faster compared to Android while having 1/4 RAM to current android flagships.

Final Verdict

Choosing the right app development platform is getting hard, lines are blurred. But, whatever technology you decide to develop your apps should never be based on factors like cost, time. In the end, it’s the user at the centre of any app development project. And everything should be catered to his optimal experience. 

If you go ahead and choose a technology that costs less but provides subpar experience is no good at all. On the other hand, you overkill with your selection and spend time and money on skills that do not benefit the user, also not a great way to go. The choice between web, native, and hybrid development depends on the factors like business needs, timelines, technical skills of the developers, user-centred experience. 

The final verdict would be to go with the app development process, which benefits the user experience. If you have a budget restriction, you can have fewer features on the app, but the elements should be optimized for the best user experience.