7 Trending Cross Platform App Development Frameworks of 2023

In the fast-paced world of mobile app development, building applications that seamlessly run on multiple platforms has become a necessity.

With the ever-growing demand for both iOS and Android apps, businesses and developers are constantly seeking efficient and cost-effective solutions. This is where cross-platform app development frameworks come into play, offering a streamlined approach to creating robust applications that can reach a broader audience.

However, with a plethora of cross-platform app development frameworks available in the market, choosing the right one can be a daunting task. Each framework comes with its own set of features, capabilities, and trade-offs. To help you navigate through this maze of options, we have compiled a comprehensive guide to the best cross platform app development frameworks.

Key Takeaways

  • Cross-platform app development has gained significant traction in recent years as businesses strive to reach a wider audience with their mobile applications.
  • Leveraging the power of frameworks specifically designed for cross-platform development can save time, effort, and resources.
  • In this blog summary, we will explore some of the best cross-platform app development frameworks available in the market today.
  • When it comes to cross-platform app development, choosing the right framework is crucial. React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, Ionic, and NativeScript are among the best cross-platform app development frameworks available today.
  • Each framework has its strengths and capabilities, catering to different development preferences and project requirements. By leveraging these frameworks, businesses can streamline their app development process, reach a broader audience, and maximize their return on investment.

What is Cross Platform App Development Framework?

A cross-platform app development framework is a software tool or platform that enables developers to create mobile applications that can run on multiple operating systems, such as iOS and Android, with a single codebase.

Instead of building separate applications for each platform using different programming languages and tools, developers can use a cross-platform framework to write the code once and deploy it on multiple platforms.

Cross platform app development frameworks provide a set of libraries, tools, and APIs that abstract the underlying platform differences, allowing developers to create consistent user interfaces and access device-specific features.

These mobile app development frameworks typically use web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to develop mobile apps. The code is then compiled into a native executable that can run on different platforms.

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Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks

Cross-platform app development frameworks offer several benefits for developers and businesses.

Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks

  • Code Reusability: Cross-platform frameworks enable developers to write code once and deploy it across multiple platforms, such as iOS, Android, and web. This reduces development time and effort as the majority of the codebase can be shared across platforms, leading to faster time-to-market.
  • Cost Efficiency: Developing separate native apps for each platform can be expensive. Cross-platform frameworks significantly reduce costs as developers can leverage a single codebase for multiple platforms. This approach requires fewer mobile app developers, less time, and lowers maintenance expenses.
  • Faster Development: With cross-platform frameworks, developers can simultaneously develop apps for multiple platforms. This streamlines the mobile development process and ensures consistent functionality and user experience across different devices. It also simplifies updates and bug fixes, as changes can be applied universally.
  • Wider Market Reach: By targeting multiple platforms, businesses can reach a larger audience. Cross-platform apps can be deployed to both iOS and Android users, capturing a broader user base. This can be especially beneficial for startups or businesses looking to expand their customer base quickly.
  • Consistent User Experience: Cross-platform frameworks often provide tools and libraries that allow developers to create a unified user experience across platforms. This means that users will have a consistent look and feel, regardless of the device they are using. Maintaining a cohesive brand identity and user experience is crucial for user satisfaction and engagement.
  • Simplified Maintenance: Managing a single codebase is generally easier than maintaining separate codebases for each platform. Cross-platform frameworks simplify the maintenance process, as updates and bug fixes can be applied universally. This leads to faster deployment of improvements and ensures a smoother user experience.
  • Access to Native Features: Cross-platform frameworks typically provide access to native device features through plugins or APIs. Developers can leverage these resources to access device-specific capabilities such as camera, GPS, contacts, and push notifications. This allows them to create feature-rich apps that utilize the functionalities of each platform.
  • Community and Support: Popular cross-platform frameworks have vibrant and active communities. Developers can benefit from a wealth of online resources, forums, and libraries contributed by the community. This support ecosystem helps developers overcome challenges, find solutions, and stay updated with the latest mobile app development trends and best practices.

However, the choice of any particular cross-platform app development framework should be based on the specific requirements and constraints of the project.

7 Best Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks

As per the recent survey by Statista, Flutter is the most popular cross-platform mobile framework used by global developers, according to a 2022 developer survey.

Cross Platform Mobile Frameworks Used by Software Developers Worldwide

Let’s explore some of the best cross-platform app development frameworks that will help you design and build robust mobile apps for your business needs.

  1. Ionic

    Ionic is an open-source framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using web programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It provides a set of tools and UI components that allow developers to create mobile apps that can run on multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, and the web, using a single codebase.

