Phil Nickinson once said, “Your mobile device has quickly become the easiest portal into your digital self.” But what is a smartphone that doesn’t have an app?
Apps provide more connectivity with the outside world, becoming essential to our daily lives. As of 2023, there are a staggering 2.87 million apps available! With these stats, it’s no surprise that many businesses are deciding to develop mobile apps for their products and services. More often, they choose Native app development to build successful apps.
Native app development is more desirable due to its development speed, performance, security, speed of running and compilation, and UX/UI. Yet, if you get it wrong, it could hurt how consumers see your company or prevent them from purchasing your product.
How can you create great native apps to help your company develop, boost revenue, and satisfy your customers? Let us help you find those answers!
What is a Native App?
A native app is designed inclusively for a specific platform. Let’s go into a bit of detail. Different mobile platforms employ different technologies when it comes to mobile app development. For example, Android developers use Java or Kotlin, and iPhone developers use Swift or Objective C.
Thus, when Swift, Java, Kotlin & Objective C are used with their respective platforms, they are considered native languages. There are alternatives to native app development, such as cross-platform or hybrid app development.
Many software developers believe native app development is the only approach to creating mobile apps because it has inherent advantages over hybrid apps. As a result, software businesses can devote more time & resources to developing native applications for every mobile platform, such as Android, Windows & iOS.
But what advantages do native apps have over hybrid apps? Let’s take a look.
Hybrid vs. Native Apps
As software engineer Joel Frank puts it, “Writing multiple native applications for different mobile platforms can be daunting, but taking a non-native approach comes with pitfalls of its own.”
So, “To Hybrid or native”?
Hybrid applications, as the name implies, are a blend of web apps and native mobile apps. They can be created using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can even publish them to app stores, where consumers can download and install them like Android or iOS apps.
Hybrid applications provide a uniform user experience across several platforms. It also offers the same hardware performance as a native application. Yet native apps win the race.
Native apps are superior to hybrid apps because they provide capabilities that are proprietary to the operating system (OS) & their execution time (runtime) and responsiveness (runtime) are faster.
So, what should you choose? It depends on your app’s features.
If your mobile app has a lot of custom features and you require it to be high-performance based and reliable. You should invest in a native solution. For example, interactive games make a lot of sense to design natively.
Furthermore, because more SDKs are available for native development than hybrid development, native has a stronger ability to connect with third-party SDKs.
If that’s not the case, go the hybrid way!
What are the best platforms for native app development?
Consider the two most popular smartphone platforms: iOS and Android. While you can release native apps on iOS or Android (via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, respectively), there are variations in the process and results you can expect, so it’s critical to understand how they differ.
The key distinction is that iOS is a closed model & in contrast, Android is open. Hence, users have greater customization options. There are different voice assistants for each operating system, and they use different app stores. Although Google Play has a greater aggregate audience, Apple App Store users spend more money on their apps.
So, once you decide on the platform you will build your native app, it’s time to understand the different tools and frameworks.
Understanding the Native app development Tools & Frameworks
Although there are other operating systems, businesses rely on creating native apps for iOS and Android, which now account for a 99% market share.
A developer creates a native app by using a programming language that is native to either iOS or Android. In other words, the developer communicates in the language the system understands.
As Software architect Paweł Kozielecki says, “If you are creating an iOS application, you require skilled Swift creators. With Android, you require Kotlin experts.”
Let’s have a look.
For Android
Native Android apps can be created using Java, Kotlin, Scala, and C++ programming languages. Google offers powerful Android development tools such as:
- Android SDK that comes with Android Studio.
- Official IDE (integrated development environment) for Android.
- Windows, Mac, and Linux command line tools
- Firebase and Android Jetpack.
Aside from Google’s tools, other 3rd party solutions are available for Android native app development.
For iOS
Native iOS applications can be written in Swift/Objective C. Unlike Android, the iOS operating system features protected source code designed specifically for Apple’s hardware. To develop native mobile apps for the iOS platform, you’ll need a Mac. Apple delivers various advanced systems & resources for iOS programming, including:
- iOS SDK linked with the UI framework named Cocoa Touch.
- XCode is the authentic IDE for iOS creation.
- Swift Playgrounds is a Swift development learning platform.
- TestFlight is a beta testing program.
- iOS also features an impressive third-party ecosystem with well-known developer tools like Jetbrains and CodeRunner.
