Cross-platform mobile app development is making mobile apps using a single codebase that you can deploy to any platform such as Android, iOS, and Windows.
Instead of targeting one operating system (like most native apps), cross-platform apps aim to target all platforms at once.
It has become possible due to the advancement in programming languages, tools & frameworks which help developers to create apps with a single code base.
In this article, we will discuss the best cross-platform mobile app development tools.
PhoneGap (Apache Cordova)
Apache Cordova is an open-source mobile development framework maintained by Adobe. It allows developers to create cross-platform mobile apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for Android, iOS, Blackberry OS, Windows Phone 7.5 & 8.0, Firefox OS, and more.
Xamarin
Xamarin is a development tool that lets developers create native iOS, Android, and Windows apps using C#. It’s worth noting that Xamarin can use the same UI code for all native platforms & features like GPS, Camera, etc.
NativeScript
NativeScript lets developers use their existing web skills (in JavaScript, TypeScript, or Angular) to build native iOS & Android apps. It eliminates the need for multiple native codebases and leverages JavaScript libraries and frameworks to make it easier for developers to create apps faster.
Ionic
Ionic lets developers build hybrid apps using HTML5 and AngularJS. In addition, it has out-of-the-box support for Angular Directives, which means developers can use HTML to create components directly.
React Native
React Native lets developers create native mobile apps using JavaScript and React. It uses the same design as React, letting developers compose a rich mobile UI from declarative components. It also allows developers to add in their native code for better performance optionally.
Qt
Qt is a cross-platform application framework that lets developers create native apps on any platform, including Android & iOS. More than 1 million Qt developers worldwide and more than 6000 companies rely on Qt for their app development needs. It comes with a rich library of user interface controls, 2D & 3D graphics rendering, networking, database access and much more.
Unity3D
Unity3D is one of the most popular game engines used by millions of indie game developers. Unity3D lets developers create games, deploy them to all operating systems (including mobile), and incorporate existing assets from the colossal asset store into a project. It is an excellent option for creating 2D or 3D games.
Conclusion
Xamarin is currently the most loved cross-platform mobile app development tool in the StackOverFlow developer survey. React Native, PhoneGap & Ionic are among the most popular ones, with companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram use them for building apps. If you’re looking to develop a cross-platform mobile app, you must evaluate different types of cross-platform mobile frameworks and choose the one that’s the best fit for your project.
I hope you found this helpful article. Do share your views in the comment section!
