Hybrid software is a type of web application with interactive functionality. These apps receive and use content from various external data sources and provide all the features of innovative services. Mobile app development is now mostly hybrid or cross-platform technologies.
Hybrid application is a software product, the resources of which are "wrapped" in a native shell and run in full-screen web-view mode, that is, in any browser of any OS. This shell allows you to communicate with the hardware of your smartphone or tablet. If necessary, the camera, microphone, speakers, accelerometer, device buttons, etc. are activated. The speed and capabilities of the program are limited only by the speed of rendering and processing of the browser that is used in the operating system of the gadget.
Each operating system and platform has its own requirements: different button functionality, methods for calling functions, placement of interactive elements and design features. In order to take into account all the features, there are two ways: develop native applications for each platform or choose hybrid development. Since the functionality and design of an application is essentially the same regardless of platform, there is a certain amount of work that can be saved when developing an application for multiple platforms at the same time.
That is, when developing a hybrid application, a common part is created, and then the process branches in accordance with the guidelines of specific OS. It makes sense to choose a hybrid application when it is planned to develop for several platforms (and this usually happens, since the target audience includes both iPhone and Android users), and there is a desire to manage with a relatively smaller amount of time and money .
In general, "hybrids" have a number of advantages, namely:
- development is cheaper than native;
- updating and maintenance is easier than other types of applications;
- the full potential of the mobile device is used;
- access to the basic data of the mobile device: GPS, camera, phone book, etc.;
- offline data update;
- development for any platform;
- a common codebase that developers can maintain across platforms;
- the ability to distribute the app through official app stores;
- a large community of developers who contribute to open platforms;
- HTML-friendly base allows them to work better with the API and backend;
- an application developed once is made forever on different platforms.
Hybrid development is popular with large global companies. Many well-known applications are cross-platform. Among them: Wikipedia, Health tap, BBC Sport App and Evernote. Users have downloaded each of these applications more than a million times, which indicates the high quality of the developed solutions.
However, hybrid development has its weaknesses:
- Reduced speed compared to native applications.
- Fewer opportunities for integration with the “stuffing” of a mobile device.
- Problematic layout of adaptive design. Despite the presence of various web frameworks for building applications, we are faced with the fact that they all behave differently on different devices.
- The appearance of a number of bugs that can lead to certain violations of the normal operation of the application. During testing, based on the different behavior of the application on different devices, editing one bug entails the appearance of others under new versions of operating systems.
- Limited representation of visual and graphic elements, in particular animations.
Although some of the disadvantages are not so significant, poor performance and animation problems can become a limitation in working with cross-platform applications. Two of the most popular services, Facebook and LinkedIn, once worked on a hybrid model, but then were rewritten to a native one. According to developers, after that they received a twofold increase in the performance of solutions.
Thus, a hybrid approach can be used in cases where:
- The task is to quickly develop an application for more than two mobile platforms;
- There is a need to save on the budget;
- You require a relatively simple application without complex animation;
- You can exclude support for many parameters of native functionality.
