List of Top 10 Tools for Cross Platform Mobile App Development
Mobile App Development has become one of the major areas which have grabbed the attention of developers. With an ever-increasing number of smartphones connecting more and more people over the Internet, mobile apps have become one of the main aspects for any business venture which intends to create a name for itself, as it helps one to reach out to a large number of customers quite easily. And Cross Platform Mobile App development is a must-have.
In recent times, there have been quite a few mobile platforms like Android, iOS, Windows etc., and developing apps individually for all major platforms is a cumbersome task. This is why developers are shifting towards Cross Platform Mobile App development tools which basically follow the principle of Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA). We can code for our app and then build the binaries for respective platforms easily with these tools without making any considerable change to the code. Let’s have a look at some of the top tools for Cross Platform Mobile App development
PhoneGap
Adobe’s PhoneGap is one of the most widely used cross platform mobile app development platforms. This tool makes use of the existing web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript for developing the app, basically a hybrid one. It supports code reusability across multiple platforms like iOS, Windows, Android, Firefox OS, Blackberry. PhoneGap supports the integration of multiple plugins in the app to ensure that developers can integrate additional functionality if required.
Appcelerator
Appcelerator makes use of native JavaScript for cross platform mobile development tools. It is quite suitable for rapid app development, as designing a prototype is very simple using this tool. It has connectors available for MS SQL, Salesforce, MongoDB, MS Azure and many others. The newer versions of Appcelerator are much more stable as compared to the previous ones.
Xamarin
Xamarin can be used to build apps across multiple platforms using a C# codebase. It also comes with an added functionality and support for native IDE, APIs, and languages, unlike other cross-platform tools. Xamarin also has its own Android emulator to support testing of the apps. Xamarin Studio comes with an inbuilt Git integration for Cross Platform Mobile App development.
Sencha Ext JS
This is one of the cross platform mobile development tools that enables extensive use of hardware acceleration techniques while creating a cross-platform mobile development app. It utilizes all the features of HTML5 on modern browsers. This was earlier known as Sencha Touch, which has now been merged with Ext JS and is now known as Sencha Ext JS. It also helps in creating apps with great business intelligence by making optimal use of the data-intensive features of this tool.
Monocross
Monocross uses C#, Microsoft .NET and the mono framework for cross app development. It supports the integration of numerous third-party APIs which greatly reduce the development time and also prevents the struggle with intricacies of individual platforms. It provides a native experience across all platforms as it reuse the code for the application, controller, and model. Only platform-specific views are used in Monocross to provide a rich user-interface.
Codename One
Codename One uses Java as a language for cross app development across multiple platforms. It supports the usage of some of the most popular IDEs like Eclipse, NetBeans, etc. It provides 100% code reusability and also full access to the native operating system by means of their native language. Codename One also comes with a fully portable Drag & Drop GUI builder which reduces the development time considerably.
Kony AppPlatform
Kony is a great platform to be used by JavaScript developers to create native as well as cross-platform mobile applications. This comes with some important features like API connection, Automatic Coding, and App Review facility. It also has some pre-built apps which can act as samples for someone who is new to this platform. Kony supports a wide range of backend integrations and comes with a strong visualizer to validate its JavaScript APIs.
Convertigo
Convertigo is famous as an MBaaS, which stands for Mobile Backend as a Service. This cross platform app framework offers a wide range of solutions for cross platform mobile app development like Convertigo Studio, Convertigo Server, Convertigo Mobilizer and Convertigo Cloud. It comes with a Fullsync data replication technology which ensures that data is available locally even when not connected to the network.
NativeScript
It is an open source platform for developing cross-platform mobile applications. It allows the usage of all native JavaScript APIs during the app development process. The npm plugins can be directly used in NativeScript based apps, so as to easily extend the features of the application. It comes with an extended support for Angular JS 2 and TypeScript. With Declarative UI, we need to create the app UI only once and can easily utilize the same across multiple platforms.
RhoMobile
RhoMobile Suite is driven by the Rhodes open source framework. It offers a platform to develop data-centric and native cross-platform apps. It is very similar to PhoneGap as it used the existing web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with Ruby to develop mobile applications across multiple platforms. It offers compatibility to various mobile and non-mobile operating systems like Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Windows 10, etc. One can make use of RhoStudio, a free eclipse plugin to develop, debug and test applications without the need for any other emulator or hardware.
Cross Platform Mobile App Development Endnote
These are some of the top platforms available for developing mobile applications across for different applications with maximum code reusability features. Most of these are open source and hence freely available, at least the basic version. It is recommended to try the aforementioned tools for cross-platform mobile application development. There are many other mobile app development services available out there, but the above-mentioned ones are those which have created a name for themselves in this domain and have gained the trust of developers across the globe. Before choosing a particular tool, one must be clear of the requirements or the expectations out of the app we are trying to develop. This would enable us to effectively choose the best suitable fit by looking at the supported integrations of APIs, plugins, and themes. Also, to ensure that the app performs seamlessly across multiple platforms, it is advised to test the app properly on emulators or platform-specific hardware.