Understanding Hybrid Mobile Apps and Their Benefits

Smartphones and mobile apps altogether have revolutionized modern society. The latter has taken the accountability of performing our day-to-day tasks, that too with ease. From online shopping to booking flight tickets in a few taps, there is hardly anything that mobile applications cannot do these days. The demand for mobile apps has surged, and as a result, many businesses are coming forward with their apps to enhance the lifestyle of people.

Earlier, native mobile apps used to dominate the mobile app market. They still do, however, things have changed quite a lot ever since Hybrid apps came into play. In this blog post, we will walk you through the concept of Hybrid Apps, how they are different from native and web apps, what benefits they offer, and much more.

What is a Hybrid App?

A hybrid application is a combination of a native application and web application and thus contains elements of both native and web apps. Hybrid apps are built using common web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and can run across platforms such as iOS and Android. A hybrid mobile app is moulded in a native container that uses a mobile webview object. The browser engine of the device is utilized to render HTML, JavaScript, and Native APIs to retrieve device-specific hardware. 

Native vs Hybrid vs Web App: Understanding the Difference

If you are a rookie in the mobile app world, you would be having a lot of confusion regarding the difference between native, hybrid, and web applications. So before we delve completely into hybrid apps, let’s try to understand how it is different from native and web apps.

Native Apps

A native app is the most traditional form of an app. These apps are developed for specific platforms utilizing the platform’s software development kit and using specific programming languages such as Java and Kotlin for Android and Swift and Objective C for iOS. Native apps make complete use of device features such as GPS, Contacts, Camera, Storage, or whatever the app requires. These apps when developed are pushed to their respective app stores; Google Play Store and App Store.

Web Apps

A web app is an application that can be accessed via a web browser such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc. over the internet. Web apps are majorly built using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript and make use of frameworks such as Angular, React, and Vue.js. Unlike native apps, they don’t need to be downloaded from app stores.

Hybrid Apps

Now, when you couple elements of a native and web app, it forms a hybrid mobile app. It is installed from the app store and looks similar to a native app but the inner operations are that of a web app. Hybrid apps don’t need to be created separately for different platforms unlike in the case of native apps, it’s a one-time creation for multiple platforms.

Also Read: PWA vs Native App

Benefits of Hybrid Apps

There are many good reasons to choose hybrid apps over others.

1. Reduces Cost and Effort

One of the areas where hybrid apps hold a significant advantage is in their development cost which is comparatively economical (around 30% less) than the development cost of native apps. If you are having a limited budget for mobile app development, going for a hybrid mobile app would be an ideal choice. This is because a hybrid app follows a unified development process, which means developers need to code only once for both platforms and can use the same code to push the application on both Android and iOS stores. On the other hand, if you choose a native app, it will need to be coded separately for both Android and iOS, hence more development cost. A hybrid app saves developers a lot of time and effort plus it is suitable for those enterprises who are looking to market their app faster.

2. Ease of Development

This point is connected with the previous point. Not only hybrid apps are cost-effective but the development process is facile. It is because a hybrid mobile app possesses cross-platform functionality. Developers need to create only a single version of the app and follow a single code base for multiple platforms. There is no requirement for two separate developers for iOS and Android and hence no need to work on the features for different operating systems. Needless to say, this not only saves you time and money but also makes the hybrid mobile app development process quite easier. The effort that goes into hybrid app development is significantly reduced on the front-end side. Moreover, a hybrid app makes use of frameworks like PhoneGap, Ionic, Xamarin, which help accelerate the development process and push the application in the app store without much difficulty.

3. App Maintenance

Among the major benefit of hybrid mobile app development is easy app maintenance. In the case of native apps, developers need to push new versions to the respective app stores with each update and wait for the validation. A hybrid app offers a great advantage here as developers don’t need to seek approval every now and then. Updates happen automatically in the apps and thus the approval efforts are reduced. Also, for Apple store submission, there is no need to resubmit the new versions if native code hasn’t been modified. A hybrid app is all about choosing a framework that perfectly suits the app requirements and doesn’t require decoding of each line, hence the app maintenance is easy.

4. Seamless Integration and Offline Accessibility

Unlike native apps that are developed specifically for one operating system and hence cannot easily integrate with other apps; hybrid apps, work on both iOS and Android and offer seamless integration for developers. Also, they have the ability to connect with the device’s features and hence offer an enhanced user experience.

Hybrid apps can also offer offline accessibility. There are times when people face internet connectivity issues such as while traveling. Besides, a poor connection is a common issue seen in rural areas. Hybrid apps prove to be a boon in such cases as it helps users remain connected with the app and use some specific features even when they have no connectivity or the network strength is limited. This is because hybrid apps can store the data in the cache form and let users access it when they are offline. However, this functionality should be elaborately planned during the development phase considering all use case scenarios. There always are some functionalities that can go offline and others that cannot be.

Final Words

Although hybrid apps offer ample benefits, a business should discuss with the technology team their specific business needs and time to market. Both the requirements and the delivery timelines play a crucial role in deciding how a hybrid app would help achieve business goals.