Mobile applications are very common these days. Especially since the past few years we have witnessed a huge rise in smartphone apps. The smartphones and mobile devices are becoming more powerful day by day, the technology itself is improving a lot and the people are spending more time on their mobile phones than ever before. All these factors along with the changing customer behavior and market trend have compelled businesses to offer mobile applications to their customers. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the 99% of the population have access to high-speed internet and almost the same percentage of population owns a mobile phone. This means the mobile apps can offer a great brand visibility. Businesses can offer more personalized customer experience via mobile applications which help them increase customer engagement too. The mobile apps are also a great source of valuable business intelligence data which help businesses gathering deeper insight to customers’ minds.
The mobile apps are not just helpful in enhancing customer experience, but they can also support a business in generating more revenue. Businesses can utilize mobile applications to offer e-Commerce features to allow their customers to make purchases directly from the smartphone apps. Businesses who are not selling online, or can’t sell online, can offer a variety of services via mobile applications. That not only help businesses gain customer loyalty but also help them to improve their internal processes and operational capabilities. The digital services or mobile applications help businesses digitalize several internal processes and the digitalization drives autonomy and efficiency. That is why mobile applications are extremely crucial for a businesses.
What is Hybrid Mobile Application Development?
Hybrid mobile application development is building a single application which can run on multiple platforms/OS such as Android, Apple iOS, and Windows. The native mobile application development is building a tailor-made application only for a specific platform/OS. If a native app is developed for Android it won’t be able to run on Windows or iOS and vice versa. The hybrid apps are developed using web-based technologies such as JavaScript, HTML and CSS then the application is integrated or wrapped in a framework such as React, Xamarin or Iconic which makes it a hybrid mobile application. The application developer will have to write a single code, which works in all supportive platforms or operating systems. The hybrid mobile applications utilizes the embedded browser of each platform instead of the regular web browser, which enables users to install them on any supportive platform, same like the native mobile applications. The hybrid mobile applications can offer great functionalities and user experience by leveraging the advantages of web apps and the native apps.
The hybrid mobile applications can also utilize the device’s hardware such as camera, GPS, storage or any other available/compatible hardware component. The application developers can also use the framework to build the native UIs to further enhance the user experience. This means that the hybrid mobile applications can have the appearance and look and feel of a native application. Differentiating between hybrid mobile application and the native mobile apps is very difficult for a common user, so mostly they won’t notice it at all. Only in a certain cases when the business wants to utilize the very unique hardware and software features of a platform, they tend to build native apps such as Google Maps, Tesla, Spotify, WhatsApp, etc. Most of the time businesses prefer building hybrid mobile apps. The hybrid mobile applications can also be submitted to native application stores such as Google App Store or Apple App Store. From a user’s perspective there is no noticeable difference between the native apps and hybrid mobile applications.
Advantages of Hybrid Mobile Applications
The ability to combine the features of web apps with the native apps’ features offers a multitude of advantages. The native application development is slowly fading away, sooner the hybrid mobile applications will dominate the mobile apps market. The gap between the native apps and hybrid apps is squeezing day by day and the technology is also evolving on a very rapid pace. Which means sooner or later we might not need native applications at all, or even if we need that would be for a very limited scope. Here are some key advantages of the hybrid mobile applications:
Hybrid Mobile Applications offer a Great UI/UX
The hybrid mobile applications are good at offering intuitive user interfaces (UI) and exceptional user experience (UX).The hybrid mobile applications can leverage the features from both native apps and web apps which provide them this superiority. Another great advantage of hybrid mobile applications is that they offer universal UI and UX on all supportive platforms. No matter if the user switch the platform the experience and interface will remain consistent. The hybrid mobile application can also easily adopt different screen sizes and offer a smooth experience at all supported devices. The usage of web based technologies make UI light and super-fast to load which is another great advantage of hybrid mobile applications.
Hybrid Mobile Applications Work Offline
One of the greatest problem with the mobile apps is the capability to work offline. The hybrid mobile applications provide offline support. It means that the app data is stored on the local device, all the necessary resources are also stored in the local device. This allow the users to access the app data while offline. The businesses who offer services in ruler areas or with the limited connectivity must require this feature. Almost 70% of the users ditch an application if it showed glitches or limit their access due to limited connectivity. The capability to offer accessibility offline help businesses overcome this problem and ensures the users will get a smooth uninterrupted experience even when they are offline.
Hybrid Mobile Applications offer Wider Audience Reach
Since the hybrid mobile applications can be launched on multiple platforms, they can offer a wider audience reach. Some of your customers might be using Google Android or some might be using Apple iOS based smartphones and mobile devices. Once a hybrid mobile application is built for a platform, let say, iOS it is easier to import it to other platforms such as Android and Windows. It is also a lot easier to publish your hybrid mobile applications at the Google and Apple app stores. This provide a great advantage and enable businesses to reaching out to a larger audience across various platforms.
