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- Concerning the implementation of the hybrid approach, two possibilities are conceivable. On the one hand, the extension of the original \ac{OSN} client (app or web front end) as an add-on. On the other hand, the development of an entirely new client.
- When an add-on extends the \ac{OSN}, there is no need to take care of the standard functionality of the \ac{OSN}. Therefore, the development can entirely focus on the add-on and the private extension. At crucial points, the add-on extends the interface by additional elements that enable secure data exchange. The service providers usually do not offer developers an interface to extend the \ac{OSN} with such own functionalities. With web front ends it is possible to manipulate the website content using browser add-ons. One example for doing so is FaceCloak. Since such browser extensions manipulate the \ac{DOM}, knowledge about the document structure is necessary for the successful function in order to make changes in the right places. The short release cycles of \acp{OSN} and the associated frequent changes to this \ac{DOM} structure make it difficult to keep up with the changes. When consuming the \ac{OSN} via the official apps on mobile devices, an extension or manipulation is not possible.
- The alternative to the extension approach described above is a new hybrid client app. The entire functional range of the \ac{OSN} must be implemented and kept up to date. As already mentioned with the restrictions (see Chapter \ref{sec:requirements}), the functions are usually not entirely provided via an \ac{API}, and the crawling of the content
- confronts several challenges. By having complete control over the development of the client, the additional protected, secure communication can be added at the appropriate points. In the best-case scenario, at least one hybrid app is available for every operating system for which an official \ac{OSN} app exists.
- Both approaches can be combined by displaying the (mobile) web page of the \ac{OSN} in a WebView in a separate app and executing \ac{DOM} manipulations via injected JavaScript code. For example, there are some alternative clients for Facebook (e.g. \enquote{Friendly for Facebook}\footnote{https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.friendly} \footnote{https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/friendly-for-facebook/id400169658}, \enquote{Metal Pro}\footnote{https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nam.fbwrapper.pro}) that use this approach.
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