Overview of popular mobile app development technologies

Artyom Dovgopol

In mobile development, there are no universal solutions – each technology is good for its specific tasks. The key is to correctly identify these tasks 😉

Key takeaways👌 

Introduction

There are at least a couple of different ways you can develop your mobile application. Just like, say, opening a restaurant – you either spread out and try to add every cuisine of the world to the menu, possibly sacrificing the quality of some dishes, or focus on something specific. Let’s take sushi, for example.

The first option will give your customers an unmatched variety when it comes to what they can order. Will it be good and authentic, though, is another story. The second one will satisfy a small portion of people who know a thing or two about Japanese cuisine, but will probably discourage everyone else.

So yeah, every mobile development technology out there has its pros and cons, making the choice overwhelming. But do not worry, once you take a good look at what kind of project you're having on your hands, it won’t be a problem to pick exactly what your project needs

Native development

Native development is all about using the right tool designed specifically for a particular operational system. Mostly Swift and Kotlin, if we’re talking about iOS and Android – the most popular native mobile development software on the market.

So what does it mean? It means that since both Swift and Kotlin were designed for their respective systems from the start, you’ll be able to use 100% of the hardware you’re working with, including all the little sensors, GPS, camera, and everything else this particular device has in store. A natively developed mobile application usually has:

• Maximum performance.
• The wide availability of features.
• High security and stability.
• Perfect optimization.

Sounds perfect, right? Well, it's not all smooth sailing:

If you're targeting both the Android and iOS markets, be prepared to develop two entirely different applications. Both operating systems are very different from each other, which leads to additional time and cost for development, as well as a more complicated post-release support process.

Still, feel free to go for native development if you're aiming for maximum performance or building a product that heavily relies on hardware, such as:

• Games or any other apps with resource-intensive animations
• Banking apps
• AR/VR media

To save both time and money on development, developers sometimes make the tough decision to focus on just one operating system. But whether you're ready to cut off almost half of the market is something only you can decide.

Cross-platform development

And then we have cross-platform technology development, which is all about creating a product that will work on both mobile OCs, all the while having just one code framework. The pros are significant:

• Cross-platform applications are much cheaper to develop and support.
• Easy to maintain.
• You can make one cross-platform team do all the work for both OCs and save on hiring more people (a unified technology stack allows it).

Sounds great. Too great, in fact. What’s the catch? Well, there are a couple, actually. The most popular cross-platform software on the market is React Native and Flutter developed by Google and Meta respectively. Both struggle with optimization and performance if the application is slightly more complex than, say, a Pac-Man game. They will also require some additional libraries to access the full potential of the phone. So if you’re sticking with cross-platform, keep the following in mind:

• Low performance (React Native might do a better job than his colleague, but still loses against native software).
• Limited functionality.
• Often crude UI (both Android and iOS have different UX guidelines).

Story as old as the world – want to pay less, prepare for some additional risks. Still, cross-platform development technology can be a great choice if:

• You have a tight budget.
• If the product you’re developing is relatively simple (messengers, social media apps, for example).
• If you have a startup idea or an MVP and you need to quickly test it.
• If you’re planning on releasing it on PC and other OSs

Choosing a mobile development technology is like choosing transportation: planes are faster than trains, but not every destination has an airport. What matters isn't which transport is better, but which one will get you to your goal more effectively

Hybrid solutions

Both options don’t sound all that good. Looking for that perfect, golden middle? There is one, technically, although it’s very far from being golden. Hybrid development involves using a cross-platform framework as a base but using bits of native code to access some specific parts of the phone.

So basically developer takes a good look at what parts of functionality the application needs, and adds the native code that’s required to access them. Usually with the help of Iconic and Capacitor – the leading hybrid frameworks on the market. So in many ways, hybrid is a great pick for development:

• One code base for all platforms.
• Fast release and simplified after-release support.
• Cheaper than the native development technology.
• Easily integrated with web applications.

The main issue lies in the fact, that hybrid just doesn’t work for most applications. You see, it works through WebView – a sort of mobile browser inside an app, which means that the hybrid application won’t compile into native code, causing a whole lot of issues:

• Low performance.
• Not entirely, but still limited access to the hardware’s full potential.
• Often unnatural UI.
• Dependency on WebView.

Alas, if your app isn’t complex, the budget is tight, and the CEO asked for the product solution yesterday, then hybrid development is exactly what you’re looking for.

And a bit more about mobile development...

Want to learn more about app creation? Read our article Mobile App Development: A Complete Guide for Business

Conclusion

Choosing the mobile development technology is not just another decision you’ll make in the course of development, but a crucial moment that will decide the future of your project. So take time to check on your business plan and long-term goals and don’t be afraid to experiment!

And if you need help, then our team at Toimi is always ready to make that difficult choice for you, picking the most efficient and budget-friendly development technology for your project.