73% of devices worldwide run on the Android operating system, while iOS users occupy 26% of the mobile device market. So, developing separate apps for your iOS and Android business can be longer and more expensive. However, by choosing only one OS, you lose a significant portion of the market and your audience. How to solve this problem and conquer the whole mobile application market with your software product? The answer is cross-platform development.
Besides, visit this source to find out about cross-platform mobile development tools and use it to turn your app idea into a top application.
Cross-platform development is a set of tools that allows you to release applications for different mobile platforms based on the same code. On the contrary, native development involves creating an application for a specific OS, taking into account its set of tools, capabilities, and features. The idea of cross-platform solutions is not about user-friendliness, but about optimizing mobile application development processes. Therefore, a cross-platform application is a solution designed in such a way as to be able, with minimal effort, to compile the source code for execution on several mobile platforms, but the result of each separate compilation will be separate executables.
Instead of writing several different applications, mobile developers can use the same code for all platforms. When writing a native mobile application, for example for iOS, you need to use a specific technology stack for each new piece of code. However, if you want to implement the same function, but on a different platform, you also need to use the required technology stack, which differs from the first slightly more than completely. Difficulties like this do not apply to cross-platform applications. When developing them, you can implement a function for any one platform, and it will work on all OS and devices. The reusability of the codebase also simplifies the application deployment process.
Cross-platform apps target multiple platforms at once. As a result, businesses that adopt them can grow their user base much faster than their own applications. This is especially beneficial for small businesses. When you have an app released for Android and iOS at the same time, it saves tons of time and money. Besides, you get the opportunity to reach a larger audience, as what works great for iOS users is unlikely to be a great idea for Android.
The way how your application works is undoubtedly important. However, it is equally important how it looks and what feelings and emotions it evokes in users. Keeping the UI and UX the same for native apps is tricky. Using a single codebase allows cross-platform applications to maintain the same look and feel across all platforms.
Developing an application that runs on multiple platforms and uses the same codebase is very cost-effective. In order for your idea to be implemented as a cross-platform application, large investments are not required. Besides, you do not need a separate team for each mobile OS. With a single technology stack, all platforms can be supported by one development team.
Thus, cross-platform mobile app development has its advantages:
- the development speed is much higher than that of native applications, since you only need to create one code, and it will adapt itself to different devices;
- development costs are also reduced;
- most specialists will cope with new frameworks, so they can easily create high-quality applications;
- applications on different devices will follow the same style, which means that brand awareness will increase.
To write universal code and quickly deploy it across all platforms, it is possible to use the React Native framework, which became the foundation for Instagram and Uber. React Native embodies the best of cross-platform development: it allows you to develop an application in a short time with minimal costs.
The framework benefits from accelerated application assembly. In React Native, processes are optimized so that only changed modules are rebuilt after testing and edits. React Native has a large community and many libraries where solutions can be found for any, even a narrow request. React Native developers have wide possibilities in terms of interface design: elements are developed from scratch, they can be made responsive and interactive.
Thus, one codebase will undoubtedly affect all aspects of application development to the extent of reducing the number of developers required, allowing the company to save money that is usually spent on fixing and updating two separate codebases. Cross-platform mobile app development achieves its goals in a balanced way, both in terms of price, and in terms of time, complexity, and user experience.