What Are the Different Types of Mobile Apps? And How Do You Choose?

Anyone planning to build an app for their business will inevitably have to answer the question: which type of mobile app development do we build?

You may read about other brands who tout how they built their native app from the ground up, or find out a company has a web app or a hybrid app. But what do those terms mean exactly?

We hope to introduce you to the differences between the three types, and along the way, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each so you can arrive at an informed decision.

Types of Mobile Apps by Technology

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

• Native apps are created for one specific platform or operating system.
• Web apps are responsive versions of websites that can work on any mobile device or OS because they’re delivered using a mobile browser.
• Hybrid apps are combinations of both native and web apps, but wrapped within 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 built specifically for a mobile device’s operating system (OS). Thus, you can have native Android mobile apps or native iOS apps, not to mention all the other platforms and devices. Because they’re built for just one platform, you cannot mix and match – say, use a Blackberry app on an Android phone or use an iOS app on a Windows phone.

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

Pros: Because of their singular focus, native apps have the advantage of being faster and more reliable in terms of performance. They’re generally more efficient with the device’s resources than other types of mobile apps. Native apps utilize the native device UI, giving users a more optimized customer experience.

And because native apps connect with the device’s hardware directly, they have access to a broad choice of device features like Bluetooth, phonebook contacts, camera roll, NFC, and more.

Cons: However, the problem with native apps lies in the fact that if you start developing them, you have to duplicate efforts for each of the different platforms. The code you create for one platform cannot be reused on another. This drives up costs. Not to mention the effort needed to maintain and update the codebase for each version.

And then, every time there’s an update to the app, the user has to download the new file and reinstall it. This also means that native apps do take up precious space in the device’s storage.