Explaining the Key Factors That Make Hybrid as The Future of Mobile App Development
Reading Time: 4 minutes Smartphone has invaded every facet of human life thanks to mobile apps for every different purpose, and user needs we can think of. But mobile web available with just a tap is equally popular besides apps to access content and web-based services. While the popularity of mobile apps and mobile web will continue for years to come, eventually hybrid apps offering a flexible user experience of both native apps and web interface has almost become the mainstream of mobile apps in general.
It is already clear to the wider audience that just relying on native apps is far from enough. Realizing this earlier, we have seen many businesses unleashed their own native apps besides allowing users access to their mobile websites. While this continued for some time, eventually, they understood that offering comprehensive hybrid apps bringing together native access and mobile web interface will be more effective for user engagement and interactions. Hybrid apps with the web interface work across several platforms while easily incorporates device features for native interaction.
Do you want to know why hybrid apps are the inevitable reality of the future of mobile app development? Here we tried to explain some of the key reasons that make hybrid apps the future of mobility as such.
Table of Contents
An array of frameworks for hybrid development
There is a whole array of high-performance app development frameworks to help bring in native-App functionality into hybrid apps. Many of these frameworks unleashed in the recent past became tremendously popular. They were embraced by developers worldwide to build the most sophisticated mobile apps with extensive support for native functionalities and web interfaces.
Frameworks like React Native, Ionic, Cordova, NativeScript became popular for building high-performance hybrid apps across the niches. These frameworks came with the promise of incorporating the best of both native and web functionalities for a seamless user experience. Built with web languages like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, they also helped developers reusing the codes for building cross-platform apps.
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Mobile platforms pushing for native functions in web apps
For some time, both major mobile platforms like iOS and Android are putting efforts to give web apps the ease, flexibility, and accessibility of native apps. Both iOS and Android now allow users to place the icon of a mobile app on the screen and access them with a single tap as with any other native app.
This opened the door of offline access for many web apps. For instance, you can easily access all Google apps like Google Docs or Google Sheet offline and update the changes as soon as the internet is on. Google also came with Progressive Web Apps, which is a clear indication towards embracing the hybrid approach.
Limitations with App Store and Play Store
If you want to build a mobile app with native functions from scratch, you need to go through an elaborate process that involves prototyping, layout design, coding, testing, App Store submission, and releasing. The entire process can be cut short by converting your website into a mobile app using a framework. The best thing is when building such hybrid apps, and you have the option of easily updating content and changes to your app whenever you wish to do so. While updating an app with the app or play store is not instantaneous and easy, you have this ease with hybrid apps.
Code reusability
The best thing about hybrid apps is their reusable code and familiar web languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. For most platform-specific native apps, the developers need to build apps using languages for that platform. For iOS apps, the developers need to have command over Objective-C or Swift for iOS, while for Android apps, he needs to have command over Java and Android. In contrast, building hybrid apps needs to command over-familiar web development languages like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This allows reusing codes for building hybrid apps for separate platforms.
Increasing talent deficit
Finding expert iOS and Android developers is increasingly getting tough, especially for cross-platform app development. But as mobile apps are rapidly growing in numbers overflowing all barriers of expectations, a talent deficit is obvious. On the other hand, web developers have no dearth of expertise and experience in the most commonly used web development languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This is one reason many web developers are turning into hybrid app developers to meet the demand of businesses for mobile apps.
Faster development and time to market
Thanks to the reliability and ease of using web development languages and reusable code base, hybrid apps ensure faster development and quicker time to market. Instead of going through the entire lifecycle of developing and promoting an app, hybrid apps allow the faster transformation of an app idea into reality.
To conclude,
Finally, there can be hardly any doubt that native apps will always appeal because of their smooth, independent, and reliable user interface. But, with the mobile web is continuing to deliver a competitive value, the hybrid apps are bound to foster. The typical UI shortcomings of hybrid apps are continuously getting thinner and will eventually evaporate, blurring the division of native and web in the time to come.
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Co-Authored With
Keval Padia is a co-founder of Nimblechapps, a prominent iPhone app development company based in India. He follows different tech blogs and current updates of the field lure him to express his views and thoughts on certain topics.
