Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Have you ever looked for directions on Google Maps and suddenly lost the network connection? Imagine this happening when you are in the middle of nowhere. Thank your stars that you can access it offline – the most powerful feature of a native app. Yes, Google Maps is an example of a native app. Offline functionality guarantees comfort even to those users who reside in lower network connectivity areas.
We generally pay little to no attention to the development process of mobile apps when utilizing them. The fundamental knowledge is limited to iOS apps created through iOS development, whereas Android apps are created through Android development. However, Android development and iOS development are on boom now.
But before that, let’s get you acquainted with the numbers. The numbers here show the platform on which apps are developed.
87% of the user market, Android app development captures, and 60% is for iOS development. A few other examples of native apps which we use in our day-to-day life are Pinterest, Facebook, Spotify, WhatsApp, and many others.
Mobile app development has different ways to develop an app, like Native app development, Cross platform app development, Hybrid app development, Web apps, and progressive web apps. Hence, understanding the app development process and whether the type of Cross-platform Vs. Native apps are best for your project through a technical lens becomes vital.
Wondering how to choose between native apps and cross-platform apps and get the best value? Let us walk you through the roads of Native vs. Cross platform app development to know the better approach for your business app development.
Native app development is platform-specific app development. It’s a dedicated native mobile development process for iOS and Android platforms for a user-rich experience. Multiple features like high speed, offline functionality, better support, and many others are supported by Native mobile development.
Create a revenue generating native application. Offer a trendy app and gain higher returns.
Let’s skip to the “Good Part!”
The benefits of native app development are listed down below
Native apps are faster, undoubtedly. The simple reason is that native apps are stored on the device, so they don’t need bandwidth or internet connectivity to load. Hence, faster as compared to hybrid or cross-platform.
Since the mobile app is stored on the mobile device, it takes seconds to load without a network connection. It ensures convenience while using the application in an offline environment.
iOS and Android release guidelines for designers to develop an app. These are different for Android developers and iOS developers. Adherence to platform guidelines creates an ecosystem for the apps to perform well and helps develop intuitive and interactive apps.
Implementing two different platform-specific codebases makes it easier to maintain a code. It leads to lesser bug probability. It reduces the tech dependencies. Instead of maintaining the same codebase for two different platforms, the likelihood of finding more bugs increases, like in cross platform or hybrid apps.
While developing native apps, get full advantage of the tech stack, like the APIs and the tools provided by the platform.
Because of the high speed and good performance, native apps are ranked higher in the platform app stores.
The endless APIs accessible for native apps can make your app more scalable and better. If necessary, new APIs can be built to craft functionalities not provided by existing APIs.
A known fact is that native apps are meant for superb user experience. The specific APIs and tools make the apps faster and more responsive, which helps improve the overall performance. Without bias, native apps offer superior performance when compared to cross-platform apps.
Yes, native development is costly. It is like investing the money in two applications. So double your expenses for the team working on two different platforms for native mobile apps. However, it makes sense because you’ll be listing two applications in two platform app stores.
Developing two different applications on two different platforms will take time. Each platform has different features and barriers, hence, the difficulty levels also vary. These difficulties consume much time in native development vs cross platform.
Codebase is meant for one platform. E.g Android won’t work on iOS. new code has to be written for each platform. The dedicated application demands time. No code reusability for native apps; on the contrary cross platform apps have code reusability features.
It is said, “High development cost, higher maintenance cost.” Future modifications and upgrades are costly when compared to native Vs. Cross platform apps.
Knowledge of specific languages and skills is a must. Finding a team with talent and skills is a difficult task.
Cross platform development is creating an application, often a mobile app, that can run on multiple platforms using a single code.
Cross platform apps allow easy implementation, solid functionality, and low costs. The comparative performance and graphics are low in cross platform app development.
Cross platform apps are common in today’s world. The frameworks React Native, Xamarin, and Flutter deserve all of the credit.
