Development Frameworks, PhoneGap and React Native make Mobile Application Development Easier

The increasing dependency on SmartPhones has enabled businesses to offer services through custom mobile applications and due to which the demand for mobile application developers has seen a considerable growth. But, on the other side, developers are finding themselves in a fix, because they have an important decision to make, should the mobile application be Native or hybrid?

And currently, there has been a lot of squib about the development frameworks PhoneGap and React Native, so let’s pitch in and learn more about them.

Mobile Application Development: Should it be Native or Hybrid?

Native App:

A native app is an application program developed for a specific device and its OS. Native apps can take advantage of software and the features only if it’s installed on that particular platform.

Suppose you need an application for your iPhone device, then the developer should program in Objective-C or Swift. Or if you require one for your Android device, then the developer should be coding in Java.

Actually, it’s a way to understand that Java code written for Android device cannot be used for iOS and vice versa.

Developing a mobile application for each platform clearly is a time-consuming as well as a not-so cost-efficient process. The cost for hiring developers is very high and even if you manage to hire a developer who is competent enough to program for all the platforms, then you cannot make it on time.

Hybrid App:

A simple, but potential difference is,

Developers will write once and release the application across (multiple) platforms.

Deconstructing the term ‘HYBRID APP’

Hybrid mobile applications are developed through web technologies, which includes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and are hosted inside a native application that utilizes WebView.

About WebView

Have you heard this?

Write Once, Run Anywhere.

WebView, you can call it a mini-browser that runs your app and allows to make use of native APIs.

With an account to this, now you might feel easier to understand the concept when you read a typical explanation that hybrid app development involves code written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript within a native container.

So, with hybrid frameworks such as PhoneGap and React Native, developers are now finding it easier to create mobile applications that run anywhere irrespective of the device and platform.

Simplifying Mobile App Development: Introduction to Hybrid App Frameworks

• PhoneGap (Apache Cordova)

A free, open-source, cross-platform framework, PhoneGap allows creating mobile applications using web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and standard Web APIs.

A hybrid app development framework, PhoneGap / Apache Cordova can be easily extended through native plugins, thus allowing developers to add more functionality to the mobile application and enables to have access to the device’s camera, contacts, location, and much more.

• React Native

Built by Facebook, React Native extensively supports code-reusability.

If you were to build iOS or Android apps, it would have been through Objective-C/Swift and Java. The approach made developers work more every time the platform changed.

But through React Native, they can build iOS and Android apps coding only once and through JavaScript.

Mobile applications developed through React Native are not be categorized as a hybrid, because, they are far more superior to both native and hybrid frameworks. So, with React Native, you are building an actual/real app.

This framework utilizes the same fundamental blocks as that of Android and iOS apps, but the blocks are integrated through React and JavaScript.

Benefits of Using Hybrid Model for Mobile App Development

1. i. Single Code Base, Less Time to Market

Hybrid model supports write once and run anywhere concept. Organizations will not only witness a reduced time to market but will be spending less on resources.

With a hybrid framework, developers can create a single version of the mobile application and get it across multiple platforms within small time-frame and at a lesser cost.

1. ii. Faster Loading Time, Better User-Experience

Since hybrid mobile applications save data offline (through device API), the loading time is less compared to native and mobile web applications.

Even with poor internet connectivity, users enjoy better user-experience through faster access to the mobile applications.

• iii. Easy to Scale and Develop

Since a single code base can be utilized across multiple platforms, it will not be challenging for developers to make the mobile application available for a new operating system in less time.