    Here are some key aspects of Ionic:

    • Hybrid App Development: Ionic uses a hybrid app development approach, where the core of the application is built using web technologies and then wrapped in a native container. By comparing Native app with Hybrid app, it allows developers to reuse their existing web development skills and code to create mobile apps that can be deployed on various platforms.
    • UI Components: Ionic comes with a rich set of pre-designed UI components that follow the native look and feel of each platform. These components include buttons, lists, forms, navigation menus, modals, tabs, and more. Developers can easily customize the appearance and behavior of these components to match their app’s design requirements.
    • Cordova Integration: Ionic integrates with Apache Cordova, a platform that provides access to native device features using JavaScript APIs. Cordova allows developers to access device capabilities such as the camera, contacts, geolocation, file system, and more. Ionic provides a simplified and unified interface to interact with Cordova plugins, making it easier to add native functionality to your app.
    • Angular Integration: Ionic is built on top of Angular, a popular JavaScript framework for building web applications. Angular provides a powerful and structured way to develop complex web applications, and Ionic leverages its capabilities to create mobile apps with a component-based architecture, data binding, dependency injection, and other Angular features. However, Ionic also supports other frameworks like React and Vue.js.
    • Themability and Styling: Ionic apps can be easily customized and styled to match the desired look and feel. Ionic provides a theming system that allows Ionic app developers to define color schemes, typography, and other visual aspects of their app. Additionally, CSS classes can be used to style individual components, or developers can use their own custom CSS to achieve the desired styling.
    • App Deployment: Ionic apps can be deployed as native apps through app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The Ionic CLI (Command Line Interface) provides commands to build, package, and deploy the app to these platforms. Additionally, Ionic apps can also be deployed as web apps, allowing users to access the app through a web browser on any device.
    • Community and Ecosystem: Ionic has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development, share knowledge, and provide support. The Ionic community has created a wide range of plugins, themes, and starter templates that can be used to enhance and accelerate the app development process.

    Ionic is a powerful framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using web technologies. It allows developers to leverage their existing skills and codebase to create apps that can run on multiple platforms, while providing a rich set of UI components, native device access, theming options, and an active community for support and resources.

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  2. Flutter

    Flutter is an open-source UI (User Interface) software development kit (SDK) developed by Google. It allows developers to create high-quality, native-looking applications for mobile, web, and desktop platforms from a single codebase.

    Flutter was first introduced in 2015 and has gained significant popularity among developers due to its simplicity, performance, and fast development cycle.

    Key Features of Flutter:

    • Single Codebase: Flutter uses a single codebase to develop applications for multiple platforms, including Android, iOS, web, and desktop. This significantly reduces development time and effort, as developers don’t need to write separate code for each platform.
    • Dart Programming Language: Flutter uses the Dart programming language, which is also developed by Google. Dart is an object-oriented language that is easy to learn and offers features like just-in-time (JIT) compilation and ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation. It provides a modern syntax, garbage collection, and a large set of libraries, making it well-suited for building mobile apps.
    • Widget-Based UI: Flutter uses a declarative approach to building user interfaces. It has a rich set of customizable UI components called widgets, which are the building blocks of the user interface. Widgets can be arranged and combined to create complex UI layouts. Flutter provides a wide range of pre-built widgets for common use cases, as well as the ability to create custom widgets.
    • Hot Reload: One of the most powerful features of Flutter app development is its hot reload capability. It allows developers to see the changes they make in the code immediately reflected in the app, without having to restart or rebuild the entire application. This significantly speeds up the development process and enables rapid iteration and experimentation.
    • High Performance: Flutter delivers high-performance applications with native-like speed and smoothness. It achieves this by using its own rendering engine called Skia, which provides a consistent UI experience across platforms. Flutter apps are compiled directly to native machine code, eliminating the need for a JavaScript bridge, resulting in improved performance and reduced startup times.
    • Rich Ecosystem and Community: Flutter has a vibrant and active community of developers, which contributes to its ecosystem of packages and plugins. There is a wide range of third-party libraries and tools available to enhance the capabilities of Flutter applications, making it easier to integrate with other services, handle state management, manage databases, and more.
    • Platform Integration: Flutter provides seamless integration with platform-specific features and APIs. It allows developers to access device features such as camera, geolocation, sensors, and storage through platform channels. Additionally, Flutter offers a set of Material Design and Cupertino (iOS-style) widgets that match the native look and feel of each platform.
    • Testing and Debugging Tools: Flutter provides a comprehensive set of testing and debugging tools. It includes a rich set of unit testing and integration testing frameworks, as well as tools for inspecting and debugging the UI layout, performance profiling, and logging. These tools help developers ensure the quality and reliability of their applications.
    • Versatile Deployment: Flutter supports the deployment of applications to various platforms. It allows developers to package their apps into standalone executables for Android, iOS, web, and desktop platforms. Flutter also supports continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) workflows, enabling developers to automate the building, testing, and deployment of their applications.
    • Growing Popularity: Flutter has gained significant traction in the developer community due to its advantages and ease of use. It is backed by Google, which provides strong support, regular updates, and an active developer community. Many companies and startups have adopted Flutter for their app development, making it a popular choice for building cross-platform applications.

    In summary, Flutter is a powerful SDK that enables developers to create high-performance, cross-platform applications with a single codebase.

