We are now focused a lot more on our mobile device apps than the Internet itself. Mobile apps are important and as a business, you need a mobile app. There are many factors which will go into your mobile app strategy such as security, the skills of your development team, the functionality of the app, the offline capability and so on, so you have a lot to think about. You have to decide how everything is going to come together.
Native Applications
A native app one that provides the best features, usability, and the best experience for mobile users. There are several things which you can only get with native apps:
- Multi touch – This includes compound UI gestures such as pinch-spread and double taps.
- Fast Graphics API – You get the fastest graphics which is important is you’re using a lot of data and need a fast refresh.
- Components which are built-in – your geolocation, address book, and camera which are native to your device can be built into your mobile app. You’ll also want to have encrypted storage.
- Animations which are fluid – You want to have fluid animations. You need this for interactive reports, gaming, or for anything that needs highly computational algorithms.
- Easy to use – A native platform is easy to use as people are used to this. If this is included in the app, then they have an easy time using your app.
- Documentation – There are many books for Android and iOS development. There’s tons of blog posts, articles and other content that you can take advantage of to help you
The integrated development environment or IDE, is used to develop native apps. The IDEs provide you with tools for project management, debugging, version controls, and other tools that you need as a professional developer. Android and iOS are developed with different IDEs, but the development environments have a lot of parity. There’s no need to discuss the differences here as you’ll simply use the tools that are required by your device for development.
Native apps are more difficult to create, so you need the right tools. You also need more experience when compared with other development. Things don’t just work with a cut-and paste. You need to have a development team with some technical knowledge. If you’re a skilled Android or iOS developer, then you have can make a lot of demands and don’t have to do things in one set way.
The end user is critical in the development process. It’s the end user that will find the app in the store so build from their perspective. They need one that starts quickly and has fast performance when using that app. The app needs to have consistent feel and look to it. When the app be updated, the end user needs to notified within the app. A native app has to as good as the apps that come with a device when you buy it. It’s like your app has to seems like a critical part of the device the end user owns.
