When developing an application, there must be a decision made on whether or not to develop a web or native application. It is a decision that can have a great impact on the functionality of the application. So here I have outlined some key differences to consider.

When developing a web application:

Advantages

• Web applications do not need the approval of the devices app store, and the developer can release it at their own discretion.

• Once an application is released, the code will need to be maintained. With web applications it is made easier when targeting multiple devices because it is one common code base.

• Because web apps use a common code base, the application becomes cheaper to develop. This is also the case for maintaining the code once released.

Disadvantages

• There are no standardized SDK's for web app development.

• Web apps are developed to target multiple platforms, so, they lose the ability to use some of the device's hardware features.

• Targeting multiple devices poses different device specific issues and while web apps are using different browsers, they also come into browser specific issues.

When developing a native application:

Advantages

• Depending on the purpose of the application, speed may be a factor is success. Native apps will often run faster than web apps.

• With Native apps, developers have access to all of the available hardware features of the device.

• Designing the UI for a native application can be guided by the device's standardized design guidelines.

Disadvantages

• Native applications need to be approved by the devices app store and can prove to be difficult.

• Different devices require different programming languages.

• Since native development often takes more time to develop (especially when targeting multiple platforms) and requires approval from app stores, then the development generally is more costly.

As we can see, there are a lot of reasons to explore both options and decide which route is best for your application. Web development is generally cheaper, easier, and more in the developers control. While Native applications have access to all available device hardware (which can be critical if your application relies on certain technologies like developing an AR application) and will generally perform faster. This is a basic comparison of the two and there are certainly more pros and cons for each to explore.