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With people spending more time on the internet than ever before, developing an app has become a very important strategy when it comes to growing your business. Apps themselves have become more functional, lightweight, snappy, and deployable over the past years.
Because of such high demand, top app development companies have popped up across the world making it easier than ever to hire a team of developers to build an app that suits your needs.
When it comes to the process of app development itself there have been many major developments across the years, a result of which is a wide range of app development tools and software available today.
One such major development in the app development niche was the emergence of cross-platform app development.
Cross-platform app development refers to building apps that work across all platforms like Windows, android, and iOS. Traditionally apps were developed natively, meaning separate apps were built for different operating systems.
While native development helps developers draw as much as they can from the hardware and inbuilt functionality of a given OS, building multiple apps is an expensive and time-consuming affair.
In light of this, many cross-platform tools have emerged over the years allowing developers to build apps that run across different platforms.
With so many options out there, it can be really difficult to decide which tool is the best for one’s needs and worth spending time and money on. The choice depends on your unique taste and the demands of your project.
Regardless of what you need, you can be assured that there are many extensive and robust development tools available. Building an app tailored to your needs is easier than ever before and can be more profitable than it has ever been.
Below is a list of 6 cross-platform app development tools that may be useful in the upcoming year:
1. Flutter
Flutter is a free and open-source UI Framework by Google geared around the fast-paced development of mobile, web, and desktop applications using a single codebase. It utilizes Dart, a highly effective and easy-to-learn language developed by Google. Flutter app development services help you provide widgets that draw from its own high-performance render engine and thus are quick, pretty, and highly customizable. Flutter has become not only a popular alternative to other cross-platform development tools but also to native development options.
2. Ionic
Ionic is a free, open-source hybrid app development framework that utilizes web technologies to build high-performance mobile and progressive web apps. It is deemed to be extremely developer-friendly and features a rich library of front-end developer tools, building blocks, and UI components that make the design process smooth and quick. Being an HTML5 framework, it needs a wrapper like Cordova or PhoneGap to run as a native app.
3. Xamarin
Xamarin provides cross-platform native-looking development across all platforms and devices. Languages like C#, F#, and Razor are supported by Xamarin. Xamarin allows easy translation of business logic across platforms since only a single base code can be ported to multiple platforms. Applications can be written on PC or Mac and compiled in native packages like .apk, .ipa, etc. allowing for greater flexibility.
4. Sencha
Sencha allows developers to build responsive web applications across multiple device formats. Sencha’s Ext JS offers an extensive and comprehensive javascript framework for accelerated web application development. It includes multiple tested, high-performance UI components. With its wide range of products, Sencha offers the tools and services to design, develop, and test amazing-looking web applications.
5. NativeScript
NativeScript is a popular open-source framework that lets you build native iOS and Android apps, using a single codebase. It utilizes popular frameworks like Vue.js, Angular, etc., and languages like Javascript and Typescript. NativeScript can utilize the native rendering engine of the iOS and Android platforms which lets it deliver a highly native user experience specific to the mobile OS platforms.
6. React Native
React Native is an open-source, cross-platform development tool built by Facebook. React Native is based on JavaScript and is considered easy to learn providing very high initial velocity. Building an app within React Native is a much faster and cheaper process compared to building native apps. The resulting UI is smooth and responsive with greatly reduced loading times. React Native combines the advantages of using native app development with an extensive JS library, without compromising on functionality and performance.
The online world is expanding at an unmatched pace and app development is becoming increasingly easier and manageable. New languages, tools, and platforms are emerging year after year further accelerating the growth of the industry.
Many free and open-source app development tools have also popped up over the years (as you might have noticed in the above list) making app development very accessible and beginner-friendly.
What are the upcoming mobile app development tools and trends that you are excited about?
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