Top 9 Mobile App Development Frameworks For App Developers

There are hundreds of mobile app development frameworks out there, so which one should you choose? Making an important decision depends on plenty of factors. So, herein, we are sharing a brief description of 10 popular frameworks that make them unique. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular mobile app development frameworks and weigh the pros and cons of each one to help you decide which one to use!

1. React Native

React Native is a great solution for developers who are looking to create cross-platform mobile apps with their web skills. The framework is developed by Facebook and offers a great way to prototype, create and release fully featured mobile applications that work on iOS, Android, Windows and other platforms.

It uses the JavaScript language so it’s relatively easy for developers to get started with it. Some of the popular frameworks in this category include: Cordova, Ionic and Xamarin. 

Here are the some top features of react-native:

• Developing an app with React Native allows you to use HTML-like syntax for building layouts 
• Apps can be created using standard programming languages like JavaScript 
• React Native does not rely on WebViews and works faster than hybrid apps 
• Testing can be done using components instead of emulators
• Since it is possible to reuse code, there is no need to write a lot of similar code 
• Advanced APIs 
• Better performance 
• Reduces cost 
• Simplified debugging process 
• Native plugins are available

2. NativeScript

NativeScript is one of the most well-established frameworks for developing cross-platform mobile applications in JavaScript. It supports AngularJS, TypeScript and it is built on top of the native UI toolkit for iOS and Android. The framework’s API is open source and free to use, with support available via a public Slack channel, GitHub repository, wiki, documentation and email. It’s important to note that because NativeScript targets native platforms, a developer may need to learn new languages depending on what they are used to. 

NativeScript has many great features like: 

• Being a cross-platform framework for building mobile apps using JavaScript. 
• It also provides native UI components and a unified development experience across multiple platforms. 
• A notable advantage of this framework is the fact that it provides a native, intuitive interface that feels more natural to users than interfaces built with HTML5 or hybrid frameworks. 
• They also have their own CLI tool which makes getting started much easier.

3. Swiftic

Build interactive and powerful native applications for iOS, Android, tvOS, and watchOS with a shared code base and state-of-the-art UI components. Turn your beautiful app concept into a production-ready application — in Swift! Use your favorite IDE (Xcode / VS Code) to develop once and deploy everywhere. 

Be proud of what you build instead of worrying about rewriting your work every time you switch devices or operating systems. Our drag&drop component toolkit allows you to prototype quickly or migrate fully from an existing mobile application written in Java or Objective C. 

Swiftic has many great features like: 

• One language for all targets 
• Live visual design 
• Pluggable architecture that can be extended with 3rd party modules 
• Compatibility with most popular programming languages including JavaScript, Python and Ruby Advanced support for accessibility  
• Easy integration of video playback  
• Convenient data management  

4. Ionic

Ionic Framework is a front-end mobile app development framework that allows developers to build both iOS and Android apps using the same codebase. Using AngularJS as the foundation, Ionic is an open source project which provides tools, plugins, and icons for rapid mobile development. It has gained in popularity with over 4 million downloads on GitHub since its inception in 2013. In December 2015, the company released version 1.0 of their product with a number of new features such as UI/UX improvements and enhanced functionality for Cordova plugins. 

Here are the some best features of Ionic:

• Component-based architecture : When creating templates with traditional web design techniques, there are many hurdles to jump through before getting something up and running. 
• With Ionic templates though, you only have to write HTML markup instead of worrying about things like JSX or even Angular directives—making your process much faster from start to finish! 
• The service offers a library of prebuilt elements that can be accessed from within the browser so you don’t need to re-invent the wheel every time you’re starting a new project. 
• Built-in fonts & icons : Most frameworks come with icon libraries but if not, then downloading them will add unnecessary extra steps to your workflow. 
• The Ionic framework includes all these features out of the box so no one needs to worry about it. And because they are vector graphics, they work across all devices and screen sizes making them futureproof too! 
• What’s more, their social media kit makes it easy for users to share pages and content via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest and WhatsApp. What does this mean for end users? Well when sharing links to your app’s website or content (such as blog posts), these platforms automatically pull relevant information from what you’re sharing including text overlays, images and hashtags.
•  If you want help setting up these kinds of integrations then check out this tutorial video by the Ionic team here. 
• Importing existing HTML, CSS and JavaScript into your project: Other than being based on AngularJS, Ionic uses Web Components which means developers can take advantage of everything that the browser supports natively. 
• You might be wondering how to use existing HTML snippets from sites you’ve built or other external files though; well Ionic makes this possible by offering four ways to import code including importing a template snippet (HTML file), importing CSS stylesheets (.scss/.less) as well as JavaScript files (.js) 
• New documentation platform powered by GitBook: Want more details about any of the specific features mentioned here? Well now you’ll get access to a lot more information thanks to the newly launched documentation platform called DocsCentre hosted by GitBook!

5. Flutter

Flutter is a framework for building user interfaces on iOS and Android. It is open source, available under the Apache license, and maintained by Google. A major goal of the Flutter framework is to enable developers to create a single application that can run on both Android and iOS from a single codebase.

