Progressive Web App vs Native Vs App Hybrid App: how to make the choice!

The spread of smartphones and tablets makes it possible to reach our customers at any time, conveniently on their portable device.

This is the purpose of mobile marketing.

Which tool do you use to do this?

Clearly the apps.

Today, companies increasingly need to target customers on mobile devices.

It is increasingly difficult for a person to be connected to the Internet through a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.

For this reason, companies need to use mobile in the best possible way.

A company, to reach all customers who connect from mobile, must first of all create a responsive website, i.e. optimize it for smartphones and tablets.

Next, it must create an app.

There are three great families of apps: progressive web apps, native apps and hybrid apps.

Let’s find out what the differences are!

Progressive Web App

Progressive web apps represent the future.

Also known as PWA, they are mobile apps that are distributed via the web.

An app of this type must not be downloaded from an app store. It works independently and is able to load pages instantly even in conditions of low connectivity.

Furthermore, the progressive web apps have the advantage of being always up to date because, when they are launched, they automatically display the most recent version.

What characterizes them?

The progressive web apps are considered more efficient than the others because they are able to work on demand and are always accessible but, above all, do not occupy memory in smartphones.

When users use progressive web apps on a native version of the same application, they find themselves consuming less data.

An application of this type is usable through normal web browsers and is written with HTML and CSS languages, simulating the interface of a native app.

In fact, installation on the device and offline use are not possible, however, since they do not have to be installed, they do not affect the RAM or the computing capacity of the device in any way.

They are very useful for the simplicity of programming languages, to facilitate the display of websites on mobile devices and to allow the indexing of their content on search engines.

The improvement of the User Experience is relevant and for this reason it can be assumed that soon the same users will decide to definitively uninstall the native apps in favor of progressive web apps.

Even the developers claim that the progressive web apps are cheaper because it takes little time both to build them and to update them.

Why?

With progressive web apps, you can create only one version of the app and view it in the same way on all devices.

App Native

The native apps are those that, as the name suggests, are created specifically for mobile devices for the market they are destined for (e.g. iPhone or Android devices).

The developer writes in the specific language of the platform (iOS, Android and so on) on which the app will be used.

Once an approval procedure is passed, the app is entered in the platform’s stores, where users can download it, either for a fee or for free, and install it on their device.

Precisely because it is written and developed in a specific language, a native app may have a higher cost than its alternatives but will, on the other hand, be optimized for its reference platform.

This will allow you to offer maximum performance and usage patterns both online and offline.

A native app is in fact able to interface completely with the reference system for which it was created and will be able to exploit all the functionalities of the reference device.

For example, a native app for the iOS operating system (i.e. intended for Apple products, downloadable only from the APP Store) will be able to integrate itself “in dialogue” with the other tools of the device, such as GPS, camera or zoom.

The native apps today are among the most downloaded because they can offer the best user experience, however their barrier is represented by the fact that they are limited only to certain devices and therefore cannot be accessible to all.

Hybrid app

They are generally written in HTML5 and JavaScript and can be encapsulated in the native language of a platform, like native apps.

What does it mean?

Surely they are less efficient than the native apps, but they can still be inserted and downloaded from the reference stores.

They also simplify the programming work, because the cross-platform language allows the app to work on different devices without having to create an interface for each.

The advantage of these apps is certainly the reduced development time and costs (which generally also correspond to a lower cost for the client).

Simplifying, program once and then encapsulate the code in the source “containers” of each platform.

One app, different reference markets.

Compared to the native ones, the hybrid apps lose however in performance and integration with the single devices on which they are installed.

Which App to choose?

In the dispute between which of the three apps is the most convenient, we don’t see one as a universal winner.

Each has characteristics that make it suitable in relation to the use that it must do, to the users to whom it is addressed, to the way in which it is intended to market it.