Native apps are developed independently for the iOS & Android operating systems (OS) using the respective OS's Software Development Kit (SDK). They fully leverage the current and future evolvement of the operating system by default, unlike React-Native or other cross-platform apps developed commonly for both Operating Systems, with a middle layer/platform that is often customized to catch up with the OS upgrades.
Native apps are best suited for enterprise mobility use cases such as Mobile for Maximo, which is a complex system and demands a lot from a mobile app. Native apps address them by handling extensive data seamlessly & securely, providing ease of use by offering gestures and actions native to the user’s operating system, and best-in-class performance by delivering the highest frame rate, graphic support & computing power.
The following are the top 6 reasons to consider Native apps for Mobile Maximo use cases.
- Ease-of-adoption: As every screen is designed individually for Android and iOS devices, the native app provides familiar navigation, making the app incredibly easy to use & adopt. It's a crucial factor for the success of Mobile Maximo implementations, as it will be difficult for the Technician to adapt to a not-so-familiar app.
- Best-in-class Performance: Native apps are much faster & responsive than non-native apps as they are built using the platform's core programming languages, such as Swift or Kotlin. They interact directly with native APIs & components optimized for different screen sizes and system versions. The Swift & Kotlin languages are far better than JavaScript used in React-native and help to make heavy calculations and handle a large volume of data.
- Better Security: The Native app is the most secure as it leverages the in-built security features of a device's operating system. Also, Native apps rely on core-platform ( iOS or Android) technologies validated for security. In contrast, cross-Platform apps rely on underlying technologies such as JavaScript & HTML5.
- High-level Interactivity: A Native mobile can effortlessly integrate with IoT Devices and 3rd party systems such as ESRI, Trimble, etc., as it can use all types of APIs provided by any system and devices directly, eliminating the complexity of customizing the middle layer.
- Low impact on OS Upgrades: The Android or iOS operating system upgrades have a much lesser impact on Native apps than React Native or other cross-platform apps. In the case of a Cross-platform app, the platform or middle layer needs to be upgraded first to take care of the impact on the app, which makes it more complex & time-consuming.
- Efficient use of Device features: As Native apps are exclusively designed for a specific device, they have complete freedom to use all features present on the device, such as its camera, contact list, GPS, microphone, voice-to-text, Bluetooth, Augmented reality, OCR, SIRI, etc. In contrast, cross-platform apps need customizations to access such device-specific features.
Author:
Arul Varadarajan
Principal Consultant & Managing Partner - Enterprise Asset Management
