Mobile App Development: Choosing Between Native & Cross-platform

Before shipping a mobile app to the market, it is essential to choose the correct technology stack. Is it going to be native or cross-platform? Businesses and developers strive right from the ideation stage to launch a mobile app that is not just useful and relevant but also easy to operate.

Behind every app, there is a massive amount of brainstorming and effort put in to offer consumers the best of the services and features. Globally, companies tend to build dedicated apps for improving customer services, increasing productivity, simplifying complexities, and bringing automation into processes. However, it may be challenging to opt for native or cross-platform app development. 

Therefore, we are going to dig deep into the pros and cons of both native and cross-app and points to consider while selecting the right option for mobile app development.

This blog provided hereby Weingenious Technocrats, mobile application development company in India, is all about helping you understand the difference between these distinct development methods so you could make the best decision based on project requirements.

Native app development

Using platform-specific programming languages, the native mobile apps are developed. For instance, languages like Python , Java, and Kotlin are used for developing Android apps, whereas Swift and Objective-C are used for the iOS mobile operating system. 

The native mobile apps are created specifically to be run on the target platform, with the support of all the native technologies and other hardware components such as camera and calendar. Here are some pros and cons of using the native approach in mobile app development.

Pros of Native App Development

• The main advantage of native app development is that mobile apps can work offline. If you’re traveling in an airplane or when you are out of coverage, mobile app would still work.
• Native App Development does not involve the use of complex codes and that makes the apps faster than other apps.
• The elements in an app developed with native platform function swiftly and smoothly as they are preloaded by default.
• Maintaining ideal aspect ratios is a key to delivering a smooth user experience. Developers get access to layout features in native app development, so they could tailor aspect ratios to diverse screen sizes.
• A native app controls the power and resources of the hardware features of a device, making the apps more powerful and seamless.

Cons of Native App Development

• The code written to develop an Android app cannot be reused to build an iOS app. Hence, it needs separate time-to-market for your app.
• It requires finesse in skill sets and it is usually difficult to find such talent in the market.
• Developing an app with native platform involves a heavy maintenance cost that is way more than the actual development cost, which is about 25% of the build expenses.

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Cross-platform app development

Cross-platform involves creating mobile apps that can run on a variety of operating systems. After the code of the app is written, it can be used on different devices and platforms without worrying of incompatibility issues. Cross-platform is an all-in-one approach that is popularly used to save time and money.

Here are some pros and cons of using the cross-platform approach in mobile app development.

Pros of Cross-Platform App Development

• Cross-platform app development is highly cost-effective as many expenses are involved in tools. The development processes and cross-platform app developers are comparatively less.
• The code can be reused, wherein a common code can be written for the deployment of both Android and iOS apps.
• In this platform, no restrictions are faced in terms of which platform your customers use. One can roll out one app that is common for all.
• The app developed with cross-platform performs consistently across the platforms, which is good for brand image, identity and recall value.

Cons of Cross-Platform App Development

• In spite of the code reusability feature, the process of developing a cross-platform app is complicated. The little differences have to be considered across platforms and consistently try to bridge the differences to offer a single experience to users.
• Integrating the cross-platform apps with local settings and a third party cloud vendor becomes difficult.

Things to consider while selecting the right option for mobile app development

Choice between native and cross-platform is quite challenging for companies and developers. However, it is better to consider few things in mind while selecting the right option from native app development and cross-platform app development.

App Development Cost

Native app development takes more time; hence the development cost of native development is also considerably higher than cross-platform apps with the same features.

Duration of Mobile App Development

If you want to come up with a dedicated business app quickly, then cross-platform app development is better for businesses as native apps take more time to develop.

Complexity of Apps

Generally, brand apps or customized software can be highly complicated with interrelated features. Native app development is a good choice to develop such apps.

User Experience

Excellent UI and UX are possible with native app development. Opting for cross-platform app development may cause compromise on the app’s UI and UX.

Conclusion

Both native and cross-platform technologies have different advantages and disadvantages. It is quite a task to select the right option for your app project as it depends on budget, project requirements, and various other factors. If your focus is on user experience and performance, and you are fine with longer development duration then native apps should be your choice.

However, if you want to come up with an app that can seamlessly run across Android and iOS and take less development time with a reduced development cost, then the cross-platform app is a better option.

If you want to get a mobile application developed with Native or Cross-platform development, you can reach to Weingenious Technocrats, a leading mobile application development company, building top-notch web solutions using Laravel development.