Introduction
The development world can be quite challenging especially when you are just starting out. There are many different paths and careers that you can about it and along this journey, you will reach a point where you have to decide if you want to be a web app developer or a native app developer.
Both the web apps and Native apps are really popular and they are being used by millions of people every day, you might be using some apps on your phone right now without even knowing if it's a native or a web app.
So what is the difference between them? which one you should learn to develop? and why do you even care? We will talk about it in this article.
What is Web App
Web apps or web applications are to be built using JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and Python. There are no SDKs for building web apps. These apps run in the browser, They are easy to build with limited features. While standard web apps lack the functionality progressive web apps (PWAs) fall somewhere in between. Web and Native Apps.
What is Native App
Native apps are the apps that run on a specific OS that is designed for running Native apps. For example, Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android apps. These apps run natively on your device without the need for a browser. There is a specific IDE for developing these applications eg. Android Studio and Xcode. Native apps are generally more expensive to build than web apps but they are more secure and faster than web apps.
Let's see some of the pros and cons on both sides.
Pros and Cons
Web Apps
Pros
No need to be downloaded or installed they run in-browser
Easy to operate and function since it can run on any browser regardless of the OS of the device.
No app store approval is required, so can be launched on any server.
Cons
Do not work offline or without the browser
Fewer features and slow to operate.
Lacks security since they are not reviewed by any app store guidelines.
Native Apps
Pros
Faster than web apps obviously
Access to the system of the device thus more features can be built.
Can work offline
Better security—native apps must be approved by the app store guidelines.
Cons
More expensive to build than web apps
Different versions need to be built to work on different OS.
Expensive to maintain and update and it's difficult to get a native app approved by the app store guidelines.
So What to do Next?
Learn about PWA progressive web applications and Hybrid Apps, Do more research and compare the results and then choose which path you want to continue on.
Thanks for reading ill see you in the next post. Happy coding