Mobile app development has seen a tremendous growth rate in recent years. There was a time when platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile focused on marketing native development for their platform. But, as the number of mobile platforms is increasing, developers are finding it difficult to deliver and provide support for every platform. To find a solution to this, now the scenario is shifting from native app development to cross-platform app development.
As the market is witnessing a tremendous growth rate in cross-platform mobile app development, the number of development tools are also increasing. With the trend of Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA), the developers intend to write code such that it can run on multiple platforms. Organizations, whether new or established, are now looking forward towards cross-platform app development.
What is Cross-platform mobile development?
Cross-platform mobile development simply means the development of applications that can run effectively on multiple mobile platforms. Recently, these type of applications are in trend as the fashion of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is increasing. With this, developers are also adopting the WORA trend.
Cross-platform development is not an easy task as it may sound. So. it’s very important that you use the right technology for the purpose. Here you can get a glimpse of some the most reliable cross-platform mobile app development tools:
Xamarin
Being one of the most widely used mobile app development platform, Xamarin aids in iOS, Android, and Windows mobile app development by providing a single shared C# codebase. Apps developed out of Xamarin have full access to the spectrum of functionalities as exposed by the underlying platform and device and allows apps to be tested on different operating systems using the organization’s cloud service. It provides unified APIs, IDE, and language that can be used everywhere.
PhoneGap
Adobe PhoneGap is an open source distribution framework of Apache Cordova that aids in developing cross-platform app development by providing you with the power to compile in the cloud. It eliminates the use of maintaining native SDKs and allows building store ready apps. Instead of relying on platform-specific APIs, PhoneGap uses CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript to build applications. It facilitates the wrapping of these codes that can be used on the platform of the device. It provides developers with a robust library of plugins that can extend the capabilities of your mobile applications. Apps developed out of PhoneGap are hybrid because although apps are packaged and distributed, all layout rendering is done via Web views.
Kony Mobile Platform
Kony provides a robust platform for building applications for iOS, Android, Windows, and Web that can run on smartphones, wearables, tablets, and desktops. Koy is well known for developing enterprise business apps and native mobile apps. Kony provides a number of pre-built apps that offer great features to the developers. Basically, this platform fits well where a large population of diverse devices is involved.
Sencha
Sencha provides JavaScript and Java frameworks and components that help developers design, develop and test enterprise-ready web apps for any modern device. Ext JS, a Sencha product, is a choice among developers as it works very well with different platforms on different devices. With a number of in-built elements, it saves a lot of time in coding and hence increases productivity.
Appcelerator Titanium
Titanium SDK, an open source framework, allows building native mobile apps on iOS, Android, and Windows UWP using a single JavaScript codebase. It allows you to reuse most of the code for all your apps and saves a lot of time by reducing the effort that is made when you have to code from scratch. It also provides seamless integration to existing continuous delivery systems.
While cross-platform development eases the developer’s work, it gets quite cumbersome when the operating system updates as the app also has to be updated to support the updated OS. But then too, this development method had made the lives of engineers a lot more easier and less stressful.
Although the market is flooded with a number of tools that claim to aid you in cross-platform app development, all you need is to choose the one that suits your need. This will not only help you in developing the app effectively but will let you design the app in such a way that it is able to harness the capabilities of the platform and the device. Choosing the right tool makes your work less painful and more cost-effective.
