native vs mobile apps - the differences

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NATIVE VS WEB APPS JOHN AMIR-ABBASSI THE DIFFERENCES

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NATIVE VS WEB APPS

JOHN AMIR-ABBASSI

THE DIFFERENCES

JOHN AMIR-ABBASSI

ARE THEY THE SAME?

JOHN AMIR-ABBASSI

HARDWARE• Fully compatible: Native apps are made for and totally

compatible with the device’s hardware and native features, such as accelerometer, camera, push notifications or to be active in the background. A web app will not be able to access these capabilities.

!• Gestures: For now at least, browsers don’t play well with

gestures, and there are a couple of reasons for this… !

• JavaScript gives front-end developers only the most primitive, building-block touch events: touchstart, touchend and touchmove. That makes it easy enough to detect a touch or maybe a swipe, but anything trickier starts to get complicated. Have fun coding a rotate or three-finger swipe. It can be done, it just takes more time to do.

• The second and more vexing problem is that the browsers claim useful gestures for themselves. Pinch and zoom being a primary example.

DEPLOYMENT/ENGINEERING• Created per Platform/Device: A Native App will need to be

created for an iPhone separately than from an iPad or an Android device. For web apps you can create one version that is adaptive or responsive to accommodate multiple devices and platforms.

!• Deployment takes tame: While web releases can be launched

at your own discretion, an app will need to be submitted and approved into the app store which takes added time and possible cost if changes are needed.

!• Updates not immediate: Updates need to be installed or

often pulled from the app store. However in recent iOS versions the updates are automatically downloaded and pushed out for installation to users devices in the background. !

• Coding Considerations: Native Apps are coded using Objective-C (iOS), or Java (Android), or C++ (Windows Mobile). Web apps, on the other hand, use languages such as JavaScript, HTML 5, CSS3 or other Web application frameworks as per the developer’s preferences which may be more common skills (YMMV).

MARKETING/ TRUST• Adoption: With mobile apps you are primarily responsible

for driving traffic to your mobile site. With Native Apps you can be made more prominently featured in the App Store to drive adoption. Apple/Google’s role in this is significant and you may need to re-prioritize your roadmap to remain in good graces with these owners.

!• Trust: Being downloaded from a controlled marketplace

creates a greater perception of trust and that your app has been properly vetted by Apple or Google to ensure that its safe and trustworthy - this may tie into why we see mobile web conversion rates are in general lower than on other platforms.

CONSIDERATIONS1

2

HARDWARE: Using native capabilities, gestures, notifications on devices. Performance considerations on a device.

3

SPEED/COST OF ENGINEERING: Timing it takes to launch, scaling a product across hardware platforms, updating releases, programming languages, development costs.

MARKETING/ADOPTION/TRUST: How will users find your app, how safe will they feel using it for the context its been created, how will you promote it.

Native vs Mobile App Scorecard:

Source: http://www.celerity.com/blog/2014/05/21/native-app-vs-mobile-web-debate/

Sources• Web Apps are the Future: Tim Evko,

http://www.sitepoint.com/long-live-web-app/

• The Native vs. Mobile Web Debate, Drew Engelson: http://www.celerity.com/blog/2014/05/21/native-app-vs-mobile-web-debate/

• The Pros and Cons of Native Apps and Mobile Web Apps, Priya Viswanathan: http://mobiledevices.about.com/od/additionalresources/qt/The-Pros-And-Cons-Of-Native-Apps-And-Mobile-Web-Apps.htm

• Native Apps vs. Web Apps – What is the Better Choice?, Priya Viswanathan: http://mobiledevices.about.com/od/additionalresources/a/Native-Apps-Vs-Web-Apps-Which-Is-The-Better-Choice.htm

Thanks! !

@JohnAmirAbbassi