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  3. React Native

    React Native is an open-source framework developed by Facebook for building mobile applications. It allows developers to use JavaScript and React, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, to create native-like apps for both iOS and Android platforms.

    The key concept behind React Native is that it enables developers to write code once and then deploy it on multiple platforms, rather than having to write separate code bases for each platform. It achieves this by using a combination of JavaScript and native components.

    Key Features of React Native

    • Cross-platform development: React Native allows developers to build applications for both iOS and Android platforms using a single codebase. This reduces development time and effort, as there is no need to maintain separate codebases for each platform.
    • Native-like performance: React Native uses native components and APIs, which enables apps to achieve high performance and responsiveness. It leverages the device’s GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) for rendering, resulting in smooth animations and a native-like user experience.
    • Hot-reloading: React Native supports hot-reloading, which means developers can see the changes they make in real-time while the app is running. This feature significantly speeds up the development process by eliminating the need for full app recompilation after every code change.
    • Code reusability: With React Native best practices, developers can reuse a significant portion of their code across different platforms. This includes components, business logic, and utility functions, leading to faster development cycles and easier code maintenance.
    • Third-party library ecosystem: React Native has a thriving ecosystem of third-party libraries and packages. These libraries provide additional functionality and help developers address common requirements such as navigation, data storage, authentication, and more. This vast ecosystem allows developers to leverage pre-built solutions and speed up development.
    • Live updates: React Native enables developers to push updates directly to users’ devices without going through the app store update process. This feature is particularly useful for fixing bugs or introducing small changes without requiring users to download a new version of the app.
    • Developer community and support: React Native has a large and active community of developers. This community provides support, shares knowledge, and contributes to the improvement of the framework. The availability of resources, tutorials, and community-driven tools makes it easier for developers to learn and work with React Native.
  4. NativeScript

    NativeScript is an open-source framework that allows developers to build native mobile applications using JavaScript or TypeScript. It enables developers to write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms, including iOS and Android, without sacrificing performance or user experience.

    With NativeScript, developers can create mobile apps using familiar web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, leveraging their existing skills. NativeScript provides a bridge between the JavaScript code and the native APIs of the underlying platform, allowing access to device features and native UI elements.

    Key features of NativeScript include:

    • Native Performance: NativeScript applications are compiled into native code, providing performance similar to that of applications developed using platform-specific languages like Java or Swift. This ensures fast and responsive user experiences.
    • Cross-Platform Development: With NativeScript, developers can write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms, including iOS and Android. This saves time and effort by eliminating the need to develop separate codebases for each platform.
    • Access to Native APIs: NativeScript provides direct access to native APIs, allowing developers to utilize platform-specific features and capabilities. This includes accessing device hardware, sensors, camera, contacts, geolocation, and more.
    • Native UI Components: NativeScript offers a rich set of UI components and layout containers that are mapped directly to their native counterparts. This ensures that the user interface of the application looks and feels native on each platform.
    • Support for JavaScript and TypeScript: NativeScript supports both JavaScript and TypeScript development as programming languages, giving developers flexibility in their choice of language. TypeScript provides static typing and enhanced tooling, making it easier to build scalable applications.
    • Integration with Popular JavaScript Frameworks: NativeScript integrates seamlessly with popular JavaScript frameworks like Angular, Vue.js, and React. This allows developers to leverage the power and ecosystem of these frameworks while building native mobile apps.
    • Hot Module Replacement: NativeScript enables developers to make changes to the code and see the results immediately, without the need to rebuild the entire application. This speeds up the development and testing process.
    • Extensibility and Plugin Ecosystem: NativeScript offers a plugin ecosystem that allows developers to extend the functionality of their applications with ready-made plugins. These plugins cover a wide range of features, including analytics, push notifications, social sharing, and more.
    • Open-Source and Community-Driven: NativeScript is an open-source framework backed by a vibrant community. The community actively contributes to the framework’s development, provides support, and shares code samples and best practices.

    NativeScript simplifies the development process by providing a unified approach to building native mobile apps, reduces code duplication, and allows for a faster development cycle across multiple platforms.

  5. Xamarin

    Xamarin is a platform that allows developers to build cross-platform mobile applications using the C# programming language. It was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 and is now part of the .NET framework.

    With Xamarin, developers can write a single codebase in C# and share it across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows. This approach saves time and effort compared to developing separate applications for each platform.

    Xamarin offers two main approaches for building applications. The first is Xamarin.Forms, which provides a UI toolkit that enables developers to create a single user interface that can be shared across platforms. The second approach is Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android, which allow developers to build native user interfaces using the respective platform-specific tools and APIs.

