Best Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Frameworks

Given that there are over 1 billion iOS users and around 2.5 billion Android users worldwide, the market for mobile apps is growing quickly. Whether for iOS or Android, developing an application for a certain platform can limit the number of users, and that’s a poor deal. In other words, cross platform mobile app development helps you to create apps that are prepared for a variety of platforms, providing you access to all smartphone consumers worldwide. fantastic, doesn’t it?

In today’s business world, mobile applications have become a critical part of business across different industries. It is crucial that these applications work seamlessly on multiple platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows. Businesses can leverage cross platform mobile app development tools to create cost-effective and efficient solutions.

The excellence of cross platform mobile app development recreates a significant role in its current popularity. Different cross-platform app development frameworks and tools begin to drift in the market with the expansion of its field; gradually, and then all at once along with every additional mobile app development company trying their hands at this remarkable and unique technology. The end result is that there is now a sea of these tools and frameworks. 

What is Cross Platform Mobile App Development?

The term “cross platform mobile app development”, also known as “hybrid mobile app development”, speaks for itself. It is an approach that allows developers to build applications that are simultaneously compatible with various platforms (Android, iOS, Windows) and Operating Systems.

In hybrid applications, native code is complemented by code suitable for multiple platforms, giving hybrid applications a native look and feel. Code is written once and then reused, allowing developers to release a product in a short period of time.

Developers use intermediate programming languages like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS in place of languages native to devices and OSs to code cross-platform software. Then, these applications are integrated into platforms after packing them into native containers.

Cross-platform apps versus Native apps

Native and Cross-platform/Hybrid are two approaches to Mobile App Development. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages and are suitable for a project depending on different needs and scenarios. 

Native app development relies on programming language and tools designed specifically for one platform. They are unique to the operating system and the device. For example, Java and C/C++ and Kotlin are used by Android App Development Company to create Android app solutions; Swift and Objective-C are used for iOS solutions, ad Visual Basic and C# are optimal for Windows phones. 

Developers have to abide by specific OS requirements while creating a Native app. A Native app can use the full capability and all available features when installed on a targeted computing device.

The major drawback of a native application is that it is not compatible with other platforms. If you want to reach a wider audience, you would need to develop various solutions targeted for each platform which is both cost-intensive and time-consuming.

On the other hand, cross platform Mobile App Development is aimed at creating one application that can run identically on various platforms. It utilizes platform-agnostic technologies such as CSS and HTML to help businesses cover several end devices at a lower cost.

Cross Platform Mobile App Development: Pros and Cons

Emerging technologies constantly transform hybrid mobile app development, making it more dynamic and appealing to developers.

Pros

• A hybrid app uses a single shareable code, making it more cost-efficient than Native mobile apps.
• A basic understanding of standard languages is required to develop a cross-platform application; development tools will handle the rest.
• Cross-platform apps provide a native look and feel, making them great for user experience.
• Companies seeking to attract users of different mobile devices quickly and at a lower price can definitely benefit from hybrid development.

Cons

• As hybrid solutions combine native and non-native components, they can be more complicated, impacting their performance.
• Unlike native apps, cross-platform apps cannot take advantage of all the features and functions available on mobile devices, like advanced graphics and animation. This results in poorer app design and limited functionality.
• When Apple and Google add new features to iOS and Android platforms, hybrid apps have to wait until the updates are adjusted to the specific cross-platform framework resulting in an updating delay.

Cross-platform creation applies to the following kinds of solutions:

• don’t need to process incoming data online
• don’t need complex design;
• don’t require access to every feature that is unique to a device.

Top Frameworks for Hybrid Mobile App Development

Flutter

This is a top-notch framework for creating native cross-platform mobile applications in 2022. Flutter, which employs Dart (another Google programming language), is a product of Google, just like Golang, TensorFlow, and Angular. It offers an SDK for creating cross-platform native mobile applications.

