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What is Hybrid App Development? And Why Should You Choose Flutter?
What is Hybrid App Development? And Why Should You Choose Flutter?
Mobile app development is growing so fast and multiplying the apps in the market. To understand how it works, we need no projectile science. There were 3.14 million apps on Google Play and 2.09 million on the Apple App Store near the fourth quarter of 2020.

Hybrid app development is done well as it is a combination of both native and web solutions where the core of any mobile app is written using web technologies. To start the process of mobile app development, the first thing is to find the right solution for your next application.

An app development depends on several factors consisting of the location you choose to outsource app development, your budget, app complexity, the timeline, your team’s experience with technology and, finally, your target audience. Therefore, with the growing competition, companies are frequently looking for technologies that can help grow their user base.

What are Hybrid Apps?

Most of the apps we see are hybrid apps that can be described as HTML5 web apps within a native wrapper. These mobile apps are written using CSS3, JavaScript and HTML5. It is then compiled into native Android, iOS, or other mobile outlets operating wrapper technologies.

So, web pages are covered in hybrid apps as mobile app through WebView. Hybrid apps are a mixture of native and mobile apps. If we compare with other applications, the most useful part about these apps is that they can use any device’s features and have built-in capabilities.

The heart of a hybrid app is in an app written in CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. App that uses a mobile WebView object are the Hybrid apps built in a native container. When the app is used, this object shows web content with the help of JavaScript, HTML, and HTML5.

A Quick Peek into Cross-Platform Apps

When you want to develop an app for your business, you should choose cross-platform development. Due to the unmatched rise in the development cost and the demand for a faster market, cross-platform app development is worth considering. In addition, for creating hybrid apps, cross-platform app development is worth choosing.

Some of the reasons mobile app development company create cross-platform apps are easier maintenance and deployment, low development costs, maximum user exposure, faster app development process, reusable code, and reduced time-to-market (TTM).

Hybrid apps are the combination of native apps and web applications elements where they are essentially web apps that have been put in a native app cover.

You have to download from an app store and install it locally; then, you can see the shell connect to whatever capabilities the mobile platform provides through a browser. Here, the browser and its plug-ins run on the back end and are invisible to the end-user.

Hybrid app development is chosen more often as they let developers write code for a mobile app once and acclimate multiple platforms. Hybrid apps may perform slightly slower than native or app's web versions as they add an extra layer between the source code and the target platform.

Hybrid Mobile Application Development Features

features of hybrid mobile app development

  • Integration with the Mobile device's file and Web-based services.
  • Hybrid apps support portability.
  • You can manage multiple hardware and software features by using various plugins.
  • Cost-effective mobile application development environment.
  • Swift and quick way to develop mobile applications with multiple functionalities.
  • The ability to function whether or not the device is connected.
  • An embedded browser to improve access to dynamic online content.

How did Hybrid Applications Work?

Hybrid apps work similar to web apps but are downloaded to the device, such as native apps. Hybrid apps are typically written in HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, same as Web apps. Hybrid apps are popular to run code inside a container and work effectively.

The application can work offline depending on its functionalities, but a hybrid app will share similar navigation components. Hybrid apps can even work offline if they do not require any database support.

Hybrid Application Pros and Cons

Pros of hybrid apps include:

  • Hybrid apps can efficiently work on different platforms.
  • It is developed faster compared to native apps.
  • Cost-effective to create compared to building two versions of a native app.
  • It is easier to launch patches and updates with hybrid app development.
  • It can work both ways, online and offline.

Cons of hybrid apps include:

  • It requires testing the application on various devices to ensure the proper functions.
  • Variations due to learning development on one platform.
  • The UI of a hybrid app may differ from platform to platform.
  • User experience (UX) may fail if the user interface (UI) isn't equal to and well-designed to users' preferred browsers.

What is Flutter And Why It is important?

Tim Sneath, product manager of Flutter, declared in 2021 that the increasing use of Flutter is more than 2 million. Flutter developers have been using the Flutter toolkit since 2018.

Flutter is an open-source software development tool that easily allows cross-platform mobile app development. The benefits of Flutter are multiple where a developer can help you create high-quality natively compiled apps for iOS and Android. It can be possible without writing the code for the two apps individually.

Flutter is used for faster app development where you need only one codebase for both platforms. The spring update also shows that it's catching a rise in consumer apps and software app development.

Initially, organizations had to develop two separate apps, which meant doing the work twice. With Objective C/Swift and Java/Kotlin as direct languages for mobile development, creating apps was time-consuming and expansive at the same time.

A few frameworks have been built to create hybrid apps in HTML5 and JavaScript to solve multiple codes and expansive app issues. Flutter framework has grown faster and grabbed the market to develop cost-effective and performance-driven apps amongst other frameworks like Xamarin, React Native, and more.

  • Flutter is known for its easy integration with Android, Linux, iOS, MAC, Windows and Google applications.
  • It is a mobile UI toolkit for creating native-like apps for mobile, web and desktop.
  • Flutter uses Dart as programming to comprise Material Design and Cupertino widgets.
  • Flutter developers can make stunning UI that looks and feels like native apps.
  • Flutter apps respond inherently on any platform, even though you're using one codebase.
  • Flutter is the only framework with a mobile SDK that delivers a responsive style without using a JavaScript bridge.