Mobile cross-platform frameworks - tips and best practices

Introduction

The mobile software industry has completely changed in the last decade. The changes in the market are exploding, along with interconnected with complex factors that mean that developers are working on the latest technologies. The two most popular operating systems of mobile phones are: iOS and Android.

The complexity and incompatibility of the platform are increasing, which clarifies that the developer of a single platform needs to be updated for the advanced innovation and implementation process.

There are many attempts to standardize the development of mobile platforms within a common framework. The individual system that moves away from the native layer, by introducing the abstraction that does not fully allow to use the potential of the devices and provide a lower user experience, or at least it was until recently.

Multi-platform mobile app development solutions

To better understand the complex code development process, different methods of multi-app development apps were started through the use of the framework.

The technology for developing cross-platform applications is mainly divided into two categories: multi-platform applications, web-based applications, both are written in the same language, dependent on the specific framework.

Web-Based Solutions

Web-based solutions often use native software to build a normal web browser, which connects between the hybrid applications written in JavaScript/HTML (The technology based on the web browser) and the operating system. For example, PhoneGap/ Cordova which enables hybrid apps to access the features from any smartphone and even offers some advanced features otherwise you can’t access the web browser from the web.

Progressive web apps have already been started by Google, though it also works in Apple but with limited features. PWA is entirely developed on web technology, thanks to the HTML features. PWA is not like other technologies, does not have native components and is not even available on the traditional app store, connected with a link directly to the website. This is not yet much used by mature technology, but an interesting one that we like to discuss.

Multi-platform framework

A multi-platform development framework lets you write code that can be easily compiled to run on various platforms. There are various frameworks available for multi-app development, with unique aspects and applications, for that it is important to select the tools according to objectives.

For the development of cross-platform mobile software, the most popular frameworks that developers are using: React Native, Flutter, and Xamarin.

For the development of AR/VR mobile applications, there are some precise frameworks such as Unity and Unreal Engine.

Both web-based technologies and multi-platform frameworks have the perks of running on one language for the development, although both have disadvantages of integrating specific features into the operating systems and in code maintainability and user experience results. In this article, we will discuss the cross-platform framework, which almost guarantees an excellent result, saves a lot of time with just compensations, and does not exploit the potential of devices.

In the next paragraph, you’ll get to know about the framework used in the development of mobile apps.

React Native: the advantages and disadvantages of the framework

One of the modernization projects on which we currently work that offer excellent results and customer satisfaction is the React Native framework.

React Native framework enables you to develop multi-platform mobile apps. They build the applications using JavaScript language in integration with the React Native library. This allows the development of applications that use the GOI component for the native development processes.

The advantage of React Native is that the framework is capable of writing the code in JavaScript and compiling it in the native task. It is possible to produce extra components and functionalities using the code of the native platform and integrate later into the JavaScript part of the framework.

This approach provides many opportunities for the developers, even if sometimes it shows significance given by the mono-thread nature of JavaScript. If in traditional cases, the limitation can be avoided, in the context where it is important to have high performance in real-time, React native is not the best choice.

The benefits of building applications in React Native are given by the use of JavaScript as the only language behind the development of both operating systems Android and iOS, which allows code sharing. Using React Native is increasing rapidly and also it simplifies the documentation and enriches the work of developers.

Flutter, the Google Framework: Advantages and Benefits

Flutter is a programming language developed by Google. The language can be compiled natively on Android and iOS operating platforms. This feature permits programmers why they need to select Flutter to build applications with performance to those written directly in the native.

Flutter offers a lot of widgets that can be used to build interfaces that give a native look. The Flutter is promoted by Google, and Google also offers enormous support to the developers who choose Flutter. The developer’s community is rich and supporting documentation.

Flutter is a new language for the cross-development language, this makes it suitable for applications that need integration with third-party sources and advanced complex features. In Arka, We use Flutter for some development with satisfactory results, especially for the rapid development of complex apps.

Xamarin, the Microsoft Framework

Xamarin is a framework developed by Microsoft and it is used for cross-platform application development. Xamarin is an IDE, build using the C# language, then compiled it in native code.

Developers need to add graphical interfaces separately built from the Xamarin and to deal with cross-platform language. To overcome this limit, Xamarin provides a lot of libraries for the development of multi-platform interfaces. The rapid increase use of Xamarin comes with a retaliation, lower flexibility of component, and lack of supporting documentation.

The choice of technology and development team

The choice of technology depends on several factors and requirements of the products. In Arka, we are experienced, and we know how to leverage the benefit and achieve customer satisfaction. Regardless of what the technological choice will be, the development team of mobile apps is equally important.

Some firms only work for multi-platform that require developers of the individual platform, while we, at Arka, manage both native and multi-platform apps and we have a team of experts to make apps performing on all the operating systems.