This document provides a guide to cross-platform mobile app development. It discusses how cross-platform apps can save money by requiring less development costs and reaching a wider audience. Native apps require separate development for each platform, while cross-platform uses one codebase. Popular cross-platform tools include React Native, Xamarin, Ionic, and Flutter. Factors like costs, time savings, and audience reach make cross-platform development beneficial for many businesses.
2. “Are you looking for budget-friendly mobile applications? Do you
want an application that reaches a wider audience? Want to hire
cross-platform app development company for your dream project?
For all of these questions, there’s one solution, i.e. cross-platform
application development services. How does it save money? How
does it benefit you? Let’s find out with this complete guide of 2020
showing the advancements of cross-platform mobile app
development.”
Cross-platform is among those platforms which have made mobile
application development easy and highly used among the coders.
In the modern era, the lives of people have been surrounded by mobile phones. This gadget is no longer used to make calls
and texts. Moreover, it has its importance in the daily activity of humans. From a small reminder to booking flight tickets, the
mobiles played a crucial role. That is the reason this 6-inch screen is considered as a basic need of the 21st century. But what
made it so important to us? Well, the various applications in the mobile which do their respective work to make our lives
easygoing. With the various applications, the various platforms are introduced for mobile phones such as Windows, iOS,
Android, BlackBerry, etc.
The world is divided into these platforms using their compatible application. Whenever a businessman thinks to deploy its
business online, he tries to gain the attention of almost every user. The application owner plans the idea of the targeted
audience and makes sure he spends less money on building it and captures more attention from users.
3. Which is Better? Native or Cross-Platform?
Both technologies proved their worth. But which technology has
performed well and is loved worldwide. Developers around the world
always develop something new which replaces the previous
technology or has a better version of it.
Native is specifically made for a single platform that allows developers
to develop only for a single platform. For eg: Android accepts java,
Apple accepts Objective C and swift. These separations of platforms
and technology help the developers to build any app with a wide range
of compatible options. Whereas cross-platform has merged both
Android and iOS and works on HTML and CSS, It allows the developer
to create a single code for multiple platforms. These were the basic
introduction of both technologies. Now, let’s find out whether the
native is better or cross-platform has higher users.
4. FACTORS NATIVE PLATFORM CROSS-PLATFORM
Deployment cost for multiple
platforms
Deployment cost higher as app
architecture adoption is
different
Cross platform requires little
cost to deploy as code is the
same and no architecture
needed
Time of development It takes longer time as code
written from scratch for each
platform
Cross platform allows code to
be written once and run on
multiple platforms
Audience reach Developing an app in single
platform may lose 50% users of
other platforms
It allows app to run for multiple
platforms to reach wider range
of users
Designing techniques Designs are simplified and
support is given by the
respective operating system
In Cross-platform, developers
add some additional features
Cost for hiring developers Native developers cost high as
they have expertise in single
platform
Cross platforms are easier to
find and hiring them is pocket-
friendly
5. Pros And Cons Of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development
Every coin has two sides and so with the technology. No matter how beneficial or popular technology is. It always has some
drawbacks. Let’s have a quick tip over some advantages and disadvantages of cross-platform app development 2020.
Pros of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development:
• Customization of plugins
• Reduced the development cost
• Increase the time to market
• Easy integration
• Reduced the efforts in the development
• Easy maintenance
• A large community of experts
Cons of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development:
• Its update does not include all the supporting
features
• Tools used have certain restrictions
• Code may have inefficiency
• Apps sometimes crash
• No-alluring UX
6. Business Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development
1. Code once runs multiple times: Developer needs to code once on this platform and can run the code on other
platforms. Thus, it needs little customization along with the type of platform which is being used.
2. Quick and less cost: The developer does not spend much on coding for each platform. This is one of the major
benefits of using the cross-platform because it allows users of the code several times. It leads to quicker development
and paces up the growth of the business.
