If you want to develop a mobile app and do it now, you should consider hybrid app development. The hybrid approach to mobile app development is becoming more and more common, and this is largely due to hybrid development technologies getting better and better at doing their job.
While at one point, native app development could easily claim the title as the be-all and end-all of mobile development techniques, now this is up for dispute. Hybrid mobile app development has the same rights as any other approach to entering the ring and claiming its prize.
2024 has been a pivotal year for hybrid apps. For instance, rapid advancements in frameworks like Ionic and React Native have positioned hybrid apps as viable alternatives to native development.
But you might be wondering: what is hybrid app development? Diametrically opposed to native app development, it is the more convenient yet riskier way to get things done if creating a mobile app is your goal.
If you want to know whether hybrid app development will suit your mobile app business plan, and want to know about hybrid app development advantages, stay tuned. You’ll learn why some of the most popular tech companies routinely opt for hybrid app development over native development.
We’ll also make sure to cover the future of hybrid apps in 2024 and beyond so that you can rest assured that this is the way to go.
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What Is Hybrid App Development?
Hybrid app development refers to mobile app development that borrows certain elements from native and web technologies.
To understand exactly what hybrid app development is, you might need a brief preview of what native app development is.
In native app development, software developers rely on native languages to create platform-specific mobile apps.
For instance, Android developers have professional familiarity with Java and Kotlin, the official languages for Android development. Thus, if Android developers make Android apps using these languages, then they are taking part in native app development.
To that same end, iOS uses Objective C and Swift as its official languages. Therefore, iOS developers who want to create native mobile apps for iPhones utilize those platform-specific languages.
In hybrid app development, a developer might code some bits and pieces of an app natively, but they also may use JavaScript, CSS, and HTML to create a hybrid mobile web app that presents itself as a traditional mobile app via WebView components.
This portion of the hybrid app definition makes it particularly great in cases where apps need to be deployed rapidly across multiple platforms.
Another of the benefits of hybrid vs. native apps is that they combine web and native components, making it a great option if you want a wider reach with reduced costs.
A WebView is a container of sorts that is able to display web content from what might look to the average user as a mere native mobile app. Most professional developers will also program native elements into their hybrid app to access the device’s hardware features if necessary.
Hybrid app development is not to be confused with cross-platform app development.
Although sometimes these concepts appear in conversation interchangeably, cross-platform development describes a more native approach where developers write their codebase in JavaScript and use bridging technology to encourage code shareability across platforms.
What Are the Main Benefits of Hybrid App Development?
Overall, utilizing hybrid app development rather than native app development can offer a lot more convenience than otherwise.
Here are the major benefits of hybrid app development:
Cost
One of the most obvious benefits of hybrid app development is cost. Hybrid app cost benefits are incurred thanks to the reduced need for separate development teams for each platform, saving your business the expense of recruiting and maintaining multiple specialized teams.
When tech companies choose to go native for mobile app development, to guarantee accessibility, they must build multiple distinct apps for the different platforms on which they intend to release their app.
In most cases, this will at least double the cost of development, especially if these companies need to seek out specialized development teams relevant to the platform-specific technologies that they must use.
Hybrid app development, by definition, promises a high degree of code shareability. Developers only write one set of code, so costs for initial development and maintenance remain low, or at least within reason.
For example, if you are developing a shopping app, you may save significantly if you create one hybrid version rather than investing in separate versions for both Android and iOS.
Efficiency
Using only one codebase is — needless to say — efficient. A single codebase reduces redundancy, improving productivity and ensuring consistency across versions and platforms.
Code shareability from platform to platform inspires a more agile software development process where code is easier to build and manage.
Time-To-Market (TTM)
Similarly, greater efficiency results in speed. The entirety of the software development process is far shorter when developers use hybrid app development versus native app development.
This faster launch cycle also referred to as the time-to-market for hybrid apps, allows your business to respond to market demands far quicker than they would have been able to otherwise, allowing you to remain competitive.
Once you finish building your app, you can release it on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store simultaneously.
You’ll have ample time to market your app and turn a profit quickly. You can also start gathering feedback on your app and making adjustments accordingly.
Scalability
It is easier to scale hybrid apps as they rely on a single codebase. Thanks to flexible framework support, hybrid apps can adapt to business growth and new features or integrations without too much-added complexity. Going bigger and better with your hybrid app does not have to be complicated.
For example, version updates look to just the one codebase, and the same goes for integrations with other apps. A singular codebase means more reliable compatibility when scaling up.
