What is cross platform app development and what are the best frameworks?
As the mobile app market grew more and more competitive, businesses started to realize the importance of building apps for both Android and iOS. If you build a native app for a single platform, you risk losing a large chunk of the target audience. On the other hand, you would have to spend a large amount of money to build two separate native apps for the two major platforms. So, what is the solution for a business that wants to build an app for both platforms without spending as much money? The answer is cross platform app development!
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Cross platform app development – overview
Cross-platform apps are becoming more and more common in the present app market. So, what is cross-platform app development?
Simply put, cross platform app development allows you to build a single app that runs on multiple platforms. Unlike native apps that are compatible with only a single operating system, cross-platform apps are designed to be compatible with both iOS and Android.
To build a cross-platform app, developers do not need to write two separate codes for iOS and Android. All they have to do is write a single code system, and the app will run on both platforms seamlessly.
Because of this, a competent cross platform app development company can build and release high-quality mobile applications faster than others. Since cross-platform apps are compatible with different operating systems, they can reach a much broader audience than native apps.
The rapid development, quick turnaround time, and cost-effectiveness of cross-platform apps make them the ideal choice of startups and mid-sized businesses.
Native vs. Cross platform app development
Native vs. cross platform – which type of app is better? This is a topic of much discussion and debate in the app development community. Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer that would satisfy anyone on either side of this debate.
That’s because both native and cross platform app development have their advantages and disadvantages. While some developers prefer native app development, others recommend cross platform app development. Your choice should depend on several factors such as your budget, goals, and specific project requirements.
Native apps are considered to be superior to cross-platform apps mainly because they tend to be faster and more reliable. That is to be expected from apps that are built for a single platform. However, building native apps can be extremely costly, especially for startups and new businesses.
That is where cross platform app development shines. Cross-platform apps are not only more cost-effective for a business, but they also offer a high standard of performance when built by expert professionals.
The best cross platform development frameworks in 2023
If you are planning to have a cross-platform app built for your business, you should know about the top cross platform app development frame work that developers are using in 2023. Let’s take a look at a few of the most popular ones.
1. Ionic:
One of the most notable cross-platform app development frameworks is Ionic. Based on AngularJS, Ionic lets developers use a combination of the top programming languages such as JavaScript, HTML5, Cordova wrapper and CSS to build native-like mobile applications.
Thanks to Ionic’s advanced features and functionalities, developers can build impeccable user interfaces and user-friendly features. Apps that are built using Ionic tend to be highly interactive, high performance, and native-like.
Features of Ionic:
- Ionic is open source. That means it allows you to alter the code structure according to your personal needs and preferences.
- It is based on a SaaS user interface framework that is designed specifically for mobile OS (operating systems). It provides various UI components for building robust apps.
- It uses Cordova plugins that allow access to built-in features such as GPS, camera, and audio recorder.
The fact that Ionic provides a native-like feel to the app makes it the go-to choice of developers.
2. React Native
A discussion on the best cross-platform app development framework will not be complete without mentioning React Native. Built on JavaScript, React Native is used to create cross platform apps with a native-like feel on both iOS and Android.
React Native combines the advantages of JavaScript and ReactJS, and allows developers to write modules in Swift, Objective-C, or Java languages. Furthermore, by making use of the native libraries and modules in React Native, developers can perform heavy operations including video processing, image editing, and various other tasks that are not part of the framework’s APIs.
Features of React Native:
- Just like Ionic, React Native is also open source and has a large community of supportive people who are always there to help you fix bugs and offer solutions to problems.
- React Native requires one-time coding for building apps for different platforms. This instantly reduces the development time while keeping the app development cost low.
- It is highly compatible with several third-party plugins including Google Maps.
React Native focuses a great deal on UI, which allows you to build highly responsive user interfaces.
3. Flutter
Since its launch in 2017, this cross-platform mobile app development framework has become highly popular among developers. It is a comprehensive app development kit that is designed to make iOS and Android app development easy and hassle-free. Flutter is also the primary framework for building Google Fuschia apps.
Features of Flutter:
- It promotes portable GPU that renders UI power and allows it to work on the various latest interfaces.
- It doesn’t require manual updates of UI contents since it has a reactive framework. App developers only need to update the variables to see changes in the UI.
- Flutter is the perfect choice for building MVPs or Minimum Viable Products since it facilitates a swift development process.
- It is cost-efficient.
There are many other advantages of using Flutter, and that’s the reason it is one of the most used cross platform app development frameworks.
These are the top 3 cross platform app development frameworks that you must know about. To have a high-quality and high performance cross-platform app built for your business, you should contact iTrobes, the leading app development company in India.