3. Cloud storage: The platforms provide high security and authentication. The application can be accessible across the
globe and businessmen can gain a lot of advantage from it. It also takes a quicker time to load than native apps.
4. Auto updated: Whenever an app gets a new update, it has to be approved by the app store. Cross-platform allows
automatic updates,i.e., an owner can release the app without taking much time in distributing updates.
5. Same UI elements: The developer in native app development faces an issue of UI design variation in different
platforms which may decrease the audience interest. This issue has been resolved by multiple platform development,
thus, displaying the same UI elements on each platform regardless of any factor.
7. Top Cross-platform Mobile App Development Tools Frameworks
The world has widely accepted and uses the cross-platform for creating applications for their respective business. With
popular technology comes a wide range of cross-platform tools and frameworks. These frameworks help the developers
to create the application cross-platform within the easiest way. Every tool is unique and has some features which
contribute to making cross-platform famous among the developers’ community. Let’s find out top cross-platform mobile
app development tools and frameworks.
React Native
React framework allows developers to reuse the code and shorten the time frame of development. It uses JavaScript to
develop web and mobile applications. It is an open-source framework and has several plugins provided to developers.
Renowned apps such as Facebook and Instagram are made using react-native.
8. Xamarin
Xamarin is owned by Microsoft, works on Write once run anywhere model. It is open-source which allows developers
from worldwide to share their experience and work. This framework uses C#. The best thing about it is, the code
written in this framework can be reused for multiple platforms.
Ionic
Ionic is an open-source platform which works on HTML and CSS technologies. MIT holds Ionic’s license and is widely
used in many application developments. For better results, it is combined with AngularJS and provides a variety of
tools and components.
Flutter
Flutter is owned by Google, it is an open-source, cross-platform application development framework which allows
Flutter developers to write code once and run it on multiple platforms. It uses Dart programming language which
reduces the testing efforts. The widget used in flutter made the customization easy. The flutter mobile app
development is in demand and many people are showing interest in developing their applications in it.
9. Xamarin vs React Native vs Ionic vs Flutter
People often get confused about choosing the frameworks. One should choose the frameworks which fulfil your business
requirements. Every framework has some unique feature that contributes to efficiency in the cross-platform framework.
CHARACTERISTICS REACT NATIVE XAMARIN IONIC FLUTTER
Programming
Language
JavaScript,
Objective C, Swift
C#, .Net HTML, CSS,
JavaScript
DART
Performance Slightly similar to
native
Close to native but
moderate
Moderate Outstanding
GUI Require Native Same as React HTML, CSS Use widget for
finest UI
Code Reusability 90% code
reusability
97% code
reusability
99% code
reusability
69-90% code
reusability
Community
Support
Strongest Lesser than native Strong Less popular
Pricing Open-source Open Source +
paid
Open Source +
paid
Open-source
Popular Apps Facebook,
Instagram
Storyo JustWatch HamilTon
10. Cross-platform Application Development Editors and IDEs
Cross-platform app development market has been undergoing a
tremendous increase in popularity. Keeping such things, in mind,
we have compiled a list of the best app editors and IDEs. So,
read on to know more about the same:
IntelliJ
This open-source app editor can serve you well while undertaking commercial app development. Although this serves as
the standard for Java development in Android, you can also apply the same for cross-platform development. Intellij can
maximize the productivity of developers with its ergonomic design and powerful static code analysis. It just needs to index
your source code following which it offers a super-fast experience along with reliable factoring tools, on-the-fly code
analysis and smart code completion.
Cocos2D
Cocos2D game-development tool is well suited for building cross-platform game apps and other GUI based interactive
programs. It is built from a single codebase and brings JavaScript, C++, Objective-C, and Swift under its purview.
RubyMotion
You can quickly develop native applications for OS X, Android and iOS using RubyMotion. RubyMotion presents developers
with statistically compiled Ruby language which has been specially designed for serving native mobile platforms. You can
customize the development workflow as per requirement using its command-line based extensible toolchain.
