Mobile & web app development is essential for software businesses looking to succeed in a digital world. Cross-platform mobile app development has become the best method for creating apps on multiple platforms. Since 2010, it has grown popular and its popularity will further increase in the future. Simultaneously, these apps save time and effort in writing separate codes for each platform.
What’s cross-platform Mobile App Development?
Cross-platform mobile apps are designed to run on multiple platforms, including both iOS and Android OS. Different technologies used to develop cross-platform apps include React Native, Xamarin, NativeScript, Flutter and much more.
Difference Between Cross-platform Apps & Native Apps
Following are some of the points that will help you understand the differences between cross-platform Apps and Native Apps:
| Features | Cross Platform Apps | Native Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Code | Shareable, code is for multiple platforms | Code is for a single platform |
| Cost | Low cost development | Low-cost development |
| Accessibility | Full Accessibility | Limited |
| Updates | Easier maintenance and updates across different platforms | High-cost development |
| UI Consistency | Limited consistency with UI components | Consistent with the UI components |
| Performance | High performance but compatibility issues may occur | Smooth Performance |
Benefits Of Cross-platform Mobile App Development
Following are some of the benefits of cross-platform application development:
- The same code can be used against multiple platforms.
- Cost saving is another major advantage of cross-platform apps.
- Allows faster market and customization process.
- Easier maintenance and development.
Top Frameworks For Cross-platform Mobile App Development
The top frameworks for cross-platform mobile app development are as follows:
Flutter:
Flutter, an open source cross-platform app development framework from Google created in 2017. Uses Dart as its primary programming language and offers one of the best platforms available for building mobile and web apps. Here are some key features of Flutter platform:
- Hot reload feature
- Google’s Material Design for building digital experiences.
- Uses Dart programming language
- Own rendering engine.
Adobe PhoneGap:
Adobe PhoneGap is an open-source cross-platform framework used for hybrid app development. The tool works across platforms like Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows and provides multiplatform support. Here are its main features:
- Main programming languages are JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
- Features different plugins and containers
- Facilitates enterprise app development as well.
- Access to numerous APIs
- 100% approval on Play Store.
React Native:
One of the most popular and widely used cross-platform mobile app development is React Native. React native focuses on UI to a great extent, rendering a highly responsive interface. The platform was developed in the year 2015, a little earlier than Flutter. React Native was developed by Facebook and is based on the Facebook JavaScript library. Following are the main features of react native:
- Code reusability
- Fast Refresh feature
- Product development is quicker
- Flipper is already enabled by default.
- Access to a wider range of audience.
Xamarin:
Xamarin is an open source cross-platform which is used for building modern and scalable apps on multiple platforms. The programming language used in Xamarin is C#, which is complemented by the .NET framework. Some of the main features of Xamarin are as follows:
- Uses the Base Class Library or .NET BCL.
- Was developed in 2011
- Aavailable under the MIT license
- Developers can use platform specific UI elements
- Data binding performance can be improved
- Easy to share and test the code.
Kotlin:
Kotlin is a cross-platform developed by SDK and was released in 2017. With kotlin, it’s easy to write code and then use it on multiple platforms. Using a single codebase, it is possible for developers to write business logic code. Different apps developed using Kotlin include Philips, Baidu, Netflix, etc. An overview of the Kotlin cross-platform mobile app development is as follows:
- Solves the issue of platform specific dependencies.
- Developers have full access to UI.
- Large and growing community
- No need to rewrite the code
- No need to introduce new programming languages to the codebase.
Ionic:
Ionic is an open source SDK platform that is mostly used for hybrid app development. The tool was developed in 2013, and it uses a combination of web and native technologies. It’s a popular UI SDK framework that is scalable and easy to read. Following are the main features of Ionic:
- Main programming languages are HTML, CSS, and JS components
- Different features for building intuitive apps.
- Based on the SaaS UI framework
- Features its own IDE, known as Ionic Studio
NativeScript:
Another cross-platform is NativeScript which is based on javascript. The framework was originally used in 2014. Main programming languages used in NativeScript are JavaScript and TypeScript. Following are the main features of NativeScript:
- Easy access to iOS and android APIs.
- Allows to build intuitive apps.
- Offers different plugins and templates
- No need for third parties.
- Use different web technologies which include JavaScript and Angular.
Conclusion
Cross-platform mobile app development has quickly become an effective solution, enabling companies to produce applications compatible with multiple operating systems. Frameworks such as Flutter, Xamarin, React Native, Kotlin Ionic and NativeScript are becoming more widely adopted among developers as they offer distinct development options allowing streamlined development processes, easier code sharing and efficient maintenance across platforms – features that cross-platform mobile app development allows businesses to effectively utilize.
