The Hybrid Mobile App Development Challenges

A3Logics 10 Feb 2023

Table of Contents

What is meant by hybrid apps?

Hybrid mobile app development, very similar to cross-platform app development are just websites wrapped inside a native interface.

A hybrid app seems to be essentially a web application created using CSS, HTML, and Javascript and encased in a native shell. The majority of the information is typically loaded on request and requires a connection to the internet (When installed on any smartphone, native applications download the information) Once the fundamentals are covered, we’ll proceed towards why one shouldn’t ever choose to develop a hybrid app.

Why Do Some Huge Corporations Prefer Hybrid Apps?

There seems to be one foundation for hybrid apps. This makes the process of developing and testing it fairly quick and easy.

Hybrid apps typically have more than enough time to evolve well. Depending on functionality, the pace of development typically ranges from 180 to 4,500 hours. Which is well below native apps, in general.

Additionally, the overall budget for developing hybrid apps is not massive owing to the decrease in the expenses involved with employing developers and designers, software platforms, etc.

Furthermore, updated versions of hybrid apps don’t require approval from the app markets unless you update the source files. Individuals can skip paying a processing fee as well as the approval waiting period of approximately 1-2 weeks.

What is Hybrid Mobile Application Development?

Hybrid apps combine both web-based and native technologies. Web-based technologies are put to work to develop the app’s foundation. Throughout this blog, we’re going to dive deep into the development of hybrid apps.

You are frequently presented with a broad range of choices when it comes to choosing the approach to creating a brand-new smartphone app, but you seem to be uncertain regarding how to begin. Is using only native solutions to construct your application the best course of action? Would the team start concentrating entirely on web-based development? What if the team incorporates the popular methodology through a hybrid app development company in the market? These are however only a few of many other dilemmas you may very well have as you determine the most appropriate course of action for your organization.

To begin, it’s critical to keep in mind that selecting the best solution for your upcoming application—or first—depends on a variety of parameters, which would include the spending plan, timeframe, the team’s personal experience with the technology, and, ultimately, your intended audience.

Let’s now examine the 3 main types of mobile app development services and talk about a few of their advantages and disadvantages.

You must have a clear understanding of the available options by the end of this blog as well as be capable of accomplishing your objectives for developing mobile applications by choosing the best course of action. Let’s start by understanding the categories.

Native Mobile App: What are they and how do they work?

When someone refers to a ‘native mobile application’ they typically mean an application that was created with the platform’s native programming language as well as a toolset. A native Android app development company designs using Java or Kotlin and assembles using Android Studio, whereas a native iPhone App Development Services are developed in either Objective-C or Swift and assembled with the help of Xcode.

These app developers for these kinds of apps have complete and simplified access to the device’s functionality, including all of the device’s sensor systems, the address book of the user, and whatever the smartphone has to provide in the way of cutting-edge technological innovation because they have been developed utilizing the platform’s default systems. Since native programmes’ code is written very closely related to the “device,” they typically perform more effectively. You can have exposure to the full range of UI (native user interface) features and designs in addition to being faster and more reliable. Components should operate and engage just like any other element of the platform, even though you’ll undoubtedly want to customize them to match the aesthetic of your apps.

Unfortunately, Swift-based iOS applications cannot be launched on Android and conversely. If you want to distribute your application for both Android and iOS, you must design particularly for every platform, which could also lead to a massive budget and team dynamics. The app is also exclusively available through the app stores of each platform, which means it is subject to that platform’s regulations and limitations. This implies that a similar review procedure must take effect for each deployment, whether it holds additional features or perhaps a minor bug repair. In the case of the iOS App Store, this could take a few hours or 2 weeks.

What is meant by a Web Application?

Some people would view the risk of having their application turned down by anonymous app store moderators as being too significant. There have also been reports of high-quality apps infringing upon the law and getting suspended from the app store, which can lead to a significant drop in revenue. As a result, several developers have opted to build web-only apps, which provide them with the ability to do business independently of app stores and make their apps available to other desktop and mobile users. These are simply conventional CSS, HTML, and JavaScript web apps that are available to use with a variety of libraries and frameworks like React, Vue, Angular, or perhaps even plain old JavaScript.

