Native app development (Objective-C / Swift & Java / Kotlin)

Native apps are written in code languages specific to the particular operating system that they are developed for. First, it was Java for Android and Objective-C for iOS but, due to the fast-paced software development we faced in the last few decades, these technologies have been replaced by Kotlin (Android) and Swift (iOS).

Being tailor-made to explicit working frameworks, these applications can completely profit from their local elements and effectively incorporate them into the whole biological system. Nonetheless, it has its burdens, so they should be filtered first to comprehend assuming that they fit the necessities. Let's check:

Fast performance due to simpler code and ecosystem's support (maintenance and development stability);

Higher security (protected by many different layers of an operating system which makes them difficult to exploit);

Longer release cycles (more secure, well-tested, and reliable software);

Robust functioning in an offline environment;

Better UX/UI (exclusive/custom APIs and components optimized for different screen sizes and system versions);

Immediate implementations (features can be implemented as soon as they are released to developers);

Easy to prevent bugs and technical problems;

Non-dependence on open-source libraries/third-party frameworks;

Faster to configure (only compatible with one platform allowing to use any new features);

Access to hardware features (quick and easy to implement).

Takes longer and is more expensive to have them simultaneously on iOs and Android;

Adding new features requires separate codebases;

Need a bigger team of specialists in native languages.

Only need to code for one platform and use specific hardware features (GPS and camera, for example);

Want to give the best user experience removing complex and unnecessary features;

For 3D games or apps with many animations.

Hybrid app development combines elements of both native and web apps. They allow developers to code in one single language that can run in different operating systems.

They are composed utilizing web technologies (Javascript, HTML, and CSS) in any case, rather than the application being displayed inside the client's programs, it is run from inside a local application and its installed program. Let's take a look at its advantages and limitations:

Lower development costs (especially when creating for several different platforms);

Shorter time-to-market period (same back-end for all variants);

Easier maintenance (based on web solutions);

Easier to add new features (due to one codebase);

Possibility to use device features (native APIs are available);

Have an embedded browser (to improve access to dynamic online content);

Can work offline depending on the functionalities.

Complex apps with many features will run slower;

New features implementation can suffer delays;

Having just one codebase means the app run equally everywhere (could not perform specific iOS or Android features);

Have a simple project based on content (no animations or complex features);

Need to release on both iOS and Android and (not needing to use many native components);

Want to test a project idea (Minimum Viable Product).

Progressive web apps are relatively new to this app development scenario, having had more widespread adoption in the latest years. These are web apps that seek to appear and act exactly like the native ones.

Yet, what's the significance here? It implies PWAs can be introduced and gotten to on cell phones (works disconnected and send pop-up messages) and can likewise utilize equipment highlights like camera and GPS. The client experience is upgraded for every stage and there are no devoted dialects or structures for Progressive Web Apps (generally done in Angular or React). Let's check it:

Access on different platforms and devices;

These apps can be found online in the browser (no app store needed);

Cheaper and faster do develop (50%-75% less time than traditional native mobile development);

Good responsiveness (easy adapt to different screen sizes);

User interaction and navigation is identical to native apps;

No need to install it (free from app stores, lengthy downloads, and updates).

Hardware and operating system features limitations;

Want higher traffic (available on all devices).

As it shows, there are numerous contrasts between every single one of these sorts of applications. Picking the most ideal choice will depend on many elements, like the item, the crowd for whom it is planned, the timetable, the spending plan, or more all, the center business. 

Zeroing in on the task's requirements is most of the way to progress, so dissect its intricacy and restrictions. Thinking about the client's conduct and attributes, it is feasible to have time and cost-productivity application advancement.

This blog post will look at Native, Hybrid, and PWA app development pros and cons, making a different comparison between them and helping decide what could be the best choice.

Native vs Hybrid vs PWA: the pros and cons 

Progressive web applications, or PWAs, are apps built with web technologies that we probably all know and love, like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But they have the feel and functionality of an actual native app. PWAs are also built on and enhanced with modern APIs to deliver improved capabilities along with reliability and installability on any device.

Thanks to the technology we have today, almost any site can be turned into a PWA. This means you can build a PWA quickly compared to a native app which is pretty difficult to develop.

PWAs have gained in popularity lately. Much big company's sites are PWAs – for example, look at twitter.com, one of the widely used social media platforms.

If you visit the site on your smartphone, it can be installed on your home screen. When you open the saved site, it looks and performs just like a native app – no browser, just the installation you did on your home screen.

