We are living in an audience-driven era. Constantly evolving technology has provided users or tech consumers with lots of options. But majorly, the smartphone generation can be categorized into two major platforms specific i.e, iOS and Android. Although, this would leave you in the middle of a conundrum of whether to develop your business app on which of these platforms?
iOS and Android the two commonly used operating systems for smartphones have captured the major market share and has millions of apps in Google Play and App Store. This leaves a startup enterprise, small, midsize or large business to decide on whether to develop the mobile application individually for iOS and Android each through the native platform or just one universal application using cross-platform development
Without waiting further ado let’s begin to understand them starting with their definition, key differences and pros & cons.
Cross-platform
Cross-platform aka multi-platform software or platform-independent software helps in developing a mobile application which can run on as many as all existing platforms without any compatibility issues. Cross-platforms applications aids in utilizing time and money.
Native
Native applications are platform-specific as they are developed using native technologies, languages and other hardware components. These are mainly driven by platform-specific programming languages. To develop Native Android apps it uses languages such as Java, Kotlin, Python, etc whereas, for the iOS system, the language includes Swift & Objective-C.
Pros of Native Apps
- High Performing UI
Since native apps are device’s OS specific hence, they enjoy direct access to the host’s operating system, features and functionalities
Seamless interaction with the device’s features enhance the overall performance especially with the graphics and multimedia content
Even developing a complex native application will withstand against any sort of performance downtime due to app crash or freeze
- Ultimate User Experience
Flawless navigation due to perfect integration with the operating system of the device, native apps provide an amazing interface experience to the users without any hassle
- Higher Visibility
Better app quality, positive rating and feedback from the user will result in higher visibility and ranking on the app store. This, in turn, will secure revenue sooner than its counterpart.
Cons of Native Apps
- Dear To Your Pockets
Developing apps for more than one operating system is, of course, going to be expensive as you’ll need one programmer for each platform. Moreover, the development process time of your project will also be more than usual as you’ll have to consider development time for each platform.
- Reduced Target Market
Focussing only on one platform will take away your fair share to attract users from other platforms, which will impact your revenue figures.
Pros of Cross-platform
- Effective & Reliable
Using just one code for all mobile platforms results in not only saving development time but also being cost-effective. “Write once, run anywhere” is one the key benefit of cross-platform apps.
- Quick Deployment
The cross-platform app is independent of multiple codebases and hence, the initial target platform deployment can be achieved much faster and utmost beneficial when rolling out app updates.
- Best For Simple Apps
Cross-platform apps should be simple and easy with minimal interactions and simple UX.
- Wider Outreach
There is a guaranteed increase in revenue as compared to native apps, as cross-platform apps provide a wider target audience.
Cons of Cross-platform
- Performance Glitch
As opposed to native apps, these do not integrate well with the target operating system. Due to the non-native code, high-end features could perform poorly and can even cause crash issues.
- User Experience Issues
Because of the same code sharing, cross-platform apps have the limitation in offering robust user experience.
- Left Out From Full Advantage
For platform-specific features, you may not be able to use the cross-platform code which means that you are left with native code to use further. Hence, it cannot take complete benefit of the platform.
Wrapping up
Sometimes, it might be difficult for you to make a choice between these two platforms for your app development project. However, hope this informative article could help you make an informed decision when the time is right for you to choose between one for your business app development project.
Ultimately, you should opt for a platform as per your app requirements or project needs. It is quite clear from the comparison that native app development is certainly better when it comes to high-performance whereas, cross-platform is a clear winner if you are on a tight app launching budget and facing time-crunch.