Unfortunately, using this method of development limits the capabilities of the mobile application to the mobile browser of the user. This implies that it won’t have complete access to the user’s smartphone, including the address book as well as other information.

Although access to capabilities like Geolocation as well as the cameras have assisted in the past, based on the functionality required for the application, this may still be a problem.

The fact that many of the typical app UI components, such as the tab navigation, are not natively available and must be constructed adds to the challenges that developers face when designing apps leveraging web technologies. This could result in the application not working as expected. However, several UI frameworks have taken considerable care to accurately replicate the majority of the standard UI elements required for the app, therefore this threat is kept to a minimum.

Progressive Web Apps

PWAs (Progressive Web Applications), essentially enable such kinds of applications to embrace more features including typical app icons, push style notifications, offline functionality, and more, that were first offered by Google in 2017.

Microsoft has embraced this approach as well, elevating such kinds of apps in its app store.

Considering they can quickly produce an app from a single source that can be utilised on a range of platforms and updated with a new feature or bug repair by just deploying to the server, this arrangement tends to appeal to certain design teams.

How does hybrid mobile app development work?

This system combines both web and native technologies, which is why the moniker hybrid. A native application is used to encase the web technologies used to create the application’s core (CSS, Javascript, and HTML). This type of programming can utilise all of the functionality of the mobile device by using plugins. Let’s investigate how everything works together so that you may comprehend this strategy better.

The foundation of hybrid mobile app development services is still just a JavaScript, CSS, and HTML application. That being said, the app is launched from within a native application that includes its integrated browser, which would be practically not visible to the user, as opposed to being displayed within the browser of the user. For instance, the application would be displayed using the WKWebView in an iOS application, whereas, on Android, the WebView element would be used.

Then, using a framework like Capacitor by Ionic or PhoneGap (Apache Cordova), the code is incorporated into a native app wrapping. With the help of these solutions, the web application is loaded inside a native casing application that is merely the web view component of the platform. This enables you to produce authentic native apps which can be advertised for a purchase in all the app stores of the platform.

Furthermore, both Capacitor as well as Cordova offer a plugin architecture that enables you to transcend the constraints of the browser and leverage the entire range of a user’s smartphone capabilities. Therefore, activating a plugin makes it simple to link to a Bluetooth gadget or even use TouchID as a login option on an iPhone. The majority of these plugins are always being maintained and had been designed by a diverse set of developers. As a component of its Enterprise offering, Ionic also provides a whole ecosystem of compatible plugins. Thus, the drawbacks of a web-only app can be readily addressed, enabling your app to offer capabilities that are at par with native apps.

There happen to be a few downsides to this choice, though. The UI library needs to be rebuilt, just like the web-only app solution. NativeScript, Ionic, React Native, Xamarin, and more packages can help in this situation. These choices offer a wide range of UI building blocks for a hybrid mobile app development company, all of which are powerful and appear and behave as their native equivalents.

Only if your app is still active inside the native browser of the device, should you consider anything else. If that’s so, you can run into unsatisfactory performance and perhaps other issues that are unique to each operating system or platform.

What benefits do hybrid apps offer?

There are several benefits that hybrid apps have, which could prove to be beneficial to your technology business.

1) Bypass the constraints of the iOS App Store

An app must be uploaded and must wait for clearance before it could be deployed on the iOS App Store. Whether it’s a new application or an upgrade, in addition to the point of time in the year, will affect how long the process takes to complete. Typically, it takes anything between a day and seven. Thus, hybrid apps have a big upper hand over developers who intend to upgrade the app regularly because they don’t require resubmitting the latest edition of the adjustments that did not impact native coding.

2) Exploring resources

The majority of applications have both iOS and Android versions. Thus, they are created using the suitable coding language: Swift or Objective-C for iOS, and Java for Android. As a result, web developers can reuse their existing skills by using the coding languages HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in hybrid apps. Determining resources to develop a hybrid app is now relatively simple.

3) Code Recycling

Repurposing the web app part’s code means that it just needs to be built once and then distributed across all mobile platforms.

4) Cost and Time Effective

Especially in comparison with native apps, which allow for the development of both Android and iOS, hybrid apps involve the development of just one platform, which drastically cuts down on development expenditures and time.

What are some drawbacks of hybrid applications?

