Top 10 Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks

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Net Solutions
  • Date Published
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Let’s begin with the basics, and a framework is a software-only app skeleton with preset tools, libraries, software development kits, and other parts.

React Native, Ionic, and Flutter are frameworks much in use. The advantages of cross-platform app development are significant contributors to it being a preference in today’s time. With increasing popularity, several other options appeared on the market. Other mobile app development businesses gradually experimented with this innovative technology.

What is a cross-platform development framework?

Cross-platform mobile app development, also known as hybrid mobile app development, enables developers to build mobile solutions compatible with multiple platforms and operating systems (Android, iOS, and Windows).

Cross-platform mobile development frameworks help create native-looking applications for several platforms using a single codebase. One of the main advantages this method has over developing native apps is the ability to share code. By not having to write code specifically for each operating system, mobile engineers may speed up the development process and save time.

The below section covers the most popular frameworks for creating cross-platform mobile apps for iOS, Android, and other platforms. Choosing the right agency for cross-platform development will help you build a comprehensive mobile app for your business. But before moving ahead, let’s look at the top 10 cross-platform development frameworks.

Top 10 Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks

1. Firebase

Firebase offers detailed documentation and cross-platform SDKs to assist you in building and shipping apps on Android, iOS, the web, C++, and Unity. Firebase is an excellent framework for creating the backend, even though it isn’t precisely a cross-platform development environment for creating mobile apps. You can rapidly create high-quality mobile apps and expand your business.

2. Iconic

Iconic is a JavaScript framework for creating hybrid mobile applications. You can also develop cross-platform mobile apps with Ionic, which enables you to use a single codebase to build an app for any platform.

Ionic Framework is open-source and free, and it offers a portable UI toolkit for creating top-notch cross-platform apps from a single codebase for native iOS, Android, and the web. Additionally, it provides an Ionic React that uses React to develop hybrid mobile apps. Ionic is a SaaS UI framework based on a mobile OS-specific design framework and offers a variety of UI components for building applications. Ionic provides a proprietary integrated development environment (IDE) called Ionic Studio that was created for rapid app development and prototyping.

There is regular activity on the Ionic Forum, where community members share knowledge and assist one another in solving development-related problems.

3. Xaramin

Owned by Microsoft, Xamarin quickly gained popularity for helping C, C++, and C# developers create mobile apps. It is a cross-platform open-source app development framework that uses C#. The Base Class Library (.NET BCL), a collection of classes with a variety of functionality, is used by Xamarin applications. It is possible to compile C# code for your app, providing access to various libraries and extending the BCL’s capability.

With Xamarin.Forms, programmers can use platform-specific UI elements to give their apps a unified appearance across many operating systems.

Forms enhance the efficiency of data binding. All binding expressions are compile-time validated when using these bindings. Mobile engineers experience fewer runtime errors as a result of this feature. Use the Net framework to create Windows, iOS, and Android apps.

4. Flutter

Flutter is a Google product, just like Golang, TensorFlow, and Angular. It employs Dart, another Google programming language, and offers an SDK for creating cross-platform native mobile applications.

Without needing to recompile your code, Flutter’s hot reload functionality lets you observe how your application changes as soon as you make a change. Flutter supports Google’s Material Design, a framework for creating digital experiences that developers can use. When developing your app, you can employ a variety of visual and behavioral widgets. Its rendering engine is used to draw widgets.

The user base of Flutter is comparatively active worldwide, and a lot of developers utilize it extensively.

5. React Native

React Native is a JavaScript-based framework used to create actual code and offer mobile applications that function on Android and iOS a native-like feel. Because of React Native’s exceptional features, corporations and developers favor it as the best platform for their apps. React Native combines the advantages of JavaScript and React.JS while allowing developers to write modules in Objective-C, Swift, or Java. Thanks to the Fast Refresh functionality, developers may immediately view their changes in their React components.

An advantage of React Native is its emphasis on the user interface. You can create a unique and responsive user interface using React primitives, which render native platform UI components. Additionally, by utilizing native modules and libraries in the cross-platform React Native apps, developers can carry out labor-intensive tasks like image editing, video processing, and other functions not covered by the framework APIs.

6. Native Script

NativeScript is a free, open-source framework that can help you build mobile applications for both the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms.

It enables the development of native mobile apps in TypeScript, JavaScript, Angular, and Vuejs. The framework renders platform-native UIs. Without relying on WebViews, an Android OS system component that enables Android applications to show material from the web inside of an app, NativeScript-built apps operate directly on a native device.

By providing a variety of plugins and ready-made app templates, NativeScript eliminates the requirement for other solutions.

Writing code in any language that translates into JavaScript, such as TypeScript or CoffeeScript, is possible with NativeScript because of its extensive interaction with Angular and Vuejs.

7. Cordova

Another framework for building mobile applications developed by Nitobi is Apache Cordova. After purchasing Nitobi in 2011, Adobe Systems rebranded it as PhoneGap. Later, Apache Cordova, an open-source version of the program, was made available. Developers may add more features and access device functions, like the camera, microphone, accelerometer, compass, file system, and more, thanks to the native plugins and containers it offers for each mobile platform. Apps are created and executed on the suitable platform in a WebView browser inside a native container.

Cross-platform development enables the usage of standard web technologies, including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, etc.

8. Corona SDK

With the help of Corona SDK, programmers may create 2D mobile applications for all the major operating systems, including Windows and the Kindle.

The creation of mobile and gaming apps is 10X faster with Corona SDK. The framework’s dependability on Lua, a portable and multi-paradigm programming language, offers outstanding outcomes. The language is designed with speed, portability, flexibility, scalability, and ease of use as its primary development considerations.

9. Sencha

Sencha is the market leader in enterprise-grade application development because its comprehensive platform enables teams to concentrate on creating applications rather than frameworks. Sencha Touch, released about ten years ago, is a tool for creating cross-platform web-based applications that effectively use hardware acceleration techniques. Because of the tool’s foundation in contemporary web technologies like ES6, HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS, programmers may create cross-platform web and data-intensive mobile applications.

The service, formerly Sencha Touch, is no longer supported and has been combined with Ext JS to form Sencha Ext JS. It provides tools and themes that boost output and make optimization, deployment, design, theming, and debugging easier.

10. Node.js

The Node.js framework is fantastic for creating cross-platform applications. Node.Js is a JavaScript runtime framework constructed on the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine. It is an open-source setting that encourages the creation of scalable and server-side networking applications.

The framework can manage multiple concurrent connections at once. Additionally, it has an extensive library of JavaScript modules, making it easier to develop web applications.

Wrapping Up

The best option for businesses is cross-platform development because it enables them to produce dependable applications compatible with all customer devices quickly. Knowing more about hybrid app development frameworks will help you create the ideal app.