There's no difference running it from an IOS or Android phone – all you need to do is log in and you're ready to use it.

A single-page application (SPA) is a website design approach where each new page's content is served not from loading new HTML pages but generated dynamically through JavaScript's ability to manipulate the DOM elements on the existing page itself.

In a more traditional web page architecture, an index.html page might link to other HTML pages on the server that the browser will download and display from scratch.

A SPA approach allows the user to continue consuming and interacting with the page while new elements are being updated or fetched, and can result in much faster interactions and content reloading.

In addition, the HTML5 History API allows us to alter the page's URL without reloading the page, allowing us to create separate URLs for different views.

Once inside of the SPA, the application can dynamically fetch content from the server through AJAX requests or WebSockets.

This allows the browser to keep the current page open while making requests to the server in the background to fetch additional content or new "pages" altogether.

If you've ever begun a search query and had intermediate results appear below the input form as you were typing, then you've witnessed dynamic queries taking place in the background that updated those DOM elements.

The server queries can fetch any kind of data, often taking the form of JSON payloads, strings, or even HTML elements that are already prepared for rendering.

And now, to add a good share of objectivity in our brief overview, let’s consider the main, principal differences between SPA and PWA solutions. 

Both SPA- and PWA-solutions are much faster in performance than solutions based on standard architectures. PWAs have an additional advantage here, however – they can perform in an autonomous, offline mode.

Single-page applications are noted for their vulnerability to different types of hacker attacks. They include cross-site scripting and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. As a result, users have to use specific tools for additional protection. In their turn, PWAs use HTTPS protocol that ensures secure content delivery. Besides, it prevents MITM attacks and protects the data transmitted by default.

The ability to work in offline mode gives progressive web applications an upper hand compared to other solutions. Besides, the “Add to the home screen” feature makes PWAs more accessible than ever.

It is commonly considered that SPAs are utterly susceptible to search engine promotion. Nonetheless, there may appear certain indexation troubles. To avoid them, we’d recommend using polyfill.js – JS libraries that are compatible with all the existing browsers.  

As for PWAs, there is a misconception that they are better indexed by Google search than other alternatives. This isn’t true and there are no significant advantages PWAs might have over SPAs.

Last but not least, what is more, affordable to implement – PWA or SPA? There aren’t many differences in terms of time expenses. Users find PWAs less cost-efficient, however, due to the scarcity of available profiled developers.

Single-page applications and progressive web apps are very close terms that have both similarities and differences. For example, single-page applications can be PWAs, but progressive web apps are not necessarily SPAs. As revolutionary as SPAs might have been, time seems to have slowly caught up with it. While SPAs and PWAs are kinds of the same, more and more people are choosing PWAs over SPAs and that’s understandable, given the benefits that PWAs bring.

Let's find out the differences between PWA and SPA.

Progressive Web App (PWA) vs Single-Page Application (SPA)

Pwa is brief for modern web apps. The period turned into first introduced through google lower back in 2015. The “innovative” part, according to Pete LePage – google developer propose, can be explained as “because the person regularly builds a relationship with the app through the years, it turns into an increasing number of effective”.

Customers tend to have expectations for native apps experience when using mobile devices to browse websites. Therefore, the website interface should be designed to accommodate seamless and fast interactions. This is where PWA’s design strengths come to the fore.

PWA sites provide a consistent experience through all kinds of devices, including tablets, mobile, and desktops.

Most of your customers usually visit your website first. PWA has a consistently high performance on popular browsers such as Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Therefore, it has the widest reach to any customer segmentation.

Easy installation and add to the home screen

Convincing users to install an app is challenging and very expensive for businesses. Most mobile users have chosen their favorite sets of applications. While they value the mobile experience of native apps, customers are not willing to download and install new apps. PWA avoids the middleman step of searching in app stores, requiring no download or installation:

Customers can surf PWA websites on any browser.

On the first access, the browser will display a prompt to remind customers to add it to the home screen.

Regarding the fact that customers prefer tapping app icons to access their favorites rather than navigating to a website using a browser, PWA’s add to home screen feature is valuable in this situation.

Thanks to its Service Workers technology, PWA can work offline.

When your customers first visit your website, your site’s content will be cached. Customers can continue to interact without interruption, even if they lose their network connection.

On the next visit, your device will reload the saved content without the internet, making the page browsing speed very fast.

