Cross-Platform App Development: A Complete Guide

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Cross-Platform App Development A Complete Guide
A decade ago we never imagined an era of the
internet where we could order things online
within a few minutes. Today, regardless of the
time and location we are in, if we are hangry or
want to purchase anything, the ?rst thing we do
is go online, search for a website or an app,
and purchase from it, food or otherwise.
Consumers are so used to purchasing things online
from the comfort of their homes that providing th
em a seamless
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experience regardless of the platform they use
has become a need of the hour. Today businesses
need to develop a responsive website and an
application with uniform designs and experience.
But, providing this seamless experience is
dif?cult and expensive for companies due to
native app development. Many companies opt for
cross-platform app development looking at the
complexities of native app development and high
investments. If you are wondering what
cross-platform app development is, you are at
the right place. Herein, I will walk you through
everything about it, its framework, bene?ts,
etc. Keep reading What is Cross-Platform App
Development? Cross-platform app development
involves developing a single app that runs on
multiple operating systems instead of having
different versions of the same app. Developers
can start with mobile app development using a
single code-base compatible with any operating
system and work seamlessly.
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Cross-platform app development uses the Write
Once, Run Everywhere approach to build mobile
apps it removes the app development versions
for Android and iOS. Reusability of code and a
single code-base is one of the major reasons most
startups opt for cross-platform development.
This type of development is compatible with
various mobile operating systems, and so it
reaches a wider audience. It has a rapid
development, turnaround time and is
cost-effective, making it a go-to choice for
everyone. There are two types of development,
i.e., cross-platform and native app development.
Both have their merits and demerits, but most
people wonder about the difference between native
and cross-platform app development. So, lets
see the major differences between
them Difference Between Cross Platform and
Native App Development With cross-platform app
development, users dont need to write code
multiple times a single code base allows
developers to write code once and run anywhere.
Here, regardless of the platform, you are
developing an application
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for, the application will run and support various
operating systems. Whereas with native app
development, you will need to code dedicatedly
for multiple platforms, it will also require you
to invest in dedicated employees for each of the
technologies. Native app development is costly
compared to cross-platform development, and with
the increasing demand for the applications, the
market is competitive. To meet these increasing
demands, companies shift their focus to
cross-platform app development. Going further,
lets see some of bene?ts of cross-platform app
development Bene?ts of Cross-Platform App
Development Increase Audience Reach Using
cross-platform apps, you can deploy an
application for multiple platforms at the same
time. With the single app, you can target iOS,
Android, and web platforms. This helps you reach
broader audiences and attract the correct
audience from across the world. As your
application will be available on
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a large number of devices, it is obvious that you
will reach a larger audience. Code
Reusability Code reusability is one of the major
bene?ts why companies and developers prefer
cross-platform app development. Developers can
easily reuse and rewrite the code because of the
write once, run everywhere approach. They dont
need to create new code for each platform, and
as a result, it helps them save some time and
money. Faster Development Time Cross-platform
app development uses a single-code base which
makes the development process faster and easier.
Developers need to write code only once on either
of the cross-platform frameworks and while
compiling it, the source code will run like
native. Once the application deploys and there
is a need for further updates like new features,
security patches, tweaks in features, etc., you
can write the code once and push the platforms
updates. Uniform Design
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Cross-platform app development helps you to
develop an application that is responsive and
has a uniform design. Regardless of the platform
on which the user accesses your application, it
will be responsive. The application developed
using cross-platform recognizes the user
interface elements easily and responds
