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Software application developed specifically for small, wireless computing devices, rather than desktop or laptop computers.

Native applications

A native app is written for use on a specified platform or device. (Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android account for 99% of mobile devices.) Because of this, native apps can take advantage of device-specific hardware and software (e.g., a camera). They are usually highly performant and offer the mobile user a rich experience.

However, the user must download the app from a store. This is often a barrier to adoption. Native apps are also, by definition, not cross-platform, with a development process unique to each. For example, they are written in the coding language specific to the mobile platform. So, iOS apps are written in Objective-C or Swift, while Android apps use Java. This also presents as a development barrier due to the complexity of mobile software development and the lack and cost of specialized developers.

The mobile web application needs only a web browser to work. Unlike native apps, progressive web apps (PWAs) will therefore work on any mobile platform. Like native apps, PWAs can work offline, send push notifications, and access device hardware, such as cameras or GPS. The user experiences are similar to native apps on mobile and desktop devices without downloading or updating hassles, with great benefit — they run well on top of poor connectivity.

Progressive web applications

In addition to that, from an end-user perspective, PWAs are easy to use on their mobile devices (no app store) and are lightweight. From a dev perspective, they are way faster to change than native apps, and they are easier to maintain. Plus, unlike native apps, they use one codebase for all devices and are searchable by search engines and light.

Hybrid applications

As the name suggests, a hybrid app combines aspects of native and web apps. You can think of them as web apps that have been put in the shell (or container) of a native app. Like native apps, hybrid apps must be downloaded from an app store. Once installed on the mobile device, the shell uses an embedded browser to access the capabilities of the native platform. Hybrid apps have several advantages – and some limitations.

Like web apps, hybrid apps are easier to develop than native apps. They also don’t have to be written anew for each platform. Both factors make it much easier and cheaper to access the development skills needed to create a hybrid app. This may be a critical consideration as there is now an acute global shortage of developers. A key benefit of hybrid apps is that no further validation is needed once they are approved for inclusion in an app store. This assumes any upgrade makes no change to the native code.

However, hybrid apps do not offer the rich user experience of a native app. Nor can they take advantage of all the features of the mobile platform. They also perform more slowly than native apps as they are limited by the speed of the embedded browser. Some users may also be put off by the need to go to an app store to download the app.

Mobile app distribution

Once your mobile app is created, in the case of hybrid and native, it must be approved for inclusion in an app store.

The two major app stores are Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Both Amazon (for their Kindle devices) and Samsung also have app stores. However, these host a much smaller selection of apps. Once on the app store, your next task is to promote it. Your app needs to be easily discoverable on the app store. But you can also promote it via blogs and social media.