However, this means that not all features will be available for both platforms. Consequently, developers need to think about the target platform when deciding which one is best for their app.

Here are the some best features of Flutter:

• If you want your application to be able to work with Google Maps natively, then you need to use Android Studio with an Android SDK. If you’re targeting iOS development, then you can use Xcode with a Mac OS X operating system and the latest release of Swift 4.0 
• As mentioned earlier, because Flutter does not support all APIs for each platform it may require some minor rewriting if developers want access to certain features like push notifications or Face ID authentication 
• Getting started with Flutter is relatively simple as it includes tools like pub or Gradle which make it easy to set up your project file structure 
• The majority of any changes will have to happen in HTML/CSS files 
• There are two primary ways to incorporate third-party libraries into your Flutter projects: through Dart’s built-in library dependency manager called pubspec or through third-party repositories 
• Similar to Java’s JDK and JavaScript’s Node Package Manager (NPM), Flutter provides a CLI utility called flutter doctor which runs checks against your machine configuration 
• To get more information about installing specific plugins for flutter, check out this link

6. Xamarin

Xamarin is a newer framework for building cross-platform apps. It is also open source, which means it is free to use and will stay current with new iOS and Android versions as they are released. Widely used by many cross platform app development companies, It provides the developer with the ability to build native apps using C#, F#, or Visual Basic. The same codebase can be used to create an app that can run on both iOS and Android devices. 

There are two main advantages of using this framework: firstly, there is less code needed because it uses the native languages of both operating systems, meaning there’s no need for wrappers or other languages in between; secondly, there is a single programming language to learn and master because the frameworks have been built from scratch.

Here are the some best features of Xamarin:

• Support for a variety of different IDEs 
• Cross-platform compatibility 
• Native API integration 
• Increased speed and performance 
• Rich set of UI components 
• Framework extensibility 
• Native debugging 
• Deployment architecture 
• Built-in support for third party libraries 
• Free 

7. PhoneGap

PhoneGap was originally a proprietary framework owned by Adobe, but they have since given up their rights to the company and open-sourced it. The framework is primarily geared towards hybrid apps, which are apps that run in a browser on the device but are controlled via an app or website on a web browser. PhoneGap is known for its ease of use and development process because it’s built with JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3. A large majority of tutorials for this framework can be found online.

Here are the some top features of PhoneGap:

• It uses native API’s: By using PhoneGap, developers will be able to tap into your mobile phone’s native API’s such as SMS messages, camera API’s, GPS API’s, and other functions without having to develop them themselves. 
• It supports multiple platforms: The great thing about PhoneGap is that it supports over 40 different platforms so you don’t need to learn a new programming language each time you want your app published on another platform like iOS or Android. 
• It doesn’t require Xcode/Android Studio: Developing an application in PhoneGap does not require any programming knowledge of Objective C or Java like you would need when developing for iOS and Android respectively with Xcode or Android Studio.

8. Cordova

Cordova is a cross-platform mobile development framework which enables the building of native mobile apps using web technologies. The framework offers two components: 1) Apache’s Open Source IDE for PhoneGap, Apache’s mobile application development platform and 2) PhoneGap Build service, which is a cloud-based build service that creates app packages from PhoneGap projects to run on multiple platforms.

The advantage of using this framework is that

• It allows developers to use their skills in HTML, CSS and JavaScript to write an app and then deploy it on iOS or Android devices with a single click. 
• To make the process easier, many plug-ins are available like PhoneGap Plugins which can be used to extend features like device camera access and adding social media login. 
• In addition to plug-ins there are also frameworks such as Ionic Framework by Drifty Co. that provide some prebuilt UI elements such as buttons, menus etc., so all you need to do is add your content and code necessary for each element. 
• Another option is Flutter by Google which provides stateful hot reloads and fast iteration times based on Dart programming language.

9. Titanium

Titanium is one of the most popular frameworks for app development. It has a high level of customization and allows for rapid application development, which is perfect for startups. The language can be learned quickly, so developers don’t need to be proficient in Objective-C or Java. 

The downside is that it requires more time to learn than other frameworks. As an open source framework, Titanium may not be as secure as other options, but it still offers a lot of options for developers looking to create apps on Android devices.

Here are the some top features of Titanium:

• Easy to Learn  
• Lots Of Options 
• Open Source 
• Insecure 
• High Level Of Customization 
• Rapid Application Development 
• Best Fit For Startups

Conclusion

When it comes to mobile app development, there are a lot of languages, frameworks, and libraries to choose from. This can make it difficult to find the right one for you, especially if you’re new to the world of app development. Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled a list of ten that are worth checking out. Once you take a look at them all, decide which one is best for your project and then dive in! 

Developing apps can be tricky and time-consuming. Getting the right Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Services in the UK is a key step to success. It’s important to find a team that has the skills, resources, and experience needed to build your app as well as be able to handle any changes you might need later on. Make sure you hire a company with an extensive portfolio of completed projects that are similar in scope to what you’re looking for.