The Service Worker update process keeps the PWA site updated automatically and continuously. You don’t need to submit your updates to the App Store or Play Store and wait for a review before releasing a new version.

PWA can access the home screen and send real-time alerts and push notifications to engage customers, even when the application isn’t running.

PWAs use less data than native apps and load content fast. With faster loading times, PWAs reduce server load and minimize the risk of slowdowns or crashes during high-traffic times, like major year-end sales.

HTTPS connections of PWA are the highest level of security, served via TLS to block snooping.

With one PWA’s unique URL link, you can share it for others to access on any platform via social media or other apps.

PWA sites can be indexed by Googlebot so you can optimize them based on Google’s guidelines and best practices.

In this blog, we will discuss the above PWA.

Explaining PWA

Progressive web applications have the following characteristics that are important to understand:

Progressive: The term progressive means, a PWA application must work on any device and improve the performance of the user's mobile browser and design.

Discoverable: A PWA is a website with some extra features. It can be searched via mobile searching applications like Google Chrome. App Store or Play Store is not required for this.

Responsive: The UI of a progressive web app should fit the form factor and screen size of the device.

App-like: A PWA application should look like a native application. Although the methods for creating, sharing, launching, and updating of the PWA are completely different from the original application.

Connectivity-independent: It works even when connectivity is very low.

PWA works like an app on mobile and looks very impressive.

It saves money and time compared to creating applications separately for android, iOS, and other platforms.

Post can be read even if there is no internet.

PWA is cheaper than the other applications.

The answer is No. The user can delete the PWA (if installed on Android) and clear their browser's cache of everything from your PWA.

The Cache API is temporary by design, and the IndexedDB data can be wiped when the user clears their browser cache.

So to persist app's data across PWA installations you should use cloud storage via some API.

There are two things to keep in mind here:

It's possible to register an arbitrary number of service workers for a given origin, as long as each service worker has its own unique scope

The Cache Storage API (and other storage mechanisms, like IndexedDB) are shared throughout the entire origin, and by default there's no "sharding" or namespace segregation.

To negate the popular myth, PWA doesn’t provide better positioning of the website in search engines, but with this standard, you can get a complete checklist of requirements. If we meet them, stick to all points, without any omissions or simplifications, our web application will be higher in ranking than others that do not follow these assumptions.

The implementation of a website compliant with the PWA standard requires similar personnel expenditures as front-end projects (design included). And therefore, such a team is supposed to consist of:

Front-end Developers (JavaScript, HTML, CSS, frameworks)

Full-stack Developers (JavaScript, frameworks)

Yes. All modern mobile and desktop internet browsers (including Microsoft Edge) do support the technologies used to build the PWA and the standard itself. Obviously, the best support can be found at source, in Google Chrome.

discoverability - content in progressive web apps can easily be found by search engines but a content-centric native app like StackOverflow won't show among app store search results for content that it does offer access to, such as "pwa vs. native". This is a problem for communities like Reddit, which can't expose their numerous sub-communities to the app store as individual "apps".

linkability - any page/screen can have a direct link, which can be shared easily

bookmarkability - save that link to access an app's view directly

always fresh - no need to go through the app stores to push updates

universal access - not subject by app stores sometimes arbitrary policies or (unintended) geographic restrictions

large data savings, extremely important in emerging markets with expensive and/or slow Internet access. For example, e-commerce website Konga cut data usage by 92% for the first load by migrating to a PWA.

low friction of distribution - if your progressive web app is online, it's already accessible for Android (and other mobile) users.

65.5% of US smartphone users don't download any new apps each month

PWAs eliminate the need to go to the app store, search for the app, click Install, wait for the download, then open the app. Each of these steps loses 20% of the potential users.

The benefits of an app shell architecture with a service worker include:

Reliable performance that is consistently fast. Repeat visits are extremely quick. Static assets and the UI (e.g. HTML, JavaScript, images, and CSS) are cached on the first visit so that they load instantly on repeat visits. Content may be cached on the first visit, but is typically loaded when it is needed.

Native-like interactions. By adopting the app shell model, you can create experiences with instant, native-application-like navigation and interactions, complete with offline support.

Economical use of data. Design for minimal data usage and be judicious in what you cache because listing files that are non-essential (large images that are not shown on every page, for instance) results in browsers downloading more data than is strictly necessary. Even though data is relatively cheap in western countries, this is not the case in emerging markets where connectivity is expensive and data is costly.

