With the explosion of mobile apps dominating the digital market, developers are constantly finding themselves faced with the question of what type of technology will support their app. This all depends on the end-user audience and their device of choice. With the BYOD trend in full effect for businesses and school environments, it’s no longer a question of what single device to develop for. Developers must accommodate a variety of devices in order to reach the greatest number of users. The best way to do this? Through a hybrid app.
Whereas native apps are built for a single platform (like iOS or Android), and mobile web apps are developed on server-side technology (such as .NET or PHP), hybrid apps are written with web languages (including HTML5, Java and CSS) and run on mobile devices as well as online. The benefit of hybrid apps over mobile web apps is twofold: Hybrid apps can still leverage native device technology such as geolocation, camera function and accelerometer, plus, they can run without an online connection.
In the scheme of things, enterprise business owners are leaning more toward hybrid apps to reach multiple mobile platforms, and according to Garner research, they are on the right track. Gartner predicts that over 50% of apps will be hybrid by 2016. In fact, big brand like Facebook and Linkedin have already made the switch. With faster development times and a more cost-effective approach to entering the mobile app market, it seems like hybrid apps are giving native ones a run for their money.