With the continuous rise in the use of mobile devices for accessing the Internet, a lot of businesses find that an app proves a great tool that can help them connecting with their mobile audience. In fact, according to a recent survey roughly 89% of media time is spent on apps, while only 11% of the time is spent on using the mobile web. This means that building an app will increase your chances of having a huge user base.

Perhaps, you may consider hiring a mobile app development company to build your app. But, as a business owner jumping on the mobile application development landscape can be scary and confusing – since it involves a lot of your time and money. You can hear different opinions about building a native app or a web app. Needless to say, you’ll have to choose the right direction for your app development project. Simply put, you need to decide the kind of application you would want your hired service provider to build.

Remember, each type of app – be it native, hybrid or web app – have their own set of strengths and weaknesses. And so, there isn’t any perfect answer as to which app you should develop for your target audience. But, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of these apps will definitely help you evaluate which one of them will best suit your needs.

 

Native App – Ideal Choice For Creating Apps Quickly

Native app is built on a device’s native programming language. For instance, native app for Android devices is built on Java and for iOS devices it is built using Objective-C. This type of app ensures increased performance. This is why gaming applications are built in the form of native apps.

Strengths:

1. They can be used offline. But, even a mobile web app works offline, however, such an app fails when you need to create an application with higher storage limits, i.e. above 5 MB.
2. Native apps work with the built-in features of a device, and thus their performance on the device is faster compared to other apps (i.e. web or hybrid app).
3. They provide complete access t%MCEPASTEBIN%o wider functionality of the device’s hardware and OS features like – Camera, Push notifications, Geolocation, and more.
4.  A native app is implicitly installed to the device’s home screen. However, you’ll need to follow a manual process to install a web app on an iOS device.
5. Since a native application needs to get approval from the app marketplace, you can assure that the app will be safe and secure.

Weaknesses:

1. Compared to hybrid and web apps, building a native app can be a costly affair, even when you’re developing for just a single platform.
2. Since native apps are built for a single mobile platform, you’ll have to re-work on the codebase when creating a native application for some other OS.
3. You need to share roughly 30 percent of the revenue generated from your app with the store.
4. Taking approval of the app from the App Store can be time-consuming.

Web Apps – Allows Using Same Code base Across Different Devices

A web app is just like a website that can be accessed via a device browser, however, the website is designed as an app instead of a traditional site. A web app is based on “Write Once, Run Everywhere” approach. In simple word, you just need to create one single code base that is used for all mobile platforms.

Strengths:

1. You don’t have to spend your time and efforts in creating a separate code base for each mobile platform, rather you just need a single code base that can be accessed via any browser-enabled mobile device. This also makes maintaining web apps a lot easier.
2. Commonly used and easier to learn web technologies are used for creating web applications, namely: JavaScript, HTML and CSS. So, if you can’t work with complex programming languages like Objective-C or Java, then you can choose to create a web app instead.
3. As mobile browsers are becoming faster, you can come up with web apps with fewer performance issues.
4. Developers don’t need to submit web apps for approval from app stores, and instead can be released anytime as developer’s deem perfect.
5. A web app can be manipulated, so as to make it work on any older mobile device as well.

Weaknesses:

1. Web technologies involve writing interpreted code (in contrast to native apps compiled code). And so, native apps perform better compared to web apps.
2. Limited access to device’s features.
3. Since web apps are not availab%MCEPASTEBIN%%MCEPASTEBIN%le on an app store, you may find it difficult to find the desired web app.
4. Since you can release a web app without having to follow any quality control system, you can’t guarantee the security of that app.
5. Developing web apps for multiple mobile platforms increases the development and maintenance cost.

Hybrid – Fully Loaded with Better Fuel Economy

Hybrid apps are one that combines the power of both native and web apps. They’re built using the same web technologies as used by web apps (like HTML, CSS and JS), but also contain a piece of native code.

Strengths:

1. Allows cross-platform development, and requires creating only a single codebase.
2. Just like a native app, it can make your app live on the App Store.
3. It provides access to APIs (a few, if not all) to help you get access to the device’s features that aren’t available in your mobile browser –  like compass, camera, etc.
4. All of the hybrid app purchases are handled by the App Store.
5. The development cost is relatively lower.

Weaknesses:

1. Hybrid apps need to go through the app store’s approval process, which can be a lengthy process. You’ll have to share a percentage of your generated revenue with the app store.
2. The performance of hybrid apps relies upon a mobile device browser capability. In fact, these apps are slow in comparison to native apps.

Conclusion

Hope that reading the aforementioned list of strengths and weaknesses of apps will help you in making an informed decision about choosing the ideal one for your project need.