6 Best Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools – Everyone Should Know About

With the latest technological advancement and innovations, small businesses are facing tough completion from large ones. That’s why these small enterprises are using Cross-platform Mobile App Development tools for building an application.

By using cross-platform tools businesses can make jobs easier and also increase productivity. In this blog, you can understand and compare the best cross-platform mobile App development tools, so let’s get started!

Cross-Platform v/s Native Mobile App 

Cross-platform Apps are designed for multiple platforms and coded in CSS and HTML language. 

On the other hand, Native Apps are designed for specific platforms and used coded language like Java in Android and Swift for iOS.

Pros and Cons of Cross-Platform & Native Mobile App 

Pros of Cross-Platform

• Faster development
• Smart cloud integration
• Reduced development costs
• Code reusability
• Cost-effective updates and nonspecific languages needed
• Good for prototyping

Cons of Cross-Platform

• Performance of mobile apps is low as a result of harder code language
• Poor UI/UX designing
• It takes time to support new mobile features
• Poor customization

Pros of Native Mobile App

• Native apps offer faster speed
• Provide instant online and offline access
• It provides a recognizable look and feel
• Native apps maintain aspect ratios

Cons of Native Mobile App

• No flexibility
• Expensive maintenance and development
• The development process consumes more time
• Lengthy downloading process
• Difficulty in multiple platform tailoring

Benefits of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development tools

• Provides maximum exposure to the target audiences.
• Code reusability.
• Reduces the development cost of mobile apps.
• Easy maintenance of apps.
• Easy integration of cross-platform mobile apps with the cloud settings.
• Reduce time-to-market (TTM) with quick deployment.
• Uniform designing (UI/UX).

Best Cross-Platform Mobile App Development tools

React Native App Development

It is the best App development software that utilizes JavaScript as a coding language to build mobile apps. Mobile apps are coded using various languages such as C, Java, and Swift. By using react native technology both Instagram and Facebook developers have built their native apps.

Apps built by using React Native Framework

• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Skype
• Tesla
• Bloomberg

Advantages of React Native

• Maximum code reuse
• Optimal performance
• Cost-effective and simple user interface
• Modular architecture
• Handy solutions and libraries

Disadvantages of React Native

• New and immature
• It can be a tough rope to learn
• Lacks the security
• Take more time to initialize
• Difficult to manage memory

Flutter

Flutter is an open-source and free cross-platform app framework to build a native app for Android and iOS systems. It uses a single code base Dart, which is easy to understand for Java developers. Google ads, Alibaba, etc. are designed by using this platform.

Apps built by using Flutter Framework

• Google
• Alibaba
• Google Ads
• Tencent

Advantages of Flutter

• Reduced code development time
• Increased time to market (TTM) speed
• Performances are similar to native apps
• Simple platform
• The potential ability to go beyond mobile services

Disadvantages of Flutter

• Not so popular yet
• It is still an immature framework
• Flutter apps are quite large
• Not supported by web browser yet

Xamarin

Xamarin is another open-source framework that was launched in 2011 to overcome the problems that users facing while using react native mobile apps. It works on a single code language. Almost 75% of the coding language is the same for both Xamarin and React to native mobile app development.

Apps built by using Xamarin Framework

• American cancer society
• BBC Good Food
• Alaska Airlines
• Fox Sports

Advantages of Xamarin

• Use C# code language to build your apps
• Utilize model/view/controller (MVC) or MVVVM patterns
• Provides a different user interface layer
• Less number of bugs
• Simplified maintenance and API integration

Disadvantages of Xamarin

• Provide limited access to open-source libraries
• Slightly delayed supporting the latest platform updates
• Use of high cost for professionals and enterprises
• App size is large
• Compatibility issues with the third party for libraries and tools

Corona SDK

Corona is a cross-platform framework that is used to build 2D games and Apps. It uses Lua code which is better than Java code which is easy to understand. By using this framework you can easily update your code and can speed up the coding process. It is basically used for high-quality graphics.

Apps built by using Corona SDK Framework

• Ava Airborne
• Tiny Boxes
• Gunman Taco Truck
• Grow Beets Clicker
• Fun Run 2
• The Lost City

Advantages of Corona SDK

• Code reusability
• Also potentially build for iOS platform
• Corona is completely free
• Mature and time tested

Disadvantages of Corona SDK

• High expenses are required
• It uses Lua programming language which takes time to master

Adobe PhoneGap

PhoneGap is one of the best mobile app development tools, which is owned and sourced by Adobe. It is also an open-source framework that helps to streamline and automate the mobile app development tools.

Apps built by using Adobe PhoneGap Framework

• Demographic and Health Survey Program
• Paylution – which makes the payment process easy
• Wikipedia – a free encyclopedia
• Health Tap
• Tripcase

Advantages of Adobe PhoneGap

• Backend Robust
• No need to hire expert developers
• Offers uniform products or services
• Open-source framework
• Easy to work plugins

Disadvantages of Adobe PhoneGap

• Poor in performance
• Not completely support the iOS features
• Lack of user interface widgets
• Can become inefficient while working with native apps

Ionic 

Ionic is an open-source framework that is exactly like Angular JS in structure and design. It uses HTML5 as a programming language.

Apps built by using Ionic Framework

• Marketwatch
• Sworkit
• McDonald’s Turkiye
• Untapped
• ChefSteps

Advantages of Ionic

• It is free and open-source
• UX/UI designing
• Full utilization of features of Cordova plugins
• Application integration
• Great and powerful command-line interface (CLI)
• Large community support

Disadvantages of Ionic 

• Native plugins aren’t stable
• Continuously debugging of an application built
• Designing in-app navigation is a difficult process

Nowadays choosing the right mobile App development tools for building an application is not a tedious process. Businesses are hunting for Cross-platform Mobile App Development tools to improve their businesses in a highly competitive market.

If you need any help with mobile app development services, then Phontinent Technologies is one best companies offer readymade solutions for Android and iOS operating systems. Get in touch with us to know more about cross-platform mobile app development tools.