Mobile application - Architectural patterns

Architectural styles
The mobile application space falls under three architectural patterns: Native, Mobile web and Hybrid.

Native
App created for a specific platform or device. Development requires knowledge of the platform development environment and programming language. Users download these apps from an app store.

Mobile web
Mobile web applications hold the promise of overcoming this fragmentation in mobile OSs and App Store marketplaces by enabling you to develop apps that will run across platforms, across devices, using open web technologies such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. These apps can then be hosted on your already existing web server and accessed at a standard URL through the device’s web browser.

Hybrid
A hybrid app is a web app with a native wrapper, downloadable and runs the user interfaces in an embedded browser component or a web view instead of native browser. Packaging can include all web assets. Hybrid applications fill the gap between mobile web and native applications.