Hybrid mobile applications are inherently more portable than native applications. They are developed using web technologies (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript) and encapsulated within a native shell. This architecture allows a single codebase to be deployed across multiple operating systems, such as iOS and Android, with minimal modifications. This "write once, run anywhere" capability is the essence of software portability. In contrast, native applications are built using platform-specific languages and SDKs (e.g., Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android), requiring a complete, separate development effort for each new platform, making them significantly less portable.

A. Native mobile applications are platform-specific and not easily portable; they must be rewritten for each target operating system.

C. This statement is false because hybrid applications are designed specifically for portability across different platforms.

D. This statement is false because native applications have very low portability and require significant redevelopment for new platforms.

1. ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level Specialist - Mobile Application Testing Syllabus (Version 2019):

Section 1.2.2, "Types of Mobile Applications," explicitly contrasts native and hybrid applications. It states for native apps: "A native application built for an Apple device will not run on an Android device." For hybrid apps, it notes: "This allows you to have one code base for different platforms," which directly supports the concept of portability.

2. Heitkötter, H., Hanschke, S., & Majchrzak, T. A. (2013). Evaluating cross-platform development approaches for mobile applications. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 140, 120–138.

Page 121, Section 2: The paper discusses how cross-platform development (the basis for hybrid apps) aims to "reduce development efforts by enabling code reuse between platforms." This code reusability across different environments is the fundamental principle of portability. The study evaluates frameworks based on this cross-platform capability.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36608-68