What are hybrid applications?

A hybrid app is a software application that combines elements of native and web apps. Hybrid apps use a native “shell” to encapsulate web content. Anyone can find or try this type of application in application stores or online stores.

After users download a hybrid app from the app store and install it on their device, the shell connects to whatever features the mobile platform offers through a browser built into the app. The browser, complete with its plug-ins, runs in the backend and is not visible to the end user.

One of the main advantages of hybrid apps from a development perspective is that they allow developers to write code for a mobile app once while accommodating multiple platforms. With an extra layer between the source code and the target platform, hybrid applications sometimes perform slightly slower than native applications.

Hybrid app development services include creating an app capable of running on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Android, and iOS. Hybrid app frameworks allow developers to use a common code base on iOS and Android devices as well.

Some examples of high-performance hybrid apps with higher user engagement include:

• Gmail – The most popular email client is technically a hybrid application. Leveraging the power of HTML5, the Gmail app includes an organized inbox for categorizing promotional and social messages.
• Evernote – With sophisticated design and strong performance, this hybrid app offers a completely fluent experience for note-taking and project management.
• Instagram – The leading image-focused social media platform is among the most popular hybrid apps. This hybrid app supports offline data and observes user engagement every day.
• Uber – The famous hybrid taxi booking app runs on m.uber.com. The app has a simple and intuitive user interface with super easy navigation.
• Amazon – With a top-notch user interface, the Amazon app stands out and makes the shopping process extremely attractive. It also features a simple and quick checkout process.
• Twitter – The famous hybrid social media app offers superior user interface performance and encounters a huge volume of traffic every day.

Hybrid app features include:

• The ability to function when plugged in and unplugged
• Deep integrations into the device's local file system and a suite of web-based services
• Enhanced access to dynamic online content through featured embedded browsers

Hybrid apps work similarly to web apps in that users download these apps onto their devices just like native apps. Hybrid apps use web technologies including HTML, HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript and also run code inside a container. To access device-specific hardware, the device's browser engine renders HTML, JavaScript, and native APIs. Hybrid apps often share similar navigation elements as web apps. If an application does not need support from a database, it can work offline.

Hybrid or native approach to mobile app development?

Choosing the right type of mobile app to develop for a business is a complicated decision. Many decision makers and application teams wonder: hybrid approach or native approach – which is better? The answer is somewhat relative. It depends on what the company wants to achieve by having a mobile app.

The difference between native and hybrid applications is in the way they are developed. When comparing hybrid apps to native apps, here are some questions to keep in mind:

• What are the time constraints in developing a mobile app?
• What is the budget for the mobile app development project?
• What specific features does the application require?
• How specifically will the application address business priorities?

Native apps are developed specifically for the platform they are installed on. They take advantage of a cell phone's hardware, including camera, accelerometer, and GPS. Native applications are also in the same language as the platform's operating system.

Web applications are commonly written in HTML or JavaScript. They require no download and users access them through their device's browser. Web applications do not have the ability to leverage the hardware of a chosen platform.

Hybrid apps combine native and web apps. The installation and operation of these applications is similar to a native application, but they have the inner workings of a web application. They are essentially the best of both worlds.

Best Hybrid App Development Frameworks

There is an unprecedented demand and rise in popularity of hybrid mobile app development services. Fortunately, there are many capable and valuable hybrid mobile app development frameworks available in the market. Development teams must have a solid understanding of each to choose the best option for their projects.

Hybrid app frameworks are the heroes behind the success of hybrid mobile apps. Some of the top choices for these frameworks include the following developer favorites.

Ionic

Ionic is an open-source mobile app framework for building high-quality cross-platform hybrid mobile apps from a single codebase in React, Vue.js, and Angular. A web-first approach is required to create high-quality iOS, desktop, Android, and Progressive Web Apps. Ionic has already helped develop more than 5 million applications. The minimum requirements for Ionic are iOS 7 and Android 4.1.

