Native vs Cross-Platform Development

As per the study in 2020, Statista mentioned around 218 billion people downloaded mobile applications. And the fact is this number was 204 billion before a year.

After the pandemic situation, businesses started moving online more than ever and launching their business through mobile apps. Thus, businesses are developing applications that help users to get all the services hassle-free.

This article will help you find the pros and cons of native and cross-platform app development services helping you choose the right technology.

The decision you will have to make concerning your app development platform should benefit of mobile app. We help you give the right information for native or cross-platform mobile development tools.

What is a Native Mobile App?

For smartphone app development, Native app development is a great option. It is coded in a specific programming language like Java for Android and Objective C for iOS operating systems.

Native mobile apps offer fast performance of the app along with the reliability of an app.

Besides, more and more users can use native apps without using the internet. As it is attached to one type of OS, it is expensive thus requiring the organization to build the app for duplicate versions that work on other platforms.

Pros of Native App Development

1. Internet Requirement

For native apps, you do not need to have internet as it can function in offline mode. Hence, in some cases where there is surely no internet service in the area, native apps can however perform well.

2. Image Quality

You will find better images in Native app development as the progressive resolution and orientation quality of images improves. Aspect Ratio is measured here where the ratio between the width and height is noticed.

3. Speed

Applications with native app function faster as they build for performance using the device's built-in features. It helps make them very fast and reliable.

4. Availability

Native mobile apps are easy to access as users can quickly find apps from App Store or Play Store. And the native mobile apps are easy to download with simply a click.

5. User Friendliness

With a native app, you will get user-friendliness for every operating system. So, it is easily equipped with different functionalities like GPS, camera, calendar, microphone, and more.

Cons of Native App Development

1. Cost

To develop a native mobile app is expensive as the development and maintenance cost are considerably higher. Because it needs separate versions of the same application for different OS.

2. Development

Building a native app is a lengthy process as it asks for a separate code for each platform. You can hire native developers to build exclusive Android and IOS versions of the same application.

3. Time Consumption

Native apps need to be built for multiple platforms and thus it takes more time. Such applications may need a meaningful amount of time for code development compared to their equivalents.

4. Updates

Necessary updates are needed to be applied for fixing bugs and errors. In the app store, updates need to be implemented so users will be able to download them.

5. Download Requirement

To download a native app, there are various methods included. Sometimes it takes a long time to find the app but here some rules need to be followed to download the process.

What is Cross-platform mobile development?

The best creation in the world of software is Cross-platform development. It supports multiple mobile operating systems and helps businesses grow remarkably.

Cross-platform app development is beneficial for start-ups by supporting app development with the quality of the code. Also, it takes less time but increases the cost of development.

Here, the complexity of developing a mobile app is intensified by the difficulty of building out a backend that worked across multiple platforms.

The difficulty comes when you cannot reuse the code to build an app for another operating system.

Pros of Cross-platform Mobile Apps Development

1. Lower costs

Cross-platform app development will be 30% more compatible than building separate Android and iOS app. Besides, you need to develop only one app for both iOS and Android.

2. Wider audience

If you are looking to promote your business app to a wider audience, cross-platform is the ideal option for mobile app development. Starting with a cross-platform app will gives you a broader audience.

3. Faster development

Developers often work with one codebase that helps to manage iOS and Android with cross-platform where there is no need to build separate applications.

4. Consistency between platforms

In terms of building navigation, iOS and Android have some differences. With cross-platform development, UI differences are managed by default as the platforms share the same codebase.

5. Reusable code

Cross-platform app development facilitates to build of one codebase for Android and iOS at the same time and this is one of the best things about cross-platform applications.

Cons of Cross-platform Mobile Apps Development

1. Lower performance

Sometimes performance issues are found while a cross-platform app is running. It depends on several factors but while comparing two applications, the native app works slightly faster.

2. Harder code design

In Cross-platform app development, you need to insert their design and functionality to platforms. Thus, it adds some more work to manage specific exceptions for a variety of devices and platform differences.

3. Long wait time for new features

When Apple or Google comes with new features, in cross-platform, you have to wait for some time to update applications and support the new feature. While for native apps, new SDKs are implemented much faster.

Native vs Cross-Platform Comparison Table

Best Elements to Pick the Right Development Technology for an App Development:

• Focus on Target Group of the app
• The app needs to maintain UI/UX level
• Affordable development resources
• A preferred way to access the application
• Predict the required updates
• Gauge the complexity level of the functionalities
• The need for native functionalities

Conclusion

From the above information and in a detailed comparison of the native and cross-platform, we found native apps are upmarket in the app development sector. Whereas Cross-platform is equally impressive which works in specific business app requirements. So, the final decision highly relies on the business nature.

There are some known B2B and gaming apps along with content distribution apps that are developed in cross-platform. And the application with specific features requirements is majorly built on Native.

Thus, once you choose to offer your business app with a huge digital presence, you will know the difference between this exact option and quickly make the needed choice.

If you have any queries or need expert advice to choose cross-platform or native app development services, get in touch with us for professional advice.