The world of mobile apps is both complex and intimidating. Adding to that is the pace at which the mobile app development industry is transforming. Choosing how to build a mobile app can dramatically affect a mobile app project’s cost, resources, and eventual success. In this blog, we want to highlight and understand Native Apps. Native apps are generally run on specific platforms and accessed through different sources. There are several coding languages developers use today, like Objective-C, Swift, Java, Kotlin, and many more, varying on a project basis.
The two major players of the app development world are Apple and Google. Based on reports from IDC 2020, Google’s Android and Apple iOS operating systems have squeezed out all other Operating software. Both Apple and Google provide app developers with their development tools, interface elements, and SDK.
Several companies invest in native mobile app development because of the multitude of benefits it offers. If you’re developing a native app, you don’t need to worry about behavior and compatibility.
Why are there different approaches?
“An ideal software development strategy is crafted around an amalgam of approaches allowing an organization to cover all the requirements while optimizing the time and resources involved in delivering an app.”
To start with what approach works for different apps, a mature mobile organization will have a mixture of mobile apps developed with web, Hybrid, and Native app development approaches. The key is to know how to choose the right approach for each application.
Here are the three primary approaches for mobile app development that you should know about: Native, Hybrid, and Web. Each of these comes with various different advantages. The following sections briefly explain these approaches and highlight their pros and cons for you.
Is The Native Approach for me?
As the name suggests, Native apps are built using platform-specific SDKs and development tools provided by the platform vendors. Of course, the significant advantage of native mobile apps is full access to the features and APIs available on each platform. Based on research from MGI Research called Buyer’s Guide for Mobile Enterprise Applications Platforms (MEAP), ” Native architecture offers the richest, most graphically engaging user experience, high performance, and the ability to integrate with native device functions and backend enterprise systems.
Essential Skills required: Java, Objective-C, . NET, JavaScript, HTML
Platforms: Each app only reaches one platform.
Cross-platform codebase: 0% (No UI, No logic)
Advantages:
• It provides access to devise hardware and APIs.
• Installable can be app store deployed
• It facilitates maximum control over performance
• It is a powerful platform-specific development and debugging tools direct from platform vendors
Disadvantages:
• It has multiple implementations required to reach multiple platforms
• Varied skills and programming languages
• It requires the installation and device provisioning
• New tools are needed to manage app security, enforce data security policies
Multi-platform Native Development
Before moving on to Hybrid, we shall talk about a middle-ground option, more commonly known as Multi-Platform Native App Development. With multi-platform native development, developers can target multiple platforms. Once the application is compiled, different app packages are produced that can run “natively” on various platforms. The result is a multiplatform native application written in a non-native language that can be easily shared among platforms.
The degree of “nativeness” and code reusability for an app vary between multi-platform solutions. However, the UI for the application is native. One of the significant drawbacks of multiplatform native development is the incorrect framework that it provides.
Essential skills: Depends on the multiplatform solution (examples: C#, JavaScript)
Essential tools: Usually, a custom development environment
Platform reach: Limited to platforms supported by the underlying compiler
Choosing the Right Approach for you: Choosing the “right” approach for your app depends entirely on getting the requirements and budget of the app. On a general note, it is impossible to prescribe the “right way” to develop an application, whether it’s the web, hybrid or native.
Ask yourself these questions before moving forward!
1. Who is the right audience for the app?
2. How long do you have to develop the app – and for how many platforms?
3. Does the app need to work offline?
4. Does the app need to access device API or hardware features?
5. What is the most important aspect of the app: Experience, Reach or Cost?
In conclusion, it might be tempting to look at developing a native app as a ‘One size fits all’ strategy, but that will ultimately lead to inefficiency. As an app developer, you need to build a smart and optimized strategy to draw the maximum benefits out of their native app. Contact our experts for further consultations on native app development.
