We currently live in a digitalized world, and people have become puppets of smartphones and mobile apps. Mobile application development agency is engaged in developing spectacular and unique mobile apps according to the latest trends and technologies.

The plethora of mobile applications available on the App Store and Google Play are targeting millions of smartphones worldwide. Mobile apps are an essential part of our lives in such a contemporary epoch. Smartphones will be useless without mobile applications.

Suppose you are planning to develop a mobile application but are confused about choosing between a native mobile app development platform or cross-platform mobile app development. In that case, the following blog is totally for you. If you are confused you can also hire a swift app development company because swift is the latest technology for developing an iOS application.

You must select the platform based on the cost, time, and functionalities and consider the pros and cons of both platforms.

What is native app development?

The term native app development means to develop a mobile app entirely for a particular platform. The app is developed with the latest programming language and tools, especially for a particular platform. For instance, you develop an Android application using a native mobile app development platform with Java or Kotlin. For iOS, you select Swift app development company and Objective-C, or you choose progressive web apps development over the native mobile app to develop web applications.

Native apps are well known to deliver a unique user experience as they generally have high performance. Moreover, user experience is also augmented as the pictures are made with the platform UX. Nevertheless, startups are involved in the high cost of native application development as they require simultaneous working of both platforms.

Pros of native app development

Pros of native app development

  • Broad and offline functionality
  • Better store support
  • Increased scalability
  • High performance

Broad and offline functionality

You can have access to every API and tool provided by the platform on which you are working. There are no boundaries for developers on how they can work on the new mobile app.

One of the essential benefits of a native mobile app platform is that it can even work without internet connectivity. It assures more facilities to the user when they can access the app functionalities whenever they are offline.

Better store support

An app based on a native platform is easy to publish and usually ranks higher on the app store of that platform because it gives better performance and speed.

Increased scalability

Applications developed using a native app tend to be more scalable because of the malleability in resources management and the array of tools available.

High performance

The direct interaction between the code and the primary resources will result in the high performance of the application. Even though native apps generally have a better UX that is compatible with the platform.

Cons of native app development

Cons of native app development

  • Costly
  • Time-consuming

Costly

Developing native apps can be costly when you want to launch for both iOS and Android. In addition, it means you need to expand to teams that work on different platforms.

Time-consuming

Native application development is a very lengthy process that takes a lot of time as the work done for one platform cannot be replicated for a different platform. You will need a whole new team to work on the other platform.

Tools for native app development

Tools of native app development

Android Studio

Android studio is the best tool to develop Android applications. It allows code editing, debugging, and testing tools that are easy to use just by the drag and drop interface.

IntelliJ IDEA

Windows provides the tool to develop a mobile application. With the help of the tool, you can view your project structure, run and debug your application, and integrate with version control.

XCode

XCode tool is used as a command-line utility on OS that gives you the facility to switch between two various sets of command-line developer tools developed by Apple.

AppCode

AppCode is a brilliant app development environment that usually supports Objective-C, Swift, C, and C++ along with Javascript, XML, HTML, CSS., and Xpath.

What is cross-platform app development?

What is cross-platform app development

A cross-platform mobile app development points out the process of developing an application that works on various platforms. It will be done using various tools like react native, Xamarin, and flutter, where the apps can be developed and deployed on both Android and iOS platforms.

Cross-platform app development saves time and costs to develop a mobile app that you sacrifice for the qualitative process. It is challenging to develop an app that works perfectly on all the platforms, but the app will need an extra abstraction layer to run, which results in low performance.

Pros of cross-platform app development

Pros of cross-platform app development

Rapid app development

Only a single process of development is needed to develop an app that will run on various platforms. The possibility to reuse the code with improved quality and efficiency is a real jackpot for the developers and business owners. The main reason where cross-platform app development benefits from competing with other opportunities is rapid app development.

Product maintenance

Although cross-platform mobile app development services come with a single code base, businesses don’t need to worry about the output as it will be flawless. As there is a single codebase, testing and modifying the changes and upgrading it is easy. As a result, the owner will experience high accuracy and top-notch quality mobile applications.

