There’s a lot of debate these days about native versus web apps, and some buzz about hybrid apps, too. So what do all these terms mean, and why do we at Tide Creative believe native apps are superior?
First, let’s start with a few simple definitions. The shorthand difference between native apps and web apps is web apps are parked online and interact from the Internet with your mobile device. Native apps, by contrast, are installed on the mobile device and parked inside the device itself. This means that native apps can avoid a lot of the aesthetic and functional blips of web apps because native apps are designed with the specific mobile device platform in mind. Any what about hybrids? Hybrid apps try to combine the best of both worlds, with questionable results -- hybrids live on the mobile device like a native app but are coded to use the device’s browser engine to get online and function. There’s some concern about the viability of hybrids especially since Facebook recently decided to chuck its slow and screwy hybrid in favor of a native app – Mark Zuckerberg calling the hybrid misstep “the biggest mistake” the company has made so far.
At Tide Creative we think native has the clear advantage. We’ve launched with an iPhone-designed native app so you can be sure that whenever VenueApp is keyed up on your iPhone it will look and act the way it should. We took that bet because we know native is faster and more seamless than its web-based cousins. Just ask Zuckerberg.