Mobile apps have slowly taken over the world of consumer-specific IT services. Today there are multiple platforms that people can choose to use. So, when developing mobile applications, developers often need to make a choice of where to begin. One of the primary concerns is the approach of development – a native app or hybrid app development?
While a native app is specifically designed to function on a specific platform, hybrid apps can bypass this hurdle. Accordingly, Hybrid app development processes can fast-track your projects and help in developing an app that works on both popular platforms – Android and iOS.
So, if you’re looking to build an app for a specific project and wish to target users of both platforms, the most feasible and financially viable option will be to go with a hybrid application.
In this blog, we will cover almost every element related to hybrid apps – what is it, their benefits, how to develop hybrid apps.
What is a Hybrid App?
In a hybrid app development process, developers implement a special code bar for multiple platforms. This enables the app to run on different platforms without the need for any specialized tweaking. Using a certain set of tools developers are able to make the communication between native and web view simpler.
Hybrid apps moreover work as a combination of native mobile and web services. Built using technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML, the codes are bundled within the native apps using frameworks like Iconic and React Native.
These apps can further work using the OS’s embedded browser enabling easy installation and submission to app stores.
The popularity of hybrid app development has been steadily rising over the years especially for its financial viability. It involves a simple development cycle and requires fewer efforts for maintenance tasks.
Our lives will be facilitated by a myriad of adaptive applications running on different devices, with different sensors, all of them collecting tidbits about everything we do, and feeding big digital brains that can adapt applications to our needs simply because they get to know us.
5 Primary Benefits of Hybrid App Development over Native
Hybrid app development is a new way. It comes with a bunch of upper-hands over Native. And, the rising popularity of this framework partially comes from those. Here, we have discussed the 5 major ones.
1. Easily Scalable
Hybrid apps are developed using a universal codebase for both popular platforms which are deployed across devices. This makes it easier to fine-tune and perfect them for different devices and both operating systems – iOS and Android
2. Easy Maintenance
As hybrid apps are built using a single set of codes, it is easier to keep a track of necessary upgrades and maintenance tasks. Whenever you’re performing bug fixes or troubleshooting for unidentified issues, there is only one single database that you need to be concerned about.
3. Faster Development
Creating the same app using native development for iOS and Android platforms would involve building two separate applications. But with hybrid app development, the timeline is cut down by almost fifty percent.
4. Costs Less
Hybrid app development processes cost a lot less than native app development. As there is only a single development process involved, the number of hours spent on coding, design is almost half, and also the cost of hosting is significantly lesser.
5. Available Offline
Hybrid apps offer a genuine advantage to users when it comes to usability. While native apps won’t function without access to real-time data, hybrid ones can display the previously loaded data and keep you engaged.
3 Best Frameworks for Hybrid App Development
There are many frameworks for Hybrid app development that you can choose from. The best among those are Flutter, React Native and PhoneGap. Here’s a peek into those.
#1 Flutter
Rising in popularity over the last few years, Flutter is currently one of the best hybrid app frameworks in use. Backed up by Google the framework allows developers the option of developing cross-platform applications with minimum hassle.
It also supports most custom widgets helping to speed up the development process as a whole. Moreover, Flutter comes with layered architectures which helps in the fast rendering of components.
One of the best features available on the framework is ‘hot reload’ making the development process extremely fast. It helps to build customized and animated UI and eliminate all sorts of complications effortlessly.
#2 PhoneGap
Phone gap is another popular hybrid app development framework available today. It is supported by Cordova framework and Adobe and can be written using tech like JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5.
Primarily, one of the biggest reasons for the popularity of PhoneGap is its cost-effectiveness. It is probably the best framework to choose if you’re looking to develop with a thin budget. The framework also comes loaded with features like Native APIs, backend support, upgradable UI libraries to tweak interfaces, and a lot more.
Build – a unique feature of the platform is one of the biggest reasons behind the success of PhoneGap. It is basically a cloud-based compiler enabling app compilation without SDK installation.
#3 React Native
React Native, developed by tech giants Facebook, quickly rose into prominence as a reliable framework in a short period of time. It has managed to make mobile app development a lot quicker, streamline, and extremely developer-friendly.
React Native has managed to carve out its own appeal by offering user-friendly UI/UX designing features. Additionally, It helps in developing apps using dynamic code updates by pushing updates without any need for releasing applications.
Apart from ease of use and development, React Native has also managed to speed up development processes compared to other technologies. It can significantly minimize the codebase thereby saving you a lot of effort.
Some Other Hybrid App Development Frameworks –
Ionic: One of the fastest-rising app hybrid app development frameworks today, Ionic is making heads turn in the world of tech. It is a completely free open-source framework with a growing active developers’ community.
Xamarin: Xamarin is also another fast-rising platform used for developing hybrid applications in 2021. Owned by Microsoft, it is a cross-platform framework based on C# using the .NET framework. Xamarin comes with multi-platform compatibility and shows similar efficiency of experience of native solutions.
Monanca: Built on PhoneGap, Monica is a fast-rising tool for hybrid app development. It comes with a set of software tools and services for developing and also integrating HTML5 based mobile applications. One of the biggest advantages of using Monanca is the availability of CloudIDEs, local dev tools along with debugger and backed support.
How to Develop a Hybrid App?
When the question comes to developing a hybrid app, there are multiple approaches you can adopt. While some are time-consuming, others would require investing money in the hybrid app development process.
- Learn app development and build it yourself
- Hire a freelancer to take charge of your project
- If you have the budget, deploy a small team for the project
- Hire an app development services company
Therefore, choose the approach that suits your requirements. Learning how to code can be a useful skill but that would take up a lot of time. Also, if you have a deadline to meet, hiring experts would be the best approach.
Ending Note
Hybrid app development is a rising trend. And, companies investing in it are going the right path. As a brand, if you are in need of an app, choose Hybrid over Native. For any sort of assistance, you can contact 4 Way Technologies.