Understanding native apps vs. web apps

- Native apps and web apps are easily confused. If you're a developer, the differences are straightforward, but if you're a consumer, differences are more difficult to discern. Both native and web apps run on phones and tablets. A native app, is an app design for a specific operating system, like IOS or Android. Native apps are often are coded using programming languages, like C++, Java or Swift, among many other choices. These languages require compiling, before they can run on a given device. Each platform provides their own interface elements and development tools for creating native apps. Compilers, interface elements, development tools and debugging mechanisms, are often distributed in the form of a software development kit or SDK. Because there's a large programming overhead to native apps, they tend to be more expensive to build. Once built, native apps are placed in the appropriate location for downloading, often the App Store or Google play. There may be requirements for…