view

Industry Insights

INDUSTRY

What Does Cross Platform App Development Take?

cross platform app development

Not every app is available on every platform. This could be because of IP ownership, or the cost it takes to develop cross platform functionality. It’s like how Sony owns certain game franchises and doesn’t release them to Microsoft users and vice versa. For apps, it’s like how iMessage is exclusive to Apple users and not available on Android devices.

This isn’t exclusive to big brands – you could sit down and make an app that only works for Apple products or Macs. You don’t have to make them cross functional with Microsoft or Google devices. But say that you want to make it compatible with every device on the market. You can do that too – it just takes cross platform development.

What is Native Development?

Native development is when you only make an app for the platform it was developed for. For example, Objective-C and Swift are used for iOS apps; Java, C/C++ and Kotlin help create Android solutions; C# and Visual Basic are optimal for Windows Phone.

When creating native applications, developers are guided by specific OS requirements. Installed on a targeted computing device, a native app can fully use the available features and capabilities.

The drawback is that a native app is not compatible with other platforms. To reach wider audiences, you would need to develop several solutions, which, as we mentioned before, is time-consuming and cost intensive.

The Challenges of Cross-Platform App Development

Nowadays, cross-platform isn’t limited to phones. It’s all over the digital world: gaming consoles, tablets, computers, phones, and more! However, as all of this new technology came about, more problems emerged as well, and some older problems were left unsolved. Cross-platform development still faces challenges like:

  • Inconsistent communication between the native and non-native components of gadgets causing performance issues
  • Difficulty maintaining cross-compliance of apps across devices and operating systems
  • Security concerns

However, these challenges are minimal when compared to the benefits of cross-platform app development.

Do it From the Start

If you start the app development process knowing that you want it to be cross platform, it is much easier. When you work on cross-platform app development, you can launch your software quickly on various platforms. The source code is written once for all platforms. This means you don’t need to hire a separate software development team for each platform, as it’s possible to launch and update the software by using a variety of cross-platform development tools.

Cross-Platform Technology and Frameworks

If you want to invest in cross platform app development, then you’ll need a developer who is fluent in these technologies and frameworks.

Flutter

Flutter is the perfect framework for developing high-performance web apps.It is a relatively new and advanced, open-source software development kit (SDK) by Google.

Using Flutter as your cross-platform app development framework can bring benefits like:

  • A wide choice of UI elements and widgets
  • High-performance rendering engine for animations
  • Hot-reload feature

React Native

React Native is a cross-platform app development framework that Facebook launched in 2015. It is one of the most popular frameworks to use. It’s a mobile framework based on JavaScript, which enables building natively-rendered mobile apps for iOS and Android.

It has a few benefits as well, such as:

  • Hot-reload
  • It allows access to third-party plugins
  • Its User Interface is simpler and resembles a JS library
  • Focuses on mobile UI
  • It offers a more stable app in comparison to all other frameworks.

Why You May Want to Consider Native Development Instead

Cross platform app development isn’t all sunshine and daisies. Sometimes, native app development just works better. For example, native mobile apps run much smoother regarding user input and output. These types of apps inherit their devices’ OS interfaces, making them look and feel like an integrated part of the device.

However, the most advantageous benefit to native mobile apps is the superior user experience. Native apps are created specifically for an operating system. They stick to the guidelines that ultimately enhance and align the user experience with the specific operating system. As a result, the flow of the app is more natural as they have specific UI standards for each platform. This allows the user to learn the app, such as deleting an element quickly. Adhering to specific guidelines eliminates the learning curve and allows users to interact with apps using actions and gestures they’re familiar with already.

So, do you want cross platform apps, or should you stick to native development? The choice is yours!