What Are The Different Types Of Mobile Apps?

There are 3 types of apps:

1. Native apps

• Android on Java
• Windows Phone on Net

2. Hybrid apps for all platforms altogether with Xamarin, React Native, Ionic, Angular Mobile Sencha Touch etc.

3. Web apps as responsive versions of website to work on any mobile device.

Types of apps

Native apps

Such apps are developed for a single mobile operating system exclusively, therefore they are “native” for a particular platform or device. App built for systems like iOS, Android, Windows phone, Symbian, Blackberry can not be used on a platform other than their own. In other words, you won’t be able to use Android app on iPhone.

Main advantage of native apps is high performance and ensuring good user experience as developers use native device UI. Moreover, an access to wide range of APIs that puts no limitation on app usage. Native applications are distinctly accessible from app stores of their kind and have the clear tendency to reach target customers.

Some cons to native apps are higher cost compared to other types of apps – due to the need of creating app duplicates for other platforms, separate support and maintenance for different types of apps resulting in bigger product price.

Hybrid apps

They are built using multi-platform web technologies (for example HTML5, CSS and Javascript). So-called hybrid apps are mainly website applications disguised in a native wrapper. Apps possess usual pros and cons of both native and web mobile applications.

Hybrid multi-platform apps are fast and relatively easy to develop – a clear advantage. Single code base for all platforms ensures low-cost maintenance and smooth updates.  Widely used APIs, like gyroscope, accelerometer, geolocation are available.

On the other hand, hybrid applications lack in performance, speed and overall optimization in comparison to native apps for instance. Also, there are certain design issues due to app inability to look in exactly same way on two or more platforms.

Web apps

These are software applications that behave in a fashion similar to native applications. Web apps use a browser to run and are usually written in HTML5, JavaScript or CSS. These apps redirect a user to URL and offer “install” option by simply creating a bookmark to their page.

Web applications require minimum of device memory, as a rule. As all personal databases are saved on a server, users can get access from any device whenever there is internet connection. That is why the use of web apps with poor connection would result in bad user experience. The drawback is access to not that many APIs for developers, with exception of geolocation and few others.

The 6 Main Types of Mobile Apps

1. Lifestyle Mobile Apps

Lifestyle apps have come on strong in recent years. A lifestyle app is one that accelerates or supports the individual facets that define your lifestyle. By this I mean those types of mobile apps related to:

• Fitness
• Dating
• Food
• Music
• Travel

The beauty of these apps is that once they’re a part of a user’s lifestyle repertoire, they’re likely there for good. These are the apps that people turn to on a daily basis to help them find the next new song, restaurant, or destination. They’re the apps that help them find themselves, what they like and dislike, and where they’re heading next.

At the risk of getting a little too deep, I’ll stop there. If you’re developing a lifestyle app, you’ll need to do something to wow your user. Something that your competitors don’t do. Something your users just can’t live without.

Some examples of Lifestyle apps are:

• Spotify
• Tripadvisor
• Uber

2. Social Media Mobile Apps

Social media apps are some of the most popular types of mobile apps available. We build our social networks, and most of us check in with them every day. Facebook alone reports over 1 billion active daily users.

Naturally, we want to have the ease of access a mobile app provides. Social media apps have to be fun, fast, and continually integrating the expanding features of the social networks they support.

Today’s society shares more about their day-to-day lives than ever before. For that reason, even apps that don’t necessarily fall under the social media category may want to include social sharing functionality.

For an example, let’s look at the popular running and cycling app, Strava. It not only tracks your activities but allows you to compare your stats with other people in your network (and even strangers). You can essentially form an online running partnership or even an entire team without ever meeting face to face.

Many other apps allow you to share a product, high score, or news item with your social network. They make it easy for their users to share something they feel passionate about without having to leave the app.

Consider adding social sharing features to your app if you will be providing a service or selling a product that your users can share with their networks. This functionality will keep your users coming back to share again and again while comparing with their networks.

Some common social media apps are:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Snapchat

3. Utility Mobile Apps

Utilities are the types of mobile apps that we may use most often without thinking about them as apps. Many of them come pre-installed on your device and serve a single function.

Some examples of common types of mobile apps in the utility category are:

• Reminders
• Calculator
• Flashlight
• Weather

These are the types of mobile apps that we tend to use more often, but for shorter periods of time. You’ll normally only open your calculator in order to solve an equation (like calculating a tip at a restaurant) and then put it away.

Do your best to increase the frequency of your utility app in order to successfully monetize it. Short visits aren’t as profitable, but many of them can add up to a significant revenue stream.

4. Games/Entertainment Mobile Apps

The gaming and entertainment category are huge, and as such, very competitive. Games are one of the more obvious mobile app categories and need little explanation. These types of apps are popular among developers because they bring users back multiple times each week, sometimes multiple times per day.

In the most successful games, both the frequency and length of play is high. Work to make your game as “addictive” as possible by offering incentives to users who come back every day or a certain number of days in a row.

Some examples of game apps are:

• Angry Birds
• Clash of Clans
• Subway Surfer

5. Productivity Mobile Apps

While productivity may sound like one of the more boring types of mobile apps, it’s an incredibly popular category. These types of apps help their users accomplish a task quickly and efficiently, making what are sometimes mundane tasks easier and, dare I say, fun?

Examples of productivity apps are, well, many of the products from both Google and Apple, like:

• Docs
• Sheets
• Wallet/Pay

Plus apps like:

• Evernote
• Wunderlist

These types of apps are indispensable when they’re done right. That means helping your user accomplish a task more easily, quickly, and efficiently than your competitors. Convenient features that allow them to get from point A to point done are what set this type of mobile apps apart, so get creative and come up with a way to do things that nobody else is doing.

6. News/Information Outlets Mobile Apps

News and information apps are pretty straightforward. They supply their users with the news and information they’re looking for in an easy to understand layout that efficiently navigates them to the things they care about most.

Examples of different types of popular news apps are:

• Buzzfeed
• Smartnews
• Google News & Weather
• Feedly
• Flipboard
• Yahoo News Digest
• Reddit
• Linkedin Pulse

These are the biggest names in news, and they all deliver something different. If you’re developing a news app, you’ll need to find a unique way to communicate with your users, because, let’s face it, the news will all be the same…it’s news.

Your opportunity to shine is in the way you deliver it. Create something unique and tie it into the type of news you’ll be reporting on to give it that special something your users are looking for.