1) An inadequate interface

Almost every hybrid mobile app development company fail to match the originality of native frameworks. As a result, the user interface may not be as immersive.

Due to the usage of WebView, which prevents the full capacity of the devices from being utilised, possibilities, such as 3D, are also limited.

2) Optimum utilization of the platform’s capabilities

A developer may want to take advantage of the special features that each platform, Android or iOS, has to offer. If so, hybrid app development services will operate using a mishmash of particular plugins and platform code to achieve this objective. It has an impact on the overall process of development.

How do I choose the most suitable type of app?

An organization needs to consider a variety of aspects before determining whether to use hybrid app development services in the hopes of releasing a digital solution that provides its prospective customers with complete satisfaction while also achieving eagerly awaited business returns. The answers to the following queries will assist in selecting an appropriate development approach towards the project’s success.

Who are the intended users?
How users of the app are going to navigate it?
Should the app be offered through app stores?
Does it need to be updated frequently?
How complex of functionalities do you want the app to acquire?
Is it necessary to take leverage of gadgets’ default attributes?
How do you want your users to feel when using the services?
What resources are available to you for development?

What are the most common challenges with Hybrid Mobile App Development?

If your organization requires a mobile app, you’ll probably have to decide between a hybrid and a native app. Hybrid mobile app development is a single solution that works across all platforms. However, it has a significant number of drawbacks that can occur while developing it, such as:

Efficiency

Since hybrid mobile apps depend on web technologies and are not always able to fully utilise the hardware capabilities of the device, they will not always run as smoothly as native mobile apps. Even the most staunchly devoted fans of hybrid apps must admit that native apps vastly outperform them in terms of efficiency. A native mobile app is inherently quicker and more dependable. It provides a streamlined experience by having all the architecture, information, and aesthetic components available for rapid display at any moment. But at the other side, hybrid mobile app development services demand that the user first acquire the data from the website to their device.

Due to the hybrid code being generated simultaneously for two platforms, unnecessary operations occur during native language code development, increasing processing load and producing lags. The mobile app may malfunction or slow down, and the visuals won’t be as fluid and high-quality. Additionally, the user’s smartphone battery drains more quickly as a consequence of the increased demand.

Interoperability

Hybrid mobile applications are unlikely to be compatible with all operating systems and platforms which could cause problems with the design, usability, and general user experience.

Restricted Availability with Native APIs

Hybrid mobile app development may only have partial access to the native APIs of the device, which may restrict their features and functions.

Monitoring and troubleshooting

Since hybrid mobile applications may have to be tested across several devices and platforms these activities might be more difficult than debugging and testing native mobile apps.

Level of Security

Since hybrid mobile apps work under web technologies and could not have as much security as native apps, they are possibly more susceptible to security risks. It’s critical to comprehend the security dangers associated with hybrid mobile apps.

Each component of an application creates a fresh window for intrusion. Hybrid apps, as previously said, introduce additional layers to integrate non-native coding with native capabilities. The majority of the time, you cannot see the code underlying these layers since they are owned by 3rd parties. However, even if hybrid frameworks were completely secure, community-based plugins pose a serious security risk. Since a plugin is required for each native function offered by the app.

Offline Functionalities

Because they are dependent on web services, which might not allow offline storage of data, hybrid mobile apps may therefore actually give only a few offline capabilities.

Timelines

The creation of different editions of the application for every platform and guaranteeing compatibility across various devices might make hybrid mobile apps take a little longer to develop than native apps.

Heavy Maintenance

Due to the requirement to maintain and handle various app versions for every platform, hybrid mobile apps could necessitate greater maintenance versus native apps.

Effects on overall costs

A business would typically pay 25% less for the creation of a single application that works for two platforms. Almost all people enjoy the chance to save money. However, the cost of maintaining such a technology typically outweighs the savings from development. The hybrid mobile app will therefore end up costing you greater than it may seem at first.

Availability of Support

Whenever a bug appears somewhere in the coding, the hybrid app immediately stops functioning across all platforms. Finding a replacement developer who can handle mistake repair will be even more challenging and unaffordable if it malfunctions after you’ve ceased collaborating with the programmer. The feature must be implemented manually or you must wait for the framework to go through a few compatibility-oriented changes, which could take anywhere between a month or a year.

