Do You Need A Hybrid App? Here's What IT Managers Need To Know
The road to profits is paved with a plethora of advantages. Several discussions centered on the potential of hybrid apps. Even businesses that didn’t consider themselves leaders in cloud adoption or hybrid IT are finding themselves in a quandary. And they have a new problem, how to deal with the multiples of emerging clouds, due to the rapid adoption of something-as-a-service technologies.
Why there is a need for hybrid apps?
- A 2016 Global Index report that the digital consumer uses an average of 3.64 devices.
- OfCom Communications Market report suggests that U.S. adults spend roughly 87 hours per month browsing the Internet on mobile devices.
- Desktop navigation has fallen to 30 hours per month.
According to these aforementioned facts, a consumer uses multiple devices to access web services. Brands, correspondingly, need to focus on delivering seamless experiences. Hybrid apps are right at the top of the list of practical media options that brands have available for this. Now before we proceed further with hybrid apps let’s spend some time with native ones. These apps are built using platform specific programming languages. For iOS apps- Objective-C is used, and Java is used for Android. These apps can make use of the native functionalities of mobile devices and their operating systems. Commonly used native functionalities include file system access, user interface elements, and GPS. Because of this, the user experience offered by native apps is consistent, and the app performance is pretty good because it’s built for a specific environment.
Now hybrid apps are entirely different, they are made to deliver seamless experiences across a wide range of platforms. In fact, they can be defined as web apps packaged in the native web view, rendered via the smartphone’s native browser. The frameworks used to develop these apps make them special. For example, their framework enables hybrid apps to use native functions of mobile devices across a variety of platforms. You will come across several hybrid app frameworks that are so easy to learn that anybody with basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript knowledge can start building hybrid apps using them.
Unified development
One of the biggest cases for hybrid app development is the fact that using this kind of approach, a business can avoid the need to develop multiple native apps for each platform. The amount of money that can be saved is substantial. I mean developing as well as maintaining multiple code bases can be quite challenging for companies and that’s why they end up opting for hybrid apps.
Down below I would like to mention a few reasons why we must consider hybrid apps as a smart alternative.
Ease of integration
If we see from a developer’s perspective, hybrid apps are truly scalable. The code, for example, can be easily completed in one language and then adapted for use with other platforms. This enables both Android and iOS apps to easily adjust for progressive web apps and desktop applications.
Speed to market
In today’s era, speed to market often becomes the differentiating factor for similar services. The minimum viable product (MVP) approach has proven its worth in many digital businesses and continues to find takers among enterprises.
Any business looking for apps needs its app to be live on the app stores quickly, hybrid app development often becomes the only practical option. This enables market penetration across platforms for small businesses, helping them take a shot of getting a competitive advantage before a larger player can react.
Consider user experiences
When a user accesses a website on different devices, using each device’s specific browser version, chances are there that you may find some significant difference in terms of look and feel of the website. This inconsistency in UX is not sunny from a branding perspective. Hybrid apps solve this problem.
Offline use
Hybrid apps can be developed to store some of the data offline. This can truly enhance the overall user experience of customers stuck with low connectivity or inadequate internet connections. In such a way, hybrid apps are even able to overcome situational platforms limitations, delivering enriched user experiences to end consumers, enhancing the brand’s reputation.
So, that’s all for now! For further information and upgrades feel free to connect with a reliable Hybrid app development company today!