The number of mobile phone users has been increasing consistently over the years! Digital businesses are no longer asking themselves the question whether they should invest in hybrid mobile app development or cross platform mobile app development. But the revised question for business owners is which mobile app development approach to follow to take their business up close and personal to user’s phones.
Making the choice between various mobile development approaches is not easy. A number of factors need to be considered, conflicting priorities need to be balanced, and projections about the future of the app in the ever changing mobile landscape need to be made to ensure its feasibility.
All these things need to be done while sticking to a pre-decided budget.
Mobile users are spoilt for choice as there’s a plethora of options available in the market to cater to every need.
A cross platform hybrid mobile app development company, therefore, needs to tread carefully and not rely on the one-size-fits-all approach to guarantee the success of the app developed. Certain apps are more suited for a particular approach, while others can be developed by using more than one approach.
There is no single right way of doing things any more. In recent years, however, hybrid mobile app development has skyrocketed in popularity. This article is for business owners who want to understand the benefits of hybrid mobile app development or cross-platform mobile app development before venturing out in this field.
Hybrid Mobile App Development is the Next Big Thing
Developers are abandoning native development in favour of hybrid. The broader trend is that hybrid app development is gaining traction, while the native approach is waning. As the web evolves, there are fewer and fewer reasons not to adopt.
Hybrid apps are really about the embracing web and making it work for mobile. A good cross-platform hybrid mobile app development company can help a business owner not only save money, but also make it possible to target multiple platforms without maintaining multiple codebases, which reduces the time to market significantly and allows them to reach a higher number of users.
Five major reasons why brands are preferring hybrid mobile app development are:
- Enhanced User Experience
User experience is a one of the most important factors in the minds of app developers as that determines how successful an app would be. People these days do not have the patience to or even the need to deal with a poorly organized app. At the same time, businesses need to keep brand consistency in mind while developing an app for their business to supplement the functions of their website. A hybrid mobile app development company can assist you in overcoming this, and all users will get the opportunity to experience a consistent UI on all platforms as a result of it.
- Availability
Not all apps that are built to end up being successful. Most people download apps only to abandon them after some time if they find the app to be too complicated. The usability and acceptance of the app also varies from channel to channel and platform to platform. Hybrid mobile app development makes the app available on a number of platforms, thus serving a wider audience. Even if the app does not find favour with some users, it is built to be used on diverse platforms.
- Speed
People prefer using apps to make their life simpler. However, if the app takes a lot of time to provide them with the solution that they are seeking, they simply abandon it for a better app providing the same or similar functions. This is a major difficulty that is faced in case of native app development.
For instance, if a mobile app is associated with large images, it would take longer for the network to load these images. Hybrid mobile apps help avoid this problem. They ensure a seamless experience for the users in terms of speed.
- Ease of Integration
There exist certain similarities between hybrid mobile apps and native mobile apps. Apps based on either of them using the programming language of the device in order to synchronize with other compatible apps.
Hybrid mobile app development steers a business owner away from the hassle of integration and ensures that the app works perfectly with the mobile phone’s camera, messages, GPS, phone functionality, and other options. This improves customer experience and satisfaction, and thus makes the app popular.
- Offline Use
Just like in the case of native app development, hybrid app development also uses the API of the device to store useful information offline. This stored information can be easily recalled at a given time and assists in making the app work faster. This is another factor that contributes towards making the app user-friendly.
Cross-platform mobile app development requires the business owner to think of multiple things that are preferred and required by targeted users on different platforms. A hybrid mobile app provides solutions to multiple challenges that a business owner might face when developing an app, it is therefore preferred and suggested by 70% of the developers worldwide.
The decision whether to take the hybrid mobile app development approach or the native app development approach is a big one. Everyone in the mobile app development world has an opinion on which approach is the best, but the fact remains that every project has different priorities, which ultimately dictate how it should be completed.