In this post we will see what are the 3 categories of mobile applications, we are talking about the types Native, Hybrid and WebApps.
Types.
There is not a single way or a single platform or operating system for developing mobile applications, on the contrary, there are different operating systems, technologies and types of applications, traditionally there are 3 categories for developing Apps (Native, Hybrid, webApps).
native apps
- These types of applications are specific to the operating system of the device, in this way the tools and languages with which they are built are independent, if for example you want to create a mobile application for Android, you must use one of the official languages, in this case it can be java or kotlin (or C/C++ if using the NDK), for iOs should use Objective C or Swift
- Each operating system requires a specific SDK (Software Development Kit) for building applications, which provides a set of libraries, classes and tools for their development.
- A development for each platform.
- Allows better use of device resources.
- The visual appearance depends on the operating system.
- They have an official app store for download and installation, allowing developers to publish apps, thus facilitating their distribution.
- It does not depend on the use of the Internet.
web apps
- WebApps are basically web pages optimized for operation on mobile devices, this optimization occurs because it is a responsive page, however, the simple fact that it can be executed on a mobile device already makes it a webApp.
- An SDK (Software Development Kit) is not necessary for its development, since as with the construction of any web page, these applications are independent of the operating system, so they do not need to be installed and we only need a browser where it can be seen.
- They don't require an app store.
- internet access is required
- The visual appearance does not depend on the operating system it runs on.
- Device features cannot be fully utilized.
PWA – Progressive Web Applications
They are improved web applications to provide users with more powerful features than a traditional webApp offers, seeking a much better user experience, among their features are:
- Despite being a web page, it can be installed simulating the operation of a native application (although it is not mandatory for it to work)
- Being a web page, it provides automatic updates.
- Use of push notifications
- They can work without internet connection.
hybrid applications
- Hybrid applications are the combination of the 2 previous categories, they can be understood as web applications immersed in native applications, these applications are developed independently of the platform.
- They can be installed as if it were a native app, which makes it practically easy to make a single development for different platforms.
- They allow access to the device's resources, not in their entirety, but access to them has been considerably improved with the advancement of new technologies.
- The visual aspect was traditionally a factor that affected the work with this type of applications, but it has also evolved in such a way that it is possible to have a visual appearance according to each operating system.
Evolution of Hybrid Applications.
Hybrid applications traditionally executed in a container or web browser, but with new improvements in terms of platform versions and the emergence of new alternatives for app development, a great evolution has been noticed in this category since there are references such as Xamarin , ReactNative or Flutter that allow you to create cross-platform applications that can run natively on the operating system, as long as they make use of widgets or APIs native to the system.
This allows these types of applications to have a native behavior with many improvements in terms of performance and resource usage, since, although they do not run directly on the operating system, they run on the components of the system itself.
Which one is the best?
It cannot be said which one is better, as with most things in this sector, it all depends on the user's needs and the context in which the application will be used.
And that's it, I hope you enjoyed this video and this post, in the next posts we will continue to delve deeper into this operating system!!!!
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