Best Hybrid Mobile App Frameworks for Cross-Platform App Development

In today’s world, mobile devices have become a major part of everybody’s life and the usage of mobile has increased with time as now most of the daily work can easily be done through mobile only. Multiple mobile applications for different chores makes it possible for the users to handle most of their work digitally only. This is the reason that Ionic App Development is really trending in the market as it supports hybrid mobile applications. 

The life has become such that, in the morning a person wakes up with the vibration of their smartwatch, they order breakfast through Zomato, book the conveyance for the office through Uber. This shows how the mobile and its applications have become an integral part of human beings’ life, and everything happens over a few fingers taps on the mobile applications.

 As the users are divided in two broad segments- Android user and iOS user, hence the mobile applications of respective business should be compatible with both kinds of platforms, then only they will be able to reach the maximum number of users. 

WHAT IS HYBRID MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT?

As the name itself suggests, the Hybrid Mobile App Development is a process of developing such a mobile app which is compatible to work on all kinds of operating systems and different platforms including iOS, Android, Windows. The Hybrid Mobile App consists of two different codes: Native Code- which gives a native look and feel to the mobile application and Independent Code- which is well compatible simultaneously with different platforms.

Many business owners do not have a good understanding about these frameworks themselves, so they hire React Native Developers in order to develop the mobile app of their businesses which can work on cross-platforms. Building an app on a cross platform is always the best advice to follow as it will enhance the business by reaching out to the maximum number of users. It takes less time to get developed and is more fruitful.

BEST HYBRID MOBILE APP FRAMEWORKS FOR CROSS PLATFORM APP DEVELOPMENT:

Below mentioned are the most acceptable frameworks used by the developers to build the cross-platform mobile applications:

1)IONIC
Ionic is one of the best and widely used frameworks to build the mobile applications, also it is open-source framework and is accompanied with the platform independent APIs, which makes it easy to access the hardware of any mobile device. It helps in building quite interactive and hybrid mobile applications and progressive Web applications. It builds apps for iOS, Android & Windows. The lighter version of Ionic, Ionic Studio is more powerful than Ionic in all terms.  Few of the other features of Ionic are given in details below:

a) The development time is faster

b) Have complete control over developing the apps

c)This platform is quite sturdy and powerful

d)Consists of intuitive UI components

e) Strongly supported by the huge community

f) Easily scalable, easy to read markup & updated with the latest technologies and related inventions.

g) Rich set of tools and features along with out-of-the box support.

h) Apps developed in this framework have many native functionalities and many customizable tools.

Some of the famous brands who are using the Ionic framework are Diesel, Honey, Sworkit etc.

2)REACT NATIVE

It is another best framework to develop cross-platform applications which is based on React, which again is the one which possesses the best JavaScript library for developing interactive User Interfaces. It helps to develop feature rich applications for both iOS, and Android. Some other beneficial features of React Native are mentioned below:

a) It offers several compatible third-party plug-ins

b) Requires comparatively low code

c)Detecting bugs and errors here is quite easy

d)It is backed by a strong and huge community

e) Possess the best Live Re-load feature

f) Have declarative API to develop predictive UI

g) It uses a universal language, JavaScript, Swift or C

The brands which have been using React Native are AirBnB, Instagram, Myntra, UberEats and many more.

3)XAMARIN

It is another leading and free open-source platform for developing the hybrid mobile applications and is based on .NET and is introduced by Microsoft. It helps to develop a universal mobile application which can easily run-on various devices and that too without altering the core native design. The entire work of this framework relies on the C# programming language along with the .NET framework. The tool set of Xamarin has several tools like- Xamarin SDKs, Xamaric.mac etc. Few other functionalities of Xamarin is given below:

a) Most of the codes are common and re-usable between Android and iOS.

b) Is strongly supported by Microsoft and has access to very premium and diagnostic tools.

c)Received the best support of hardware which works well with the plugins and APIs.

d)Have Google Emulator Manager

e) Have feature of Application loader

f) The backend infrastructure is very versatile

Some of the renowned firms who are using this framework are Siemens, Fox Sports, Pinterest etc.

4)Phone Gap

It is one of the widely used framework which is supported by Adobe and is mostly used for developing Android Applications. But again, it is a popular tool for developing Hybrid applications. This framework uses CSS3, JavaScript, HTML 5 for the cross development of apps. It is an open-source desktop application, which helps to connect the mobile devices with the apps very easily. Some features of the Phone Gap are given below:

a) It is backed up by strong support from Adobe

b) Scalability and Flexibility

c)The development of mobile and web application is quite easy

d)Compatible with multiple platforms

e) Possesses native plugins and containers for different mobile platform which ultimately helps the developers to access the functionalities like camera, Bluetooth etc. and then create more features.

f) The developed apps run in a WebView browser inside a native container

5)Flutter

It is a toolkit, introduced by the Google which features the customized widgets and is used for developing the native applications for different digital devices including mobile, web and desktop. It have its own programming language by name Dart which is a combination of Kotlin and Java. Some other features of Flutter are given below:

a) Have the feature of Hot Reloading Feature which allows to visualize the changes instantly.

b) Best in compatibility with different kinds of operational systems

c)One of the best speeds to work upon, thus a high-performance application

d)Supports different platforms including Android, iOS.

e) Have an in-built feature of material design

f) Backed up by huge community of the developers

Leading companies who have been using the Flutter framework are Google, Alibaba, Hamilton Musical, and others.

CONCLUSION:

In today’s competitive world, every business is trying to get a mobile application despite of having the web applications to sustain in the market. Developing cross platform applications is the need of an hour and the most suitable option to go ahead with if one wants to flourish their business. The above points signifies the features of different frameworks on the basis of development time, integration process, platforms, scripts, and other important points. The final decision depends on the developer as they are the one who have to finally work on the apps and that too as per the requirement of the business.