Android or iOS? His mind-wrenching question puts the decision-makers confused at the first point while thinking of making a mobile app. You may find plenty of articles on this topic, like why Android is best? Why iOS over Android for enterprise apps? Benefits of Android over iOS and vice versa etc.
The apps world has never been come up with a solid solution to which is the best to be used. Both of these development platforms are equally great for various good reasons. Both of these have benefits and flaws, but one cannot say one is superior to another. In this article, we are presenting you with the 10 cross-platform development tools for mobile apps.
Context
- Introduction
- Cross-Platform Development Tools for Mobile Apps
- Sencha Tool
- PhoneGap Tool
- Titanium Studio Tool
- Cocos2d Tool
- Unity 3D Tool
- Corona SDK Tool
- Qt Tool
- Xamarin
- Alpha Anywhere
- 5Apps
- Conclusion
Introduction
For consumer apps, it is ideal to choose one platform to release the app first and then try to build a wonderful native experience surrounding it. There are millions of users on both Android and iOS platforms, and they want to enjoy a fluid experience with the apps they access. When it comes to cross-platform apps, these have some limitations as to what it can deliver. However, in many such scenarios, cross-platform apps benefits will make it the most compelling choice.
So without any further ado, let's get started with the 10 cross-platform development tools for mobile apps.
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Cross-Platform Development Tools for Mobile Apps
1. Sencha Tool
Sencha will let you develop the apps in HTML5. The major product by Sencha in cross-platform mobile app development is Ext Js 5. The developers rely on it largely as it can work across various devices on multiple platforms and boost productivity with pre-built components, which will help save a lot of time on writing codes.
However, Ext Js is not a transition tool, but it can save a lot of time in development. Once you develop the HTML5 code, you can easily translate it to Android and iOS platforms by using translation tools like PhoneGap.
2. PhoneGap Tool
PhoneGap is a tool offered by Adobe, which comes under free licensing for developers to translate codes from HTML5 and CSS. PhoneGap maintains SDKs at their end for various platforms you may develop the apps, so you need not worry about it. Once you are done with the app development, you can share it with the team members, who can further review it and see if there is any improvement.
Going beyond just Android and iOS, Flosum points out that PhoneGap can also be used to create applications on Windows and BlackBerry too. So, this acts as a truly functional cross-platform mobile app development too.
They look after SDKs (programming advancement units) on their end for every one of the stages you can build up an application for, so it's something less you need to stress over. What's more, once your application is finished, you can impart it to your colleagues for a survey to check whether you need to make any improvements. Beyond iOS and Android, PhoneGap likewise makes applications for BlackBerry and Windows. So it is really a cross-stage portable turn of events
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3. Titanium Studio Tool
Using JS, SDK from Titanium will help create native Android and iOS apps by reusing about 80% to 90% of the codes from one another. This will save a significant amount of time for developers who want to build native apps for both platforms.
As Titanium is an open-source SDK, there is a huge community of independent developers contributing to make it better day by day in terms of features and functionality. If you find any bugs out there, you can also find fixes and share them with other users.
4. Cocos2d Tool
Cocos2d is used primarily for 2D game development. This cross-platform development tool for mobile apps also gives the option for developers to use five different forks on the platforms for development, which they can choose based on their choice of programming languages as:
- C++
- JavaScript
- C#
- Swift using XCode or Objective-C
- Python etc.
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5. Unity 3D Tool
Unity 3D is also focused on game creation, but unlike Cocos, it has 3D features. Primarily it is a game engine that you can use to put wonderful graphics into games. This is a cross-platform app development tool, which simply goes beyond basic translation tasks.
After developing your application code on UnityScript, Boo, or C#, you can further export the game to different platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, Playstation, Web, Wii, Xbox, or Linux. Unity will also help you to distribute them to different stores and get social shares. You can also track user analytics using Unity.
6. Corona SDK Tool
Corona's SDK can help you do the coding of your app within five minutes of downloading it. This is a cross-platform development tool, which is optimized to create gaming graphics for 2D games. You can make it 10 times faster than other platforms by taking care of the code from scratch.
Lua is the programming language used for Corona, which is C based, and thereby making it cross-platform. Corona uses Lua as its coding language as it is robust to leave a strong footprint for mobile apps.
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7. Qt Tool
Qt is a subscription-based development service that lets you code in C++ and help export your app to various platforms you try to develop. Once you export the apps, the Qt interface will let you access the respective platforms' apps. With this, you can see how well these cross-platform applications are performing on different devices. You may also make changes where needed with this preview. The best part of using the Qt tool is that you do not have to own any device to test the same.
Some other tools for native cross-platform mobile app development are Xamarin Test Cloud, Alpha Anywhere Tool, 5AppToo, etc. using a cross-platform developmental model, you need to keep in mind that the development of cross-platform apps is not as simple as writing the code once and then getting it translated with a translator. You can surely reduce time and cost related to development by using cross-platform app development tools, but you need to update the UI and UX needs to match each system's requirements. The menu displays and navigation commands should match the UX specifications regarding how iOS and Android devices are operating. You need to gain experience and expertise to build successful and fully functional cross-application apps.
8. Xamarin
With a free starter alternative, Xamarin is a portable advancement apparatus that incorporates application store conveyance, execution testing and checking, and the capacity to do virtual tests on over 1,000 gadgets to ensure everything is working and showing like it should.
Using Ruby or C# for code, Xamarin has made a hearty cross-stage versatile improvement stage that has been received by enormous names like Microsoft, Foursquare, IBM, and Dow Jones.
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9. Alpha Anywhere
The next cross-platform development tool for mobile apps is the Alpha Anywhere. Alpha Anywhere is a device that gives the designer a few choices with regards to programming dialects, including C#, JavaScript, Xbasic, VB.NET, or some other .NET upheld languages like Cobra and C++.
The site offers bit by bit walkthrough video instructional exercises to help first-time application engineers ensure they're getting everything right, except it accompanies a lovely weighty sticker price.
10. 5Apps
Planned fundamentally for organizations creating applications for their workers to utilize (or for the individuals those organizations recruit to make those applications), 5App spotlights information security while utilizing HTML5 and JavaScript coding to trade applications to Android and iOS.
The just disadvantage is they expect you to connect with them before you begin utilizing their foundation, yet they guarantee efficiency and usability once you do.
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Conclusion
- Sencha Tool
- PhoneGap Tool
- Titanium Studio Tool
- Cocos2d Tool
- Unity 3D Tool
- Corona SDK Tool
- Qt Tool
- Xamarin
- Alpha Anywhere
- 5Apps