Hybrid Mobile App Development

What is a Hybrid Mobile App?

A hybrid mobile app is built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript and is contained in a native wrapper so that it can be installed on a mobile device.

This allows web developers to build mobile apps without having to learn the native programming languages (e.g. Swift, Java, Objective-C). It also means that you can have one codebase for all the different platforms.

Cordova/PhoneGap

The most popular native wrapper is Cordova and has been around since 2009. Cordova is responsible for loading your HTML/CSS/JavaScript in a web view when the mobile app is started.

The other big feature of Cordova is plugins that allow you to communicate with the native features of your mobile device, for instance accessing the Contacts list or Camera, using just JavaScript.

Ionic 2+

The Ionic Framework uses Cordova and provides you with a UI framework that mimics the native UI. That means that you don't have to worry about implementing a native-like UI.

Ionic is built on top of Angular, a very popular framework (made by Google) for developing web applications.

The current versions are Ionic 3 and Angular 4.

React Native

This framework allow you to build native apps by writing them in JavaScript - React and compiling to native.

The native apps will always give you a better performance than hybrid apps because it won't have that extra layer in-between (the web view).

Now, Let learn how to use your web development skills to build hybrid mobile apps with Ionic(Angular) and React Native(React).