accordingly. This enables designers and
developers to have uniform UI/UX for different
devices and provide a better and consistent user
experience. Having uniform design on all
platforms is essential as it helps businesses to
have their brand voice and marketing strategy. It
will help you to stand ahead of competitors,
rank on various search engines, and retain
customers on your website. Native App-like
Experience Application built using
cross-platform technology feels and runs like
native apps. Pick up any technology you want to
develop an app in, you will have to write code
once, and upon compilation, it runs like a
native app. With the latest tools and advanced
frameworks, the entire process of ecommerce
mobile app development becomes easy. Today
various frameworks make it easy to write the
code, run it, and convert it into source code
which helps apps run like native apps.
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When the application runs like a native app, it
loads faster and is responsive. As a result, it
helps in better customer experience. Cost-effect
ive Development In native app development,
businesses need to hire multiple developers for
each platform, increasing their investment cost.
Whereas, with cross-platform app development,
businesses dont need to invest in hiring
multiple developers. As cross-platform uses a
single code-base, developers are skilled in
developing applications for multiple platforms.
Hence, cross-platform app development can help
businesses to save time, money and increase
their ROI.
Easy to Update Updating your cross-platform.
application Let me explain
becomes howwith
easier with native app
development, you will have to write the same code
multiple times for different operating systems
next up you will have to test, check, evaluate
and update multiple times. Further, based on
different devices and operating systems, you
might face different challenges, and based on
it, you will have to make
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changes. All these things end up being extremely
dif?cult and time-consuming. On the other hand,
updating using cross-platform app development
becomes easy. You dont need to write code
multiple times, evaluate, make changes according
to different platforms, etc. Just write code
once, check, test, evaluate, and push the
updates. Based on the platform, the code will
work accordingly and provide better
performance. When it comes to the bene?ts of
cross-platform development, there are no limits.
Over the years, frameworks have become more
robust and are helping the developer community
and businesses. But, with bene?ts comes demerits
as well, so lets see some challenges of
cross-platform app development in
brief Challenges of Cross-Platform App
Development Switching Platforms Most of the
cross-platform framework use JavaScript, and this
creates issues during reusable codes. In such a
scenario, ?nding the issue in the whole code
becomes a dif?cult task
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and consumes time, increasing the cost of mobile
application development. Third-party App
Integration It becomes dif?cult to integrate
third-party applications in cross-platform app
development. The integration process becomes
dif?cult and lengthy as application developers
will need to make certain changes in the code
based on each operating system and its
interfaces. Sluggish Code Cross-platform
application development is not easy, especially
for junior developers. They need cross-compliance
during the development process, which leads to
sluggish code and results in slow application.
Cross-platform application development is a
perfect solution for small and medium-scale
businesses as it requires less investment and
has more ROI. There are plenty of tools available
in the market which makes ecommerce mobile app
development easy. The increasing demand for
applications has given rise to strong framework
tools, making it easy to develop complex
applications. Today,
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• plenty of frameworks have increased confusion
  about which are perfect for cross-platform app
  development.
• If you, too, are confused about which platform is
  perfect for mobile application development, you
  are in the right place. Herein, I will share
  with you the top frameworks useful for
  cross-platform app development.
• Top Cross-Platform App Development Framework
• Flutter
• Flutter is a popular framework for cross-platform
  mobile application development. Flutters
  of?cial programming language is Dart its
  open-source nature makes it approachable for
  development. Today Flutter is the second most
  used platform for app development because of
  speed, native performance, expressive UI, and
  Hot Reload. These features make it easy to
  develop an application developers can also
  modify the code and see results in real-time.
  These are some of the notable features
• Key Features

