Every company now has a mobile application that runs on every mobile operating platform like Android and iOS. While a brand gets its mobile application, the professionals working on it face some severe issues. The most talked-about is the time and resources consumed during the development of a mobile application for different platforms. This gave birth to the idea of working with a software development kit that could function with a single coding system for all the mobile platforms.
The demand for cross-platform mobile app development services is at its peak. Even though it is difficult to match the experience that a native app provides, some of the best tools make it happen in an amazing way.
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5 Most Preferred Tools
Here are some of the tools that are preferred by most of the experts in the industry.
Ionic
The open-source framework officially came into existence in 2013. It came at a point when the demand for tools that could improve the speed was high.
Ionic is preferred by a lot of experts because it offers compatibility with the most recent languages. A cross-platform app developed on the Software Development Kit provided by Ionic runs smoothly. It supports HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The extremely knowledgeable community of developers is active in assisting someone in case of any problem.
Some companies that have developed their cross-platform mobile app using Ionic are Amtrak and Burger King, to name a few. Every company that has got its mobile app developed from the platform has received a great benefit from the Application Programming Interface (API) provided by Ionic. Two of them are TypeScript and Virtual DOM.
Flutter
Flutter, by Google, has been a part of the lives of a developer since 2017. It is by far the most preferred tool and the top choice of every developer.
It uses Dart Programming Language. This helps a developer to expand their horizons to other platforms as well. Most of the tools restrict themselves to only mobile operating platforms. Flutter goes the extra mile and enables the development of an application for desktop and web as well. Mobile applications are accessed more but desktop and web have still not lost their charm.
A mobile app can be created as per the requirement of a brand. It assists customization through its wide library of widgets. Every widget can either be integrated as it is or it can be toned differently as per the need of a client. Some of its most popular widgets include icons, scrolling, and fonts, to name a few.
React Native
Facebook was among the firsts to highlight the need of having a platform that could help to develop and launch a mobile app for every mobile platform at once. The concern was highlighted in 2012. Three years later, the social media giant released React Native to resolve the concern.
The entire software development kit of React Native is based on the JavaScript library of React. The same language is supported by React Native. A few companies that rely on Facebook’s cross-platform app development platform are Facebook itself, Tesla, and Skype. React Native possesses the ability of offering the access of native apps to the apps that are developed on it.
Every feature and function of a mobile app varies based on the mobile operating platform. These include navigation, interface, location, and camera. With React Native, all of it remains constant with the one-time development of the mobile app.
Appcelerator
Appcelerator differs from other tools in many ways. To start with, it has automated mobile tests. A developer, once done, can test his or her codes in this software development kit.
The possibility of the code sequence having one or more than one bug is limitless. With automated mobile tests, a developer can run the codes through and check for the bugs. This ensures the proper functioning of the mobile app when it is launched. The same applies to the updates to a mobile app. They can also be tested before releasing them to every device. Any lag highlighted during the test is resolved by the system.
All the features are packed, distributed, and examined by the cloud services. Appcelerator provides the pre-built integration with MongoDB, MS Azure, and MS SQL.
Xamarin
Xamarin is an open-source tool. It has been powered by Microsoft since 2016. Similar to Flutter, Xamarin offers development support for mobile operating systems along with web and desktop.
The language that it supports is C#. Xamarin, however, is a bit notorious among the developers. The word is that the software development kit is no longer viable. The cost that a client has to incur is high and the community is less active in offering its support to the developer. One app development company may not recommend Xamarin to others for the same reason. Insisting a developer to work exclusively with this tool can create stability problems in the app after it is launched in the market.
The developers who mostly use Xamarin are either those who are unaware of the new tools or the ones who have been working on it since the start of their careers. Whatever the case may be, a cross-platform app may be developed on it but one cannot rely on it completely.
Final Words
These were some of the most preferred tools for cross-platform app development. Carry this thread forward or share the one that you are using right now. We would love to read your views.
