from transportation to food and beverage. The growing demand for app development has led to a need for faster and more efficient building. The evolution of app development has gone from the waterfall model to monolithic structure to now microservices and AI. The next step in this evolution is Universal Applications, which allow developers to create a single app version that works across all platforms, saving time and money while getting their app to market faster than competitors.
The aim of any software market or business is to reach as many users as possible, and creating cross-platform applications is a recommended way to achieve this goal. Universal Applications allow you to write the code once and run it on multiple platforms, maximizing your reach to users. With a single codebase, Universal Applications are easily maintainable and reusable, making it a practical solution for efficient app development.
Choosing the right tool for building Universal Apps can be overwhelming, as there are many options available. When evaluating the tools, consider factors such as development speed, feature support, cost-effectiveness, and risks involved. The ideal tool should meet most, if not all, of these criteria. To help you make a decision, here are four commonly used tools to consider.
React Native, developed by Facebook in 2014, enables developers to use their React skills to build native mobile apps for iOS and Android. The tool caused a sensation in the app development industry and has become the most popular tool for building universal apps, as shown by a 2020 survey by Statista.
Simply put, React Native is a cross-platform technology that uses open-source JavaScript to develop for both Android and iOS. With React Native, you write less JavaScript, CSS, and HTML code and run your application on the host platform’s JavaScript engine, avoiding the need for native code compilation. This allows for native performance without having to write OS-specific code. However, React Native is not without limitations and can struggle with complex app development, requiring the creation of a bridge for exporting native elements to JavaScript.
Xamarin is a trusted and time-tested open-source mobile app platform owned by Microsoft, that enables developers to build apps for Windows, iOS, and Android using a single .NET codebase. It’s a great solution for cross-platform app development, especially for .NET developers.
Xamarin streamlines mobile app development with up to 85% code reuse across platforms. It leverages the OS kernel and Mono runtime, providing .NET APIs and C# code. Xamarin allows for managed code to access native APIs via bindings. For Android, MCWs allow managed code to access Android code and ACWs allow ART to access managed code. Xamarin is an excellent choice for .NET developers, as it compiles the C# codebase to native components of Android and iOS, ensuring performance and speed. Additionally, it provides cloud access.
Flutter – A Multiplatform SDK from Google Google introduced Flutter in 2017 as a software development kit for app development. Although relatively new compared to React Native (2014) and Xamarin (2011), Flutter offers a flexible solution. The in-house language, Dart, is easy to pick up for developers familiar with Java or Javascript. Flutter provides customizable widgets, such as navigation, galleries, dropdowns, etc., for a native performance.
The Dart framework in Flutter offers access to features such as widgets, gestures, and animation. The Engine, written in C/C++, is the core and provides low-level implementation of Flutter’s APIs. The Embedder, located at the bottom, communicates with the OS for rendering services and can either integrate Flutter code as a module in an existing application or serve as the entire content of the app.
Flutter is rapidly growing as the top tool for universal app development, according to a VentureBeat survey. With high performance and fast development capabilities, Flutter is a great solution for organizations, but requires proficient developers to handle its complexity.
By Glitex Solutions Limited – Mobile App Developers and SEO Experts
