HYBRID APP

Mobile apps can be generally broken down into native, hybrid and web apps. Going the native route allows you to use all of the capabilities of a device and operating system, with a minimum of performance overhead on a given platform. However, building a web app allows your code to be ported across platforms, which can dramatically reduce development time and cost. Hybrid apps combine the best of both worlds, using a common code base to deploy native-like apps to a wide range of platforms.

There are two approaches to building a hybrid app :

WebView app:

The HTML, CSS and JavaScript code base runs in an internal browser (called WebView) that is wrapped in a native app. Some native APIs are exposed to JavaScript through this wrapper. Examples are Adobe PhoneGap and Trigger.io.

Compiled hybrid app:

The code is written in one language (such as C# or JavaScript) and gets compiled to native code for each supported platform. The result is a native app for each platform, but less freedom during development. Examples are Xamarin, Appcelerator Titanium and Embarcadero FireMonkey.