Frameworks
Although native app development has numerous benefits, it is not easy. Many businesses lack the knowledge and resources to create native mobile apps from the bottom up.
As a solution, native app frameworks that support cross-platform development emerged. They differ from hybrid models such as Ionic because they don’t work on WebViews for their UI rendering.
On the other hand, Native app development frameworks enable you to create native components using common web technologies, which are compiled into native mobile code. For instance, React.js can be used to construct React Native apps.
Other examples include Flutter — Google’s open-source platform & Tabris.js. As developers said, “Even writing native applications in Objective C, Java & Swift — React Native saves you more time & you don’t need to accomplish everything in JavaScript.”
Benefits of Native App Development
The idea of requiring different languages for each platform on which you plan to launch apps sounds time-consuming at best & dumb at worst. Yet, this is the path taken by many developers and tech companies.
Let’s go over the benefits of Native app development.
- Performance
Most software developers believe that creating mobile apps will result in superior performance. Native apps have more versatility on their native platforms as they are acquainted with the operating system (OS) on which they function. As a result, response times and processing speeds are improved.
- Better Security
Most hybrid apps are multi-platform since they use web technology. A native application, on the other hand, will include security standards that work across all layers of an operating system.
- Improved Functionality
Native app development includes easier and easier creating merge APIs & overall improved compatibility with specific user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) aspects native to the platform you’re building for.
- Easier to debug
Compared to other types of apps, such as hybrid or web apps, native apps are easier to address faults. It’s because native applications do not require cross-platform mobile development tools (such as Cordova or Xamarin), which require a bridge to access the hardware or device.
- More Scalability
Native apps can easily and quickly add new functionality. The numerous APIs available for native apps might help your app become more scalable and better. If required, the latest APIs can develop craft features not provided by ongoing APIs.
Limitations of Native App Development
Despite the obvious advantages of native apps, IT companies continue to build hybrid apps daily. Why? Let’s talk about the limitations of native apps.
- Time-to-Market:
If you intend to publish your app on every available mobile platform, developing an app in a platform-specific language can be time-consuming.
- Cost:
To begin with, time is money. Aside from the crudeness of this hypothesis, business works on this foundation. The longer it takes to develop a native app, the less time you have to promote it and earn profits.
- Need for Developers for Different Platforms:
Developing for Android or iOS necessitates a distinct set of abilities. As a result, if you’re creating for both platforms, you’ll need someone who specializes in both, which can be difficult to find.
You’ll likely need to hire two separate developers/development teams to release your app on the App Store and the Google Play Store.
Examples of Native apps
It’s difficult to tell if an app is native or not just by looking at it. Still, given what you’ve just learned, you can assume that your platform’s quickest apps were designed natively.
Let’s look at some examples.
- Spotify
Spotify is a streaming service that allows users to listen to music on the road or at home without downloading songs or playlists on their phones. Spotify’s use of the cloud is excellent, boosting its performance beyond what you’d expect from a hybrid app.
2. LinkedIn
In terms of native application creation, LinkedIn wasn’t the only corporation to create the error of deploying HTML5 for mobile website applications, while native was unquestionably the better option. LinkedIn’s performance improved once it went native in speed and rendering.
3. Uber
Because Uber is the most popular ride-sharing business globally, its smartphone app must be fast & secure. It is written in Java for Android, Swift & Objective-C for iOS. It enables users to select their destination, request a ride, view price estimates, book rides ahead of time, make purchases & more.
4. Tesla
Tesla, the most well-known name in the electric vehicle market, is another well-known example of a native app. Customers can use the Tesla smartphone app to drive their Tesla vehicles remotely. Using the Tesla app, you can see how fast your Tesla is charging and even start and stop it. And its dark tone gives it a game-like appearance.
Is It Worth Going Native?
If you want a high-quality and resilient mobile application, native mobile app development is the way. A native mobile application will give you a competitive advantage with its attractive design, high-resolution visuals, fast operating performance, and extensive feature set.
With Native apps, you can provide a more personalized experience to your users by offering a terrific user experience, improving performance, and utilizing device features. Although you will have to pay more for the perks, some will likely pay for themselves in the long run.
Ready to build a new native app? Let MarsDevs help you. We can build you an incredible app that prioritizes user experience at all times!
Reach out to us today!
