Native vs Cross-Platform: The Best Approach for Mobile App Development
Tags: mobile, webdev, programming, productivity
Published: 2024-05-03 12:05:03

People nowadays spend most of their time on mobile devices, from seeing weather forecasts in the morning to hearing soothing music as the day ends. And as per report, [49% of users](https://radixweb.com/blog/mobile-app-usage-statistics) open an app over 11+ times a day. Hence, these apps are a necessity for every business in today's rapid-tech times. So, to deliver the best user experience and higher efficiency, developers build mobile apps that consider the operating systems—usually Android or iOS.

So, what operating system you target - Android or iOS - significantly impacts your mobile app development. And there are two popular ways to develop top-notch mobile applications: cross-platform app development - which targets several operating systems, and native app development - which targets a specific operating system.

However, deciding between native and cross-platform app development is an arduous task, as both these approaches come with their own set of pros and cons. And you should decide on the approach considering factors like app requirements, business objectives, etc.

So, in the following article, I'll be covering all the essential aspects that will help you decide the best approach for your app development—ultimately ending the native vs. cross-platform app development debate for you.

Let's start!

## What is Native Mobile App Development?
Native app development is building an app for a specific mobile operating system, mainly [Android and iOS](https://radixweb.com/blog/android-vs-ios). While working on these apps, native app development services utilize specific frameworks, tools, and programming languages. For instance, you can build iOS apps using Swift or Objective-C, or you can create Android apps using Java or Kotlin.

## Advantages of Native Mobile App Development
The following are the significant advantages of building native mobile applications:

1. **Minimal bugs** - Native app developers can access up-to-date SDKs immediately after release.
2. **Quality UX** - Native mobile apps provide a seamless user input and output experience.
3. **Robust Security** - Native apps improve the safety and security of your user's data.

## Disadvantages of Native Mobile App Development
Some limitations of native mobile app development include:

- **Cost** - Native mobile apps are usually expensive because they need separate development teams for the specific platforms.
- **Lack of Code Reusability** - You must develop separate code for every project targeting different mobile operating systems
.

## What is Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?
Cross-platform app development, or multiplatform development, is the process of developing mobile apps using a shared codebase that is compatible with multiple operating systems. So, rather than creating two separate apps for Android and iOS, you can opt for cross-platform application development services. With its help, the developers can either share a part or complete source code between different platforms, eventually making the apps function similarly on Android and iOS.

## Advantages of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development
The following are the significant advantages of building cross-platform mobile applications:

1. **Easy Maintenance** - Upgrading a cross-platform app is much more seamless. And how? Because you only need to deal with a single codebase.
2. **Rapid Development** - By improving efficiency and reusing code, you get to market more rapidly. Cross-platform frameworks also help optimize the app testing process during development.
3. **Code Reusability** - Cross-platform mobile app frameworks enable developers to utilize a single codebase.

## Disadvantages of Cross-Platform App Development
Some limitations of cross-platform mobile app development include:

1. **Delayed Platform Features** - New SDK releases usually contain new updates and features. And with cross-platform app development, you need to wait for a few updates to access the new features and functionalities.
2. **Higher Digital Footprint** - Cross-platform mobile apps are generally significant. Hence, you need to look for available mobile optimization options.

## Native vs. Cross-Platform App Development: Which is the Best for You?
Deciding between native or cross-platform apps relies on multiple factors. So, the factors listed below will help you make an informed and sound decision on which approach to use for your mobile app development.

**Development Budget** - Think about whether your budget allows you to build two separate native apps for platforms. If yes, native is your answer. And if not, developing a cross-platform app is more affordable.

**Target audience** - Conduct extensive research on your target audience and their mobile platform choices. If your target users primarily utilize a specific platform, [native app development](https://radixweb.com/services/native-app-development) will be a better decision than cross-platform app development.

**App Complexity and Performance** - Analyze your app's performance needs and complexity. If your mobile app depends on specific hardware capabilities or needs intensive processing, native app development is ideal.

**Development Timeline** - When you target multiple platforms, [cross-platform mobile app development](https://radixweb.com/services/cross-platform-app-development) can be a much quicker approach to take your app to the market.  On the contrary, native app development takes longer because it requires building separate codebases for each platform.

## Native vs. Cross-Platform App Development: A Brief Table
To help you decide on the winner between native vs. cross-platform app development, I have curated this brief table. Let's go through it!

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/c7tnz44pyfz31vu6xarx.png)

## Summing Up: Choosing the Ultimate Winner!
When deciding between [native mobile app development vs. cross-platform mobile app development](https://radixweb.com/blog/native-vs-cross-platform-app-development), it's significant to take care of certain factors like your business objectives, specific project requirements, and app goals. When opting for native app development, you'll experience advantages like better user experience, access to platform-specific features, and superior performance. On the other hand, when developing cross-platform applications, you'll enjoy benefits like cost savings, faster time to market, and code reusability.

And to make a more informed choice and ensure a seamless development process, I suggest you partner with a trusted mobile app development company with expertise in native and cross-platform app development.

That's all from my end.

I hope this article helps answer all your questions.

Thank you for your time and patient reading.

Happy Learning!