One of the most common misconceptions faced by our end client is whether to develop their mobile apps natively or through a hybrid framework such as Ionic, Xamarin, or React Native. When facing the word app development, you have three choices as to how you can do it:
• Hybrid app development
• Native app development
• Web-based mobile app development
At eTatvaSoft, we entirely focus on Hybrid app development but we can try our best to help you in making a decision. Today, more than 50% of developers are currently making use of hybrid app development due to several reasons such as app can be spread across multiple systems, cost-effective, ease of app maintenance, integrating mobile features becomes easier, code can be written just once and the list goes on.
For some background information, since iOS and Android became popular, many hybrid frameworks came into being. A popular non-native technology was picked and create a framework to build mobile apps with it. The goal is to build an app once and have it running on all platforms with a few specific changes as possible. Right from Ionic to PhoneGap, Titanium and React Native based on web technologies (HTML, CSS, and Javascript), Ruby Motion based on Ruby, and Xamarin based on Microsoft’s C#, you have so many options to consider. Hybrid frameworks turn out to be the most attractive to companies as they can apply existing knowledge into mobile apps. And with a single codebase, there’s potential to save time and effort. But they are aware of the risks of depending on third-party abstractions.
Down below I would like to mention a few factors that are for and against building apps with hybrid frameworks. Make sure to weigh them on the specifications of the app you are most likely to build.
For Hybrid frameworks
Complex mobile back-end
Non-UI related code is quite similar between platforms. So in case, if you think that back-end logic is the biggest component of an app, a hybrid framework does save time. Now, what kind of apps have complex back-ends? Apps that read and write data offline and have complex business logic that can’t be delegated to the server.
Proof of concept that requires multi-platform
When building an MVP, you may interest about knowing how to keep deep expenses low and you need to iterate to get it right. Now if a product is not validated, we recommend starting out with a single platform. The goal should be to have a great app that does one single thing very well, not 3 features hacked together.
However, if for some reason the proof-of-concept requires multiple platforms, it’s faster and cheaper to iterate with a hybrid framework. Just don’t forget, to re-evaluate your decision after your MVP is validated.
Against Hybrid Frameworks
Complex native-feeling UI
In case, if you find front-end complex and the look and feel of UI is native, then your hybrid will simply drag you down. Even if you can write platform specific code, abstractions make problems likelier.
Deep hardware integrations
For UI, abstractions are the culprit. What I mean is that you won’t be having issues getting a photo from the camera or the current user location. But for deep integrations with hardware features (camera, sensors, GPS, NFC, and Wi-Fi), you’ll need platform specific code and run into problems more frequently.
Latest OS features
If you want to be the first integrating with the latest Android and iOS features, a hybrid framework slows you down. And you won’t be able to predict the delay until it gets supported.
On-going patterns
As per the on-going patterns, we have been noticing that more and more B2B products are getting leaned towards hybrid frameworks whereas B2C products lean towards native. But B2B companies that want to step themselves apart on their UI/UX quality, also lean towards Native frameworks.
