Developing for Mobile: Native Apps, PWAs, or Cross-platform frameworks? That is the question!

When building a mobile app many businesses struggle with the notion of whether they should go for a cross-platform approach like Apache Cordova, Flutter, and Xamarin OR  compose a native application written in Kotlin/Java (for Android) and Swift(for iOS). To add to the dilemma, there are other approaches such as Progressive Web Apps and Responsive Web Apps which make the business stakeholders question the very premise i.e. does the business even need a Mobile App? To remedy this confusion, as discussed above, let’s classify our possible pathways to mobile development into the following buckets:

1. Native Mobile
2. Responsive Web Apps and PWAs
3. Cross-platform frameworks

Now, what is important to note here is that there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to developing apps for Mobile. Every use case is different and may require any one of the three approaches which is the most suitable one for that use case. Consider the case of an enterprise mobile app that allows enterprise users to reset their passwords, andmanage their enterprise contactsfor their enterprise user accounts. In this case, there are no unique functionalities needed, therefore a cross-platform native/hybrid app will suffice and one code-base can be compiled to different platforms.

Similarly, for an online e-commerce store with a simple cart, inventory, and check-out functionality, a mobile responsive web/app or a progressive web app may be the most feasible option. Likewise, a social networking app that uses tons offeatures such as AR-camera lenses and multiplayer games is better developed as a native app.

Conclusion

Each usecase is different and the right mobile development approach needs to be finalized after carefully considering the overall requirement, app features, and supported client platforms.