Types of Mobile Applications

There are over 8.9 million mobile apps available in the world today, according to Forbes. The sheer variety of apps available to users means that if a functionality needs to be catered to, an app exists for it.

From a user’s perspective, apps are divided into categories such as games, educational, informational, productivity, entertainment, communication, and so on. However, this blog will explore it from a developer’s perspective and explore the type of mobile applications, the technologies that make them possible, and the pros and cons of each type.

There are three main types of apps. The decision on which is best for your business is based on your goals and the objectives of your mobile strategy.

Native Apps

As the name suggests, these applications are specifically designed to work on particular mobile devices or operating systems (OS). The most popular of these are Android and iOS. There are others, such as Huawei’s Harmony OS or the now-discontinued Windows phones. Essentially, an app designed for just Android phones will not work on iOS or Apple phones.

To illustrate this point, the native camera app for iOS will only work and provide a well-optimized performance on iPhones and not Android phones.

Furthermore, native app development has to work within the technological parameters set for that specific platform. For example, iOS apps are generally created using Objective C or Swift, while Android apps are primarily coded in Java.

There are several pros and cons to choosing the development of native apps for your brand. The pros of this decision are as follows:

• Native apps tend to have a better UI which can provide a more reliable and responsive experience.
• These have fewer hardware requirements as it needs to be optimized only for a specific platform.
• The app can be easily integrated with native functionalities.

The cons associated with native apps are as follows:

• These apps are limited to their native platform, thus reducing the potential user base.
• Developing a native app for multiple platforms can be both prohibitive in terms of time and finances.

These kinds of apps are usually developed to take advantage of the platform’s native capabilities or provide functionality that is platform-specific. Beyond that, most apps these days tend to fall in one of the other two categories.

Web Apps

These apps are browser-enabled applications that are accessible via web browsers on the phone. Web apps require no installations or downloads and thus are preferred by a number of people as it does not tie up native resources on the phone. In addition, web apps do not require access to a device’s functionality as they run via a mobile or web browser.

Two of the most well-known examples of web apps are remove.bg and photopea. The former lets users remove background from images, and the latter is a fully functioning photo editing app giving similar functionality as Photoshop Express.

In terms of development technology, they utilize HTML, CSS, Ruby, JavaScript, and so on. They are available via the web and also offer multi-platform support.

There are several pros and cons to choosing web apps for your brand. The pros are as follows:

• A shorter and more cost-effective development cycle.
• Updates can go live without delays or additional downloads.
• They offer multi-platform support due to not requiring a code base for each platform.
• These apps can also avoid the app store approval process that may cause delays.

The downsides associated with web apps are as follows:

• Reliance on inherent computing power and speed of internet connection.
• Limited UI capabilities due to the limitations of web technologies.
• Can have trouble running on older computers and browsers.
• The visibility of the web app is reliant on the ranking of the website on search engine results.

Hybrid Apps

These are an amalgamation of both native and web apps, which are then built into a native app. This approach gives it the ability to have its own icon or be downloaded from an app store. They are sometimes called cross-platform apps, but the only thing common is the aspect of code shareability.

Some of the most successful and well-known apps are hybrid apps, such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and more.

There are several positives and downsides to choosing hybrid apps for your brand. The pros are as follows:

• Have access to native features of the app and also offer web-based usage.
• Quicker to develop.
• Multi-platform support.
• It is distributed through multiple app stores, thus reaching a wider audience.

The downsides associated with it are as follows:

• Performance standards are a little slower than native apps.
• Higher costs due to more customizations.
• Increased complexity due to multi-platform support.
• Compromised performance and issues on older devices and browsers.

Conclusion

In the end, the decision is based upon what are your requirements and which development path will be more reliable and stable. And the choice is not permanent, as the changing trends of application functionality mean that the other iterations of the app may require a different approach than the initial versions.