Why is cross-platform application development so popular among app developers? In this article, you can figure out what the primary benefits of cross-platform app development are and the way in which you can utilize them in your project.
What is Cross-Platform App Development?
For the end-user, “cross-platform” might mean “the app I’m utilizing will run on any of my devices.”, however for Software Developers, this means languages and frameworks.
The approach took root in 1995 with WORA – Write Once, Run Anywhere – , a Sun Microsystems (consider Java) slogan. These were the good ‘ol days and gave rise to an inside joke by developers, “Write Once, Debug All over.” Things didn’t quite go as planned, however it was a start.
While cross-platform development tools have increased in number and maturity, senior developers presently need to choose the tool(s) the most ideal for their projects.
What Makes developing a Cross-Platform App Different
What exactly does cross-platform app development involve nowadays, you might ask? To assist with answering this inquiry, we should focus on mobile platforms like Android and iOS. For developers, on the off chance that it’s not cross platform, it’s native or hybrid app development.
Native apps are written for one specific platform, similar to Android or iOS, yet not both. Producing a native app for both Android and iOS requires the development of two apps, support for two codebases, and two arrangements of teams.
Hybrid apps can be a messy mix of elements of web and mobile. Then again, cross-platform apps can be written once for both platforms. Since hybrid apps consist of standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and are then wrapped in an embedded web-browser control, hybrid apps tend to be lazy with limited functionality. Subsequently, hybrid apps may provide an unfortunate user experience.
Basically the same as hybrid is the dynamic web app or PWA, which are basically web applications that imitate a native look and feel. They need features, for example, the ability to get to the camera, sensors or other native features.
With cross-platform development, we get a single mobile application that can run smoothly on both android and iOS platforms. Cross-platform app development is a decent decision when you want multi-platform functionality. Additionally, choosing the better mobile app development company will help you to develop an interactive cross platform app.
As a rule, with cross-platform in contrast with native you’ll get:
- support for different operating systems
- performance close, in the event that not the same, as native
- financially savvy development
- bigger market inclusion at lower exertion
- faster time to market
Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development
Use the same great application on any device
Many of us have multiple devices (phone, tablet, PC, computer, and so forth) and not all of them have the same operating system or browser. What to utilize an application on an iOS-based tablet while at home, switch to an Android phone in a hurry, and, once in the office, utilize an app on a desktop or browser? As a buyer, we want and anticipate a comparative user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), while still following platform-specific characteristics. For shopper satisfaction, the arrangement of a single app that can run on multiple devices and has consistent UI components is a huge advantage.
Support any platform
As a business, it might fall out of budget to have two different teams with two different arrangements of (native) development tools, one for each platform. Cross-platform app development helps developers to carry out new applications simultaneously easily: envision one team of native developers for one platform being behind another team of native developers – a nightmare. With the right arrangement of cross-platform tools in hand, they can have one team developing applications for all platforms.
Wider market reach
Because of supporting any platform, products can be built and published for multiple app stores at the same time. Subsequently, products have a higher reach and greater chance of an increase in popularity.
Minimize upfront expenses
You cannot procure a penny from an app before it is released. Decreasing the upfront expense diminishes any risks taken. With cross-platform app development, it is much easier and faster to prepare an initial form and to perceive the way things are perceived on the market.
Market analysis and tests
Measuring achievement, collecting data, and client criticism as soon as conceivable are significant requirements for all product companies. Once the data is gathered, it provides information on what guidance the app needs to go to be profitable and helps to get the desired spot on the market. Cross-platform app development will assist you with reaching this point much earlier by giving you the option to change adequately early.
Write your source-code only once
For developers, writing great, reusable code is a best practice for any application; however it’s a real bonus when this only has to be done once.
Reusable code across platforms
To be more efficient as well as increase productivity, it’s a good advantage that you can reuse the code while building cross-platform applications. During the development phase, there are a ton of repeating, repetitive tasks and codes that can be avoided. As mentioned, a lot of majority of the code is reusable as well as can be implemented once for all platforms.
Quick prototyping
Prototyping guarantees that the product is on the right path and the idea is gradually becoming completely awake. The quick development process makes prototyping straightforward and viable.
Development speed
Because of the exponential increase in competition and client/user requirements, businesses are currently forced to race with time while keeping up with the innovation. This factor results in setting tight cutoff times that put great squeeze in the developing team.
Working with one bunch of code base, reusable features, plugins, and components speeds up the development process and diminishes the time to market. Importantly, choose the right app developers who can deliver rapid mobile app development.
Easy product maintenance
This incorporates the inevitable “bug fixes” as well as improvements to the product. With cross platform, we have only one codebase to focus on. This makes it easier and faster not only to test yet to send fixes and upgrades.
Uniformity
Having only one codebase that compiles to multiple platforms is a huge advantage, to keep consistency in the plan. Guaranteeing a consistent look and believe and comparative operation (UI/UX) of the app across all platforms is a much more smoothed out process.