    Some of the key features of Xamarin include:

    • Cross-platform development: Xamarin allows developers to write code in C# and share it across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows. This means that a single codebase can be used to build applications for different platforms, saving time and effort.
    • Native-like performance: Xamarin enables developers to access and utilize the full power of the underlying platform by providing bindings to the native APIs. This allows developers to create high-performance applications that have a native look and feel.
    • Native user interfaces: Xamarin provides two approaches for building user interfaces. Xamarin.Forms allows developers to create a single UI codebase that can be shared across platforms, while Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android allow developers to build platform-specific, native user interfaces using the respective tools and APIs.
    • Access to platform-specific APIs: Xamarin provides access to platform-specific APIs, enabling developers to leverage the unique features and capabilities of each platform. This allows for deep integration with device functionality, such as camera, GPS, and sensors.
    • Code sharing and reuse: Xamarin promotes code sharing and reuse through its shared codebase approach. Developers can share business logic, data access, and networking code across platforms, reducing development time and effort.
    • Integration with existing code: Xamarin seamlessly integrates with existing code written in C# and .NET, making it easier to migrate and extend existing applications to mobile platforms. It also supports popular development environments like Visual Studio, enabling a familiar and productive development experience.
    • Robust ecosystem: Xamarin has a rich ecosystem of libraries, plugins, and tools, including NuGet package manager, Xamarin.Forms controls, and Xamarin Component Store. These resources provide additional functionality and help streamline the development process.
    • Xamarin Test Cloud: Xamarin Test Cloud is a cloud-based testing platform that allows developers to test their applications on hundreds of real devices. This helps ensure the quality and performance of the app across different devices and platforms.

    Xamarin provides access to the full functionality of the underlying platforms, allowing developers to create high-performance, native-like applications. It also provides a rich ecosystem of libraries, plugins, and tools, making it easier to integrate with existing code and third-party services.

    Xamarin is a powerful platform for developing cross-platform mobile applications, enabling developers to leverage their existing skills in C# and .NET to build native-like apps for multiple platforms.

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  6. PhoneGap

    PhoneGap, now known as Apache Cordova, is an open-source mobile application development framework. It allows developers to create mobile apps using standard web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

    PhoneGap bridges the gap between web development and native mobile app development by providing a platform for building apps that can run on multiple mobile operating systems, including iOS, Android, and Windows.

    With PhoneGap, developers can write their app’s code using web technologies and then package it as a native app for various platforms.

    PhoneGap uses a WebView component to render the app’s user interface, which enables it to access device features and capabilities using JavaScript APIs. This approach simplifies cross-platform development, as developers can reuse a significant portion of their codebase across different platforms.

    Here are some of the top features of PhoneGap (Apache Cordova):

    • Cross-platform Development: PhoneGap allows developers to write their app’s code using web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and deploy it across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, and more. This saves time and effort by reducing the need for platform-specific development.
    • Access to Native Features: PhoneGap provides a wide range of plugins that enable access to native device features and capabilities. Developers can utilize these plugins to incorporate functionalities such as camera, contacts, geolocation, file system, accelerometer, and more into their applications.
    • Web Standards: PhoneGap is based on web standards, making it easy for developers familiar with web development technologies to get started. Existing web skills can be leveraged to build mobile apps without the need to learn platform-specific languages.
    • Simplified Development Process: PhoneGap streamlines the mobile app development process by allowing developers to use a single codebase. This codebase can be shared across different platforms, reducing the need to write separate code for each platform.
    • Developer Community and Ecosystem: PhoneGap has a vibrant and active community of developers. This community provides support, resources, and plugins that extend the capabilities of PhoneGap. The availability of a robust ecosystem helps developers overcome challenges and find solutions more efficiently.
    • Debugging and Testing: PhoneGap offers tools and frameworks for debugging and testing mobile applications. Developers can use the integrated debugging tools and simulators/emulators to test their apps during development, ensuring better app performance and stability.
    • Integration with Third-Party Tools: PhoneGap can be easily integrated with various third-party tools, libraries, and frameworks. This allows developers to leverage additional functionalities and extend the capabilities of their apps.
    • Offline Functionality: PhoneGap enables the development of offline-capable applications. By leveraging local data storage capabilities, developers can create apps that can function without an internet connection and sync data when a connection is available.
    • Native-Like User Interface: PhoneGap applications can be designed to offer a native-like user experience. By utilizing CSS frameworks and design techniques, developers can create visually appealing and responsive user interfaces.
    • Continuous Updates and Improvements: PhoneGap is an open-source framework actively maintained by a community of contributors. Regular updates and improvements are made to enhance its capabilities, fix bugs, and support the latest mobile platforms and technologies.

    PhoneGap provides a set of pre-built plugins that allow developers to access native device functionality, such as the camera, contacts, accelerometer, and more. Additionally, developers can create custom plugins to extend the framework’s capabilities and interact with native APIs.

  7. Kotlin

    Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and can also be compiled to JavaScript or native code. It was developed by JetBrains and officially released in 2016. Kotlin is designed to be concise, expressive, and interoperable with existing Java code, making it a popular choice for Android app development.

    One of the main goals of Kotlin is to address common pain points of Java and improve developer productivity. It achieves this through features such as null safety, type inference, smart casts, extension functions, coroutines for asynchronous programming, and more. Kotlin also introduces functional programming concepts, including lambda expressions and higher-order functions.

