How to Choose the Right Technology for Mobile Software Development?

So, you have an idea for a mobile app and are now looking for the right technology? We’ve got you covered. Read this guide to the most important mobile app development technologies to explore your options and choose the best technology for mobile software development.

Native apps

Mobile software development for specific mobile operating systems requires using their designated technologies. Most native apps are built for the two most popular operating systems – Android and iOS.

Benefits of native apps:

• The main advantage is the high performance and outstanding user experience, thanks to the use of native device UI. 
• By accusing various APIs, teams can speed up the development work and integrate a great number of features to expand the range of app usage. 

Disadvantages of native apps:

• Users can only download and install native applications from app stores that have a strict publishing process.
• Another important drawback of native apps is their high cost. To develop, support, and maintain an app for both Android and iOS systems, you need to hire two development teams. That’s why a native app development project will come with a higher price tag.

Web apps

Web applications can work similarly to native mobile apps and be available on mobile devices. However, web apps run inside internet browsers and are written using web development tools such as CSS, HTML5, or JavaScript. They redirect to a given URL and then provide users with the option to install the app, creating a bookmark on their page. 

Benefits of web apps:

• They require minimum device memory and don’t need to pass the app publishing process in an app store. Users don’t need to download them on their phones.

Disadvantages of web apps:

• Since all data is saved on servers, users can only take advantage of the application if they’re connected to the internet. Otherwise, a web app might deliver a poor user experience.
• Teams building web apps don’t have many APIs to work with, excluding the most popular features like geolocation. 
• The app’s performance is strongly related to browser work and network connection, which is outside of your control.

Hybrid Apps

Benefits of hybrid apps:

• Developing them is easy and fast.
• You get a single codebase for all the platforms, reducing the cost of maintenance and making updating the app much easier. 
• Development teams can use many APIs for features such as gyroscopes or geolocation.

A mobile hybrid application is developed with the help of web technologies such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML 5. It’s basically a web app locked in a native wrapper.

Disadvantages of hybrid apps:

• Hybrid applications often lack speed and performance.
• Your team might experience design issues and end up with an app that doesn’t look the same on two different platforms.

Cross-platform apps

Cross-platform mobile development is one of the most popular approaches in mobile software development. By adopting this approach, developers can build apps for different iOS and Android using a single codebase. This helps to save time, money, and effort.

Benefits of cross-platform apps

• Faster and cheaper development.
• Wider market reach thanks to the ability to develop for various platforms.
• A single codebase for all mobile platforms and good platform consistency.

Disadvantages of cross-platform apps

• Potentially slower performance than native apps.
• Discrepancies in UX and UI between different platforms.

Cross-platform technologies you need to know:

• Progressive Web App (PWA) – PWA apps are nothing else than websites that mimic the behavior of native apps. They can work offline, send push notifications, and be added to the home screen of mobile devices. However, PWAs might consume more battery and won’t be able to access all of the device features you might need.
• AMP – this open-source web component library helps developers to improve the performance of web pages on mobile devices. An AMP page can offer a load time that is less than half a second.
• Flutter – created by Google, Flutter is a handy framework for cross-platform mobile software development. It’s still a relative newbie on the market, but it’s quickly gaining steam because Flutter native apps offer an easy way to build attractive, natively-compiled applications for various mobile platforms using a single codebase.

We hope this article helps you in finding the best mobile app development technology for your project.