Native Mobile App

What is a Native Mobile App?

A native mobile app is a software application that is designed for a specific mobile operating system (OS) platform. Unlike cross-platform mobile apps, native mobile apps will only work on the platform they are designed for.

Native apps need to be downloaded and installed directly on the mobile device that will use them. They are generally more expensive to produce, but they work offline and don’t require a reliable Internet connection like web apps do.

Native apps tend to perform better than cross-platform apps for specific tasks that require integration with the device’s OS or hardware. For example, a native app could use the device’s camera or accelerometer without requiring help from a third-party app.

Developers have to build native apps with platform-specific software development kits (SDKs) and use programming languages the SDKs recommend. For example, native iOS apps are built with the iOS SDK and use Swift or Objective-C.  Native Android apps are built with the Android SDK and use Java or Kotlin.

How Native Mobile Apps Work

Native apps are compiled into machine code that is specific to the device’s processor. This allows the app to access the device’s hardware resources and work with its operating system without the abstraction layers that cross-platform apps require.

In the early days of mobile app development, software developers had to create separate code bases for different operating systems. Today, the development of cross-platform frameworks like React Native and Flutter allows developers to write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms.

Web Apps vs. Native Apps

Back in the 1990s, developers had the option of building applications that could be downloaded and run locally on a desktop or building applications that could run entirely in a web browser.

When smartphones came along in the mid-2000s, developers faced a similar choice: they could create native apps specific to the device’s OS, or they could create web apps that could run in the phone’s browser.

Both options had disadvantages.

• Web apps had limited access to device features, were dependent on Internet connectivity, and could not provide as rich an experience as native apps.
• Native mobile apps had higher development costs, longer development times, and required separate maintenance for each platform.

They both had one thing in common, however. They both had concerns about security.

Whenever a mobile app transmits data over the Internet, it can potentially be intercepted. By the mid-2010s, growing concerns about privacy and security led to a significant increase in the availability and use of mobile VPN apps. Mobile VPNs encrypt Internet traffic to prevent unauthorized access and mask the user’s IP address to provide privacy.

Hybrid Apps vs. Progressive Web Apps

Hybrid app development, which started to gain traction in the early 2010s, soon became a popular strategy for combining the best aspects of native mobile apps and web apps. Hybrid apps have a single codebase, but they aren’t always able to take advantage of new mobile device capabilities.

Progressive web apps (PWAs) are able to address some of the shortcomings of early hybrid apps by using application programming interfaces (APIs). PWAs can use native device OS features like push notifications and access native device hardware components like cameras and GPS chips. They can also work offline to provide a more native app-like experience.

Native Mobile App Examples

If you’ve downloaded and installed WhatsApp or Apple Music on your smartphone, tablet, or smartwatch, you’ve installed a native mobile app.

WhatsApp downloads have different code bases for Android and iOS devices. Apple Music has different code bases for iOS, Android, and WatchOS devices.

Native Mobile App Pros and Cons

In the future, native apps will still be developed for use cases where device component access or platform-specific capabilities are important. As PWAs gain traction, however, native app’s prohibitive expense may limit their use to enterprise applications.

The Bottom Line

The evolution of mobile app development has led to a broader interpretation of the definition of native mobile app. The bottom line is this: If PWAs ever reach their full potential, most native mobile apps could simply become integrated OS features.

If this happens, the app development landscape will shift towards a unified approach centered around web standards.

FAQs