Your Essential Guide to Deciding Your App’s Format

So you want to build an app. You know what value you want to provide your users, what burning need your app will fill. In choosing to build an app, you are making a great business decision; mobile browsing has now passed traditional laptop/desktop browsing.1 And as the number of platforms for mobile access increases, mobile usage will continue to skyrocket.

 

But now you need to answer the crucial question: native or hybrid?  There are several factors you need to consider before you decide which format is best for your particular app idea. Let’s start by reviewing the features of both options, then walk through the evaluation process.

 

NATIVE APPS

 

A native app is platform-specific; it’s designed for a particular platform, and therefore follows the user-experience guidelines of that platform. This means that your users will have the same functionalities with your app as they would have with any of the apps that came with the device. It also means a seamless transition for users: no learning curve. Once they know how to use their devices, they will know how to use your app. This is a big plus in user satisfaction, which is always good for business.

 

Here are some of the benefits of a native app:

• Double taps, pinch-spread, and other user interactions available on the device are available in your app.
• It’s intuitive. Users love the consistency and tremendous ease of use.
• Native apps have extremely fast graphics and fluid animation, and overall great performance.
• They seamlessly integrate with features native to the device—phone, calendar, camera, GPS.
• Native apps load instantly, because all the information is downloaded to the device when installed. That means when the user opens your app, it fires up immediately. Again, this provides huge user satisfaction.
• Since the information is already on the device, some functions may be available without internet connection.
• Because of their great user satisfaction and compliance to standards, native apps are easily found in the app store.

 

So the native app sounds terrific. But there are some drawbacks:

• Native apps require unique developer expertise.
• Android and iOS dominate the market (79.4% Android and 16.4% iOS in 2015, according to Forbes 2) so you would probably want to build for both platforms.
• More intricate programming means longer creation time.
• All this costs money.

 

What kinds of apps are best native? Games, high-performance applications where the screen is changing frequently, and apps that include highly interactive reporting or intense computational algorithms are best created as native apps. They will need the speed, flexibility, and instant access of information in order to operate at their optimum level and provide the highest level of user experience.

 

HYBRID APPS

 

The hybrid app uses cross-compatible web technologies, like HTML5 and Javascript, hidden under a native veneer. As such they can function under both Android and iOS. Hybrids can be developed quickly and do not require as much time and expertise to develop. The information utilized by the app remains on a server somewhere, rather than being downloaded onto the device. While hybrids have notoriously been slower and less flexible than natives, some proponents argue that hybrids are making progress in functionality and quality. Some developers have invented clever fixes that begin to approach the speed and interaction which were previously unavailable in the hybrid. Here are some of the benefits of the native app:

 

• Hybrids are less difficult to develop.
• They are faster to market—often less than 6 months.
• Since they’re easier to build, they’re less costly.
• Hybrids are fueled by a website rather than downloaded onto the device.

 

As with native apps, there are drawbacks to hybrid, and they all involve user experience:

 

• Hybrids are generally significantly slower than native apps.
• Hybrids can’t support as much graphics and animation.
• They don’t offer the same user interactions that users are used to from their devices.
• There may be limitations to interfacing with apps native to the device.
• Since information is on a company server, the level of server use can further slow down processing.
• The app always requires internet connection.

 

What kinds of apps are best as hybrids? Generally, apps that do not require high-speed calculations, images, graphics, or animation might function fine as hybrids. Certainly, apps that have a static screen with very few elements would be good as hybrids. Additionally, apps that require access to large amounts of data or need frequent updating would be better as hybrids. Apps for mobile banking, social media, and buying movie tickets are usually hybrids.

 

But which App is best for me?

 

You may by now know exactly which app type is best for you. If so, it’s time to consult your development team. If not, take some time to consider these questions:

 

Do you want to have the best user experience?

