Are You Trying to Decide on a Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Framework?

We live in a mobile world, one where consumers and business users may own and use various types of mobile devices, from smart watches, to Android smart phones, iPhones, iPads and more! If your business is planning to create a mobile application, it would be difficult (and unwise) to deliver a mobile app that only supports one type of device. Consider all the mobile applications you use: WhatsApp, FaceBook, Netflix, Amazon, Instagram…the list goes on and on! What if these applications were only available for an iPhone or an Android device? How much business would the application vendor lose?

Similarly, your business must consider the compliance, scalability and performance of any new software product, and choose a cross-platform mobile app development environment that will ensure its success.

Many business owners are just starting to understand the degree to which AI can transform the customer experience. As artificial intelligence is driven by data, businesses are being granted the opportunity to completely personalise their advertising, products, and services, to meet the needs of their evolving customer base. Another option for creating an app in a few hours is ConstApps, an online eCommerce app builder.

Wearables and M2M (machine to machine) devices include smart watches, health monitoring devices, and smart clothing, and this market segment represents a brave new world of the Internet of Things (IoT)

According to Data Reportal there were 5.11 billion unique mobile users in the world as of 2019 and that number is growing every day. 2.71 billion of them use smart phones. By some accounts, 57% of users will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site, the average user will tap, swipe, and click their phone 2,617 times a day and 47% of US smart phone users say they couldn’t live without their devices.

Roughly 85% of the smart phone user market belongs to Android models, while iPhone users make up the remaining 15%. But, that isn’t a static number and it does not include iPad users or other mobile devices like smart watches and wearables, so it would be a risky choice to create a mobile app that only runs on Android devices (AKA a native app)!

Before we talk about Cross Platform frameworks and the pros and cons of these, it is important to understand the distinction between a Native Application and a Cross-Platform Application.

Native Applications – These apps are suitable only for one operating system (iOS or Android) and while they do leverage the features and functionality of that type of device and can incorporate video, GPS, contacts, camera functionality, etc., they are built only for Apple or Android and programmed in the language and code that is native to those devices.

Cross Platform Applications – Allow apps to be used across operating systems, using one code that is suitable for all those environments and consumers and business users can therefore leverage these mobile apps across devices including smart watches, iPhones, Android-based tablets, etc.

Now that we have defined the terms, let’s take a closer look at some of the Cross-Platform application frameworks in use by expert hybrid mobile application developers.

Ionic

Developer Support – Ionic Framework uses AngularJS architecture and a simple CLI development interface. It provides functionality, options and tools to support developers in cross-platform mobile app development. Developers can use standards-based UI components, and deploy applications via desktop, mobile, web and PWA. Developers can create a single code base to support all planned device deployments. More than five million developers use this option for hybrid mobile app development and there are numerous forums to support developer questions and innovation.

Business Support and Adoption – Ionic is popular in many industries and applications and especially among software companies and web development companies. Today, there are more than four million applications for mobile devices, web applications and desktops in a variety of industries including hospitality and travel, restaurants, pharmaceutical companies and small and medium sized organizations in many other industries. Ionic-based applications are in use and many have already been upgraded and expanded with a solid foundation of support and skills available to keep these mobile apps evergreen. 

Dependability and Flexibility – Ionic was founded nearly a decade ago and is now one of the most popular choices for cross-platform development. It is stable and allows developers to choose from a variety of technologies like CSS3, JavaScript and HTML5. It can be deployed anywhere with support in the Windows, iOS and Android environments.

Flutter

What is the Flutter Framework?

Flutter is a Google open-source mobile user interface (UI) SDK framework. It is used to build cross-platform, hybrid mobile application solutions for Android and iOS and its features enable a multi-platform development process using existing code in Dart language to support mobile application development.

What Are Some Benefits of Flutter?

Many mobile application developers have embraced Flutter for hybrid mobile application development. It leverages a single code base and the Google 2D rendering engine to develop impressive visuals and to perform unit and functionality tests, create a user interface. It includes a rapid development environment, fast rendering and theme options.

What are Some Features of the Flutter Tool?

The product has been around since 2017 and it is stable. It is an open-source environment that is accessible to all developers. It leverages C, C++ and Dart languages and supports desktop, web and mobile application development. There are several developer support forums accessible for feedback and information about the use of Flutter in mobile application development, including GitHub and Slack. The Flutter tools are used by a large percentage of mobile application developers.

React Native –  React Native is a Facebook product released as a web development ReactJS platform. Over the years, the tool has been upgraded and improved and it is now a preferred tool for cross-platform, hybrid mobile application development that supports high-performance hybrid mobile applications and third-party plugins.

jQuery Mobile – The jQuery tool uses the JavaScript Library and HTML to provide support for seamless function across desktop, tablet and mobile devices, and it can be used with other frameworks. It has a large plugin library and provides simplified navigation.  

Mobile Angular UI – This tool works seamlessly with Angular framework and Bootstrap 3. Mobile Angular UI includes sidebars, overlays, scrollable areas and switches and allows hybrid mobile application developers to create HTML5 apps in an open source environment. This tool is best used for light applications and is less appropriate for complex apps.

Framework 7 – This HTML5 hybrid application framework is open source and provides ample support for hybrid mobile application development for Android and iOS Apple projects. There are no ReactJS or Angular JS dependencies and hybrid mobile application developers can leverage framework variants from Vue, React, and Core. Framework 7 applications are responsive and fast.  

Find out how Cross-Platform Hybrid Mobile Application Development can help your business expand its reach in the market and with users. Visit our Blog to explore the advantages of cross-platform mobile applications.