Since each platform requires a separate codebase, delivering your software on platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile has always been difficult. With Flutter, you can use the same codebase to develop mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices, which solves the problem.

The number one framework for creating native mobile apps is now Flutter, which has experienced significant growth over the past two years.

React Native

React Native is one of the best cross platform mobile app development frameworks. It is designed for mobile devices and is built on React, one of the top JavaScript libraries for user interface creation.

With React Native, you can create cross-platform applications using a universal JavaScript language and native platform-specific languages like Java, Swift, or C. Thus, this framework may transform the source code into native parts, enhancing the native user experience.

Web developers can simply create mobile apps without learning new programming languages with React Native App Development.

Native Script

If React Native and Flutter App Development somehow didn’t appeal to you and you’re seeking alternatives, you may also take a look at Native Script. A mobile application can be created using the free and open-source NativeScript framework for both the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms.

In addition to TypeScript and JavaScript, Angular and Vuejs can be used to develop native mobile apps. When you have experience with frameworks like Angular or Vue.js, Native Script may be your best choice.

Writing code in any language that translates into JavaScript, such as TypeScript or CoffeeScript, is possible with NativeScript because of its extensive interaction with both Angular and Vuejs.

Xamarin

A top-tier, open-source platform for creating hybrid mobile apps is called Xamarin. With the same performance and user experience as native solutions, Xamarin-based apps can run on any mobile platform.

This well-known Microsoft cross-platform mobile app framework is a component of Visual Studio and is accessible under the MIT license. It is supported by the.NET framework and C# programming language. These parts make up its development toolkit:

• Visual Studio and/or Xamarin Studio (its own IDE)
• A Xamarin SDK
• Test Cloud for Xamarin
• Xamarin.Mac to create native Mac applications.

Ionic

Ionic is another framework employing JavaScript for hybrid mobile app development. You can construct an application for any platform using a single codebase with Ionic’s cross-platform mobile app-building capabilities.

The open-source and free Ionic Framework offers a portable UI toolkit for creating high-quality cross-platform apps from a single codebase for native iOS, Android, and the web. It also features Ionic React, which uses React to construct hybrid mobile apps.

Ionic is unquestionably one of the best frameworks for hybrid apps since it combines the qualities users are looking for: open-source, simple to maintain, scalable, and easy to read. Ionic offers a collection of HTML, CSS, and JS components explicitly designed for mobile development to aid in creating interactive apps.

A variety of features and tools are available with Ionic, including native-style mobile UI elements, layouts, and support for material design. Additionally, it offers regular updates and resources from the development community to its clients.

Cordova

Initially developed by Nitobi, Apache Cordova is yet another framework for building mobile applications. In 2011, Adobe Systems bought Nitobi, changed its name to PhoneGap, and made Apache Cordova the open-source version of the programme.

One of the hottest technologies to learn in 2022, it enables you to use industry-standard web technologies, including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, for cross-platform development.

Sencha

Because of its comprehensive platform, Sencha is the industry leader in enterprise-grade application development, allowing teams to focus on developing apps rather than frameworks. Software developers may create cross-platform mobile applications and web applications that are data-intensive because of the tool’s foundation in modern web technologies, including HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS.

Formerly known as Sencha Touch, the service has been replaced by Sencha Ext JS and is no longer supported. It offers a range of tools and themes that improve output and simplify design, deployment, and debugging.

Firebase

Firebase is not precisely a cross-platform framework for developing mobile apps but a valuable framework for building the backend. It’s Google’s mobile platform that helps you quickly develop high-quality mobile apps and grow your business. You can choose Firebase as a backend for your iOS app Development or Android  application.

Final thoughts

There is nothing left to do but wait and observe how these frameworks compete with one another to stay in the competitive market and how they fare against the new frameworks that are currently entering the market after taking into account the possibilities discussed above.

Apponward is one of the most prestigious and dependable cross platform mobile app development companies in the US, South Asia, and European regions. We have experience creating world-class applications and have developed several applications that have set new benchmarks.