Mobile Development
1 — What is Mobile Development?
2 — What is Native Development?
3 — What is Hybrid Development?
February 14, 2024
What is Mobile Development?
On average, each Russian resident spends 4.3 hours a day on their smartphone, placing Russia eighth out of 16 countries in this regard. Now imagine that all apps on your phone are gone. Congratulations, you now have a high-tech 'brick.' Without mobile development and the apps it creates, portable devices would be useless.
In 2023, Google Play hosted 3.718 million apps. You can find an app for virtually any activity, from match-three games to meditation. All mobile apps can be divided into three types:
- Native apps— applications developed for use on a specific platform or device.
- Web apps— client-server applications where the client interacts with the web server using a browser.
- Hybrid apps— a blend of the two approaches mentioned above.
Mobile apps, aside from always being at hand, have several advantages:
- The ability to implement virtually any functionality. Developers' creativity is limited only by the performance capabilities of users' smartphones and their operating systems.
- Speed. The main part of the mobile app files is loaded onto the user's smartphone, ensuring faster app performance.
- Push notifications. Apps can send push notifications, providing businesses with another channel to communicate with clients.
- User retention. A well-designed app retains users better than a website.
What is Native Development?
Native development involves working on a 'native' platform: for Android, we use Kotlin, and for iOS, Swift is supported. There are about five billion smartphones globally, with around 80% running Android and less than 20% using iOS.
The choice between native and hybrid development depends on the tasks the development team faces. Native development has several advantages that can be decisive:
- Performance. Maximum performance is achieved through native development. Convenience lies in the ability to achieve maximum performance without using intermediate libraries.
- App size. App size becomes crucial when working on specialized devices or with large-scale apps. Native development can significantly reduce the app size.
- Support for low-level functions. Low-level functions are those that do not call any other user-written functions but utilize the OS or framework. In mobile development, examples include gyroscopes, compasses, or fingerprint recognition modules.
- The latest features. All platform innovations and updates are reflected in native languages on the day of release. (Frameworks usually adopt them later.) This aspect is crucial for releasing an app ahead of competitors.
What is Hybrid Development?
Hybrid development involves using common programming languages and web technologies used in website creation. This approach combines cross-platform and native methods and employs frameworks. In simple terms, these are apps that use both native languages and web tools.
Hybrid development involves using common programming languages and web technologies used in website creation. This approach combines cross-platform and native methods and employs frameworks. In simple terms, these are apps that use both native languages and web tools.
What should we choose for our app? The decision should depend on your app's primary goal. If the app requires 'heavy' computational power on the phone (detailed animations, 3D), or doesn't need constant internet access (e.g., fitness apps, games, diaries), then native development is the way to go. If you need connectivity to web services, such as for an online store, hybrid development is the better choice.
The advantages of hybrid apps include:
- Hybrid apps can be freely used across different platforms.
- The app can operate both offline and online.
- Hybrid apps receive updates, improving app quality.
- Development is cheaper compared to native apps, where creating two versions for two platforms costs twice as much.
When developing a mobile app, it's essential to understand the app's requirements, while the development model can be left to the developers and their project managers.