A service worker is available in Safari 11.1, which shipped March 29, 2018, with iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4.

Service Worker + Cache API are both supported (Cache API is actually a pre-requisite for Service Worker support)

There are some noticeable problems with Apple's implementation of Service Worker

Retrieve and display page-specific content (HTML, JSON, etc.)

An application shell (or app shell) architecture is one way to build a Progressive Web App that reliably and instantly loads on your users' screens, similar to what you see in native applications.

To make the website installable, it needs the following things in place:

A web manifest, with the correct fields filled in

The website to be served from a secure (HTTPS) domain

An icon to represent the app on the device

A service worker registered, to make the app work offline (this is required only by Chrome for Android currently).

After a service worker is installed and the user navigates to a different page or refreshes, the service worker will begin to receive fetch events.

A fetch event fires every time any resource controlled by a service worker is fetched, which includes the documents inside the specified scope, and any resources referenced in those documents.

The differences between a Hybrid Mobile App and a Progressive Web app:

Hybrid Mobile Apps: A hybrid mobile app usually refers to an application built using a combination of web and native technology that is distributed via a native app store. These apps go through Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc's app store review process.

Progressive Web Apps: A Progressive Web App is an application built using web technology that runs in the browser and may be added to the home screen. They do not need to be distributed via native app stores but can be included in them. Microsoft includes PWAs in its Microsoft Store as of 2018 and Trusted Web Activities make it easier to submit PWAs to the Google Play Store.

A service worker is a specific type of JS Script, which runs in the background of the user’s browser. It acts like a proxy server exists between your app, the browser, and the network. Among other things, service workers allow apps to continue functioning offline in case the user loses internet connection.

Disadvantages of the progressive web app:

Less access to system features: Currently, Progressive Web Apps have limited access to native system features than native apps. Also, all browsers are not supporting its full features but maybe in near future, it will be the new standard of development.

More Android – Less Apple’s iOS: progressive web apps are currently, most supported by Android devices. Apple’s iOS is only partially supported.

No review standard: progressive web apps don’t need any kind of review system which is applicable for native apps from the app store. It may make the process faster but lacks promotional benefits from the app store.

A web manifest file lists all the information about the website in a JSON format. Having this file is one of the requirements to make the website installable. 

It usually resides in the root folder of a web app. It contains useful information, such as the app’s title, paths to different-sized icons that can be used to represent the app on a mobile OS (for example, as the home screen icon), and background color to use in loading or splash screens. This information is needed for the browser to present the web app properly when installing, and on the home screen.

CacheStorage is a storage mechanism in browsers for storing and retrieving network requests and responses. It stores a pair of Request and Response objects. The Request is the key and the Response is the value.

The average duration of such a project is about 3 or 4 months. When it comes to ready-to-use applications, like the e2m storefront (formerly PWA Commerce Accelerator), it is very likely that this time will drop even up to 1-2 months.

There are some key principles a web app should try to observe to be identified as a PWA. It should be:

Discoverable, so the contents can be found through search engines.

Installable, so it's available on the device's home screen.

Linkable, so you can share it by simply sending a URL. * Network independent, so it works offline or with a poor network connection.

Progressive, so it's still usable on a basic level on older browsers, but fully functional on the latest ones.

Re-engageable, so it's able to send notifications whenever there's new content available.

Responsive, so it's usable on any device with a screen and a browser — mobile phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, fridges, etc.

Safe, so the connection between you and the app is secured against any third parties trying to get access to your sensitive data.

Smaller and Faster: The progressive web apps are much smaller in size than native apps. They don’t even need to install. That’s they are not wasting disc space and load very fast.

Responsive Interface: Progressive web app (PWA) supported web pages are capable to fit in every screen size automatically. It could be a smartphone, tablet, desktop, or laptop.

No Updates Required: Most mobile apps need regular weekly updates. Like the normal website, progressive web apps (PWA) are always loaded latest updated version whenever the user interaction happens and no App or Play Store approval is required.

Cost Effective: Native mobile apps need to be developed for both Android and iOS devices separately and their development cost is very high. On the other hand, progressive web apps are had the same features but a fraction of the prior price.

SEO Advantage: Progressive web apps are discoverable by search engines and load super-fast. Just like other websites, their links are sharable too. This, in other words, gives a good user experience and result in an SEO rank boost.

