Which technology is better for cross-platform app development?

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There are quite a number of factors that if followed, can guarantee success in your application, and one of the factors that most entrepreneurs miss to focus on is the app development tool that is going to be used. Adding to the mobile app development tools, you need to know the quality of its API’s and plug-in libraries, not to mention the integration and compatibility aspects.

Mobile is the current mining field for businesses, and with the proliferation of mobile devices, numerous platforms exist that bring about cross platform app development as the new commercial field. If you are still glued to the native app development style, its time for you to know about cross platform mobile development tools. These dev tools allow you to write a single code that targets several platforms or mobile devices. As a startup executive, this helps you to minimize the cost of investment in technology and the costs involved with managing and updating the app portfolio that you would have in your startup.

To help you explore some of the best cross platform app development tools, let’s go through two platforms you can use in your startup, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages.

React Native Cross Platform Mobile Development Framework

The React mobile development framework uses JavaScript and turns it into Android’s and iOS’s native mobile applications. With React Native, developing mobile applications becomes simpler, cost-effective, and effortless since it allows the reuse of code across iOS, Android, and the web. Additionally, there is no need to start from scratch when you want to build a native mobile app using Swift, Java, or Objective-C because React Native has ready to use library components.

React Native, an invention of Facebook is being used by major brands to make app development and deployment seamless. Companies like Tesla, Instagram, Walmart, and Skype use React Native. When using React Native, you don’t have to split your mobile development team into halves; you only need to build your mobile applications once and effectively cut the mobile application development cost into two.

The benefit of the library components comes to life when you want to build an application whose functionality has already been figured out by another mobile app developer. The library components help to speed up the development phase allowing experienced developers to develop a basic native app running within a few hours because of the library components.

Advantages

• Many mobile app developers use JavaScript to code, so using this platform will be easy for most developers.
• Apart from JavaScript, React projects also use JSX syntax extensions to provide injection protection and additional security features.

Disadvantages

• JSX is not a common language for many developers; it can take time for a mobile app developer to learn the language extensively.
• It might be counterproductive to recreate an app in React Native that you have developed in Java, Swift, or Objective-C. Switching entirely to React will only make sense if you want to release more Android and iOS updates in the future.

Ionic Mobile Cross Platform Mobile Development Framework

Using the Ionic framework allows you to create highly interactive mobile applications that are cross-platform (Windows, Android, and iOS). The hybrid applications that are developed include customizable tools, exhaustive gestures, user-friendliness and native functionalities; these features are brought about because the platform uses JS CSS, CSS, and HTML components.

If you want to create basic applications that have native functionalities that can run cross-platform, then Ionic is the right platform. The Ionic framework makes app development simple, cost-efficient and fast, reducing maintenance needs.

Advantages

• You can build powerful SDK for robust and rich applications using AngularJS.
• You only develop once for deployment across Android, iOS, and Windows.

Disadvantages

• There is a slow in-app performance in the created apps compared to when the application is natively developed for different mobile platforms.
• Developers must have advanced skill-set to use AngularJS to build sophisticated mobile apps.

In summary, each tool has its strength and weaknesses; for you to choose the best tool to work with depends on the project requirements of your mobile app development. For any project that you undertake, ensure that you strike a balance on what is required and what is available and start building your app on the cross-platform environment that suits your preferred needs.

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