What Are the Different Types of Mobile Apps?

July 21, 2022

Anyone planning to create an app for their business will inevitably have to answer the question: what kind of mobile app do we create?

You can read about other brands touting how they built their native app from scratch, or discover that a company has a web app or hybrid app. But what exactly do those terms mean?

We hope to introduce you to the differences between the three types and, top mobile app development companies in Bangalore along the way, discuss the pros and cons of each so you can come to an informed decision.

Types of mobile applications by technology

There are three basic types of mobile apps if we categorize them by the technology used to code them:

Native apps are built for a specific platform or operating system.

Web applications are responsive versions of websites that can work on any mobile device or operating system because they are delivered using a mobile browser.

Hybrid apps are combinations of web and native apps, but wrapped inside a native app, giving it the ability to have its own icon or be downloaded from an app store.

01. Native apps

Native apps are designed specifically for the operating system (OS) of a mobile device. So, you can have native Android mobile apps or native iOS apps, not to mention all other platforms and devices. Because they’re designed for a single platform, you can’t mix and match — for example, use a Blackberry app on an Android phone or use an iOS app on a Windows phone.

Technology used: Native applications are coded using a variety of programming languages. Some examples include: Java, Kotlin, Python, Swift, Objective-C, C++, and React.

02. Web applications

Web apps behave similarly to native apps, but are accessed through a web browser on your mobile device. They are not stand-alone applications in the sense that you have to download and install code on your device. They are actually responsive websites that adapt their user interface to best apps development company in Kuwait the device the user is on. In fact, when faced with the option to “install” a web app, you often simply bookmark the website’s URL on your device.

One type of web app is the Progressive Web App (PWA), which is basically a native app that runs inside a browser. For a deeper discussion on PWAs, please read: What are Progressive Web Apps and are they worth it?

Technology used: Web applications are designed with HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, and similar programming languages used for web work.

Pros: Because it’s web-based, there’s no need to customize it for a platform or operating system. This reduces development costs.

Also, there is nothing to download. They won’t take up memory on your device like a native app, making maintenance easy — just push the update live over the web. Users do not need to download the update from the app store.

Cons: But this is also pertinent: web applications are completely dependent on the browser used on the device. There will be functionality available within one browser and not available in another, list of apps development company in Dubai possibly giving users different experiences.

03. Hybrid apps

And then there are the hybrid apps. These are web apps that look and feel like native apps. They may have an app icon on the home screen, responsive design, fast performance, and even be able to work offline, but they are actually web apps built to look native.

Technology used: Hybrid apps use a combination of web technologies and native APIs. They are developed using: Ionic, Objective C, Swift, HTML5 and others.

Pros: Building a hybrid app is much faster and cheaper than a native app. As such, a hybrid app can be the minimum viable product: a way to demonstrate the feasibility of building a native app. They also load quickly, are ideal for use in countries with slower Internet connections, and iOS application development company in Jeddah provide users with a consistent user experience. Finally, because they use a single code base, there is much less code to maintain.