    Top features of Kotlin

    • Concise Syntax: Kotlin’s syntax is designed to be more concise and expressive than Java. It reduces boilerplate code and eliminates many common sources of errors, making code more readable and maintainable.
    • Null Safety: Kotlin’s type system includes built-in null safety. It helps prevent null pointer exceptions by distinguishing nullable and non-nullable types, reducing the risk of null-related bugs.
    • Interoperability: Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java, allowing developers to call Java code from Kotlin and vice versa. This means Kotlin can be gradually introduced into existing Java projects without requiring a full rewrite.
    • Extension Functions: Kotlin allows developers to extend existing classes with new functions without modifying their source code. This feature enables adding functionality to classes from external libraries or APIs.
    • Data Classes: Kotlin provides data classes that automatically generate commonly used methods like equals(), hashCode(), and toString(). These classes are particularly useful for modeling data and reducing boilerplate code.
    • Higher-Order Functions: Kotlin supports higher-order functions, which means functions can be passed as parameters or returned from other functions. This allows developers to write more functional and expressive code.
    • Coroutines: Kotlin introduces coroutines, which are lightweight threads for asynchronous programming. Coroutines simplify asynchronous code and make it easier to write and understand asynchronous tasks, such as network requests or database operations.
    • Smart Casts: Kotlin’s type system includes smart casts that automatically cast objects to more specific types based on certain conditions. This eliminates the need for explicit type checks and type casting in many cases, reducing code verbosity.
    • Ranges and Progressions: Kotlin provides a concise syntax for defining ranges of values and iterating over them. This feature simplifies common tasks like looping and iterating over collections.
    • String Templates: Kotlin supports string templates, allowing variables and expressions to be directly embedded in strings. This feature enhances string manipulation and makes it more readable.

    With Kotlin, developers can write cleaner and more readable code with fewer boilerplate and null pointer exceptions. It offers seamless integration with Java, allowing developers to interoperate between the two languages within the same project. This makes it easy to adopt Kotlin gradually in existing Java codebases.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, when it comes to cross-platform app development frameworks, several options have proven to be reliable, efficient, and developer-friendly.

    After exploring some of the best frameworks available, it’s clear that each one has its strengths and weaknesses, and the choice ultimately depends on the specific requirements and preferences of the project at hand.

    Still, confused with which is the best cross-platform app development framework for your business needs? Feel free to contact Albiorix for your optimum business IT solutions.

Top 11 Mobile App Development Frameworks For 2023

Nowadays, the demand for mobile app development is increasing day by day. So, it becomes of prime importance to understand the concept behind the mobile app development process and which is the best convenient technique to make mobile apps.

You’ll be surprised to know there will be around 7.33 billion smartphones globally by 2025. Sounds astonishing?

Generally, you’ll come across mobile apps for various categories, including gaming, music, calendars, and communication apps. And it entirely depends on your business needs and how you want to make a mobile application.

Creating an app is a great business decision. But one of the essential factors you need to consider is opting for the framework for creating a mobile app. To make it easy for you, we’ve identified a list of the best mobile app development frameworks that will help you make the development process easier.

What is Mobile App Development?

Mobile application development is the collection of processes and procedures specifically involved in creating software for small, wireless computing devices, such as smartphones and other hand-held devices.

Similar to web application development, mobile application development has its roots in standard software development. Of course, it’s nothing, but the subcategory of software development specifically refers to applications that run on mobile devices.

The primary goal of mobile apps is to deal with various operating systems, like iOS and Android. Mobile apps typically offer an enhanced user experience compared to mobile web browsing by simply leveraging the built-in features of smartphones.

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What is Mobile App Development Framework?

In simple terms, a mobile app development framework is a set of tools that makes it easy for you to design and build mobile applications.

The framework allows you to deal with the standard structure that plays an essential role in improving the mobile app development process. Moreover, it typically supports app development strategies to build robust mobile apps for your business needs.

You can opt for mobile development frameworks that are specifically designed to support mobile app development. It’s a software library that provides a fundamental structure to support the development of applications for a specific environment.

Frameworks can be in three categories:

  • Native frameworks for platform-specific development
  • Mobile web app frameworks
  • Hybrid apps, which combine the features of both native and mobile web app frameworks

Essential Factors to Consider Before Selecting Mobile App Development Framework

One of the biggest questions that come up in your mind when planning for creating a mobile app are

  • Which is the best mobile app framework that you should opt for?
  • What is the perfect mobile app UI framework that will work out for you?
  • How can you select the best mobile app framework?
  • What is the best mobile app development framework?

Before deciding on one, thoroughly examine your company’s requirements. Here are some pointers to help you choose the best mobile app development framework:

Design & UI for Your Mobile Apps

Before selecting a mobile app development framework, consider the type of user interface you require. Different business setups have varying UI parameter requirements; therefore, analysing your business first will provide you with a clear direction on the best mobile app development framework.

