React Native is an open-source framework which allows developers to build cross-platform mobile applications using JavaScript. Developed by Facebook, the framework enables one to design a mobile application by using the same design principles used to design a web application with ReactJs framework. It lets the developer build mobile application UI by compiling several components. Prior to React native, other options like Cordova, ionic were available to build a hybrid application.
Cross-platform mobile development is the creation of software applications that are in sync with several mobile operating systems. Initially, the complexity of developing mobile apps was exacerbated by the trouble of building out a backend that worked across multiple platforms. Although it was slow and costly, it was often easier to build native applications for each mobile operating system (OS). The problem? The code built for one operating system could not be repurposed for another OS.
Some of the advantages of developing Cross-Platform apps are:
Rather than write new codes for every platform, developers can reuse the same code across all platforms. This also helps reduce repetitive tasks, thus removing unnecessary work. However, it is not a new concept; it has been used in software development for several years now and reusing codes have had a number of benefits.
Contrary to the past when companies had to spend massively on various tools and technologies, cross-platform development now helps organizations invest only once for app development. No longer do they need to spend on creating apps for every individual platform separately. As for app developers, the same team, or unit, can be used to work on different platforms.
Once a single script is deployed, app development becomes much swifter. On the contrary, improved development speed leads to the product hitting the market sooner than earlier. Time can be spent on coming up with codes for a brand-new application, which is a win-win situation for developers, marketers and consumers.
There are several technologies, nowadays, like PhoneGap and Appcelerator, offering a cross-platform solution that allows developers to make changes easily. For example, when a tool like Appcelerator is used, codes can simply be written in HTML5 and changed for different platforms. Simply put, it’s all about the application of resources you already know about and converting them for different platforms.
This not only makes development of apps faster, but it also becomes easier to sync updates across all mobile devices.
Using cross platform app development guarantees that the overall look of the app can be maintained across all platforms since the same set of codes are being applied. Customers find an app cumbersome and ineffective if they need to use different practices for accessing the same app across different mobile phones. They would rather use one that looks and feels the same on both devices.
One of the major goals of a mobile app developer is to acquire as many customers as possible or aim for a targeted market and fully engage the customers.
It is not a tough prospect when most of the targeted audience is using the same platform. It is then easy to select which platform to develop the app on. But when the objective is to target a massive audience who could be using iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and others, the app would have to be made separately for the diverse platforms.
This is where cross platform mobile app development is beneficial. As with all things technological, it may be hard to execute, but the advantages do generally provide a better view for app development.
First released by Facebook in 2015, React Native, or RN, is a widely used JavaScript-based mobile app framework that lets you create natively-rendered mobile applications for iOS and Android.
In just a few years, React Native has become one of the leading solutions used for mobile development. The app development is used to run some of the world’s foremost mobile apps, including Instagram, Facebook, and Skype.
Flutter was introduced by Google in 2015, but today the buzz around it has grown stronger. Flutter is a cross-platform tool designed for building Android and iOS apps from a single code base by using a contemporary, responsive framework.
In a very short span of time, Flutter has managed to gain traction among developers. Today, app stores are graced by a slew of Flutter apps, including the Alibaba app with 50 million users. In addition, Flutter is not only growing at a rapid pace, but it also offers swifter development than React Native. What’s more, Flutter is free and open source, and it’s based on Dart, a relatively new but fast, goal-oriented programming language. Plus, it provides its own widgets — which are fast, catchy, and customizable —and drawn from its own high-performance rendering engine.