Supportsoft Glossary

Hybrid App Development Using Web and Native Tech

A hybrid application is a software product that utilises web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for development and is also suitable for the mobile platform like a native app in terms of performance. Hybrid apps, which share the code of a single application among iOS, Android, and other operating systems, use one codebase instead of having different ones for each platform, hence the significant reduction in both development time and cost. Commonly used frameworks for hybrid application development are Ionic, React Native, Flutter (technically hybrid/multiplatform), and Apache Cordova.

Hybrid applications are able to run over the existing native mobile code of the device using either a web browser or a rendering engine, thereby allowing the application to take advantage of the device features like camera, sensors, GPS, storage, and notifications through plugins or native bridges. This architecture gives the developer both the advantages of web development in terms of flexibility and native performance.

Hybrid apps may have a lag in terms of speed and graphics performance as compared to native apps, but the advancements in technology and the capabilities of the frameworks have side by side closed the gap considerably. Thus, hybrid apps are the best option for businesses that want to attract customers from multiple platforms very quickly, provide a similar user experience across the platforms, and lower the overall development cost.

The advantages of hybrid mobile development in terms of community support and ongoing improvement of cross-platform technologies make it a preferred option for many organisations.