Mobile App Development Partner

The types of partners are essential when deciding on the best mobile app development framework. Numerous vendors in the market provide various services and support for the framework you select. Therefore, conducting a market analysis and selecting the framework that will positively impact your business is advisable.

Closed or Open Ecosystem

During the mobile app development process, you can use a variety of platforms. You will most likely require a platform that is adaptable, fast, and simple to control. Keeping these factors in mind will lead you to choose either an open or closed ecosystem, depending on your business’s functionalities.

Skilled Personnel

Any app development process necessitates the use of skilled technical personnel. Before deciding on a mobile app development framework for your company, examine your team of experts and determine their level of expertise. You must choose a framework that your team can work with without encountering any problems along the way.

Evolution of Ecosystem

Consider whether the framework you want will allow you to choose new platforms and tools during the app development process. Choose a framework that will evolve as technology advances.

So, these are the primary factors that you need to consider before selecting the mobile app development framework that suit the best for your needs.

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Top 11 Mobile App Development Frameworks

Sr. No Mobile App Development Framework Top Features
1 Flutter
  • Hot reload
  • Cross-platform development
  • Widget library
  • Native performance
  • Open-source

.

2 Swiftic
  • Intriguing push notifications
  • Advanced analytics
  • App publication assistance
  • Third-party integration
  • Build your mobile store
3 React Native
  • Open-source
  • Backed by Facebook
  • Modular and Responsive
  • Enhance the Development Speed
  • Community Driven
  • Live Reload
4 Xamarin
  • cross-platform and open-source app-building platform
  • Native multiplatform support
  • Close development deadlines
  • Easy to maintain
  • Code reusability
  • Highly safe and secure
5 Ionic
  • Cross-platform framework
  • Responsive design
  • Supports Cordova plugin
  • Feels like React-Native
  • Browser reload is live
  • Online Community
6 Onsen UI
  • Open source
  • HTML5 hybrid app framework for PhoneGap & Cordova
  • Mobile-optimized HTML5, CSS and JavaScript
  • JavaScript framework agnostic
  • UI framework
7 Adobe PhoneGap
  • Open-source
  • Flexible and full-fledged framework
  • Compatible on all platforms
  • Ease of development
  • Better Access to Native APIs
8 Corona
  • Cross-platform framework to create 2D games and apps for mobile, TV, and desktop.
  • Enables super-fast development – up to 10x faster than other platforms.
  • Supports all major platforms
  • Leverage industry standards
9 Mobile Angular UI
  • Build HTML5 hybrid desktop & mobile apps
  • No jQuery dependencies
  • Build fully responsive interfaces with a super-small CSS file
10 Sencha Ext JS
  • Customizable UI widgets
  • Code compatibility of new versions with the older one.
  • It is protocol agnostic, and can access data from any back-end source.
  • Customizable Themes Ext JS widgets are available
11 Jquery Mobile
  • Built on JQuery Core
  • Lightweight size
  • Configured with HTML5
  • Automatic initialization
  • Simple API

After having a look at the factors for selecting the mobile app development framework, it’s high time to understand some of the frameworks which make your app development simple.

  1. Flutter

    Flutter Mobile Development Framework

    Launched by Google, Flutter is a mobile UI SDK framework for building beautiful, responsive, and high-quality natively compiled apps for both mobile & web applications.

    Being one of the best mobile app development frameworks, Flutter is solely responsible for simplifying the development process by crafting excellent native interfaces on Android and iOS.

    Generally, Dart is an object-oriented programming language that is being used by Flutter to write programs that work with existing code and has become a boon for flutter app developers in mobile app development.

    Using a single codebase fully compiles the apps to native code and exploits Google’s 2D rendering engine for developing visuals.

    Pros Cons
    Allows you to make instant changes in the app, especially when dealing with bug-fixing scenarios. The Flutter apps tend to be weighty ones.
    Apps are very smooth in their performance which makes for great UX. There exist no web browsers. So, as of now, there is no chance for web app development with the Flutter framework.
    Quality Assurance and testing usually take much less time. Flutter framework does not come up with a huge resource base. So, you need to write a lot of stuff from scratch.
    Development is very fast and efficient. You must learn Dart before making an application using the Flutter framework.
  2. Swiftic

    Swiftic Top Mobile App Development Framework

    Swiftic is an easy-to-use mobile app development framework that typically deals with your existing online content and builds your mobile applications in no time. With its unique auto-discovery technology, Swiftic allows you to efficiently create, publish, and promote your application from one control panel.

    The most exciting feature of the Swiftic framework is that it allows you to easily build a user-friendly interface, making it one of the best mobile app development frameworks.

    It has remarkable features like push notifications, app promotions, in-app coupons, scratch cards, social media feeds, and many convenient options.