The features of Ionic are as follows:

• Ionic features a rich library with front-end building along with top-notch UI components.
• It delivers seamless app user experience across iOS, Android, and web platforms from a single shared codebase.
• With hardware-accelerated transitions and touch-optimized gestures, Ionic is fast by default.
• There is built-in support for JavaScript Frameworks or can be used without any framework.
• Ionic provides users with light and dark theme options, so they have the option to choose the one that is easier on the eyes.

React Native

React Native is a famous hybrid mobile app framework capable of rendering stunning mobile apps for iOS and Android. It makes use of cross-platform building blocks for developing effective cross-platform mobile apps.

• React Native gives you the ability to write code once and use it anywhere – like iOS, Android, or Windows – without rewriting code for each operating system from scratch.
• It has flexible support for various third-party libraries to improve performance and other features.
• The framework comes with a specific set of JavaScript functions called Native Modules that run natively on each platform.
• React Native provides ways to make your application UI simple and easy to use.

Vibration

Flutter is an open source framework from Google for creating beautiful, cross-platform apps natively compiled from a single codebase. Flutter deploys applications across multiple devices: mobile, web, desktop, and embedded devices. It is a complete software development kit with a collection of tools, libraries, documentation, APIs, frameworks and more.

• Flutter helps you build effective UIs, deploy them to the system, and fix any bugs, all in the same place.
• The mobile app framework with its unique feature, Hot Reloading, reduces the time required to render changes to less than seconds.
• Flutter features an impressive repository of highly functional, ready-to-use widget collections.
• The framework offers enhanced integration features that make it easily scalable and flexible. Flutter can redesign a legacy application to adjust it to new requirements or build a quick wireframe.

Apache Córdoba

Apache Cordova , formerly known as PhoneGap, is a cutting-edge hybrid application framework supported by the Cordova and Adobe framework. It allows developers to create applications using standard web APIs. The framework provides reliable cross-platform compatibility with just one code for all platforms. The Apache Cordova framework is cost-effective and an incredible choice for businesses or projects with budget constraints.

Apache Cordova has many valuable features, including:

• Apache Cordova provides greater access to native APIs for developing feature-rich mobile applications.
• It creates a single application, running on a single code for all mobile platforms.
• The framework comes with strong backend support.
• It is considered easy and economical to maintain.
• It offers remarkable UI libraries to update the interface.

Xamarin

Xamarin is an open-source mobile app platform for building native, high-performance apps for Microsoft's iOS, Android, and Windows with .NET and C#. It provides users with relatively limited cost, greater audience reach, and a native user interface experience.

• Developers get full support for accessing native APIs and tools for Android, iOS, and Windows platforms.
• Xamarin works under tight deadlines and economic conditions and helps to develop the application in less time.
• Xamarin is easy to develop and maintain. Community resources and Xamarin libraries are useful options for developers.
• It has the ability to reuse code between different mobile platforms.

Structure7

A free and open-source framework, Structure7 helps developers create mobile, desktop, and web-based apps for iOS and Android devices with a native look and feel.

Framework7 comes with an impressive set of ready-to-use UI elements and widgets that work seamlessly on iOS and Android platforms. Furthermore, it brings the following benefits:

• It is an open source framework and is free to use.
• The framework has easy and familiar jQuery syntax to get started without delay.
• Framework7 has a built-in FastClick library to control click delay on the touch interface.
• It features a built-in grid system layout to organize elements responsively.
• It is combined with extra tools like Electron and NW.js to create native desktop applications.
• The framework dynamically loads pages from templates via flexible router API.

NativeScript

NativeScript helps developers create mobile, desktop, and web-based applications for iOS and Android devices with a native look and feel.

Some of the noteworthy features of NativeScript include:

• It allows developers to code once and run it on multiple platforms.
• NativeScript uses a developer-friendly command-line interface (CLI).
• It creates a native user experience and performance across all platforms and devices.
• NativeScript allows users to directly access all iOS and Android APIs.
• The framework uses an XML-based markup language similar to HTML.