A 2022 developer poll found that Flutter is the most common cross-platform mobile framework developers use worldwide. 46% of software developers utilized Flutter, according to the report. About one-third use cross platform technologies or frameworks, and the rest of the mobile developers use native app tools.
Cross platform development has the “Write Once, Run Everywhere”(WORE) philosophy as a single codebase is used, which is reusable on multiple platforms.
Some typical Cross platform apps are Slack, Skype, Adobe Reader, Teamviewer, and others. A simple reason to start with cross platform apps is it is budget friendly and faster to develop. This makes it a good friend for beginners or those who want to launch mobile apps for the first time on multiple platforms.
As a single reusable codebase is developed so the development time is faster. There is no hassle of individual platform-dedicated development. This saves a lot of time and is responsible for increased productivity and efficiency.
A single codebase is utilized in cross-platform app development, which yields flawless outcomes. One codebase simplifies testing and deploying updates and upgrades, improving accuracy and producing higher-caliber mobile applications.
Cross-platform app development reduces the cost by up to 30% – 40% as compared to native app development. The simple reason is it takes just one team for the development process as opposed to native, where two teams are deployed. Additionally, developers can use a substantial portion of code and other assets across the web and mobile for those wishing to use technologies that can build web apps and mobile apps (such as React Native). This could speed up the development process and lower the cost of development.
The biggest USP of cross platform development is code reusability.
Native applications require separate code writing for multiple platforms. In cross platform app development the complete codebase is preserved in one location while creating a custom mobile app, which allows the development team to work simultaneously on both platforms and save time.
To create adaptive apps compatible with different platforms, it is advisable to have a pool of talented developers. It becomes a difficult task while creating complicated features and interfaces for multiple platforms and operating systems.
Integrating cross-platform apps into local environments is tricky for developers.
Cross-platform apps’ reduced cost and quicker development pace come at a cost, as they, regrettably, have less capability than native ones. There may also be some Android/IoS-specific functions that are not available.
Cross-platform applications must change how they look and work on many devices, operating systems, and platforms. Because of this, it takes a lot of work from developers to address the unique peculiarities of each kind of device and platform. This can be particularly difficult for characteristics that are complicated. Therefore, the functionality may be impacted by this implementation challenge.
As the application is not developed for a dedicated platform, it becomes difficult for the developer to optimize the toolset available fully.
We can create apps for your business to target high purchase intent and a much higher ROI.
There are many cross platform frameworks to work on. These are the tools for the developers to show their magic. Now the market is flooded with many cross platform frameworks like Ionic, React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, Nativescript, Node.Js, and numerous others. Here three of them are briefly explained below.
Xamarin
It has the ability to develop cutting-edge apps for iOS, Android, and Windows using an open-source platform. The abstraction layer Xamarin is in charge of managing the shared code that is delivered to the platform’s core code.
Flutter
A Google-backed framework and the most popular one in this category. It uses DART as the programming language. It uses custom widgets for user interfaces to give a close-to-native look and experience.
There are good and bad points when developing native vs cross platform mobile apps. Finally, the decision relies on the project requirements and the developers’ skills.
Regarding user experience and performance, native mobile apps remain the best option. Native app developers can take full advantage of the tools as this is a dedicated app for a specific platform while developing a native app. No doubt they are more expensive; you will feel more at ease with lower defect rates and improved graphics. A wise decision for businesses is to choose native app development.
Cross-platform software creation is simple and quick, but creating a comparable user experience on each platform takes more effort.
Still undecided about whether to develop native or cross-platform mobile apps? Moon Technolabs is the place for expert advice. To resolve your app development-related queries, contact us.
Jayanti Katariya is the CEO of Moon Technolabs, a fast-growing IT solutions provider, with 18+ years of experience in the industry. Passionate about developing creative apps from a young age, he pursued an engineering degree to further this interest. Under his leadership, Moon Technolabs has helped numerous brands establish their online presence and he has also launched an invoicing software that assists businesses to streamline their financial operations.
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