Mobile application development is the process of creating software applications that run on a mobile device, and a typical mobile application utilizes a network connection to work with remote computing resources. Hence, the mobile development process involves creating installable software bundles (code, binaries, assets, etc.) , implementing backend services such as data access with an API, and testing the application on target devices.
There are four major development approaches when building mobile applications
- Native Mobile Applications
- Cross-Platform Native Mobile Applications
- Hybrid Mobile Applications
- Progressive Web Applications
Each of these approaches for developing mobile applications has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. When choosing the right development approach for their projects, developers consider the desired user experience, the computing resources and native features required by the app, the development budget, time targets, and resources available to maintain the app
Native Applications
Native mobile applications are written in the programming language and frameworks provided by the platform owner and running directly on the operating system of the device such as iOS and Android.
Cross-Platform Applications
Cross-platform native mobile applications can be written in variety of different programming languages and frameworks, but they are compiled into a native application running directly on the operating system of the device.
Hybrid-Web Applications
Hybrid mobile applications are built with standard web technologies - such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5 - and they are bundled as app installation packages. Contrary to the native apps, hybrid apps work on a 'web container' which provides a browser runtime and a bridge for native device APIs via Apache Cordova.
Progressive Web Applications
PWAs offer an alternative approach to traditional mobile app development by skipping app store delivery and app installations. PWAs are web applications that utilize a set of browser capabilities - such as working offline, running a background process, and adding a link to the device home screen - to provide an 'app like' user experience.
At the highest level, there are four main ways that native apps differ from hybrid apps as illustrated in the following table.
Native HybridPlatform SpecificCross PlatformCompiled Language Scripting / CompiledAccess to Device HardwarePlugins / Native ModulesPlatform FrameworksWeb Frameworks
Why Choose the Hybrid/Cross-platform Approach?
One problem with native mobile application development is that it requires a highly specialized skill set. Although there are large and vibrant developer communities for C and Java -- the language families that are mostly used for native development --, there are fewer developers who are knowledgeable in platform-specific versions of those languages and their respective IDEs skilled native app developers are in such demand , that many companies are hard-pressed to hire