IU Onsen

UI Onsen is an HTML5 framework for creating innovative and usable UIs for hybrid web and mobile applications. It helps mobile app developers to focus more on the core functionality of the app by simplifying UI development. Onsen UI is compatible with AngularJS, but it also technically works with any other framework. There are three layers in the Onsen UI: CSS components, web components, and framework bindings.

• The Onsen UI framework provides developers with several ready-to-use UI components, including a toolbar, tabs, stack navigation, side menus, and more.
• It optimizes all your animations to work well on a wide range of devices. The framework requires extra effort to ensure smooth performance on low-end devices as well.
• The framework provides a grid system for placing elements on the screen.

The advantages and disadvantages of hybrid applications

Each type of app comes with pros and cons. It's up to development teams and their customers to decide the best option to meet their needs. Advantages of hybrid apps include:

• Scalability – Hybrid applications operate easily across different platforms. Developers gain the ability to target multiple operating systems without much effort.
• Development time – Hybrid apps typically have faster build times compared to native apps. Writing code just once saves a significant amount of time.
• Reduced costs – Hybrid apps reduce costs compared to native apps and are definitely cheaper to develop compared to building two versions of a native app for two different platforms. By reducing the time required to build a hybrid app, the overall development cost also decreases.
• Code reuse – Code in hybrid applications adopts the write-once, run-anywhere approach. This allows the same code to be deployed across all mobile platforms.
• Updates – It's easier to release patches and updates for this type of app, and these updates don't need app store approval. Users benefit from the latest version and updates without any hassle.
• Offline support – Hybrid apps work online and offline without an internet connection. Some hybrid applications even use local servers to store data.

Disadvantages of hybrid apps include:

• Performance – Hybrid apps sometimes perform slower than their native counterparts. This extra time comes from the need to render application views in a webview, as well as the fact that there is a layer between the operating system and the source code. There is potential to make implementation errors when dealing with operating system frameworks, which results in greatly degraded performance.
• Functionality – With a single code for all platforms, some of the native features are missing in a hybrid app, especially for apps with complex features.
• User Experience (UX) – When not developed or designed correctly, hybrid app interfaces are bad in terms of UX. Sometimes hybrid application design is not suitable for each operating system.
• Graphics – Hybrid applications often face a lot of quality issues and are not suitable for rendering 3D graphics. To create eye-catching graphics or add 3D elements, a hybrid approach may not be the right option.
• Debugging – Debugging and finding out the exact problem in hybrid apps is more challenging than in native or mobile apps.

Working with BairesDev on hybrid application projects

There are many aspects to consider when trying to find the best hybrid app development company for a business. It all depends on the special business requirements, financial resources and preferences of the company and users.

With so many hybrid app development services on the market, it can be difficult to make the right choice.

Choosing an Outsourced Hybrid App Development Team

Some of the factors that developers should consider before hiring a hybrid app development company include:

• Cost – Companies should set a realistic budget and ask potential companies for a price estimate. They must also determine whether to spend a higher initial cost, which may or may not result in a greater return on investment.
• Post-launch services – Applications constantly need updating and maintenance. Just because the app is live doesn't mean the hybrid app developer's work is complete. Hiring companies must ensure that hybrid app developers offer future consultations and services.
• Experience – Outsourcing providers need to have knowledge of hybrid mobile app development. The experts must be able to fulfill all the tasks related to building the mobile app.
• Location – Sometimes location is important and companies like to work closely with hybrid app developers. Location plays an important role in deciding which hybrid app development company is best, so companies must decide between onshoring, nearshoring, or offshoring.

Hybrid app technology is here to stay

Hybrid app technology reigns supreme on tablets and mobile phones. Unlike modern technology solutions that often come and go, hybrid apps are here to stay.

There is no right choice between native apps and hybrid apps. It depends on the developer's understanding of current and future needs. The hybrid approach is definitely worth considering as it drastically reduces the cost and time of mobile app development. Businesses and users should try to determine what the future state of the application requires to make the choice clear.