Hybrid App depending on server side patch

Question

I want to make a Hybrid app that can be frequently patched and immediately reflected like web site. Native apps take too much time to get Store's approval every time. So searched for Cordova, Xamarin, React Native and so on..., but not sure about which one would be the best for me. I won't use complicated functions or logic and don't need high performance. It's like a commerce shopping app.

Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

If you don't want the store approval process and app update wait time from the user side, your best bet is Progressive web apps(PWA).

You can create a regular web app(something like Angular 5 which supports PWA out of the box) or use workbox and framework of your choice. Once you deploy your web app to a web server, you have 3 options to serve your user base and the good news is you can support all three with no much effort to maximize your user base,

1) Use tools like pwabuilder, which is from Microsoft to pack it for different app stores. Though you will still have to go though one time store approval process, that's all about it. All future updates are pushed through ServiceWorkers and you don't have to update the app in app store. PWABuilder builds app package for iOS and Android using Cordova, which uses webview to render your page. On the new Android devices where Chromium version of webview supports PWA, caching will be taken care by service works. For a smaller chunk of devices which are not supporting PWA, your app will still work in web view without cache.

2) Users visit your web page in a web browser, say chrome, and they can take the performance benefits and background updates of PWA.

3) On top of the 2nd option, when the user is vising your web page in a browser, user can also add the app to home screen, which will create an app like icon and packge in the runtime. This installed PWA, works almost like a regular app with some limitations. See what web can do today. This solution is available for iOS as well (Safari -> share -> Add to home screen).

Here is a comparison on PWA vs other solutions which you have mentioned. PWA basics here.