Hybrid app development is the process of building mobile applications that combine elements of both native and web applications.

Hybrid apps are built using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which are then encapsulated within a native app shell. This shell enables hybrid apps to function like native apps in so far as they don’t need web browsers to carry out tasks. However, this shell is an extra layer of code that prevents hybrid apps from fully utilizing their host device hardware resources. That is why though hybrid apps look and feel like native apps, the former typically can’t match the performance of the latter.

However, hybrid app development tends to be less expensive because hybrid apps can function across multiple platforms. The reduced cost comes from the fact that developers only need to write one set of code to make a hybrid app compatible with different devices and operating systems. Native app developers need to write at least two sets of code to make apps that are compatible with both the iOS and Android operating systems.