Mobile App Platforms: Hybrid, Native, Mobile Web | Arya College

 Earlier, only a few could afford a phone with camera, music player, and touchscreen. There is a long way from phones with monochrome displays to digital touchscreen phones loaded with umpteen features. The digital era has welcomed the smartphone revolution and made it easy to do things on the go. Be it watching movies, reading the news, listening to music, playing games, looking for information, or buying groceries, we are able to get many things done on the go by simply using various apps on our phones, tablets and computer systems. With constant improvements and access to technologies, developing smarter apps has become the goal of the app industry and the experts of best engineering colleges in Jaipur. The app industry has constantly been evolving and bringing in new types of apps to enhance the consumer experience.

Types Of Mobile Apps By Technology

There are three basic types of mobile apps according to the technology used to code them:

Native Apps

Native apps are built specifically for a mobile device’s operating system (OS). Thus, you can have native Android mobile apps or native iOS apps, not to mention all the other platforms and devices. Because they are built for just one platform, you cannot mix and match, or use a Blackberry app on an Android phone or use an iOS app on a Windows phone.

Technology Used - Native apps are coded using a variety of programming languages. Some examples include: Java, Kotlin, Python, Swift, Objective-C, C++, and React.

Pros - Because of their singular focus, native apps have the advantage of being faster and more reliable in terms of performance. They are generally more efficient with the device’s resources than other types of mobile apps. Native apps utilize the native device UI, giving users a more optimized customer experience. And because native apps connect with the device’s hardware directly, and users of top engineering colleges in Jaipur have access to a broad choice of device features like Bluetooth, phonebook contacts, camera roll, NFC, and more.

Cons - However, the problem with native apps lies in the fact that if you start developing them, you have to duplicate efforts for each of the different platforms. The code you create for one platform cannot be reused on another. This drives up costs. Not to mention the effort needed to maintain and update the codebase for each version.

Web Apps

Web apps behave similarly to native apps but are accessed via a web browser on your mobile device. They are not standalone apps in the sense of having to download and install code into your device. They are actually responsive websites that adapt its user interface to the device the user is on. In fact, when you come across the option to “install” a web app, it often simply bookmarks the website URL on your device. One kind of web app is the progressive web app (PWA), which is basically a native app running inside a browser.

Technology Used - Web apps are designed using HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, and similar programming languages used by the students of computer science engineering colleges Jaipur for web work.

Pros - Because it is web-based, there is no need to customize to a platform or OS. This cuts down on development costs. Additionally, there’s nothing to download. They won’t take up space on your device memory like a native app, making maintenance easier – just push the update live over the web. Users don’t need to download the update at the app store.

Cons - But this is also pertinent: web apps are entirely dependent on the browser used on the device. There will be functionalities available within one browser and not available on another, possibly giving users varying experiences.

Hybrid Apps

And then there are the hybrid apps. These are web apps that look and feel like native apps. They might have a home screen app icon, responsive design, fast performance, even be able to function offline, but they are really web apps made to look native.

Technology Used - Hybrid apps use a mixture of web technologies and native APIs. They’re developed using: Ionic, Objective C, Swift, HTML5, and others.

Pros - Building a hybrid app is much quicker and more economical than a native app. As such, a hybrid app can be the minimum viable product. It is a way to prove the viability of building a native app. They also load rapidly, are ideal for usage in countries with slower internet connections, and give users a consistent user experience. Finally, because they use a single code base, there is much less code to maintain.

Cons - Hybrid apps might lack in power and speed, which are hallmarks of native apps.

How To Choose Just One Mobile App

If students of computer science engineering colleges in Jaipur are developing an app, then they need to make a decision about which type of app they are going to be creating. There will be certain factors that are ideal only on one type of app, and not on others. 

If you need it asap

If you absolutely must have an app in the shortest amount of time possible, then you need to invest in building a web app. Not only will one codebase drastically speed up development time, but it will also mean that your users already have what they need to use it: a mobile browser.

If you have Limited Resources

If time and money are not on your side, then consider either a web app or a hybrid app. The hybrid app gives students of private engineering colleges in Jaipur a chance to test the market with a minimum viable product that can be in the hands of users within a few months. And if successful, you can decide to build a full-fledged native version later on.

If you need Fast and Stable app

If performance is of the utmost importance, then there’s no way around it: you need to develop a native app. This type of app will give you the speed, stability, and customization features you deem crucial to your success.

Conclusion

Customers need user-friendly programs, and businesses need tools to promote. Creating types of mobile app development for smartphones is a good process that will always be in demand. Newer models of smartphones and new versions of operating systems are constantly entering the market. The application must work on any device; otherwise, users will uninstall it from their phones.

Also, the program must adapt to user requests. If you do not offer your customers the new user-friendly features they want, your competitors will. So you need to constantly update features, add new user experience to maintain audience reach and user loyalty, etc. There are already dozens of programs for solving each problem. Thus, to stand out from the competition, students of engineering colleges need to offer innovative or a qualitatively new level of implementation of an existing idea.