usability - Any Research on User Experience Perceptions of Native Apps vs Web or Hybrid Apps

My organization is looking at developing mobile applications, we have a wealth of web development resources. There are many factors to consider in making the decision of how to develop this application such as Cost(s), platform support, performance, and maintainability.

But, I have not found any research that actually backs up the assumptions that users prefer the experience of a native app over a hybrid mobile web app (A hybrid app is a HTML5 app distributed in an embedded web view using PhoneGap, etc.).

Some people assert that native apps are more performant and have a better user experience, but why? Have there been any user surveys or analytics that indicate this user preference towards native?

Answer

Yes, there have been formal studies demonstrating that as users become increasingly familiar with mobile devices, they shift increasingly toward using native apps.⁴ This trend is likely a combination of three factors:

• People prefer the familiar. If people know of a site or app that's likely to address their needs, they're more likely to use that known source than to search.³ Users trust known resources because they're more reliable: information needs are four times as likely not to be addressed when using generic search than when using direct re-access of a known source.³


• Mobile users bookmark differently. Bookmarks in mobile browsers are used sparingly,⁴ instead mobile users "bookmark" by downloading the native app.^1,4


• Native apps offer superior interaction.
  
  
  
  • They can be used offline, which makes them faster to open.² It can also make their performance faster in some cases by allowing them to store information locally and only synchronize with the server after the user is done using the app.
  
  
  
  • They allow the user to use device-specific hand gestures. Android and iOS are gradually developing different conventions for interaction, and a native app responds the way its user expects.
  
  
  • They have access to device-specific functions such as geolocation and accelerometers (although with HTML5, web apps are gradually gaining access to these functions as well).
  
  
  
  

_{[1] Bales, Elizabeth, Timothy Sohn, and Vidya Setlur. “Planning, Apps, and the High-end Smartphone: Exploring the Landscape of Modern Cross-device Reaccess.” In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Pervasive Computing, 1–18. San Francisco, USA: Springer-Verlag, 2011.}

_{[2] Caspar Ryan and Atish Gonsalves. 2005. The effect of context and application type on mobile usability: an empirical study. In Proceedings of the Twenty-eighth Australasian conference on Computer Science - Volume 38 (ACSC '05), Vladimir Estivill-Castro (Ed.), Vol. 38. Australian Computer Society, Inc., Darlinghurst, Australia, Australia, 115-124.}

_{[3] Heimonen, T. (2009). “Information Needs and Practices of Active Mobile Internet Users.” In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Mobile Technology, Application Systems, 50:1–50:8. Mobility ’09. New York, NY, USA}

_{[4] Tossell, C., Kortum, P., Rahmati, A, Shepard, C., & Zhong, L. (2012). “Characterizing Web Use on Smartphones.” In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2769–2778. CHI ’12. New York, NY, USA: ACM.}