Feature set

Unrestricted usage of a smartphone’s capabilities is possible with native applications. For instance, it will be considerably harder to construct a hybrid app employing AR or even a virtual assistant. Additionally, numerous native modules can help with specific concerns (image processing, complex calculations, neural networks, maps).

Designing

Designing guidelines exist for every iOS and Android app development company. Therefore, you must construct your product specifically for each of the two platforms if you want it to meet the professional framework of each. You must keep in mind that every platform has a distinct UX in conjunction with some kind of stunning UI. The user believes that every aspect will operate in a manner that is both familiar and satisfying to him. You will spend as much effort modifying the hybrid app to meet the specifications as it might take to develop a layout from ground zero among both platforms. But just one application is going to come out as the outcome. Contradictions may also arise throughout development, resulting in components that are inadequately shown on a certain platform.

Underlying costs

It’s undeniable that hybrid app development services appear to be a terrific concept in theory and also perform well at first. The use of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML is widespread in business. They begin developing an application that “really runs” on both iOS and Android devices; you observe quick advancement; financiers are pleased; and you believe you will finish developing the app quickly.

The genuine roadblock seems to be in executing it. Only plugins created by external developers can be employed to access native functionalities in hybrid apps. There are occasions when the plugin you need doesn’t seem to be available. Oftentimes it has never been updated and the existing operational systems don’t support it. And occasionally it has so many bugs that it is useless. Additionally, the cost to add the aforementioned feature to the app is outweighed by the expense of creating such a plugin from concept to completion or maybe even modifying it.

An important point to keep in mind seems to be that native platforms differ from one another in both significant and subtle ways.

These variations must be taken into consideration in the hybrid app’s code. Developers typically have to decide between building code to support both systems or settling for a generic solution that works for both platforms. The entire point of hybrid apps is defeated in this situation, and sustaining two distinct apps in the same framework is also considerably more challenging.

Difficult to foresee trends

Native developers receive priority access to the software development kits for Android and iOS whenever there is an announcement for new versions. This allows them to begin testing fresh extra functionality and incorporating them into existing apps.
Owners of native apps can then update their software on the same day that users switch to the latest new OS release.

Until a 3rd-party developer creates a plugin to transcend the new OS features and functionalities, a hybrid app development company must sit tight. This provides approximately four to five months of a leg up with the new capabilities for native application developers. By the way, that would be the ideal scenario. The worst-case scenario seems to be that a hybrid app might not ever completely support them.

Making a market entrance

When creating an application, you’re typically either trying to catch up with rivals or seizing an unexplored possibility.

Native apps operates smoothly, and quickly and deliver excellent performance, look, and customer engagement. They also come with the greatest level of security.

But if you’re planning to build a hybrid app to save time and costs, be aware about the huge possibility of backfiring. The reason behind it is, Hybrid apps necessitate the developers to program in a way that works the same for both platforms. But to achieve that, it involves a lot of time and money . For all you know, you could find it impossible to pave your way to the top just because you couldn’t find a 3rd-party plug-in to update the existing app.

You might achieve a temporary triumph but you’ll eventually lose the war by arriving at the market early. Although gaining users before any rival is significant, retaining those users is extremely vital. Negative service experiences are not worth anyone’s attention.

Summary

We’d recommend creating a native app instead of a hybrid app for a majority of cases. Regrettably, if a hybrid app approach didn’t need to use native capabilities, succeed in the market, or provide the finest performance or the best data protection, it could still be successful. For instance, a business might create a hybrid app as an internal tool for its employees. Since the app’s only function is to address an internal requirement, a top-notch user experience is not necessary for this context.

What is the best option for your application?

Hybrid mobile app development services could be the best option since it offers a simpler model of development, cost benefits, and interoperability throughout a wide range of platforms, except when you’re developing an extremely feature-rich game or other equivalent application. The correct hybrid mobile app can easily overcome such challenges, even though they demand a little amount of knowledge to support the solution. Also, use of a UI toolkit to help with a clearer understanding of the user interface.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can a hybrid approach help in delivering a high-quality experience across all target platforms?

Hybrid mobile app development is a technique which involves the use of a single piece of coding that integrates the functionality of the app on a common ground for all platforms.