Top Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools

In an age, where every second person uses smartphones to browse about particular information, a company, or its services, various growing companies have realized that being accessible on a mobile app is a key to reaching maximum customers. Today, having a mobile app has become extremely important for a business. Plus, in a world where mobile app development is a matter of a few minutes, you don’t have any excuse for ignoring the fact. Many companies have already started to develop mobile apps to increase revenue and traffic on their website.

What Do You Mean By Mobile App Development Tools?

Mobile app development tools are software designed to ease the mobile app development process. It is essential to pick the right app development tool to develop successful mobile apps. Certain factors play an important role when you are trying to decide the best tool for mobile apps. 

For example, if you are designing an android app, you are going to use Android Studio whereas AppCode is iOS app development. However, cross-platform app development technology works for both platforms simultaneously. Let’s know about cross-platform in detail:

What Is Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?

As the name suggests, it is about building a program that could run on other platforms also. In short, cross-platform mobile development makes it easier for developers to develop an app for one or more other platforms. It is also known as “Hybrid mobile app development” where developers use intermediate programming languages — HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to deliver a mobile solution compatible with multiple operating systems (Android, iOS, Windows). So now, stop worrying about developing an iOS app if you already have an android app. But how can we pick the right tool for cross-platform mobile apps?

There are so many different options to choose from for hybrid mobile apps that it is not less than a daunting task for a company to reach one solution. To help you out, we have narrowed down the list of the best cross-platform mobile apps. Take a look:

Top Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools

1. Appcelerator Titanium

It is one of the top options available that makes use of JavaScript to develop, deploy and check the functionality of a mobile app. Also, there are so many tools developers can use to speed up the app development process. You can test your apps to detect bugs, & crashes using optimized APIs, allowing measuring its usage and the results of your app projects. In simple words, it improves overall app performance. 

Features:

• Cost-effective 
• Accessible fundamental source code
• Starting Price: $199 per month + Free version available

2. React Native

Developed by the Facebook community, React Native is an open-source, lightweight, fast, and robust cross-platform app development tool for Android, iOS, Web, and UWP. It is not only compatible with 3D party plugins and takes up a small space in memory, but it also provides native platform capabilities. All the reasons that make it the most preferred choice for a startup or small-sized businesses. It works on JavaScript using a single code base to develop an app that looks & feels like a native one.

Features:

• Makes faster running apps
• Intuitive architecture using advanced web technologies 
• Top-class support 

3. Xamarin

The popular framework use C# and .NET to design apps for multiple platforms. Launched by Microsoft, it is also costly as businesses are required to buy a license for Microsoft’s visual studio. A simplified platform for Android, iOS, and Windows, it utilizes visual studio tools to build apps. 

Features

• Code editing, refactoring, debugging, testing, and cloud publishing.
• Starting Price: $25 per month
• Automatic Android SDK installation
• Pleasing visual experience for iOS and Android 

4. Ionic

The open-source cross-platform for hybrid mobile app development allows users to select any user interface framework such as React and Angular. Designers can create pleasing user interfaces with astonishing features using HTML5 SDK, CSS, and Javascript along with a knowledge of Angular JS is necessary to build an app using this framework. Ionic is easy to use & easy to learn with faster prototyping. 

Features:

• OSS Framework 
• Better than native apps in terms of support, speed, and third-party access.
• Starting Price: Free

5. Flutter

Introduced by Google, Flutter is an open-source SDK that allows businesses to have two apps that can operate on Android and iOS without extra money and time. There is no need to manually update the UI content since it is a reactive framework. It is faster and automatically rebuilds the widget tree to deliver features like icons, scrolling, navigation, fonts, etc. 

Features:

• Productive for developers
• Customization capabilities with a set of material design 
• Brand-oriented designs with OEM widgets 

6. Sencha

It is a JavaScript framework that enables developers to create apps for android, iOS, and Windows for any browser such as Safari, Mozilla, and Chrome. Using this framework’s pre-built elements, developers get an opportunity to sit & work from anywhere. The popular, robust, HTML5-inspired cross-platform framework provides 115+ fully supported and testing UI components to create sustainable themes by personalizing themes built on Ext JS, iOS, Ext React, and Ext Angular high visualization.

Features:

• Starting Price: $1.195 per year
• IDE plugins
• Lower web app development cost    
• MVC architecture 

7. Qt

One of the best cross-platform app development tools that enable developers to create UIs, applications, and embedded devices using the same code for Android, iOS, and Windows. If there is an issue in the performance of the app, the changes can be easily made by using Qt as it will automatically apply the required changes. You can track your app’s performance on different platforms. Moreover, it is easy to use and has a user-friendly interface that comprises a set of libraries.

Features:

• Can shorten the codebase
• Easy testing 
• Enhanced code stability 
• Comes with Qt Quick system (QML)

8. PhoneGap

It is an open-source framework suitable for creating cross-platform mobile apps in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows. The files can be stored in a local directory or the cloud. It makes the apps lighter-weight and highly sustainable. Using Adobe PhoneGap, the developers can work with one code base but with various technologies. The app is based on Cordova technology while the debugging tools help in evaluating the codebase in JavaScript. 

Features:

• Starting Price: Free
• Access to third-party tools with a large number of plugins
• Supports the in-built features of mobile phones such as camera, contacts and call details, etc.

Recommended Read: Beginner’s Guide To Develop A Mobile App

9. Unity3d

This is a popular cross-platform app development tool that comes with excellent graphics quality. It is an easy-to-use tool that can be used for more than a single mobile app. The developers can export apps or games to 17 platforms including iOS, Android, Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Linux, Web, and Wii. It is the best option to create appealing apps or visuals in games. 

Features:

• Physics Oriented Events
• Access to the Components
• Can handle vector variables and time variables 
• Developers can track user analytics and share the app on social networks

10. Corona

It is a popular 2D/2.5D gaming and mobile app that developers can use to build cross-platform mobile applications for android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. It uses “Lua” which is an efficient, fast, and flexible programming language that helps developers to build robust mobile games & apps. They can speed up the coding process and easily change the code and see results. The lightweight scripting ability of Lua enhances the performance of the app.

Features:

• Free to use
• High-quality graphics & high-speed development 
• Integration with over 1000 APIs and plugins
• Single coding for multi-platform deployment 

11. 5app

This iOS and android app development tool is suitable for companies operating in learning, HR consulting, and firms that are willing to streamline resources for their employees. To create apps through this tool, developers use JavaScript and HTML5. One of the reasons behind using this tool is to get apps that are compatible with iOS, Windows, Blackberry, and Android devices. Due to this, businesses can select the most suitable operating system.

Features:

• Predetermined workflow reporting 
• Geolocation reporting 
• Data reliability 
• Transactional integrity 

12. Alpha Anywhere

This cross-platform mobile app development tool gives developers a variety of options for their programming language to develop on multiple platforms. For Example, Xbasic, C#, VB.NET, JavaScript, etc. In addition to this, developers can use any language which is supported by .NET such as C++, and Cobra. It is robust, and low-code mobile development framework to create brand-oriented, safe & secure mobile and web applications faster and smoother. The apps can be accessed in offline mode. Another impressive quality is its huge storage capacity. When it comes to GPS and GIS, this tool has got all your answers. 

Features:

• Comes with a calendar feature
• The robust app allows businesses to get data via mobile applications
• Uses HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript etc.

These are some of the best cross-platform mobile app development tools which are currently being used by various small & large enterprises. Using this framework, businesses can reach a wide audience while also cutting expenses compared to other platforms. Don’t hesitate to try one of these cross-platform software tools.