Unified development is by far the most important advantage of mobile web apps, but it’s not the only one. They are essentially responsive web apps developed using the three core web technologies- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript-and wrapped in a native application shell without requiring any changes to the underlying application. Of course, making the app available is just the start of a new phase, characterized by ongoing maintenance and feature upgrades, and it goes without saying that it’s far more cost-effective to maintain a single codebase than two.įor these and other reasons, mobile web apps have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.

Tip: By the time the app is finally in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, there might already be many competing apps with great reviews, making it difficult for the newly released app to gain traction. Not only is it expensive to target multiple platforms with native development, but it can also be very time-consuming. To make the same app available to Android users, the organization would have to hire a new team to port the app to Android. Let’s say an organization decides to develop an iOS app and hires or outsources software developers, UI specialists, and other professionals. Their biggest downside is that it’s not possible to deploy the same code on different platforms. However, native mobile apps are not without their fair share of disadvantages.

Platform-specific tools provide seamless access to native platform APIs, and their optimized performance ensures the best user experience possible. For a long time, native mobile apps ruled digital distribution platforms and marketplaces.ĭeveloped in a platform-specific programming language, such as:

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