Essay Sample on Native vs. Hybrid Mobile Apps: How to Decide What Process to Use

Introduction

Mobile application development is growing exponentially in the past few years. This can be attributed to the fact that technology is growing at a faster rate in the 21st century (Xanthopoulos & Xinogalos, 2013). The number of mobile phone users has risen. Every individual nowadays own a smart-phone. However, it is important to note that mobile phone technologies have resulted in a variety of mobile devices which vary in both ability and technique. Smart devices require a different application for the wide range of functions such as camera, media players, GPS, social media applications, etc.

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Application development is an evolving field with a great interest in both economic and scientific factors. Everyday mobile application developers try to incorporate technology to solve the daily challenges facing humanity as well as make work easier. Google's Android and Apple's iOS are application stores whereby smart devices users can access the various applications. The total number of mobile app store downloads according to a study conducted by Gartner (2012), is expected to increase to 81 billion in 2013. The research also indicates that the number of paid downloads will surpass 8 billion while that of unpaid downloads will reach 73 billion (Gartner, 2012).

The high number of mobile applications use means that mobile app developers need to utilize the most efficient and effective mobile application platforms. There are various platforms which mobile app developers can choose from when building a mobile phone app. These include; hybrid app, native app, natively compiled app and following web app (PWA). This study seeks to research on native and hybrid mobile applications and determine the approach that can be used when deciding on what method to use in mobile app development.

With the significant increase in the number of mobile platforms, it is crucial to determine the best approach to use based on the requirement for the required mobile app. To have a good market for your application, one has to consider developing applications that support all platforms. Developing an application in more than one language is time consuming and therefore also costly. Organizations have understood the necessity to use smartphones effectively and mobile apps to reach and attract customers. (Xanthopoulos & Xinogalos, 2013). Many organizations have started encouraging users to utilize their mobile apps and websites for using new and existing operations. The decision between using native applications and web applications or both depends to a great extent on the cost of the development, how easy it is to use the app, required highlights and the user target. It has turned out to be exceptionally troublesome for most organizations that need to create mobile applications since they need to think about providing food for both Android applications and IOS.

Just a couple of years' prior, utilizing native software development kit (SDK or devkit) was the best way to make a mobile application. Every stage, for example, Android, iOS, and Windows requires distinctive SDK, and every stage additionally utilizes diverse programming dialects for coding. Developing an application without coding with Java or Objective C appeared to be very remote. As of late, the scene in the advancement of versatile applications has changed fundamentally specifically with the coming of a hybrid mobile application structure. In this paper, we will investigate one rising methodology that possibly offers the answer for this bothering issue in the cross-platform application advancement.

Different stages are utilized to decide the best methodology for development. Native applications, for instance, are used to create mobile applications. In Native, every step has another sort of code, and for one to make a mobile app, one has to make a different application for android and a separate application for IOS. Hybrid applications then again can bolster both android and IOS, and it is less tedious. To think of a choice, we will take a gander at the Native application development, hybrid advancement and React Native. (Xanthopoulos & Xinogalos, 2013).Native development apps

Native applications are built for specific platforms such as Android or IOS. each platform has its language that supports the platform. For example, android uses java or kotlin while IOS uses swift or objective C. (Mohammadi, Jahid, (2016). Developers stick to guidelines and principles for specific; language as the user interface for these language differs in appearance and behavior. Native applications are likewise manufactured utilizing the particular Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the given working frameworks. Both Apple and Google have different user interface design and SDK. Most organizations will put resources into Native portable application advancement due to the horde of advantages offered in contrast with different sorts of applications. (Mohammadi, Jahid, (2016).) Native apps have an incredible client experience and are high performance. They additionally give more extensive access to their API's which sets no constraint on the application use. Applications in Native are accessible structure their application put away which guarantees that every client can without much of a stretch contact them.

Android

Android works on an open source approach. This takes into consideration huge amounts of adjustments just as bunches of usefulness. Open source stages are less secure, so some of the time refreshes get obstructed by portable system administrators. Android has a public stage to empower designer development. (work,2011) You can get Android's source code for nothing and port it to your application's equipment. This implies you won't need to go through the motions to build up your application on the Android framework because there are fewer limitations.