11. AppsMoment
AppsMoment code-less platform is perfect for developers who do not have knowledge of web languages. It helps in app
development for Android, iPad, iPhone and even Kindle. Developers are offered with more than 300 templates and 120
features which help them create apps without having to break any sweat.
Visual Studio
This well-published IDE is a product of Microsoft which is well suited for professional-grade app developers. It can help you
with the creation of web apps, websites, computer programs, and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses various software
development platforms like Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows API, etc to produce both
managed and native codes.
MobinCube
The best thing about this app builder is that it can be used without any coding requirement. This is why it serves as the
ultimate pick of developers who are slowly learning the tricks of the trade. MobinCube presents the developers with an
extremely intuitive visual interface which allows simple drag and drop operation.
Qt
This interface-led tool is used by most Fortune 500 companies for creating cross-platform applications. It allows developers
to design, deploy and maintain the software in a cost-effective manner. Qt is also known to deliver a seamless experience
to the ultimate app users with its intuitive and high-performance UI.
Ionic
Web developers can grow and scale cross-platform apps using an Ionic Account. Maybe this is why this free open-source
tool was used for building more than two million apps till the date.
12. How Much Does Cross-Platform Multi-Platform App
Development Costs and Factors?
Cost is an important factor that one needs to keep in mind before
creating any mobile application. The cross-platform has gained
popularity in less time. What is the cost of developing an
application in cross platform technology? To all answer all your
cost-related questions, let’s read further. Prior to building a cross-
platform app, developers need to prepare a budget of its estimated
cost. This can be done by considering the factors mentioned below:
• Firstly, you need to consider the amount of research as the ultimate success of the app depends wholly on the same.
However, good research doesn’t always mean more cost. Rather it depends on the data collection methods and type of
research conducted. Herein it is imperative to note that primary data collection is comparatively more expensive than
secondary data collection. However, the reliability of primary data is more.
• The human resource employed can also determine the cross-platform app development to a great extent. Skilled labour is
expensive but at the same time, it can guarantee better results. While in-house developers are affordable, offshore ones
come with an expensive tag. It is always best to opt for a mix of both.
• Next comes the requirement of regular maintenance and routine updates. Usually, the project size and maintenance size go
hand in hand.
• Testing also has a big role to play in determining the cross-platform app development cost. It becomes essential to conduct
thorough testing prior to launching the app for public use.
13. Scope of Cross-Platform Mobile Development
Previously developers used to undertake native app -development which could cater only to a specific set of
audience. But cross-platform app development has brought significant changes in this field. Developers can now
bring along massive time savings and redirect the same towards further development as the cross-platform apps can
cater to a wider user base at once. You can take the example of the Flutter by Google, which has gained massive
popularity off late. So, read to know more about how Flutter is playing the role of a torchbearer in the field of cross-
platform app development:
• This cross-platform technology helps in obtaining native-performing apps and develops it using the built-in
components.
• Users can get ready access to their resources with a large number of packages and plug-ins available over Flutter.
• A single code base makes it redundant to use an additional JavaScript badge. This, in turn, makes Flutter very
simple in operation.
The cross-platform applications can easily remove the disparity between OS platforms which arises in its UI and UX.
This also reduces the budget which developers have to allocate in app development. As a result, the applications
can cater to the requirement of more users on the lookout for affordable solutions.
14. Final Words
Cross-platform mobile application development has gained popularity in past years
because of its single codebase feature. It has saved 80% of the cost of hiring developers
as cross-platform developers can build applications for both Android and iOS. The
development time has also lessened due to the WORA model (Write Once Run
Anywhere). The platform has given options to the user for different businesses to make
any type of application in no downtime. Better user-interface, quick loading time, and
easy customization have made the rank of cross-platform technology higher than any
other technology. The time will show what replaces this advanced technology or how
much this technology evolutes in the coming years.