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• Fast Development
• Responsive
• Easy to use UI
• Intuitive UI and widgets
• Highly ef?cient apps
• Structured coding
• Easy to learn
• Following are some of the companies using
  Flutter
• BMW
• NUBank
• Tencent
• Square
• Dream11
• React Native
• React Native is an open-source, cross-platform
  framework built using Facebook that supports
  JavaScript codebase for developing high-quality
  apps. React Native development approach helps
  build high-performance mobile apps quickly

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• and makes the framework robust and reliable. It
  changes the way cross-platform applications work
  today.
• Key Features
• Open source development
• Faster programming
• Codebase sharing
• High performance
• Responsive UI
• Companies using React Native
• Bloomberg
• UberEats
• AirBnB
• Instagram
• Skype
• Facebook

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• open-source cross-platform framework, useful for
  app development. NativeScript lets you build an
  application in TypeScript, JavaScript, XML, CSS,
  using Angular and Vue.js. When working with
  NativeScript, you dont need to install any
  plugins to access the camera, GPS, or other
  features as they are in-built. This makes it
  easy to code in NativeScript and provides better
  performance.
• Key Features
• Free and open source
• Multiple components support
• Native methods and libraries support
• Easy to code
• Companies using NativeScript
• QA Limited
• University of California
• Lorven Technologies
• Corona SDK

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• Corona SDK is an open-source, cross-platform
  framework perfect for building apps for
  desktops, mobile phones, tablets, etc. The
  framework is reliable as it offers a back-end
  framework language called Lua it is a
  lightweight application development language.
  Corona SDKs primary focus is on signi?cant
  parts of app development like portability,
  scalability, and it is easy to use.
• Key Feature
• Open-source frameworks
• Easy to use
• Multiple useful plugins
• Lua Scripting language, easy to learn and use
• Built-in analytics
• Companies using CoronaSDK
• Source books
• Lorven Technologies
• IEEE
• PhoneGap

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• PhoneGap is also one of the well-known platforms
  for development tools that supports different
  languages like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
  These tools make it easy for web and app
  developers to develop an application. If a
  business is looking to develop a cross-platform
  application, PhoneGap is a perfect choice as it
  develops apps for all major platforms and adds
  features like add-ons. Moreover, developers can
  too use this framework without the need to have
  any hardware restrictions.
• Key Features
• Fast deployment
• Quick and easy testing
• Single codebase
• Strongly typed language
• Popular web technologies
• Multiple libraries
• Companies using PhoneGap
• Accenture
• Typeform
• WebbyLab

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• Zendesk
• Xamarin
• Xamarin had an open-source, cross-platform
  mobile application development framework which
  Microsoft took over. Similar to other
  frameworks, Xamarin uses the same codebase for
  Android and iOS apps. Xamarin uses C
  programming language, eliminating the need to
  learn Swift or Java and is more bene?cial than
  React Native as it provides a more native
  app-like experience.
• Key features
• Free and Open-source framework
• Performance-oriented framework
• Easy to maintain
• Advanced technologies
• Large community of contributors
• Companies using Xamarin
• Fox Sports
• Siemens

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• Pinterest
• World Bank
• Ionic
• Ionic is one of the popular cross-platform app
  frameworks which uses Angular and Cordova. This
  framework helps developers to create a
  user-friendly app interface. It is an
  open-source framework that allows developers to
  change the development process according to
  their unique project ideas. It is a framework
  for developing hybrid mobile apps using
  JavaScript. It also has an Ionic React that
  leverages React for building hybrid mobile
  applications.
• Key features
• Fast prototyping
• Concise documentation
• Single codebase
• Advanced technologies
• Ready-made UI components
• Plenty of in-built plugins
• Companies using Ionic

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• Airbus Helicopters
• Electronic Arts
• National Health Service (NHS)
• Sworkit
• Instapot
• Conclusion
• Cross-platform app development is the NOW of
  application development. Today there is a
  massive change in the way we interact with
  technology. Applications have made it easy for
  users to do everyday tasks. The increase in the
  usage of mobile applications gives rise to app
  development. Today there is an application for
  almost everything which makes our lives easier.
• Additionally, cross-platform applications are
  revolutionizing the app development experience.
  It is constantly pushing the boundaries of
  development and making the entire process
  simpler. If you are wondering how to develop an
  application, you can reach out to us.
• We have experienced technical experts who will
  help you with the entire process of application
  development. We have helped

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many customers build their great products, which a
re cross-platform app development.
Source https/ www.biztechcs.com/blog/cross-platf
orm-app-devel opment-complete-guide/