A hybrid app is an application that combines elements of both a native app and a web app.

Like web apps, hybrid apps are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But in contrast to web applications, hybrid apps don’t need browsers to run because they are designed to look and feel like native apps. These apps are downloadable from app stores and accessible by tapping relevant icons on mobile devices.

Despite their native app-like qualities, hybrid apps tend to have subpar performance compared to their native app counterparts. But hybrid apps offer the same cross-compatibility advantage of web apps, meaning a hybrid app can be compatible with more than one platform. Native apps don’t enjoy this advantage despite their superior performance. 

Other hybrid app advantages include faster and less expensive development and ease of maintenance.

Ideal use cases for hybrid apps 

Like web apps, hybrid apps are mostly suited for use cases that do not require a lot of information processing or rich media. However, hybrid apps built with special frameworks like React tend to reach almost the same app performance metrics as native applications.