Reduced cost

Rather than having two different teams of developers, you will need a single team of developers to develop a cross-platform application. Thus, it will indirectly save your cost to develop a mobile app. In addition, a cross-platform app development framework influences the potential of supporting all sorts of platforms and assures wider market reach with increased brand popularity.

Reusable code

As the application is made with a single cross-platform app development tool, only one code is required to build it. As a result, developers won’t need to write unique code every time they develop the various operating systems. Likewise, only a single code is used to transfer code to various platforms.

Cons of cross-platform app development

Cons of cross-platform app development

Slow app

An additional abstraction layer and rendering process requirement will make the cross-platform comparatively slow than its native application.

Limited functionality

Developers can face some problems while accessing functionalities of smartphones such as a microphone, camera, and geolocation in ways possible for a native app.

Limited UX

Cross-platform applications are incapable of taking the benefit of native UX components to deliver the same UX experience that is addicted to the platform.

Tools for cross-platform app development

Tools of cross-platform app development

Xamarin

Xamarin app development services are built with C# and .net, and it will allow developers to develop cross-platform applications for Android, iOS, tvOS, macOS, and windows. Moreover, its applications with mutual interfaces are developed with the help of Xamarin.Forms.

React Native

React native has a regime in the cross-platform app development market. The framework is based on react, a JavaScript library for developing a highly responsive user interface. With the help of react native, you can develop applications that can share almost 80% of the codebase.

Apache Cordova

Its tech stack features are HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. The mobile app development services structure will connect with the smartphone’s built-in file storage, GPS, contact data, media, and notifications.

Flutter

Flutter app development services are associated with Google’s UI toolkit, allowing developers to develop natively compiled applications for mobile devices, web browsers, and desktops using a single code base.

Native app VS cross-platform app development

It is challenging to select between a native app development platform and cross-platform app development as both are best and unique in their way.

Now, as we have a deep and precise knowledge of both platforms, let us discuss some areas where they differ from each other.

Performance: It is undeniable that native apps work far better and responsive than cross-platform app development. It is enormous because the native code will interact with the device resources.

Development time: Nevertheless, as a trading-off, the native app takes approximately more time to develop as separate teams must develop for various platforms. Here cross-platform app development is beneficial to choose as with the help, and code can be duplicated for any platform.

Development cost: The same logic used above works here. More development time and developers mean more development costs. The capacity to develop for a different platform with one team will save you a lot of resources.

Product lifetime: The lifetime of a product is not the same for all. It depends on the type of business for which you are developing the product. Native app development is a safe choice for long-term projects because the tools and framework are more stable.

Access to hardware resources: If your application needs full access to all the targeted device resources and services, then a native app platform is the best to choose. Although cross-platform applications try to make up with plugin integration, compatibility issues are common, taking a lot of space.

UI/UX design: Cross-platform development also stays behind in the UI/UX experience. Because developing in a native habitat allows unrestricted access to UI/UX components, native apps generally deliver stunning visuals and UX.

Conclusion

Native app development platforms and cross-platform app development platforms have their pros and cons and unique features. Lastly, selecting either of the two platforms depends on the project requirements and skills of the developers.

Native apps are yet the best choice when it comes to more excellent user experience and performance. While they are more costly, you will get the benefits of lower defect rates and better visuals.

Cross-platform apps are easy and fast to develop, but they will need more effort to provide a similar user experience on the particular platform.

For developing a realistic and functional mobile app based on cross-platform or native then you must contact us to have top-notch quality and glitch-free mobile application.

FAQs

Why is native app development more costly than hybrid or cross-platform?

This is because the cross-platform and hybrid platform shares a single codebase for various platforms. Therefore, while using native apps, developers need to develop and code from scratch for different platforms. This is the primary reason why the native app platform is costlier as compared to cross-platform and hybrid.

Which is best among native or cross-platform app development?

Both are best in their ways based on features and pros and cons, but which is the best depends on your business requirements. For example, suppose you have a flexible budget and want to develop high-performance mobile applications. In that case, you can go for native app development, whereas if you have a fixed budget, you can select cross-platform app development.

Rahim Ladhani
Author

Rahim Ladhani

CEO and Managing Director