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There are 3.48 million apps on the Play Store and 2.22 million apps on the app store available for download. Missing your presence on either platform will hamper your reach to the audience.
So, what is the problem with developing a mobile application for both operating systems? The issue is that small businesses with limited budgets can’t afford to hire two dedicated teams for Android and iOS app development.
These problems can be solved by cross platform app development frameworks that allow the creation of native-looking mobile apps for both Android and iOS using the same codebase.
Does the concept seem interesting? Want to read more on cross-platform frameworks? Here we have shared the 10 best cross-platform app development frameworks for Android and iOS. Before talking about them let’s first make you familiar with the benefit of such frameworks.
Benefits of Using a Cross Platform App Development Frameworks
Why should your business choose a cross-platform app development framework? Here are a few reasons:
1. Code Reusability
The hybrid development framework follows an approach: “Write once, run on different platforms”.
With the use of shared codebases, hybrid frameworks eliminate repetitive tasks and speed up development.
2. Quick Development Time
This is another win-to-win situation with the cross-platform mobile app development frameworks. Since single source code can be used to develop applications for Android and iOS, development efforts are reduced to 40 to 60%.
3. Easy Integration With Cloud
Plugins and extensions are a great way to improve the app’s functionality with minimal developer efforts. Hybrid mobile apps are compatible with the various plugins and they can be easily integrated with the help of the cloud thanks to the single source code.
4. Uniform Design
Many users own more than one device i.e Android and iOS. With native mobile app development, it is hard for developers to sync design across multiple devices with similar experiences.
Cross platform app development tools allow developers and designers to build a uniform designing experience across multiple operating systems.
5. Easier Modification
Due to the ever-changing business environment, it is essential for businesses to update their mobile apps regularly or frequently adopting the latest market trends to stay competitive.
Due to the complex coding of native mobile apps, the modification becomes quite difficult and time-consuming. With hybrid mobile app development tools, the developers need to make changes in single-source code which makes the modification process easier.
Start Your App Development With One of These Cross Platform App Development Frameworks
1. Flutter: Build Apps for Any Screen
Flutter is powered by the Dart programming language which is client optimized and prompts fast application development.
Irrespective of the development platform, Dart is fast on all platforms. When mobile and desktop are concerned Dart compiles to the ARM & 64 machine code. In the case of web development, Dart compiles JavaScript.
With automated testing and developer tooling, the development of a production-quality app becomes a lot easier for mobile app developers.
Features |
Apps Powered by Flutter |
| Hot reload: Developers can preview the changes made to the coding instantly with immediate effect. |
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| Optimized for UI: Enables the mobile app designers to control every pixel of the design to create an adaptive design that looks and feels great on any screen. | |
| Full set of widgets: It offers the full set of widgets in Google’s material design and in Apple’s Style. | |
| Skia: An internal graphic engine to promote fast and well-optimized development. | |
| Simplified initial setup: With clear documentation and large community support, the Flutter installation process becomes a lot easier. |
2. React Native: Learn Once, Write Anywhere
It follows an approach “learn once, write everywhere”. It allows developers to create native-like cross-platform applications with little effort.
Being powered by the lightning-fast programming language React Native, developers can preview the changes instantly.
Features |
Apps powered by React Native |
| Community driven: React Native has the second-highest number of contributors on Github followed by VScode. |
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| Code reusability: Approx 90% of the code can be used to develop apps for Android and iOS. | |
| NPM libraries support: Thanks to the Node Package Manager, the installation of React Native is fairly easy. | |
| Upgrade helper support: This tool makes the process of transforming older written scripts to React Native much easier. | |
| Compatibility with third-party libraries: React Native rewards the developers with the freedom to improve the functionality of apps with the integration of third-party libraries. |
3. Xamarin: Cross-Platform App Development With .NET and C#
Being integrated with the modern backend services, and native APIs, Xamarin allows the development of native, cross-platform, and shared native user interfaces.
Features |
Apps Powered by Xamarin |
| Powerful libraries: Extensive collection of libraries to build feature-rich cross-platform apps. |
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| Free & open-source: Xamarin is free for all. There is no fee or licensing cost. | |
| Large and active community: Great community support to get answers to all your questions. | |
| Compatibility with Azure: With Azure support, developers can satisfy their needs for storage and intelligent services. |
4. Ionic: One Codebase Any Platform
It provides the mobile app developers with a great level of freedom by allowing them to develop the app using any frontend framework including Angular, React, and Vue.
Features |
Apps Powered by Ionic |
| Pre-designed UI components: A vast collection of pre-build components, typography, and base theme that can be adopted on all mobile devices. |
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| Developer-friendly tooling: Live reload, deployments, and integrations tools make the developer’s process fairly simple. | |
| Blazing fast app development: Ionic offers up to 60 FPS scrolling on mobile devices. | |
| Simple and declarative UI components: All the components of Ionic are produced using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to enable developers to develop modern and high-quality UIs. | |
| Over 120 native device plugins: Rich libraries for native device plugins for making access to camera, geolocation, Bluetooth, and more a lot easier. |
5. NodeJS: Asynchronous Event-Driven JavaScript Runtime
It enables the JavaScript developers to write server-side coding alongside the client-side coding. By following the minimalist approach, NodeJS provides simple yet powerful ways of hybrid mobile app development.
