Hybrid app development has been growing in popularity for several years. With new mobile devices being launched at an increasingly faster pace, the need for cross-platform apps and responsive web design is in high demand.
Now, more than ever before, applications need to be built flexibly so that users can enjoy the same dynamic features on multiple platforms, whether they are on their desktop, laptop, mobile phone, or tablet. That’s where hybrid mobile apps come in.
Hybrid apps are mobile applications that include elements from native mobile apps and web applications to create a unique User Experience (UX). Where many web and native apps can fail to translate content depending on the user’s device, hybrid apps can be installed easily on a mobile phone or tablet while still providing access to web-based content.
This post discusses the features and capabilities of hybrid mobile apps and whether hybrid app development is the right choice for your business.
Understanding Hybrid App Development
Hybrid apps are perfect for businesses that want to market their products and services to a wide audience base. These types of applications bridge the gap between native and web apps because they allow users to access the best of both worlds.
Although both native apps and web apps have their own unique benefits, having to choose between one mobile app option or the other can lead businesses to miss out on several opportunities to reach a larger market as well as lead users to perceive only a fragment of the full experience that the mobile app is capable of providing.
Native vs. Hybrid Apps
When a business opts for native mobile app development, they are essentially developing a mobile app specific to either the iOS or Android platform (or, in the case of cross-platform mobile app development, both).
Because native apps are designed and built with a particular operating system in mind, coupled with these apps running on the users’ devices, the User Experience tends to be much better than using a web or browser-reliant application.
That being said, native solutions may lack key elements that web applications can provide and vice versa. A hybrid mobile app can fill this void and eliminate this false dilemma.
Web vs. Hybrid Apps
With a web app, also known as a cloud app, content is accessed and processed through the Internet instead of through an installed application, like a native app. However, web apps possess a larger bandwidth for pages, content, and more complex design elements (think animations, GIFs, CGI, and other advanced web components). Thus, while native apps can offer rich User Experiences, they may still end up with the equivalent of a watered-down version of the web-based application.
There are also progressive web apps. These apps are accessed through the Internet, but they can also be downloaded to a user’s home screen, send push notifications, and be accessed offline.
However, these apps are downloaded on app stores but rather downloaded through a browser. This type of application has features similar to hybrid, web, and even native apps. Therefore, you can think of them as a kind of mobile web app.
When businesses want to design a mobile app that allows users the convenience of a native app while still allowing users to access web content without switching between an app and their browsers, hybrid applications offer the perfect solution.
With hybrid mobile app development, businesses no longer have to choose between building a native app or a web app. Instead, they can incorporate a spectrum of innovative features from both of these types of applications.
How Are Hybrid Apps Built and Accessed By Users?
Native and hybrid apps must be installed from the specific app store that pertains to the user’s device. Furthermore, any updates to these apps can also be attained via the user’s respective app store. In this sense, it’s easy to mistake a hybrid app for a native app. However, the main differences pertain to the way hybrid mobile apps are built.
Hybrid applications are built using core web technologies JavaScript, CSS, and HTML instead of the programming languages typically used in mobile app development. Developers use hybrid app framework tools like React Native to give these programs native features.
In order to incorporate elements from both native apps and web apps, the hybrid mobile app development process requires the use of a container tool like Docker and sometimes other components like WebView.
What Are Containers?
Containers hold files, software libraries, programming languages, and other dependencies, creating a consistent, sandboxed environment that is isolated from other applications and can be manipulated and updated without affecting other operating system’s components.
What Is a WebView?
A WebView is a component that enables web browser content to be displayed directly from within an application. It doesn’t actually feature any of the components of the full web app but instead offers a “sneak peek” of what is on the site.
In a nutshell, a hybrid app will be coded using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but the various web browser elements (the WebView) will be encapsulated within a native container for iOS and Android devices using a hybrid app framework like React Native.
Hybrid apps, essentially, will provide access to the inherent features associated with native apps, such as access to the device’s camera and photo library, location, notifications, and more.
Hybrid App Development Tools
When it comes to hybrid mobile app development, developers have several tools at their disposal to facilitate the management of these special applications. One such development tool is Kubernetes, a Google container orchestration software that automates different services and processes as well as helps streamline DevOps processes.
Kubernetes is an excellent tool for hybrid app development because it allows the application’s software and hardware to be kept separate, meaning developers can access, modify, and deploy the app via physical servers and cloud services.
Advantages of Hybrid App Development
Besides offering the best of both native and web app development, hybrid mobile apps offer a variety of additional benefits to both users and developers. Below are some of the reasons why hybrid app development is a popular choice for businesses that are thinking about building a new application.
- Developers can save time and DevOps costs since they just need to create the code for the web component of the hybrid app once and then deploy it across all platforms.
- Similarly, the mobile code is written only once, unlike native app development, which requires iOS and Android apps to be built individually.
- Unlike native iOS apps, hybrid apps do not need to be resubmitted to the Apple App Store every time there is a new version of the app if the native code is not altered, which would otherwise take up to a week for approval. Because they can save time, it is much easier for developers to make and deploy updates to hybrid apps.
Disadvantages of Hybrid Apps
It’s important to understand that while building hybrid mobile apps offers several benefits and may be the right choice for the type of application you want, there are certain limitations. These are a few of them:
- Due to the fact that hybrid apps are not native to either iOS or Android, they will lack the uniform look and feel of a native User Interface (UI). While this may not be a problem necessarily, it may diminish the User Experience for some people.
- Additionally, hybrid apps are not inherently able to access the full range of features of each mobile platform. To do so, developers will have to spend additional time creating specialized code or plugins. This can prolong the build and increase overall development costs.
- Because a WebView only provides a snapshot of a webpage, users will not be able to access the true features of the website. Certain complex elements will not be available to the user.
- Since hybrid apps load-dependent on browser speed, users may experience a lag when using the app if they don’t have a strong connection.
Final Thoughts
If you are thinking about building a hybrid application, it’s important to partner with a developer that has experience building a variety of different apps and who understands the complexities of integrating the elements of each in order to design a hybrid app.
Speak with an app development partner who has successfully designed and built custom hybrid applications and can help you do the same. Then, take your hybrid app development project to the next level with professional hybrid development services.
