What's in the Future for Cross-Platform App Development?

Cross-platform app development is a popular software development trend as much among businesses and developers as it is affordable and helps to save time, money, and developer efforts. The result of cross-platform development is a cheaper online solution that provides a better user experience. 

Cross-Platform App Development

Customer expectations about their online experience are constantly evolving and as fast as emerging technologies. This is proving to be a challenge for businesses in many sectors and more markedly in the retail space.  

Omni-channel marketing is center-stage now with people viewing products on their PCs and later buying them off by using their mobile phones in the evening. This practice illustrates the importance of cross-platform app development.  

An average app user spends an average of 4.2 hours /day on apps. Moreover, the mobile app development market is predicted to see increased growth with earnings worth approximately $935 this year. Therefore forward thinking app companies should make good use of this trend to stay ahead of their competitors. 

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With an increased demand for mobile applications, companies are trying to woo customers with the best and most singular and smooth mobile app experience. The app offering the most effective UX will likely deliver higher profits to the companies and keep them ahead in the market race. Therefore, they can benefit from cross-platform app development which is very cost-effective.

Mobile Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks

Cross-platform mobile app development means the process of constructing mobile apps that run smoothly across many operating systems (iOS and Android, mainly). It has only a single codebase that is used for any operating system. Flutter (by Google) and React Native (by Facebook) are two well-known cross-platform mobile app development frameworks that businesses widely use to build cross-platform apps. Given below are some brief details about some of the popular cross-platform mobile app development frameworks:

React Native

Created in 2015 by Facebook, React Native is often referred to as one of the most exciting open-source cross-platform app development frameworks. React Native well suits the concept of ‘learn one time and write anywhere’ and is therefore very popular.

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Flutter

Flutter is a multi-platform UI development framework released by Google. Flutter mobile apps can be created with a codebase that runs smoothly across Android and iOS platforms. Released in 2017 by Google, This open-source UI development framework stands as a strong competitor to React Native.

PhoneGap

PhoneGap, an open-source software open-source development framework developed by Adobe, is used to develop mobile apps by using web-development languages such as HTML, CSS, and JScript. PhoneGap can be used to produce apps for all popular mobile OS platforms such as Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows, etc. Using PhoneGap allows developers to access native device roles, such as the camera and accelerometer without having to use APIs that are platform-specific.

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Ionic

Ionic is an open-source, free, cross-platform framework designed to build native mobile and web-based apps using the same HTML, CSS, and JavaScript codebase that works across Android and iOS platforms. Ionic also provides UI components (from the Ionic Components library) for creating iOS/Android apps in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These components use AngularJS directives.

Xamarin

Xamarin is a cross-platform development framework that allows the creation of applications. Its languages, tools, and frameworks can be used to create mobile apps using the C# codebase to assemble native code that is specific to the device. 

Additional features offered by this program include using the Xamarin UI elements to create native UIs. Web developers can construct cross-platform apps (for mobile gadgets) using standards-based Web design.

Why Companies Need Cross-Platform Mobile App Development 

Looking at the current growth in the number and types of mobile devices, it is not surprising that businesses are turning to creating apps that provide relevant information to users. However, it is costly and time-consuming to create apps for only one platform. Instead of paying for the development time spent for assembling separate codebase versions of apps for the different platforms, companies can choose cross-platform development techniques that allow them to create single codebases for the different operating systems.

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Thus, the development of cross-platform apps allows companies to widen their reach of iOS and Android users. Given below are some benefits of choosing a cross-platform app development approach:

• The cross-platform approach provides a native feel for the apps developed
• This approach uses the “write once, run everywhere” principle. It enables code reuse and saves on development costs
• It is convenient to carry a cross-platform app that has been developed to work across different platforms
• Because of the single source code that is compatible with multiple platforms, the cross-platform mobile app development process is significantly faster
• The flexible system lets developers create continuously-changing UX

Other Characteristics Are:

Consistency

Though Android and iOS have distinct UI, the feeling is more important as far as UX is concerned than how your app functions on one specific platform when compared to another. If you want apps that work well on every device they are used in, it is better to opt for a cross-platform strategy.

Fast Deployment

As cross-platform frameworks allow the creation of apps with just a single codebase to run efficiently on both iOS and Android, this helps to save time, money, and effort, resulting in faster deployment. Smaller businesses and start-ups especially benefit when the app requires less time to market.

Cost-Effective

Cross-platform apps with a common codebase are easier to create and require even less effort to test. Moreover, companies do not have to hire two different developers for developing the app. Instead, they can employ only one developer when it is cross-platform mobile app development.

Improved Market Reach

If your company opts to develop cross-platform apps, then you are instantly increasing the bar on your competition. As the majority of users are on Android and iOS, cross-platform frameworks allow developers to create apps for both platforms using one single codebase. This helps you to increase your reach as it does not allow you to miss out on the other platform when you develop apps for anyone.

Conclusion

Though it is difficult to predict what is in store for cross-platform mobile app development, it is clear that cross-platform app development is worthy of consideration as it eases the app development process for different operating platforms. The main benefits include speedier development at the lowest costs because of the single codebase, and this is beneficial to every business. 

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