 

The answer to this, of course, is an unequivocal yes. Who wouldn’t? So the level of complexity of your app will determine which kind of app will give you the highest user experience. And user experience is crucial; a survey by Compuware showed that 79% of users will only try an app once or twice if it fails to work. Only 16% will give it a third try.3 Users don’t have patience with apps that aren’t perfect. Remember, for many of them, mobile use is their primary way of interacting with the online world. They will dump you for a better app if they sense any imperfection. This is why having the very best developers is crucial. Think about your own experiences: when you use an app, you want it to fire up immediately; you want to be able to do things with it that you’re used to doing with your other apps; you don’t want to be locked out of your information because some server crashed; you want your animation, graphics, and computations to be quick; and you want to interface with your other apps. So if you want these things from your own apps, won’t your users want it from yours?

 

If your app does not need complex functionalities, if you don’t need pinch-spread, graphics, or access to the other apps on the device, hybrid may be just fine. However, most apps require more than the basics. Hybrid is trying to catch up, but it may never be equal. James Long, senior web developer at Mozilla, admits, “The web isn’t close to competing with higher-end native apps…. When companies want to develop a beautiful, ground-breaking app, they choose native.” 4

 

What is your budget?

 

If you have the time and the budget to develop separate Android and iOS versions of your app, by all means, go native! But if your budget is limited, you may have to sacrifice some functionality and go hybrid.

 

How much time do you have?

 

If time is of the essence—for example, you’re playing catch-up to a competitor, or this app is crucial for your company’s interaction with clients—you may want to develop a basic hybrid app for now. If you need capabilities that are not ideal with hybrid, you can either tweak it later (probably at significant cost and questionable success) or replace it entirely with a native app later. Again, some progress is being made to improve the intersection of hybrids with native functionalities. Your development team can tell you if the patches have been developed to do what YOU want to do. And this leads to the next question:

 

How do you choose your app developer?

 

Not everyone has a development team on staff. Most people have to hire one. There are many excellent services out there, but how do you know who is best for you?  Here are some things to look for:

 

• The five cornerstones of success in the mobile world are originality, innovation, creativity, versatility, and vision. Take the time to research the app team to find evidence of innovative, creative, forward-thinking work.
• The native app developers need expertise in hardcore programming skills and in object-oriented programming skills.
• The hybrid app developers must be experts in HTML5, JavaScript, and various other tools recommended by the mobile OS SDK.
• Look for a team whose experience is both wide and deep: experience with hybrid and native, Android and iOS, iPad, iPhone, and many other devices.
• If you are considering hybrid, you want to make sure the developers are experts in adapting to and interfacing with native functionalities, to create as positive a user experience as a hybrid can be.
  
  

The face of web interface is changing, and apps are at the forefront of that change. It’s crucial that your app creates the very best possible user experience. The happier users are with your app, the more likely they are to recommend it to friends and family. Take the time and expense to build the best app you possibly can.

 

PUMEX Technologies (pumextech.com) has emerged as a leading provider of Mobile Application Development by consistently enhancing the competencies that are vital to bringing innovation to the rapidly growing mobile space.

We have built groundbreaking mobile applications for both iOS and Android platforms (hybrid and native).

PUMEX'S mobile portfolio clearly reflects the five cornerstones of success in the mobile world: originality, innovation, creativity, versatility, and vision. Have an idea for an app? Contact us today (215) 734 1999 or email us info@pumextech.com

 

Sources:

1 “Mobile Now Exceeds PC: The Biggest Shift Since the Internet Began,” Search Engine Watch, July 8, 2014 https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2353616/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began

2 Doug Olenick, “Apple iOS and Google Android Smartphone Market Share Flattening: IDC,” Forbes, May 27, 2015 http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougolenick/2015/05/27/apple-ios-and-google-android-smartphone-market-share-flattening-idc/2/#364d4090194f

3 Compuware, “Mobile Apps: What Consumers Really Need and Want” https://info.dynatrace.com/rs/compuware/images/Mobile_App_Survey_Report.pdf

4 James Long, “Radical Statements about the Mobile Web,” Feb. 20, 2015 http://jlongster.com/Radical-Statements-about-the-Mobile-Web

 

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