One of the toughest questions for mobile app developers to answer is to choose between iOS and Android application development.
There is no easy answer to this as both platforms are widely used around the world and they both are excellent for many similar and different reasons.
Over the past few years, a substantial section of the world’s population has shifted to actively use Android or iPhone and this has been the driving force for most of the businesses across the globe to provide their offerings through customized mobile apps.
That’s where Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA) comes in. It refers to a piece of code that can be used to run on multiple mobile platforms.
With the increase in the number of mobile platforms, it has become a struggle for mobile app developers to give their app a consumable form as the targeted users may be using very different platforms.
Check out this list of the best cross-platform mobile app development tools that can help make your app reach its target audience across different platforms.
Contents
Best Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools
1. React Native
React Native is a JavaScript framework used for writing real and natively rendering iOS and Android application development. It is based on Facebook’s JavaScript library for building user interfaces, however, instead of targeting the browser, it targets mobile platforms.
React is popular with developers for cross-platform, hybrid mobile application development and it supports high-performance hybrid mobile apps and third-party plug-ins.
Most of the React Native APIs are cross-platform, which means that you only have to write on React Native component and it will work smoothly on both iOS and Android platform.
Thus, we can say that React Native is simply React, but for mobile. There will be some difference that mobile app developers will have to address, like using <view> instead of <div> and <image> instead of <img> tag.
Developers can employ each component of the app without engaging the child component or executing a callback, making it easier to test the application and note changes. The JavaScript framework enables simple, fast native app development for both iOS and Android.
React Native is efficient and supports developer productivity and optimization by allowing developers to reuse code and repurpose code components, thereby saving time during development and upgrade.
2. Flutter
Although the mobile application market is relatively new when compared to other software markets, the Flutter product is one of the products that has been around the longest, having launched in 2017.
It is an open-source environment that is accessible to all developers. This Google open-source mobile user interface (UI) SDK framework is used to build cross-platform, and hybrid mobile application solutions for Android and iOS.
It uses C, C++ and Dart languages and is suitable for mobile applications for desktop, web and mobile devices. Flutter features support a multi-platform development process using existing Dart code in a single code base.
The Google 2D rendering engine creates elegant visuals and allows developers to perform unit and functionality tests to easily create a user interface (UI).
Flutter is designed to support a rapid development environment, and the developer community includes numerous support forums so Flutter developers can quickly receive feedback, support and information, ensuring that projects are completed using the best tips and the latest information.
3. Xamarin
Another cross-platform mobile app development tool in our list is Xamarin. It enables mobile app developers to build iOS, Android and Windows apps while using a single shared C# codebase.
Unlike what may be commonly believed, with Xamarin, you can do anything in C# that you would be able to do in Objective-C, Swift or Java. It allows you to use the same IDE, APIs, and language everywhere.
Apps built using Xamarin can be tested on hundreds of devices through the platform’s cloud services. Xamarin provides its own interface development tool, as well as online classes via Xamarin University program.
4. Sencha Touch
Sencha Touch is one of the leading cross-platform mobile web app framework used for building efficient applications by making use of the hardware acceleration techniques.
You can build high-quality apps using Sencha, with well-tested and perfectly integrated UI components and libraries. Sencha Touch is more than capable of building large enterprise applications and maintaining them with ease.
Some of the benefits of using Sencha Touch is that it offers built-in themes, which may appear native, for every major platform, such as Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry and more.
It also integrates well with PhoneGap for native API access and packaging, and packs in an agnostic backend data package for when working with data sources. However, even though Sencha offers native-looking themes, the availability of themes is limited.
5. Ionic
The Ionic Framework uses AngularJS architecture and is built on a simple CLI development interface. It provides functionality, options and tools to support developers as they work on cross-platform mobile app development.
Developers can use standards-based UI components, and deploy applications via desktop, mobile, web and PWA.
One of the reasons developers like Ionic, is that they can save time and effort by creating a single code base to support all deployments and accommodate multiple types of devices and implementations.
The Ionic developer community is comprised of more than five million professionals with numerous forums to support developers and help them find answers to questions and share tips and short cuts.
Ionic applications are currently in use in many industries, and many first-generation Ionic apps have already expanded and upgraded, ensuring that these mobile apps are current and evergreen.
Ionic is a stable environment that allows developers to work with a variety of technologies including CSS3, JavaScript and HTML5.
6. Codename One
Codename One is a cross-platform mobile app development tool with goals of quick application development, simple usability and seamless integration with native platform and native speed.
You are required to code in Java; however, you can also have your app tested and verified with Codename One’s simulator devices and test automation tools.
Codename One supports most of the standard IDEs, such as Eclipse, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, etc. The lightweight architecture of Codename One allows the UI to work seamlessly throughout all the platforms.
It also enables mobile app developers to build native iOS apps without a Mac device and native Windows apps with a Windows PC. Moreover, it uses officially supported iOS toolchain and ParparVM, which confirms compatibility with future iOS versions.
However, as Codename One’s default themes are a bit primitive and the graphical UI builder may not be the perfect fit for large projects. It can become quite cumbersome to maintain a single file with the entire event handlers, as project complexity grows.
7. Native script
The last mobile app development tool in the list is Native script, an open-source platform for building native cross-platform apps.
It provides you with every native APIs in JavaScript, you can also easily use the existing plugins from npm directly in Native Script projects and make it easier to extend the features of your app.
It allows you to use almost any JavaScript library that doesn’t need access to the internet. The native script has deeply embedded support for Angular.js 2 and Typescript and it has the cross-platform declarative UI support that allows you to create the UI once and then easily uses it on other supported platforms.
However, multi-threading is a possible concern with Native script but it’s likely to be improved in the recent releases.
8. Mobile Angular UI
The Mobile Angular UI operates seamlessly with the Angular framework and with Bootstrap 3, and it includes sidebars, overlays, scrollable areas and switches.
Mobile Angular UI supports hybrid mobile application developers with an open-source environment allowing them to easily create HTML5 apps. It is important to note that Mobile Angular UI works best with light apps, rather than complex applications.
Conclusion:
The cross platform mobile app development tools we discussed here, will give you an idea of what is out there and what is popular among developers for projects.
It is important to have a comprehensive understanding of your project requirements and your user needs so that the team can provide the best recommendation for your particular project.
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