What Are the Disadvantages of Hybrid App Development?
So far, hybrid app development probably seems pretty great. But everything is not as it seems. Pay close attention to the disadvantages of hybrid app development.
User Interface (UI)
One of the most notable limitations of hybrid apps is the UI. Hybrid apps will never have the same sleekness and shine as native apps. Native apps simply look better. You can blame their aesthetic prowess on their close relationship to the native hardware they run on.
However, even though there are potential UI limitations, frameworks like React Native and Ionic are constantly evolving to improve UI quality. This results in continuous mitigation of UI limitations in hybrid development.
Performance
For the same reason, user experience will also suffer. Hybrid app performance issues are very common. User navigation won’t be as fast when WebViews come into play. Transitions between pages will lose speed as well.
While the difference may seem negligible, users often leave web pages within the first 10-20 seconds of visiting the page. Thus, performance issues can make or break the success of your app.
This is generally not an issue in apps where speed is not such a critical factor, such as non-gaming apps.
Testability
Testing presents yet another factor to worry about. Since most hybrid apps include some native code, each test case must have numerous test scripts. The testing will also have to address differences in the graphical UI in a nuanced way.
This testing is incredibly important to get right, so you will need to invest extra resources. Robust testing practices for hybrid apps allows you to find and address issues like multi-platform inconsistencies.
Interactivity
There are little to no popular gaming apps that owe their existence to hybrid app development. And that’s for good reason.
Animation and graphics-intensive mobile applications do not mix well with hybrid development. WebViews plainly cannot support interactive and rich media apps. High interactivity is lost with hybrid app development.
What Are the Most Popular Hybrid App Development Tools?
There are several diverse technologies to use for hybrid app development. But by far, one of the most popular tools for hybrid app development is Ionic and its corresponding technologies.
Ionic
Ionic itself is a framework and/or software development kit (SDK) based on HTML5. By using Ionic for hybrid apps, developers have access to a myriad of tools that cater to a blend of speed and flexibility in development.
HTML5 is the latest version of HyperText Markup Language (HTML); the original HTML technology renders and structures text on webpages.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HTML’s partner in crime, manages the aesthetic elements of a web page, such as fonts and colors.
HTML5 works with JavaScript and CSS to describe web pages. HTML5 in particular comes with the additional benefit of handling images and videos, not solely text.
Other features of Ionic include:
- AngularJS, a JavaScript framework
- Apache Cordova plugins
- Ionic command-line interface (CLI)
- Ionic View
Apache Cordova
Another one of the best hybrid app development tools is Cordova. Apache Cordova, often truncated to just ‘Cordova’, is an open-source mobile development framework. With the help of Ionic, Cordova wraps your web application into a native container using WebViews.
In other words, by using Cordova for mobile development, developers can bridge web code to native interfaces.
Ionic provides platform-specific UI components for your mobile applications and Cordova ties that together with the other functionalities and solutions you need to create a native-like mobile application.
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for code editing. For Ionic, Visual Studio is a canvas of sorts. Its primary use is to be the backdrop for creating and debugging Ionic apps.
Visual Studio’s debugging capabilities can greatly simplify hybrid app troubleshooting.
How Much Does Hybrid Development Cost?
Pinpointing the exact cost of hybrid development is not easy. Every app — no matter if it’s a hybrid, cross-platform, or native — shows large variations across the board when it comes to pricing.
Some independent developers can create an app by themselves. And if such an app is simple in nature, then costs could be as low as $5000.
On the other hand, costs can be as high as $500,000. This likely goes for larger, more complex apps where tech companies are willing to pay the price for native app development for the sake of performance. And they’re also willing to invest in a highly qualified team of software developers.
One way to evaluate the cost of development is by calculating the total development time times the hourly rate of the developers involved.
For instance, if you’re using Ionic, note that an Ionic developer in the United States makes about $52 an hour, according to ZipRecruiter data. By this standard, one month of development would equate to $8320.
Keep in mind that development can take anywhere from three months to a year, depending on the complexity of your app. This, along with basics like Ionic developer rates, will affect the total cost of hybrid app development.
Here is an estimate of some Hybrid app development pricing you can expect.
| App Type | Development Time Estimate | Cost Estimate (USD) |
| Basic | 3-4 months | $15,000-$50,000 |
| Medium Complexity | 6-8 months | $50,000-$150,000 |
| High Complexity | 9-12+ months | $150,000-$500,000 |
To see a reduction in development costs, you can consider outsourcing your software development team nearshore or offshore.