    Pros Cons
    The App Building Platform is free to use – You need to pay only during the application launch. Lacks advanced features such as an API that can become a headache for many developers.
    Really intuitive system that allows tech novices to build an app No team management login facility (one member only)
    Launch assistance, even for the Apple app store (which is notoriously difficult) Email responses to issues can take a day or more
    Advanced analytics to see how your customers are responding.
  3. React Native

    React Native Mobile App Development Frameworks

    React Native is a framework for developing mobile applications natively for iOS and Android platforms. Developed by Facebook, React Native is a robust framework in that you create rich & beautiful mobile apps built on top of ReactJS & Javascript.

    React is well-known for its native-like and elegant user interfaces, which have become an aid for hire mobile app developers to reduce their development costs and time.

    This framework for React Native App development utilizes native platform-specific built-in interface components to give mobile apps a natural look with great performance.

    You May Also Like To Read: Best React UI Frameworks

    Pros Cons
    Speeds up app development process Somewhat complex to perform debugging process
    Lowers app development costs It doesn’t speed up the testing process
    Ensure stable growth of mobile app Inferior Android support
    Easily integrates with the native applications It’s harder to build a cross-platform team

    Develop High-Performing Mobile Apps using React Native

    We have a team of top-notch and skilled mobile app developers that are expert in building engaging cross-platform mobile applications tailored to your unique business goals.

  4. Xamarin

    Xamarin Mobile App Framework

    Xamarin is a .NET-based framework that helps you design and build Windows, Android and iOS mobile apps for your business needs.

    It’s an abstraction layer that efficiently controls the communication between shared code and underlying platform code.

    As the Xamarin framework is supported by C# with .NET, the apps developed with Xamarin App Development can be created for any mobile platform with

    • 96% of the source code reusability
    • Fastens the development speed
    • Alleviates the need to switch between different development environments

    Xamarin is the most popular framework for its friendly development environment, and it allows you to create native apps by using shared UI code written in C# or XAML. In addition, Xamarin offers a development ecosystem with a backend, API, components, etc.

    Pros Cons
    It comes up with Full hardware support (i.e. camera, GPS) Familiarity with platform-specific code might be needed
    Compatibility with MVC and MVVM architectures Minimal community support
    Complete development ecosystem (C#, .NET and Visual Studio) Not a great choice for apps with complex UI
    The Xamarin Component Store which provides a lot of components UI development is time-consuming and not mobile-friendly

    Related Post: Software Development Trends 2023

  5. Ionic

    Ionic Top Mobile Framework

    Ionic is a top mobile application development framework that helps you to build interactive hybrid and Progressive Web Applications along with cross-platform applications.

    Ionic is one such premium mobile app development framework that provides core services for creating mobile apps for the web, Android, and iOS platforms.

    Besides, working in Ionic app development company, you can constantly create and ship applications to the server. Just to update you, the lightning version of Ionic is Ionic Studio, and that is pretty robust and secure. The installation of the Ionic framework is fairly simple; you just have to have an easy visual development environment on the local server.

    Pros Cons
    Ionic framework is entirely developer-friendly The debugging process is somewhat challenging
    The framework allows you to develop Native and web-optimized apps The framework possesses vulnerability of local storage
    You can easily deal with Platform-specific adaptive styles The framework does not supports hot reloading
    Wide range of integration capabilities and plugins Large application size
  6. Onsen UI

    Onsen-UI Best Mobile Development Frameworks

    Onsen UI is an open-source UI framework specifically designed to create complex mobile applications. Moreover, it is a component of HTML5 for creating beautiful and responsive mobile apps for your business needs.

    This robust framework typically supports standard libraries like Angular JS1, Angular 2+, React, and Vue. The exciting part of Onsen UI is its competency in the app’s appearance, depending on the platforms.

    Onsen UI sets the base as a hybrid app development framework by bringing the tools and UI framework together for creating hybrid apps based on PhoneGap using HTML5. Onsen UI is an easy-to-use platform but powerful to create some genuinely prominent applications.

    For instance, it utilises automatic styling on the UI components if we wish to have a native look for iOS and Android. Its rich UI components include tabs, stack navigation, lists, forms, etc.

    Pros Cons
    Support for multiple languages and frameworks like Angular, jQuery, and React It comes up with limited components
    Collection of UI components to develop your mobile application in a customized way Onsen UI is limited to hybrid apps.
    Develop once and deploy in multiple platforms. Does not involve the support for Material Design.
    Best support for Cordova. Supports the use of PhoneGap or Cordova builder, but does not include it.
  7. Adobe PhoneGap

    Adobe-Phonegap Mobile App Development Framework

    Developed by Nitobi, Adobe PhoneGap is a cross-platform app development framework that allows you to build robust mobile apps using JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. It is also known as Apache Cordova and is considered the most reliable mobile app development framework.

    The excellent part of the PhoneGap framework is that it offers you

    • Best-in-class app performance
    • Building mobile apps irrespective of facing any hardware restrictions
    • Supports inbuilt hardware features such as Camera, Storage, Accelerometer, GPS, etc.
    Pros Cons
    Release uniform products across all platforms It doesn’t support Plugins with hooks
    Apps developed with PhoneGap behaves like native apps Not suitable for hardware intensive apps
    Backed by Apache, Powered by Apache Cordova Need a Mac for developing iOS apps
    Easy to work plugins Plugins could be outdated
  8. Corona

    Corona – App Development Framework

    Corona is an open-source, cross-platform framework that creates not only apps but also games for mobile devices, desktops, tablets & smart TV. Powered by a Lua-based framework, Corona supports a lightweight scripting language that offers speed, ease of usage and flexibility to develop apps.

