Jonathan Stark

There has been a lot of debate recently about the pros and cons of native apps vs. web apps on the iPhone. Ultimately, the right approach depends on the goals of the app and the resources of the developer. Here are a few points to keep in mind if you are trying to decide which is right for you:

Native Apps

Native apps have to be submitted to Apple by the developer, navigate the approval process, and are eventually available for download in iTunes.

Native app bug fixes and upgrades have to go through Apple’s approval process. Currently, this can take weeks or months.

Native apps can access advanced hardware features of the phone (e.g. camera, accelerometer, beep, vibrate).

Native app development requires a Mac.

Native apps are normally written with Objective-C and the Cocoa Touch framework, but – thanks to Phonegap – they can also be written with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This creates a sub-decision about whether to develop in Objective-C or web standard technologies.

Objective-C is iPhone/Mac specific, the HTML approach is not. If your app can be written with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you can use that same codebase for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. However, you might have some slight performance issues on some devices, so testing is in order.

Web Apps

Web apps are essentially a web site (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) that is initially accessed via URL in Mobile Safari, but can thereafter can be accessed 100% locally on the phone without an internet connection (i.e. in airplane mode).

Web apps do not have to go though an approval process of any kind. They can be updated instantaneously by the developer and changes are available to all users the next time they have access to the internet.

Web apps can be developed on any platform.

Web apps can not access advanced hardware features of the phone (e.g. camera, accelerometer, beep, vibrate).

Thoughts?

These points are just the few biggies that immediately came to mind. There are certainly others, though I think they are less of a big deal. If you feel I’ve omitted something critical, please let me know in the comments.