South America is a popular location for outsourcing information technology (IT) and software development needs given its close proximity to the United States, hence time zones and language barriers are not sizable issues.
Trio, a nearshore provider, can help businesses reduce development costs by leveraging experienced hybrid developers who are skilled in frameworks like Ionic and Cordova.
Our team offers specialized expertise in hybrid development, making it a cost-effective choice for companies looking to manage their budgets without sacrificing quality.
7 Examples of Hybrid Apps
Despite the performance capabilities of hybrid apps, hybrid app development continues to be a frequent choice for some of the most well-known apps in app stores today. Let’s look at some real-world hybrid app examples.
1. Uber
One of the most popular examples of hybrid apps, Uber is one of a few ride-sharing apps taking the world by storm by offering far cheaper rates than your average taxi service.
The app features an easily navigable interface, which plays a big role in getting people to and from daily destinations, requiring little more from the end user than some clicks and a couple of minutes of waiting.
Uber’s simple UI design lends itself well to hybrid development, allowing for faster updates across platforms. This approach supports Uber in maintaining its efficiency and delivering a seamless experience globally.
Uber uses a variety of technologies. While most of the business logic relies on JavaScript, Java, and Objective-C are also present in Uber’s tech stack.
2. Instagram
Instagram is a social media platform for sharing photos and videos. Mark Zuckerberg, who owns both Instagram and Facebook, admitted that his biggest mistake was using HTML5 for mobile app development instead of native.
However, Zuckerberg’s solution, React Native, does not exactly fit under the native umbrella either. Instead, React Native uses JavaScript but, by some impressive means, can manage to generate native UI elements.
Instagram’s hybrid-like structure enables it to maintain a high level of performance while reaching a global audience. This structure ensures Instagram can handle the heavy traffic of daily users while offering the flexibility needed to release frequent updates.
There is heightened controversy on whether Instagram is cross-platform or hybrid in nature. Some even suggest it’s native.
3. Twitter
Twitter is yet another social media application. However, Twitter centers short bursts of text — no longer than 140 characters — in turn for photos and videos.
Twitter has two mobile applications — Twitter and Twitter Lite. The former is native, while the latter is hybrid. Twitter Lite is specifically a Progressive Web App (PWA). It demonstrates how hybrid frameworks can enable lightweight versions of apps to support user accessibility and deliver fast updates.
In some ways, PWAs are distinct from hybrid and cross-platform apps as they only take advantage of web technologies.
4. Gmail
Gmail is a long-standing Google service that provides free email. The mobile app for Gmail uses HTML and runs with WebView technology.
Using hybrid frameworks, Gmail manages to serve millions of users by leveraging WebView for flexibility across devices and maintaining high performance.
5. Evernote
Evernote is a note-taking app that can be useful for the busiest individuals around. This is thanks to its versatile feature set that extends the likes of formatting tools, media attachments, and multi-device sync.
Evernote’s hybrid architecture makes it easy to scale as it grows in popularity, delivering consistent user experiences across platforms and enabling efficient management of its extensive feature set.
The architecture of Evernote is definitively complex, but it’s definitely hybrid.
6. Amazon App Store
The Amazon App Store is like any other app store — it features games and apps of all kinds. Although the Amazon App Store is only available for Android, the mobile app makes use of HTML5 to furnish its hybrid app development.
The use of hybrid elements enables Amazon to reduce operational costs and ensure easy accessibility, as updates can be rolled out across Android devices with minimal hassle.
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7. Apple App Store
Apple’s App Store should need no introduction. It is the store iOS users go to when they want to buy and install apps.
Ironically, the app store itself is not native but hybrid. There are some native elements, but ultimately, the Apple App Store sticks to hybrid app development.
It utilizes hybrid elements to enhance accessibility and provide a seamless experience across devices. Hybrid features allow for faster deployment of updates and reduced costs, enhancing the app’s overall operational efficiency.
Conclusion
Hybrid app development isn’t for everyone. You saw yourself that hybrid app development comes with its own set of disadvantages, a lower capacity for high performance being the most significant setback. You should carefully way the pros and cons of a hybrid app vs native app for business specifics.
Still, hybrid app development comes with many advantages. It can save you time and money. Knowing that some of the most popular apps today exist because of hybrid app development also adds some brownie points to hybrid app development’s case.
Want to learn more about mobile app development? You’re right where you need to be. Check out some in-depth resources on mobile development on Trio’s blog.
