Cross-Platform App Development — A Complete Guide

Digital marketing
5 min readApr 2, 2021

These days, when you open up a play store or app store on your device, almost each and every activity /field has a mobile application developed for it. There are applications even for the smallest of the tasks! Whether be it simple yoga classes app or learning English app. Almost each and every routine activity now has an app for people’s ease and comfort. Any solution for your queries will be provided on mobile apps! You can find large number of apps developed on daily basis. In 2020, mobile apps are estimated to pull off $188.9 billion revenue adding to the economic cycle through app stores and in-app advertising.

There is a dire need for Web applications to be converted into Mobile Applications now, because of the advent of mobile phones at peak level. Each and every youngster or adult has mobile devices on their hands 24x7.Highly skilled mobile app developers make it possible and flexible to use your application anywhere and by anyone.

Fields of application of Mobile App:

· finance,

· healthcare

· construction,

· retail,

· consumer products,

· logistics,

· industrial engineering,

· entertainment

Nowadays, android has become the king of the mobile operating system. It is growing at a rapid speed with its enlarging number of Users Worldwide. It has enriching features such as user-friendly, memory management, and flexibility.

Mobile app development can be performed using various computer languages like: Java Script., Kotlin, C++, C#, Python, PHP, Swift and Objective-C.

Before deciding upon any projects for mobile app development, one needs to finalize among various types or frame works under mobile app developments, such as: Native, Hybrid, Progressive Web Apps, Encapsulated apps, and cross platform app development.

One of consistent framework is cross platform app development. Today we are going to discuss on cross platform app development.

In reality, what is Cross Platform App Development?

Cross platform app development is talk of the town in mobile app development field. The apps which are compatible with multiple mobile operating systems are called cross platforms applications. Mobile apps which can be used on multiple mobile platforms are much in trend these days.

There can be two ways:

1. Either developing an original app on a native platform or

2. Developing an original app in a singular environment that shall then be directed to many different native platforms.

In the traditional system, code built for one operating system could not be regenerated for another operating systems. Therefore, there was need for multiple running platforms for mobile applications, there saw the birth of cross platform app development.

Cross platform app gives the liberty of developing in all 3 operating systems like Android, iOS, and Windows simultaneously. But the output generated is almost same in all 3 platforms.

5 Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development

1. Code reusability

This factor is cherry on the cake! Most advantageous feature about cross platform is its magical reusing of codes on any platform. Many sections and tasks are similar in all the development of app, therefore, reusing of codes comes as a boon factor in mobile app development process.

For developers, writing reusable code is a good practice for any application but it’s a real bonus when this is not to be repeated in loops and perform n number of times.

2. Multi-platform supported

Whether be it android or ios or windows, cross platform apps allows running on all the platforms at a time. Hiring different teams for different platforms becomes a costly task. But with cross platform development, the process becomes much simpler and easier. It reduces work of a developer by half.

3. Great Reach ability

Since it is applicable on any platform, users are given many alternatives to choose from. Users are given ample amount of options for selecting among the platform of their comfort. With this, cross platform app gains popularity and reaches to maximum people.

4. Quite economical

Developing an app causes a burning hole in your pockets, until and only when you keep a check on upfront expenses. With cross platform app development, one can reduce expenses on initial developmental phases, increasing profit margin for the developers.

5. Use same app on any device

Users rely on multiple devices (phone, tablet, laptop computer, desktop computer, etc.) with different operating system or browsers in them. Switching from one device to another while moving from one place to another, this type of apps becomes useful. As a consumer, we expect similar user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), while still following various platform characteristics. For consumer satisfaction, the solution of a single app that can run on any devices and has same UI components is a beneficial point.

New Technologies for cross-platform app development include:

1. Xamarin.

2. React Native.

3. Apache Cordova.

4. Flutter.

Each of these languages has its own pros and cons. It’s up to the developer to choose their ease of coding language.

As compared to native apps, cross platform provides its users with following additional features:

· support for different operating systems

· performance driven, if not the same, as native

· cost-effective and economical development

· larger market coverage at lower costs

· less time taken to launch the apps

Native app comes out to be far superior in terms of performance and user experience. However, it depends on the type of application in building. Simple applications like games and content distribution apps are developed as a cross-platform app while apps with particular features are native.Cross-platform apps are mostly preferred for B2B apps. Many small companies and businesses opt for cross-platform due to their limited budget.

It is important for you to choose a platform that meets your desired output and requirements, along with your target audience, which targets the app which you wish for.

Mobile app development is a vast and gigantic reservoir for researching new methods on day to day basis. Every day experiences lots of changes in app development process since it is an endless and limitless subject for improvising and bringing in new changes each minute.

Thank you for pulling off your eyes over this interesting article on cross platform app development. Hope you found it worth reading! Your feedbacks are always welcomed! Do feel free to share your views as well!

For more queries, contact us on:

Contact No: +91–942–803–6436

E-mail Address: info@jhkinfotech.com

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