Hybrid App Vs Native Mobile App. Understanding when to use one, and why.

Most of the clients we had, they often have no idea why some business cases may need a native mobile app over a hybrid app or the other way around. At Twentylab, we don’t offer something that is unnecessarily complex just because we can build them. We want to make sure the tech stacks we build can deliver the best values depending on the phase of your business. That also means just because your company has the budget, you want to opt for the tech that the giants out there have.
Before deep diving on the reason to choose native app over hybrid app, let’s understand the difference quickly.

What is Native app & Hybrid app

Native app: An app that is written in the language of the platform. For example Android with Kotlin, and iOS with Swift.
Both Kotlin and Swift is native programming languages designed for building mobile applications.
Example of popular apps built with native app dev: LinkedIn. Although some features/pages are also browser-based, most of the core features are built in native. Another example is, most of the built-in app from the manufacturer are native, such as: Google Maps, Google Translate

Hybrid App: A web app that is embedded inside a mobile app. A web app is written in the language of the web development language. Often a frontend framework such as VueJS, Angular, or React. And often as a webview. Just like a browser on your smartphone.
Example of a popular hybrid app in Germany, Kaufland Marketplace (close to 90% of the core features are webview of their web version)

What are the differences and which one is better?

Although generally some native apps are more responsive and can perform offline operation, hybrid apps are also significantly much faster, it depends on how well the development team builds their frontend for the Hybrid app. If the web version is relatively fast, there’s a higher chance the hybrid mobile app will be as fast as the web version.

If we compare the same simple feature both built in the same quality code, let’s take an example of an ecommerce application, specifically the product detail page, the performance and the user experience will not be much different.

So it depends on the use case.

So in what use cases the native app will perform significantly better?

If you are building an app that needs to access the hardwares or sensors that the smartphone has, the native app will definitely perform much better, and there is a possibility that the hybrid app may not be able to access this sensor.
For example: An Augmented Reality app that utilises the Lidar of iPhone. As of today May 2025, it’s way too complex to access the Lidar of an iPhone so you can have a great AR experience in an iPhone with a hybrid app (browser-based). So building a native app in this scenario makes more sense.

If you “just” want to have an app that offers simple functionality that does not require hardware access of your phone, then hybrid apps are much faster to develop, and less complex to be built. Example: An eCommerce app, where users can browse and buy products.

So, which one should I choose for my project?

Although it’s been answered in the previous point, basically here’s the summary.
Hybrid App
You have a business process or idea that you want to solve with a mobile app.
And your mobile app does not require any sensor or any hardware to solve your problem. Go for Hybrid Apps.
Why? Because it takes less time to build it, especially if you already have the web version of it. And it is easier to maintain as long as you have a web developer (Frontend / Backend)

Native App
You have a project/idea/business process that you want to solve, but you need a sophisticated method to solve it, such as Gyroscope, Lidar, Visual processing, Movement detecting, or anything that needs to heavily rely on the phone hardware, then a native app is recommended. For example: You want to build an app that controls a drone, that mimics your phone gyroscope, and requires bluetooth connectivity to set up the drone. This is unlikely to be achieved with hybrid apps. So a native app is recommended.

Conclusion & Takeaways

Choosing hybrid app or native app is depending on your use case / business case
Hybrid app in many common scenarios such as a simple CRUD (create update delete) app like ecommerce, news sharing. Few access to phone hardware such as cameras is doable.
Native apps are recommended when your app needs to utilise the phone hardware, you need real-time processing within the phone such as image processing, Lidar, Barometer, High dynamic range gyro. High-g accelerometer, Proximity sensor.
Native app can only be updated when the user update it on the newer version, which sometimes can be a problem
Hybrid apps can generally be updated in real-time, just like you update a web application. Every user will quickly get the latest version of your app or view.
Hybrid apps are generally much cheaper in terms of the budget, while a native app (iOS/Android) can be twice the cost of a hybrid app for the same functionality depending on the use case as well.

If you think this post doesn’t answer your question, and is not helping you make your decision?
Let’s book a free intro call with us. We can guide you through your decision, and quickly get started with your project.

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