Features |
Apps Powered by NodeJS |
| Best developer experience is assured with NodeJS thanks to the least overhead and powerful plugin architecture. |
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| Enables developers to write reusable application logic. | |
| NodsJS can be easily integrated with several frontend frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular. | |
| Impressively speedy in the code execution process. |
6. Apache Cordova: Mobile Apps With HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Apache Cordova offers two basic app development workflows: cross-platform (CLI) workflow and platform-centered workflow to enable developers to build platforms for multiple platforms by sharing a similar codebase.
Features |
Apps Powered by Apache Cordova |
| Command-line interface (CLI): Responsible for making the development process simpler by building processes and installing plugins. |
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| Extensive range of Cordova plugins: Enrich the capabilities of the mobile app by integrating Cordova Plugins. | |
| Reusable code across platforms | |
| Support for offline scenarios | |
| Access native device APIs |
7. Sencha: Fastest JavaScript Grid
Relying on MVC architecture, Sencha makes use of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build mobile applications.
Features |
Companies Using Sencha |
| Customizable UI widgets: It has a collection of more than 50 prebuilt customizable UI widgets. |
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| Code compatibility: The new version of Sencha offers smooth compatibility with the previous version of the framework. | |
| A robust data package enables the application to consume data from any back-end data source. | |
| Adaptive layout and animations ensure a superior experience across multiple platforms. |
8. Appcelerator Titanium: JavaScript Based SDK
Besides the hybrid app development, Appcelerator Titanium can also be used to develop apps for one platform only.
Features |
Apps Powered by Appcelerator Titanium |
| Over 5,000 APIs for iOS, Android, and Windows to build amazing apps with incredible credibilities. |
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| 60-90% code reusability to power the development of native-like app development with less coding for multiple platforms. | |
| Easy availability of marketplace modules to ensure the extended capabilities of your application. | |
| XML and CSS-like syntaxes to help developers make the layout syntax different from the business logic. |
9. NativeScript: Empower JavaScript With Native APIs
Being supported by the WebIDE called PlayGround, which offers benefits such as hot reload, debugging, and an easy working interface to assist developers to create hybrid apps efficiently.
Features |
Apps Powered by NativeScript |
| Rich animations, graphics, charts, and lists to deliver a magnificent user experience to the users. |
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| Touch manager to allow developers to deliver a polishing user experience to the users. | |
| Hot module replacement | |
| Easy authentication options with different sign-in methods | |
| Platform-specific APIs |
10. Corona SDK
The framework is powered by the lightweight scripting language called Lua. By automatically compiling apps at the build time, Corona enhances the performance and stability.
Corona SDK’s development expertise does not limit itself to mobile devices; it allows developers to create solutions with a similar codebase that will work on desktops and even connected TV devices.
Features |
Apps Powered by CoronaSDK |
| Completely free: No hidden fees, charges, and royalties are applicable on the usages of the framework. |
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| Extensive marketplace: Full project templates, graphical assets, music, and plugins are available for developers. | |
| Priority support: Offers support using the slack channels and directly through email. | |
| Call any native API: Be it C/C++/Objective C or Java, developers can call any native APIs with Corona. |
11. Framework7
It allows to create projects with different variants to choose: Framework 7 – Vue, Framework7 – React; Target Platform: web app, PWA or Cordova app; Starter Template: Single Views, Tabs, Split View; Custom Color Theme; Generate required icons and splash screen.
Features
- Create applications for any platform
- Use any tools you love with Framework7
- Stunning set of UI Elements
Apps Powered by Framework7
- Seven Burger
- Backlogger
- CookinGo
- GoDial
12. Mobile Angular UI
13. Onsen UI
14. JQuery Mobile
15. Intel XDK
16. Kendo UI
17. Mobincube
18. QT
What’s Next
So, which framework have you chosen for your cross platform app development after reading their description and features?
Regardless of the framework you choose, you won’t be able to unlock the full potential of these frameworks without the help of an experienced mobile app development company.
Konstant Infosolutions is a highly experienced cross platform app development company. The company has developed a number of world-class apps using these frameworks. Let’s connect with us to unlock the full potential of your app development project.
FAQ
1. Which is best cross platform app development framework?
The selection of the best framework is subject to your development requirements. According to a survey conducted by Statista in 2021, React Native is the most used cross-platform mobile framework followed by Flutter.
2. What are the most commonly used cross-platform programming languages?
Java, C++, and JavaScript are the most commonly used programming languages for cross platform app development.
3. How to pick the best cross-platform app development company?
- Develop a clear understanding of budget
- Review the companies portfolio
- Understand the company pricing structure
- Pay utmost attention to client testimonial
- Talk about the post maintenance and support services