Android applications are constructed utilizing diverse application components. There are four various types of segments: Activities, Services, Content Providers also, Broadcast Receivers. Every one of these segments has the other reason, what's more, exists as its entity. Together they structure the application and characterize its conduct. Each application needs to proclaim its parts in the application show record. This show record additionally describes what authorizations the application needs, what OS form is expected to run the application, what equipment segments are utilized by the application just as if any Android libraries are used in the application.

IOS

A shut biological system implies that Apple directs access to utilize their stage. The majority of the substance is confined to explicit gadgets that are upheld by that biological community. (Conway & Hillegas (2012)) This implies as an engineer you'll need to utilize Apple's highlights. However, there is a great deal of them. The favorable position to building up your application on a shut biological system like Apple's implies that there are more control and soundness. In any case, there will be more confinements for the designer. From the client viewpoint, acquiring a gadget that works on a shut biological system implies that it will have a more expensive rate point. So when all is said in done, Apple gadgets are costlier than Android gadgets. This gives you some more knowledge about the client, yet we'll dive into that in more exceptional detail in a matter of seconds.

For iOS applications, Apple prescribes the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture35, which isolates information and business rationale from the presentation. This structure streamlines the treatment of various goals and screen sizes since the view segment can be adjusted without influencing information and business rationale. The model handles information and advises the controller when changes in the information happen. In iOS, this is finished utilizing information objects, which can be for instance a database. However, there is likewise a deliberation called archive protests that can be used. Record articles ought to be utilized when different information objects are assembled and the archive object goes about as a middle person in the intermediate information objects and the controller. Perspectives and UI objects are the visual portrayals of the substance in an application. The view handles the introduction of information and furthermore advises the controller when client activities happen. Every application has no less than one UI Window object which arranges the perspectives on a single screen. On the off chance that an application employment a few screens, for instance, an outer showcase, a few UI Window objects are required.

Advantages

• Have the best performance
• Smooth running in terms of user input and output. They are also more interactive.
• They are fast and very responsive. This is because they are built for a specific platform.
• Native applications allow users to access full features given by a particular platform which optimizes the total use.
• Have a great user experience. They have specific UI standards for each platform.

Disadvantages

• Tedious since the developer has to code each app separately for each platform. For android they use Java, and for IOS they use Objective-C.
• More expensive.
• Difficult language to learn. Each platform has their language, and for a developer, they have to learn each language with their rules and tricks

Hybrid Development Apps

Hybrid is a blend of web applications and Native. Hybrid applications are fundamentally electronic projects that are made utilizing html5, CSS and JavaScript that are enclosed by a Native application shell and connected to the gadget equipment. (Mohammadi, Jahid, (2016). Hybrid applications have two sections: backend and a Native shell that can be downloaded and stacks the code utilizing a web viewer. Hybrid apps are principally manufactured using HTML5 and JavaScript, and nitty-gritty information of the real stage isn't required. (Huynh, Ghimire &Truong,2017). Users will install it on their device sort of a native app. However, it's an online app. These styles of apps are designed with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and run in Web view. Hybrid app development will largely do everything HTML5 will, except it conjointly incorporates native app options. This can be doable after you deploy a wrapper to act as a bridge between platforms to access the native functions. With the hybrid, you've got to touch upon problems that stem from each native systems and hybrid systems, that makes bug fixing tougher. The performance is additionally a drawback as a result of hybrid apps load in the web view. (Huynh, Ghimire &Truong;2017). The user expertise is usually sacrificed with a hybrid app as you cannot customize the app supported the platform. Another disadvantage is that you can't customize your app the method you'd be able to do with a native app. The additional customization you are doing, the more you're steering toward a native resolution so you would possibly similarly take the native approach. Also, the further customization you would like at intervals your hybrid app, the dearer, and so a native resolution can find yourself being less expensive. If you are doing like better to customize your hybrid app, you'll find yourself outlay lots more cash and time. (Huynh, Ghimire &Truong;2017)

Advantages

• Built on web innovation HTML/CSS/JavaScript, so it's a lot simpler to fabricate
• Cheaper than a native application
• One application for all stages utilizing innovation like Cordova
• No program required instead of a web application
• Access to the gadget's inward APIs can get to capacity, camera, and so on.
• Faster to create than Native applications since you have a solitary code base...