Mobile Web Apps vs. Native Apps

Contrary to popular belief, the discussion doesn't need to produce a winner and a loser. Instead of classifying apps as web apps or as native apps, why not just call them mobile apps? I believe "mobile app" is a great name. Under this name there are simply two variations of mobile app that can be created: web app and native app. A web app is an HTML5, JavaScript, CSS app running in a mobile browser. Now, you might wonder, why not just call this a mobile site? This is a fair point, and I believe the term “mobile site” can also be used. However, it is common to distinguish a mobile web app by one important extra feature, that it is invoking some remote services, usually a REST API (instead of just loading a static mobile web site). The second variation is the native app, one that is downloaded and installed on the mobile device. It’s important to note that a third variation of mobile app can also be created: a hybrid app. A hybrid mobile app takes an HTML mobile app and inserts it inside a native wrapper. While the inside of this app is made with HTML, JavaScript and CSS, the outside is a native shell. This kind of app is also downloaded and installed on a device. Although there are differences in how hybrid apps are implemented compared to native apps, most consumers can’t tell native apps apart from hybrid apps. Hybrid apps are distributed in the app stores, just like native apps. There are a number of important factors to consider when deciding whether to go with a mobile web app or a mobile native app.

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