In the hybrid application development approach, HTML5 and JavaScript are used as development technologies and no detailed knowledge of the target platform is required. A hybrid application is generally a mobile-web application embedded inside a native container (like UIWebview in iOS and Webview in Android).

Like native applications, the hybrid applications must be installed on the device and therefore are also subjected to app store submission (for Apple). Different tools and frameworks are now available that support hybrid applications development e-g PhoneGap, Appcelerator Titanium, Sencha, Xamarin and Corona etc.

Hybrid applications combine the advantages of both native and web-based applications. Like native applications they provide full access to the device's hardware and data. Like web-based applications, a single application is developed using web technologies and can be deployed on multiple platforms by just wrapping it inside a platform specific shell. This reduces the cost and effort.