Hybrid Mobile Applications are Easy and Quick to Develop
For the hybrid mobile application development the software developers will have to write only one codebase which works on all required platforms. However, for the native mobile apps the developers will have to write separate codes for all required platforms. Each platform also require coding in a particular (supportive) programming language which make it more time consuming. But with the hybrid mobile application development the businesses can even utilize their existing web tools, to build the mobile application on them. For example, a website CMS can be used to publish the content on the hybrid mobile application which makes the development process way too shorter than the native app building.
Hybrid Mobile Applications are Easy to Maintain
As the hybrid mobile applications are built using web-based technologies, so it is a lot easier to maintain and update them. There is only one codebase which is working on all platforms which makes it easier for the businesses to retain less resources to maintain it. For the native apps usually there are separate teams maintaining the separate platforms. The hybrid mobile applications are as easier to update as a website, there is no versioning involved, and most of the updates are controlled from the backend or a CMS software. Which makes it even more convenient for the businesses to maintain them. This also reduce the need of the technical staff or outsourcing to manage and maintain the hybrid mobile applications.
Hybrid Mobile Applications are Cost-effective
The cost of a mobile application depends on multiple factors, however, if we assume that we need a certain number and nature of features we can easily compare it with the native app development. As for the native app development the business will have to have separate teams and experts for each platform, hence the cost arises a lot. Furthermore there is a lot of back and forth in approvals from Google and Apple which take time and a lot of amendments in the code. However, for the hybrid mobile application development the business only needs one team who can program the app once and then optimize it according to each supported platform.
The hybrid mobile applications are also built on open-source platforms which reduce the amount of coding that is required to build a certain functionality in the app. It is a lot easier to publish a hybrid mobile application on Google and Apple stores than the native app. Hence the overall cost is way too low than the native mobile apps. For example, if a native mobile app costs you around AED 100,000/- the hybrid mobile app with similar features and user experience would cost you around AED 25,000/- only. That is why the hybrid application development is very cost-effective.
Hybrid Mobile Applications can Offer Better Performance
Traditionally the native apps are considered to be faster than the hybrid mobile applications. However, this barrier is fading away. By leveraging the web components and advanced frameworks, mostly the hybrid mobile applications match the performance of a native app, and sometimes even surpass it. The hybrid mobile applications are much faster than the progressive web apps and the responsive apps. On top of that they hybrid mobile applications also support offline operation which also make them faster. If we consider the numbers of users the hybrid mobile applications tend to perform much better with huge amount of users comparing to the native mobile apps.
Hybrid Mobile Applications are the Future
The markets are getting very competitive. The user experience is one of the most impactful factor in the present day. The hybrid mobile application development is a much faster, efficient and less expensive approach to develop mobile applications and they also have much lower maintenance and operational cost. The upgrade and scalability is also much more convenient and cost-efficient. Large-scale retail businesses such as Amazon, Nike, Etsy and Target are using hybrid mobile applications with exceptional performance and great user experience. Due to the rapid advancements in the frameworks and platforms used to build hybrid mobile applications the gap between the hybrid and native apps is quickly fading away.
The SMEs and startups are more inclined towards the hybrid mobile applications due to their cost-effectiveness. Large-scale businesses adopt them to avoid managing separate infrastructures for their websites/web apps and the mobile apps. Since the hybrid mobile applications are largely using web components, so the developers and coders are easily available which also impact the cost and help bringing innovation and stability to the project. The scalability, upgrades and the performance is also excellent. All these advantages make hybrid mobile applications more future ready then the native mobile apps. The rapid adaptation all around the world is an evidence that the hybrid mobile applications will soon dominate the mobile app market.
Conclusion
The mobile apps have become a completely new frontier for the businesses. Whether you are a startup or SME or a large-scale enterprise, you must have to offer a great customer experience. The mobile apps are a great tool to offer a personalized and pleasing experience to your customers. Here in UAE the governments are also offering a variety of e-services through the smartphone applications. It makes it much easier to interact with the customers. When it comes to develop a mobile app the question arises whether you should go for native apps or hybrid mobile applications. The native apps require much more time, efforts along with higher expenses and cost. However, the hybrid mobile applications are considerably cost-efficient, require much less resources to build and maintain. Furthermore the hybrid mobile applications now a days can offer almost all the features that any native mobile app can offer. Which also make them a better choice.
The hybrid mobile applications offer more consistent and exceptional user experience on all supportive platforms and also tend to perform well under heavy user load as well. The hybrid mobile applications will cost you even less than the 1/3 of the native app and can be completed in less than half of the time required to build a native mobile app. Which make them superior from the native mobile apps. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to help you build a bespoke cost-effective hybrid mobile app, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
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