Cross-platform app development focuses on developing mobile applications for both Android and iOS, as well as desktop applications for Windows and macOS, from a single shared codebase and user interface (UI).
Cross-platform development helps you lower costs and save time and is an attractive solution for clients with limited budgets and the desire to launch their apps quickly.
Each mobile operating system has its own Software Development Kit (SDK) and technological stack: Android apps use Java or Kotlin, while iOS apps use Objective-C or Swift. Cross-platform app developers leverage a uniform API built on a native SDK, native IDEs, and the same codebase to build iOS and Android apps. Xamarin, React Native, and Kotlin Multiplatform are commonly used to create native cross-platform apps.
Although mobile apps are built for smartphones and tablets, the back-end layer handles their business logic. Because both the iOS and Android SDKs have powerful web components, HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript may be used to design sections of an application's graphical user interface (GUI). The code is then wrapped in WebView, a browser built within a mobile app that showcases the contents like a traditional website. Some hybrid apps can even interface with the hardware on a smartphone. However, the capability is often limited. React Native, Apache Cordova, and Flutter are the most promising hybrid app development frameworks.
1. Swift - Designed by Apple, it applies a modern approach to performance, safety, and software design patterns. Any Swift project aims to build the best possible language for use and is meant to be scaled to cloud services.
2. C# - Object-oriented programming language that enables users to create complete solutions and allows developers to create mobile applications, desktop apps, games, and web apps very easily.
3. Java - Allows ease of portability when creating apps for multiple operating system environments and hardware types.
4. JavaScript and TypeScript - Facilitate developers’ work with NativeScript, Ionic, Cordova, and React Native frameworks.
5. Kotlin - Aims to express an improved version of Java that is cleaner, simpler, faster to compile, and entails a mix of object-oriented and functional programming.
6. Dart - A client-optimised language for fast apps on any platform. It powers frameworks like Flutter that provide tooling and UI libraries to build UI experiences that run on Android, macOS, iOS, Linux, Windows, and the web.
7. Objective-C - Used by Apple to create scalable and healthy apps. It's also a powerful programming language for macOS apps and operating systems.
1. Xamarin - Provides app store delivery, performance testing, virtual testing, and monitoring. It is efficiently used to design native apps for multiple platforms, but developers can use the same IDE, API, and language for cross-platform. It is highly suitable for Ruby and C# and allows code sharing enabling faster app development and lower costs. It was adopted by Foursquare, Microsoft, and IBM.
2. Flutter - It is a UI framework for building apps on iOS, Android, the Web, and desktop. It combines a high-performance graphics engine with the Dart programming language, helping developers build reliable apps quickly.
3. React Native - Built on JavaScript, developers can build native-like cross-platform apps, including various tools and best practices. It is cost-effective and has a great reach once launched.
4. Ionic Framework - Open-source mobile UI kit that uses JavaScript, React, Angular, or Vue to build the application. It offers pre-designed UI components with a native style for iOS and Android.
5. Solar2D (used to be Corona) - Used for building mobile, television, and desktop game apps through a single codebase. It allows developers to update the code, save changes, improve code speed, and show instant changes reflected in real devices. It is optimized for performance, and it has lightweight scripting. It is primarily used in 2D gaming apps for high quality and high-speed graphics performance in game application development.
6. Qt - Offers features that improve the app’s quality, creating fluid interfaces and embedded devices with the same code for all platforms. It is a subscription-based tool that allows coding in C++. It’s easy to use and enables app export to different platforms.
7. Sencha Touch - Ideal for developing apps in HTML5. It is one of the main tools used by app developers. It provides developers with customizable and reusable themes. It can be built on ExtAngular, Ext JS5, Ext React, and iOS. It also offers data visualization to easily track the app’s information which helps organize the content and display it on the device and browser of varied screen sizes. The pre-built components help save time and speed up the development process.
8. 5App - A unique tool specifically designed for companies developing an app for employee use. It focuses on data security while used in JavaScript coding and HTML5 and exporting iOS and Android apps.
9. Unity 3D - Used to improve graphics quality for enhanced results. This tool allows you to export games to various platforms such as PlayStation, Linux, and many others. It is used to track down user analytics and share apps on social networking sites. It also has huge community support, making it easy to connect with other developers.
10. NativeScript - Offers native APIs and supports Angular.js 2 and Typescript.
11. Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile - An SDK that allows seamless integration of native code without restrictions.
Cross-platform app development is a bold approach to mobile and web development. Working with a single codebase speeds up the software development process. It enables you to obtain the tactical benefit of code shareability because you only need a single language to develop UI/UX across platforms. Thanks to that, you can use reusable code components in numerous other projects.
Another key reason why cross-platform app development is used is that it allows developers to have a futuristic approach in a short amount of time.
There are a few drawbacks when developing multi-platform mobile apps because they can sometimes have slower response times, a poor user interface, and may not support hardware capabilities.
But if you’re looking for cost-effective and faster development, cross-platform development is your way to go.
Before developing a mobile app or any software development project, you need to know what goals you want to achieve and what technologies will help you get there.
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Versatile and data-driven Growth Marketer with in-depth business knowledge, updated with latest developments in the Digital Marketing landscape.
React Native Developer with more than 2 years of experience, passionate about React, React Native, Node, TypeScript, and contributing to the React community.
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