There is no best technology available in the digital world; only different features are accessible among which you have to decide what suits you best. In this blog, we will compare the two most buzzing mobile app development platforms. Native vs. Xamarin to help developers in understanding the basic differences of both technologies.

Let’s start with a brief introduction of what Native app development is all about?

What is a Native Mobile App?

Professional developers already know about native development. However, if you are a newbie, then you can read the details to understand things better. Native applications are platform-specific apps. It means that native applications only support specific platform/device. In native mobile development, developers can execute a program for a particular platform, i.e. Apple, Android, and Windows phone.

Native apps are a great way to go.  It offers incomparable performance and user experience.  Not every mobile app development agency develops platform-specific applications. Only companies like Cubix are well-versed of delivering intriguing native mobile apps. Such companies can easily execute result-driven native applications because of the expertise, experience and bulk technology resources.

There are more benefits to go for the Native mobile app development. Let’s dive deep to know more about Native application development.

Benefits of Native Mobile Development

Often clients ask developers for the platform suggestions. If this is the case, then a developer must recall all the potential benefits of each platform to help the clients’. Each app development type has its benefits. Depending on the clients’ requirements, and budget, you can select the development type that best fits into the clients’ requests.

Here is a shortlist of native apps’ benefits that a developer should consider for the client.

1.      Optimum Performance

Native apps are platform-specific applications and offer incredible responsiveness for the particular platform. Also, native applications are faster performing because all the content and visual elements are already stored in the device. It means that the load time of the native apps is also reduced, provides a faster user experience.

2.       Work without Connectivity

Another remarkable benefit of the native app is that it works without internet connectivity. In case, if you are at a place where internet service is limited or no service available, then you can still use the native app.

3.      Easy to use

Native apps are integrated with the devices, hence such apps inherit the device’s OS interface. Native apps offer a user experience that is specially designed for the specific operating system. It means that while using a native app, users are no longer required to face the learning curves. Users can get the app concept quickly and easily delete an element when needed without any hindrance.

Disadvantages of Native App Development

Everything has a set of both pros and cons. We have mentioned all the potentials of the native app development. Now, it’s time to get a glance at what is the disadvantage of native app development, and why developers should not stick to it.

1. Lengthy Downloading Process

The process is quite lengthy and involves several steps, including going to the app store, searching for the app, accepting the terms and finally start downloading it. Various users don’t prefer to invest this much time and skip the process in between.

2. Time-taking Development

Each platform has its own requirements, including an entirely separate set of codes. It means that a developer needs to invest more time on the development. A separate set of codes is equivalent to coding for two different apps. Typically it almost takes up to 18 months for developing a high-quality native app, however, the time may increase, depending upon the complexity of the project. These were the top advantages and disadvantages of Native app development. Now, it’s time to explore what Xamarin is all about.

What is Xamarin Development?

Xamarin is a cross-platform software. It is developed by Xamarin Company acquired by Microsoft in 2016. Xamarin is responsible for creating native apps with platform-specific user interfaces. Xamarin hoards the app’s codebase and UI code by retrieving native APIs for each platform, i.e. Android, iOS, or Windows.

Why Should Developers Choose Xamarin Development?

Xamarin development enables developers to create mobile apps for all the major platforms at once that is almost Imperceptible from native apps. Moreover, Xaramin apps are considered as the native apps, but it takes the complete leverage of the platform-specific APIs, native user interface controls, and platform-specific hardware acceleration.

Difference between Native App and Xamarin Cross-Platform App

The major difference between a native app and a cross-platform app is native apps support one platform and written in a platform-specific language. On the other hand, Xamarin cross-platform apps enable developers to use one source code for an app using common web technologies. Later, the platform alters the code for the native environment. It means that the developed app performs very much like a native app.  Moreover, developers are allowed to reuse the pre-written code and let the platform manage to compile. It makes the whole process gets faster and cost-effective.

What are the Basics of Xamarin?

Here is a list of the basic elements of Xamarin cross-platform software:

1.      Programming language

C# supports Xamarine cross-platform software. The Xamarine cross-platform enables developers to do anything in the C# which they can do in Objective-C, Swift and Java.

2.      Platforms

iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry

3.      Xamarin Test Cloud

Test Cloud enables developers to build, test and monitor the developed app in the cloud, once it is developed.

4.      Hockey App

It allows developers to receive live crash reports, users’ feedback and helps to analyze test coverage.

5.      Xamarin.Forms library

It helps to create native UIs and reduce the usage of native controls of a single platform.

6.      Design patterns supported

MVC (Model View Controller), MVVM (Model View ViewModel)

Play with your Best Option!

With Xamarin, developers can use a shared C# codebase among three platforms, leaving the rest of the efforts to creating the platform-specific UIs.

Meanwhile, with the native app development, developers are required to write one set of native code for each platform, with that platform’s programming language and frameworks.

The best way to select your development option is to understand your clients’ requirements in terms of the budget, timeline, and scope. It will help you to choose your development option either it is Xamarin or native app development.

Author Bio

Olivia Marie is the Digital Content Producer at Cubix, the top mobile app development company, helping startups and enterprises in leveraging latest technologies. Olivia loves to write on topics that cover modern technologies including, Blockchain, AR/VR, AI, Digital Marketing, and more.