Starsoft
In mobile application development, the best platform to use would depend on your budget, resources, the complexity of the application, and the desired result that is expected.
Native and cross-platform both each has their functions and where they work best at. So, determining the best platform to use between both of them would depend on the criteria of the project (application) that you want to develop.
However, to know the best platform to use for what project type, you would have to follow through with this article.
In this article, we will explore;
- The meaning of both native and cross-platform application
- The benefits and disadvantages of both native and cross-platform
- Criteria to consider when choosing a platform for mobile application development
What is Native application development?
Native application development uses platform-specific operating systems such as Android and IOS to develop an app. This allows Native to access the programming languages and tools specific to that operating system.
Simply put, Native develops a mobile application specific to an operating system. So, the application that Native creates on an Android operating system cannot work on IOS, and vice versa.
However, to develop an application that works on both operating systems using Native, you must develop the same application separately. This process takes twice the required amount of time and requires double the cost of developing the same application twice.
If it takes extra cost and time to develop an application using native, why is it still used instead of just opting for a cheaper option? Well, we will discuss this in the following outlines.
Let’s look at the benefits that Native has to offer and the disadvantages of using it.
Benefits of Native application development
The benefits of using Native application development include:
- Maximized OS functionality
- Scalability
- High performance
- Excellent user experience
- Speed
Maximized OS functionality
The benefit of Native as platform-specific application development is that it can access every feature and tool provided by the platform.
There is no limit to maximizing the functionality of the OS for application development, allowing it to produce a maximized product.
If Native is not platform-specific and its application can work on any OS, then its access to certain features on the OS would be limited because it has to adopt features that can work universally on every OS.
Scalability
Applications created with Native are scalable. This means that you can continuously expand its features and functions to improve the application’s performance.
The applications can continuously implement tools and resources to satisfy their users’ needs and application requirements.
High performance
Native applications always have a higher performance than cross-platform, which boils down to their specificity to application development.
Native only has to consider the features of an application, with correspondence to the OS that it would work on, unlike cross-platform that considers more than one OS.
With that, Native can bring out the best features in the applications with respect to one OS, improving its chances of a high-performance rate.
Great user experience
Users can get the best experience from an application developed using the Native platform. Native utilizes the necessary features to up its game in the application world.
It ensures no glitches, bugs, or crashes for the developed application. This allows the smooth running and functioning of the application without any underlying issues.
Speed
Applications are relatively faster when developed with Native. This is because they don’t need complicated and complex codes that allow them to work on several OS.
Native only needs to implement simple codes that would work on one OS. This inevitably affects the application’s ability to do better in speed.
Disadvantages of Native application development
The disadvantages of Native application development include:
- High cost of development
- Time-consuming
- Need for extra skilled talents
High cost of development
Application development using Native costs a lot more than cross-platform, approximately twice.
The application would have to be developed twice for each operating system, i.e., Android and IOS, instead of just once like the cross-platform.
Time-consuming
The native platform is time-consuming. It takes a longer time to finish application development.
This reason is also that Native has to develop the application twice instead of once, which takes extra time before it reaches completion.
Need for extra skilled talents
To develop applications using Native, you need another team of skilled and professional developers to add to your existing team. Or better still, you need two teams of developers if you don’t have one before.
One team would work on one application for Android, while the other team would work on one application for IOS.
Meanwhile, application development using cross-platform only needs one team of developers.
After exploring Native application development with its benefits and disadvantages, let’s look at cross-platform application development.
What is cross-platform application development?
Cross-platform develops applications that can be used on both operating systems. You don’t need to build an application for each operating system. Cross-platform saves time and money, unlike Native.
However, because Cross-platform applications can be deployed on both IOS, they can mainly be used to develop simple and less-complicated applications because it has limited functionality.
For the above reasons, startups and small app development companies favor the Cross application platforms.
Benefits of Cross-platform application development
The benefits of cross-platform application development include:
- Low cost of development.
- Faster development time
- Single codebase
Low cost of development
Cross-platform isn’t as expensive in application development. Instead of developing two applications for each operating system like the Native platform, it only creates one application that works across both operating systems.
This cuts down the development cost to half the cost of using the Native platform.
Faster development time
For similar reasons as above, Cross-platform is faster in building and developing an application than Native platform.
It only takes half the time the Native platform takes because it develops only one application that works on both operating systems instead of two.
Single codebase
Cross-platform does not go through the trouble of creating more than one code. It only develops a single code for both the Android and IOS operating systems.
Disadvantages of Cross-platform application development
The disadvantages of cross-platform application development include:
- Low performance
- Poor user experience
- Limited functionality
Low performance
Cross-platform applications usually have low performance than Native platform applications. This is because Cross-platforms cannot utilize and maximize the most of the platform. After all, it develops an application that caters to more than one operating system.
It needs to consider both operating systems, and thus, there is a limit to how much it can maximize from the platform.
Poor user experience
Users of cross-platform applications don’t always have the best of experiences. This is because its applications cannot utilize all the necessary features to up their game.
As a result, these applications are more susceptible to bugs, glitches, and crashing.
Limited functionality
There is a limit to the functions and features that the cross-platform can tap into when developing an application. The main reason is that its applications are not platform-specific, so they can operate on more than one operating system and cannot use the features they would for platform-specific applications like those developed by the Native platform.
Criteria to consider when choosing a platform for application development.
There is no rule or definite report that says the Native is better than the Cross-platform or vice versa. However, to be able to know what platform to use when developing an application, you should consider the following criteria:
- Cost
- Complexity in application functions
- Timeframe of application development.
Cost
Your budget for your application development would determine the platform to use. If you don’t have that much planned in your budget, go for the Cross-platform, which is less expensive than the Native platform.
However, if you’ve budgeted more than enough and can afford to use the Native platform, then Native is your best bet.
Complexity in application functions
The more complex you want your application functions to be will determine the platform you should use to develop your application.
If you want your application to be simple and less complicated, go for Cross-platform; however, if you want your application to be more at the complex end of the spectrum, go for Native.
Native has features that can handle complex application functions without issues or disturbances and are preferable for complex apps.
Timeframe of application development.
How long do you want your project (application development to take)? Is it a long-term project or a short-term project? Your answer would determine your go-to platform.
If it is a long-term project, the preferred option is the Native platform.
If it is a short-term project, the more suitable option is the Cross-platform.
Cross-platform doesn’t take as much time as Native does, and that’s why we suggest the above options.
Also, using a short-term platform for your long-term project (application development) can put a dent in your planning and disrupt the development process.