When developing an application, it’s important to think about the different platforms that it will eventually need to run on. Nowadays, there are many different platforms through which your customers may want to access your application, and it is important to understand the benefits, drawbacks, and use cases of each one in order to determine which platforms you should support.

When it comes to accessibility on a mobile device, there are three main types of applications that you must consider: native apps, hybrid apps, and web apps. Each of these app types can be leveraged in different ways depending on how suitable they are for your product. In this post we will discuss the features of each in order to help you best understand which one to choose.

A quick comparison of the different app types

Native Applications

Native applications are specifically and uniquely developed for the platform that they are running on. This means that if you want your app to run on iOS devices, you will develop the app on** Apple’s platform** (using Objective-C or Swift in Xcode), release it on the App Store, and have it only be accessible to iOS (iPhone) users. In order to release the same app on Android, you would have to redevelop the app from scratch on Android’s platform (using Java or Kotlin in Android Studio) and release it on the Google Play Store. This app would only be accessible to Android users.

This process brings up an obvious con of native application development: high development costs and time. You will need to redevelop the app for every single platform that you want it to be supported on, and in turn, also need to independently provide support, maintenance, and updates for each of these platforms.

These costs do, however, come at a benefit. Native apps generally have the highest performance and best user experience of any of the app types. Since these apps are developed directly on the platform, they provide access to the widest range of the devices features, allowing you to easily access functions like the GPS, Camera, or Push Notifications.

They will look the best on their devices, too, as they will most likely have design elements that match and stay consistent with the platforms’ design choices. They will also have access to the widest and most clearly defined set of APIs, and be directly accessible to a targeted and defined customer base through the platform’s app store.

#mobile app development #ios app development #android #web development