A Definitive Guide on Cross-Platform Mobile App Development


A Definitive Guide on Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

By 2020, mobile networking is going to be an industry with around $190 billion in revenue. There is a huge global audience that prefers cross-platform mobile applications. However, cross-platform mobile app development is not an easy task.

In this guide, we will see how you can approach cross-platform mobile app development successfully.

What Is Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?

Cross-platform mobile app development refers to creating apps that can run on multiple platforms like iOS and Android. These apps can be published using a single code database, which means developers can create a single app and publish it on multiple platforms with small modifications.

Benefits Of Cross-Platform Development?

  • Reusing code: No need to create single dedicated apps for each platform.
  • Fast and efficient: Saves time on development, and it’s a one-time cost.
  • Updates are easy: Platforms like Appcelerator, Native, and Flutter will let cross-app developers update multiple platforms from the same place with very little tweaking.
  • Widen your audience: Your businessis not limited to a single platform and has a huge audience.

How To Develop Cross-Platform Apps?

Cross-platform apps can be created by sharing the same source code between platforms. These apps don’t run in a web view, and they get compiled into a native binary in whatever platform they are on, which gives the app access to the features of the device and increases performance.

That gives application owners only one database to maintain for bugs, which is super cost-efficient as well. These development tools are also not limited to any specific language.

Software Development Kits (SDKs)

An SDK is a collection of tools that help the developer work on a specific framework. This means the SDK comes within an integrated environment. They have a collection of features that make the development process, code completion, controlling version, testing, and troubleshooting easier.

For instance, Builder.ai is an amazing app builder that can help you build apps from scratch.

Using Programming Languages For App Development

You have a lot of options to pick from. According to a Statista study done in 2019, JavaScript happens to be used by 70% of developers worldwide to develop apps.

  • JavaScript

    An extremely dynamic and popular scripting language that can be used to create any application, whether it is client-side or server-side.

  • HTML

    The language of web app and website interfaces, HTML has also become hugely relevant for mobile apps.

  • Python

    Common for writing scripts and AI programming and embedded programming.

  • Java

    This used to be the main language for android app development until Kotlin came along. But it is still very easily maintainable and well known.

  • C#

    Similar to java and object-oriented.

  • C++

    One of the most crucial languages to ever have been created. It gives you high control and performance over your programming, and it can be used on the cross-platform Qt framework as well. You can work it alongside other programming languages, and you can use the many existing services and libraries to make your job easier. You can even utilize QML frameworks to create easy and intuitive applications that work on tasks that need high performance.

Tools

  • React

    Native is one of the newest technologies in the world of mobile apps, and it works across all platforms. Ever since it was created, it has set new records in speed and workability, and affordable prices. This is a platform created by Facebook, and you can use javascript to create quick applications that operate very smoothly across all platforms.

  • Flutter

    A very innovative and flexible framework that is gearing up to be one of the most used frameworks for creating next-gen apps. The basic concept of the app is that you have to kind of draw and connect your maps and create applications that are based around networking third party SDKs, camera, and GPS. These are all the latest features of cross-platform mobile development.

Conclusion

Now that you know why cross-platform app development could be the best choice to build an app, you can start thinking of the applications both in the short term and long term to make the best choice of framework and tools.