    Many game developers working with the best mobile app development company typically use Corona SDK, making it the best framework for hybrid mobile app development. With the help of Corona SDK, you can easily see changes instantly in the simulator, whether you develop business apps or games, for iterating exceptionally quickly.

    Corona, also known as the 2D game engine, enables you to make an application for both mobile and desktop. This platform supports iPhones, iPad, tablets, Amazon Fire, Android phones, Mac Desktop, Windows Desktop, etc. Not only this, you can build compatible applications for Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.

    Pros Cons
    Faster development as compared to other mobile app framework No visual editor for GUI
    Lua language is easy to understand Only 2D games are developed using this framework
    Support large community Need to face some challenges while developing business apps
    Framework supports simple API to make it easy for the developers No support for any third-party tools
  9. Mobile Angular UI

    Mobile Angular UI Top App Development Frameworks

    Licensed under MIT, Mobile Angular UI is a free and open-source mobile UI framework that typically uses Angular framework in combination with Twitter Bootstrap to simplify the mobile app development process.

    Mobile Angular UI is a feature-rich mobile app development framework that provides numerous UI components like switches, overlays, scrollable areas, and navbars to build a seamless, intuitive and attractive user interface for mobile applications.

    Moreover, it relies on rich libraries like overthrow.js and fastclick.js for delivering a seamless mobile experience.

    Pros Cons
    Easy to create hybrid apps It comes up with potential security vulnerabilities
    Use ionic components along with Mobile Angular UI components. The debugging process is quite challenging
    The framework typically make use of robust libraries to create fast apps You need to deal with various dependencies
    Easily integrates with other mobile app frameworks It does not include detailed documentation
  10. Sencha Ext JS

    Sencha Ext JS App Development Frameworks

    Sencha Ext JS is a high-performance mobile app development framework that comes up with HTML5 technology that is centred entirely towards JavaScript app development.

    This robust framework includes a feature-rich tool for cross-platform RIA (Rich Internet Applications) that enables world-class user experiences, intuitive touch, and dynamic interfaces.

    Sencha is the most preferred framework that deals with hybrid mobile app development, especially when it’s the best time to build enterprise application development.

    Packed with various ready-to-use widgets, the Sencha framework allows you to deal with the most popular platforms like iOS, Android, and Windows. In addition, there are different visual components that sencha offers, along with solving cross-browser rendering issues.

    Pros Cons
    You can easily manage Millions of data with this framework It’s a light-weight framework
    It supports Robust data analytics Steep learning curve
    You can easily deal with the adjustable layout system Sencha uses EXT js which is not much user friendly as compared to other frameworks
    Advanced data-steered documents package (D3) Too expensive comparing to some other controls

    Related Post: Digital Transformation Trends 2023

  11. Jquery Mobile

    jQuery Best Mobile App Development Frameworks

    JQuery Mobile is a user interface system based explicitly on HTML5. Typically built on the top of the jQuery Core JavaScript framework, it allows you to efficiently develop responsive mobile apps for smartphones, tablets, and desktops. In addition, JQuery mobile has ThemeRollar offering highly customizable themes.

    Moreover, it is usually built on jQuery and jQueryUI, helping you provide API features for mobile web applications by keeping the single code version. Using the Jquery Mobile framework, the code execution can be effectively performed for almost all devices like Windows Phones, Symbian and Blackberry.

    It is considered one of the most popular hybrid mobile app development frameworks due to its user-friendliness and interactive web pages.

    Related Post: jQuery vs Angular
    Pros Cons
    Easily deals with cross-platform and cross-device For custom-based them designs, you need to deal with multiple things, making your application more complex.
    Adapts the page to different Android devices with different screen sizes and resolutions Many times, original design didn’t fit with any of the default themes
    You can create your own theme using the ThemeRoller The biggest drawback is when you need to perform jQuery Mobile’s interaction with .NET.
    jQuery Mobile uses HTML5 along with JavaScript for ease of development. Using AJAX for page navigation may be challenging aspect.

    We Help You Build Responsive Mobile Apps For Your Business Needs

    We have an extensive team of talented mobile app developers who offer scalable, quicker-to-develop apps and a great native experience to clients globally.

    Which is the Best Framework for Mobile App Development?

    To summarize, we have come up with plenty of different applications and the ways they run.

    Based on this, you can select among the mobile application development frameworks that can help accelerate the app creation process during the project discovery or planning phase. The paths will differ depending on the desired outcome.

    And if you’re in search of a trustworthy partner to give you a hand with your custom mobile application, feel free to contact Albiorix, we’ll be glad to assist!