Mobile applications are of three types:

Native Application- Native app installed from application store like Android's google play and apple' app store. The application which can be installed into your devices and run are known as native application for E.G. whats App, Angry birds etc.

Web Application- Web applications runs from mobile web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari etc using mobile network or WIFI. E.G. of web browser applications are m.facebook.com, m.gmail.com, m.yahoo.com, m.rediffmail.com etc.

Hybrid Application- Hybrid apps are combinations of native app and web app. They can run on devices or offline and are written using web technologies like HTML5 and CSS. For E.G. ebay, flipkart etc