The tech industry is evolving continuously and there are several approaches to digitize any business. Meanwhile, choosing the right technology and method has become a critical part of the success of your mobile apps while making it the most influential way to grow your business. Therefore, it is essential to make a decision that suits the best interest of your business goals along with the market trends and user demand.
The total number of app downloads collectively on both the App Store and Play Store will rise to 299 billion this year as per Statista. Meanwhile, the overall revenue of the mobile apps is expected to be more than $935 billion in 2023. These stats are enough to justify the impact of mobile apps on every mobile app development company florida .
Currently, many businesses around the world have adopted mobile apps to digitally connect with their users. The rest are in the phase of development or either planning to do so. But the most common clash that comes in mobile app development is whether you choose Native or Cross-platform apps.
Therefore, we are going to elaborate on all the common and contradictory points among these approaches. So, you will have an idea and a better understanding regarding the selection of either one.
What is Native App Development?
Using native app development, you can either target Android or iOS as a platform to deploy your application. So, it depends on the operating system for which you want to develop an app coded in a specific programming language.
For Android apps, you build the application using Java or Kotlin based on your preference. However, iOS applications are developed using Objective-C or Swift as programming languages.
Native apps require an integrated development environment (IDE) with the utilization of software development kits (SDKs) according to their specific operating system. Android development is done on Android Studio or IntelliJ IDEA and you can operate these on Windows, macOS, and Linux. On the other hand, you can utilize Xcode or AppCode as the development environment and they are only operable on macOS.
What is Cross-Platform App Development?
With cross-platform app development, you can develop a mobile application for different operating systems using a single codebase. The main reason to use this development approach is to deploy your application on several operating systems with the same project.
Usually, these apps are built using cross-platform frameworks, which are accessible through both Android and iOS SDKs with a unified API. That’s how you can utilize the SDKs and libraries from different platforms that enable you to build a cross-platform app easily.
Some tech giants create these frameworks to make it possible to develop cross-platform apps. Popular examples are here React Native is built by Meta and it is based on JavaScript. Meanwhile, Google created Flutter which uses Dart for programming. So, the cross-platforms utilize native UI elements with their compilations and give you the experience of a native application.
The tools for development are the same as native app development. You need an Android SDK on Windows for deployment on the Android platform and iOS SDK on the macOS for the iOS platform. Meanwhile, the development environment has a wide variety of Reactive Native apps such as VS Code, Android Studio, WebStorm, Xcoe, and Atom. On the other hand, Flutter apps can be built using VS Code, Android Studio, and IntelliJ.
Comparison of Native and Cross-platform Apps
Now, you might get an idea of both development approaches and their relative aspects for the creation. In this section, we are going to discuss the differences between native and cross-platform apps considering their features:
Performance
There can be several complex functions in a mobile app based on your business requirements. So, performance is an essential aspect to consider for its usability. When it comes to performance native apps are the best due to their high functionality. In cross-platform, you need extra effort with the relevant frameworks to ensure a native experience.
Security
The reputation of your business highly depends on the security you provide regarding the user data in your application. Applications for banking or healthcare carry sensitive information of the users and its protection is the main concern of any business. Native are preferred for this matter as they have built-in security features with file encryption that allows you to secure the data easily. Although the security of cross-platform apps is considerable, you have to include extra security protocols.
Cost
When it comes to the cost, cross-platform is always a better option as they require minimal team to develop and you can target different operating systems using the same code. Native apps are usually costly and the development procedure is comparatively lengthy.
Final Thoughts
Both native and cross-platform apps have their pros and cons based on the development process and the overall output as products. So, it’s up to choose the right one based on your business requirements. However, the points we have covered in this blog will help you to make a firm decision by having a better understanding of both approaches. Once you made up your mind, you can hire android app developers to digitize your business with a robust app.