Offline capabilities: Due to the support of service worker API, PWAs are accessible in offline or low internet connections.

Security: PWAs are delivered over HTTPS connection and secure user-data over each interaction.

Push Notifications: With the support of push notifications, PWAs can interact easily with the users and provide a really amazing user experience.

Bypass the app stores: PWAs don’t need the App Store or Google play store support. Their updated version can be directly loaded from the webserver without the requirement of app store approval. On the other hand, native apps need days of approval if any new update is required. There are possibilities of getting rejected or banned.

Zero installation: During browsing, progressive web app gets its own icon on phones and tablets, just like a mobile application, but without the need to go through the tedious and slow App Store installation process.

The concept of the progressive web app (PWA) was approached by Google in late 2015. They are basically web applications (Website) but have look and feel like other native mobile apps. The progressive web app enabled websites can offer functionalities such as working offline, push notifications, and device hardware access.

A progressive web application is a type of application software delivered through the web, built using common web technologies including HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is intended to work on any platform that uses a standards-compliant browser, including both desktop and mobile devices.

 Now, I require to have an exit button on home page to go back of the application just like 
 a native app. 

Exiting From Oracle Apex PWA

In iOS 14+, if I go to settings -> privateness -> location offerings -> safari web sites and set permit region get right of entry to to 'ask subsequent time or when I share', after which launch a website that I have introduced to the house display, if the website online's occur is set to display: standalone (a PWA), when I attempt to get the modern-day area, the modal to invite if chrome can ask for permission to get region is never proven and the app simply hangs out ready. If I open the same web page in normal safari, the popup is shown as predicted. Is this behavior anticipated or is it a malicious program in iOS/Safari?

ioS/safari Web app in standalone mode hangs while getting location

We've got an outsystems cellular app (pwa) we would like to add azure ad SSO

We've got attempted IDP cellular, however it isn't always for PWA

We have attempted to embed in an Iframe the login to login.Microsoftonline.Com, however it is not framable (CSP) so we tried to follow this doc: https://docs.Microsoft.Com/it-it/graph/auth-v2-consumer however once more the html returned through the authorize api isn't framable.

Out Systems PWA Azure AD Login

Is there any approach to open internet site (PWA) urls in the installed PWA in IOS- safari?

Use case: I'm sending email links to login in my PWA, how am i able to make this url's open immediately with the installed PWA instead of the browser?

  Open installed PWA from external url

My requirement is to access the mobile camera in iOS and android using the mobile browser.

Using Ionic PWA app can I access mobile camera in iOS and android device browsers? Looking for PWA solution using Cordova (not native solution).

PWA mobile camera access

I have Chrome installing my PWA on Android - once it's installed I'd like to automatically close the browser window it was installed from, and open the PWA (so the user doesn't continue in the browser window, thinking they're using the PWA) - is this possible? 

Close browser window and open PWA once PWA installed

how to instal "pwa install" from "pwa builder" on ionic?

There are 3 ways to combine AMP with PWA (as described here):

In both first and third approach, we are fetching AMP content from the server using service worker, modify it if required and render. Can someone please explain the difference between these approaches? What exactly is the use of 'Shadow AMP' API?

AMP as PWA vs AMP in PWA

I was curious if anyone knew a javascript based method for detecting whether the web experience was being run as a PWA (progressive web app) or it was simply being run as a standard mobile website (with full browser UI).

Is there any difference between a PWA that is "installed" versus one that isn't but still has the service worker and/or app cache registered?

Please go through this link I think your problem will be solved https://localcoder.org/javascript-to-check-if-pwa-or-mobile-web

Javascript to check if PWA or Mobile Web

Is there any method to open website (PWA) urls in the installed PWA in iOS- Safari?

Use case: I'm sending email links to login in my PWA, how can I make this url's open directly with the installed PWA instead of the browser?

PWAWatch

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Native vs Hybrid vs PWA: the pros and cons

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PWAWatch

Trending Blogposts on PWA

Native vs Hybrid vs PWA: the pros and cons

Progressive Web App (PWA) vs Single-Page Application (SPA)

Explaining PWA

Blogpost

Discussion Threads

Interview Questions

Cheatsheets

Technologies

Questionaire

Popular Discussions on PWA

openExiting From Oracle Apex PWA

1

0

0

openioS/safari Web app in standalone mode hangs while getting location

1

0

0

openOut Systems PWA Azure AD Login

2

0

0

open Open installed PWA from external url

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