Did you know that there are several different ways to develop an app? You’ve probably used tons of apps on your phone by now, but haven’t realized that there are different ways to make an app. Some of the ways which we will discuss are native apps, react native apps, hybrid apps, and Xamarin apps.
Native Apps
Native apps are considered to be the standard among the mobile world, and the majority of apps that you’ve used are native apps. Because native apps are coded for specific mobile operating systems, they can only be accessed through a dedicated app store – generally Apple or Android’s store. The dependence on a dedicated app store allows the programming language to be faster and far more reliable as it’s tied to one specific platform.
Native apps also offer a rich user experience and better functionality as they are able to access the mobile device’s features such as the accelerometer, camera, and address book.
Native Apps
Pros
Complete device integration
Easy to find in the App Store
Superior UX Design and performance
Fast and responsive
Cons
Requires more time, effort, and skill
High development costs
More than one codebase
Getting approval from the App Store can be a tedious process
React Native Apps
Expanding native apps, react native apps use a framework that turns JavaScript code into native mobile apps for iOS and Android. Because react native apps allows the re-use of codes across the web, Android, and iOS, it decreases the amount of time, effort, and cost of developing rich mobile applications.
React Native Apps
Pros
Faster to build
Fast applications
Simplified UI
Cons
Less smooth navigation
Lack of some custom modules
Must abide by Facebook’s rules
Xamrin Apps
Xamarin apps are a cross-platform development package that uses C# and .NET. With Xamarin apps, developing iOS and Android apps become more streamlined and easier to maintain.
When you are developing Xamarin apps, there are two routes you can take, both of which require Visual Studio – Xamarin Native and Xamarin Forms.
Xamarin Native development divides the Visual Studio solution into three parts – the iOS and Android projects and stand-alone code-bases, C# wrappers, and the Portable Class Library.
Xamarin Forms attempt to abstract the development of both platforms into its own self-contained project. With Xamarin Forms, developers write codes once for both platforms, so the native framework for either platform doesn’t need to be altered. Xamarin Forms use its own markup language in the form of XAML to build the UI of the app.
Xamarin Native
Pros
Shareable Code
Strong performance
Cons
C# doesn’t offer as many features
Relatively large binary sizes
Xamarin Forms
Pros
Quick to build basic applications
Ability to drop down into native development
Cons
Small community
Difficult to create apps that need special interactions and apps that need high polished UI designs
Hybrid Apps
Hybrid apps, like the name suggests, are a hybrid form of an app and can be considered to be the swiss-army knife of apps. Hybrid apps are websites that are packaged into native wrapper and offer the combined advantage of web apps and native development approaches. Essentially, it’s installed like a native app, but it’s actually a web app on the inside.
The blend of the apps allows developers to be able to easily program a significant part of the app through web technologies.
Pros
Fast development process
Allows for small, regular changes in the app
Reduced development costs
Cons
Mediocre UX
Reduced efficiency
Presence of lags
Now that you are a little more informed on the different ways of developing an app, consider these points before your business embarks on its own journey to develop an app.