Native App Development: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

The world of mobile applications is gigantic. Through a mobile device we can go from making a bank transaction, buying some airline tickets and turning on the lights at home. All through applications, which has made everyday life incredibly easier for people, especially in the toughest time of the pandemic when the general recommendation was confinement at home.

At least 88% of the time we spend using our cell phone, we use it to interact with applications, according to data released by the Build Fire portal. This figure leads companies to continue working on the development of their applications, to diversify their channels and offer users the option they most need.

They also shared some of the key statistics to understand the mobile app market: in the Apple app store there are almost 2 million apps to download, and in the Android app store, 2.87 million are available. With this context, mobile applications are expected to generate more than 935 billion dollars in revenue by the year 2023.

What are native apps?

But in the mobile application market there are native applications and that is what we are going to explain to you in this article. Native applications are those that are developed to be used on a particular platform or device and, for this reason, have better performance and performance.

“If they intend to create an iOS app, app developers will use the Objective-C or Swift programming languages. In contrast, development for Android requires the Java or Kotlin programming languages," they explained in an article on the Clear Bridge Mobile portal.

Although native applications have been compared to web applications on many occasions, the benefits of native applications really outweigh everything.

“Native apps are often contrasted with web-based apps that are stored on a server and run in the browser. Each browser interprets the JavaScript and HTML codes in a web application, regardless of the platform on which the browser is running, which makes web applications universal applications”, they detailed in the digital magazine PCMag.

But they emphasized that "native apps always run faster than their web app counterpart, because no translation process takes place between the source code of the web page and the machine language of the computer."

How is the development of native applications?

Native applications are developed using the programming language that the platform accepts, unlike web applications that are written mostly in Javascript.

“Swift or Objective-C is used to write native iOS apps, Java is used to write native Android apps, and C# for the most part for Windows Phone apps,” they noted in an article on the MobiLoud portal.

“Apple and Google offer app developers their own standardized development tools, interface elements, and SDKs; Xcode and Android Studio”, they added.

Advantages of native app development

Extensive functionality

“You will have access to all the APIs and tools provided by the platform you are working on. Technically, there are no limits on how programmers could work with the new application”, they explained in this regard on the Uptech portal.

Better support and easier to publish

“A native app is easier to publish and typically ranks higher on the platform app store because it offers better performance and speed,” they added in the same article.

High performance

“Most software developers claim that building mobile apps natively will lead to better performance than otherwise,” they emphasized in a Trio.dev article.

“Because native apps are uniquely familiar with the operating system (OS) they run on, these apps will naturally have more flexibility on their native platforms. The result is fast response times and processing speed”, they added.

Security

“Software professionals tend to believe that native applications are more secure. Most hybrid apps work through web technologies so they can be cross-platform effectively. But a native application will have security protocols that work at all layers of an operating system”, they highlighted again in Trio.dev.

Aspects to take into account in the development of native applications

Check your budget 

You should keep in mind that native app development can be more expensive, so you should evaluate your budget before taking this step. “‍Building native apps can be expensive when you need to run them for both iOS and Android. It means that you will have to implement two teams that work on different platforms”, they warned in Up Tech.

Takes longer to develop

Being a native application, the development will be done specifically for one platform, so you will not be able to reuse the work on another. A separate team is needed to build a native app for one platform as well as another.

Accessibility

The accessibility of native applications is always a dilemma, because if you only develop your application for iOS, you will have Android customers who will also want the app but will not be able to have it and vice versa.

"Many software development companies do not have the resources to create an application for multiple platforms or, at least, they cannot launch the application on all platforms at the same time," they said on the Trio.dev blog.

This situation can generate discontent, little engagement and lost opportunities for customer conversion. So it is an aspect worth looking at carefully.

Examples of native applications

• WhatsApp 

Part of the success of WhatsApp as a messaging application is its excellent performance, thanks to the fact that it is a native application. Being native, it is much more flexible, allowing not only to send the classic text messages but also to make video and voice calls, group calls, all protected with extreme encryption.

• Spotify 

It is one of the most installed applications on cell phones today, since it is the main music streaming platform. It has exceptional performance as it is a native application and the Magenest portal further explains that it is one of the most outstanding examples of cloud-native applications. “Using Google Cloud, Spotify has unlocked significant performance efficiencies in its workloads to better serve users", they detailed.

• Waze

“Waze is a GPS navigation software that gets positive feedback from drivers all over the world. This sample native app works on GPS-enabled smartphones and tablets. In particular, the app helps users navigate by providing user-submitted turn-by-turn information, route details and travel times", added in the article.

Now that you know the basics of native app development, you can consider this option for developing an app for your company. And if you need technical support, you can count on Rootstack's engineers and developers. Contact us!

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