From booking a cab, shopping, checking emails, watching movies to ordering medicines, people use their smartphones for almost everything. Thus, the mobile-first approach has become crucial for companies that wish to connect with audiences in 2020.
Brands are allotting significant budgets for developing Android and iOS applications. Those who wish to offer a similar experience on multiple platforms choose a hybrid mobile development framework to reduce overall development time. Hence, the choice of the right framework becomes crucial. Understanding the most popular and useful framework would be helpful. This article is focusing on the most popular mobile app frameworks that have been in demand this year. In the future mobile app is the requirement of every company.
Here’re some of the popular application development platforms that have so-far attracted brands and developers this year.
Flutter
With Google’s Flutter, developers can create awesome looking desktop and mobile applications using a single codebase. The UI toolkit and collection of customizable widgets help in building superb interfaces quickly. Features like fonts, navigation, scrolling, and icons offer a native-like experience to app users. Material design widgets help designers create expressive, powerful UI for the app. Credit for the truly native feel goes to the framework’s ‘Skia’ 2F graphics engine.
Cryptograph, Reflectly, Google Ads, Alibaba, and Hamilton Musical are some of the renowned brands that trust and use Flutter framework for their apps.
Adobe Cordova
Cordova utilizes JavaScript, CSS3, and HTML5 for cross-platform development. The Adobe Cordova framework uses PhoneGap codebase. Adobe and Apache own the open-source development framework. It helps in linking mobile and web applications easily without worrying about hardware limitations. Cordova’s JavaScript APIs allow the app to use various device features.
Engineers develop a single code that works on various devices without losing their responsiveness and native features. Plugins easily bridge the difference between the device’s native features and web applications. Developers can work as a team, and members can work on different modules. So, development time is drastically reduced.
Walmart, Forum.eu, DAZN.com, and Adobe are some big names that use Cordova for smartphone app development.
Xamarin
Xamarin is another open-source platform used by developers for creating hybrid mobile apps with C# and .NET. The framework is owned by Microsoft and has extensive documentation along with community support.
Due to the availability of widgets and libraries, Xamarin can be used for developing Windows, macOS, WatchOS, tvOS, iOS, and Android apps. Xamarin is trusted by renowned brands like Microsoft News, Alaska Airlines, UPS, Azure, and Outback Steakhouse.
Ionic
When it comes to hybrid app development, Ionic makes it in the list of top five. The framework allows engineers to build native-like apps with the support of JavaScript, CSS3, and HTML5. Ionic also allows developers to use these technologies and then use the Cordova platform for distributing them through native app stores. Ionic helps in creating robust apps as it can hold bulk UI components. Engineers prefer using the same for front-end development. MarketWatch, Pacifica, JustWatch, and Diesel are brands that trust Ionic.
Facebook’s React Native
Facebook’s open-source framework, React native, does not need much of an introduction. It is one of the most appreciated cross-platform app development solutions for iOS and Android apps. Remember, it is facing competition, but it is not dead!
Engineers select this option when they need something that can help create high-performance apps at a feasible price. The framework supports faster deployment. Applications built using RN can offer platform-agnostic native elements. React native uses JSX, so even developers who are not proficient in complex languages can create iOS and Android applications.
Apps like UberEats, Instagram, Airbnb, Soundcloud, and Facebook are built using React Native. The Live Reloading feature, sharable codes, and faster app performance has helped it in retaining popularity.
JQuery Mobile
JQuery Mobile is an HTML5-based UI framework that works perfectly on the jQuery UI foundation and jQuery (JavaScript framework). It is used for creating responsive iOS, Android apps, and websites. Engineers need to write lesser codes for providing similar features on various devices. The cross-browser JavaScript framework makes the site SEO friendly and readable for all search engines. Some of the other features of this lightweight framework are WAI-ARIA accessibility for screen readers, engaging touch-screen UI.
Mobile Angular UI
Appreciated for its interactive components, Mobile Angular UI is a combination of AngularJS and Bootstrap. The open-source framework provides better mobile experience, thanks to robust libraries like overthrow.js and fastclick.js. A super-small CSS file makes it possible for developers to bring mobile app features on the web app. On the other hand, Bootstrap 3 syntax in the framework helps bring desktop web features to mobile apps. The framework can be easily implemented in an angular application.
Monaca
This is an HTML5 based framework developed with PhoneGap and Cordova. Monaca is popular because it has a cloud-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment)). This facilitates developers to use Monaca without installing additional tools. Besides, they can work accurately in a web browser. There is also a desktop app and a CLI tool for those who want to work offline. It is easier to sync progress to the cloud through this framework.
Another benefit of using Monaca is its alliance with Onsen UI. Onsen is a compelling UI designing tool for mobile apps. Monaca Debugger brings an excellent debugging experience by using Onsen. It combines advanced JavaScript debugging to Cordova apps, including breakpoints, step in/out, and profiler.
The use of smartphones has considerably increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Users are always looking for quick and efficient results while surfing online. Thus, the demand for faster and lightweight apps is expected to increase during the coming months. Consequently, businesses are keenly looking for app development services. They want to expand their business growth which can be achieved efficiently through a mobile app. The use of smartphones are increasing during the COVID -19.
If you need an experienced team of developers to work on your native or hybrid app, you should discuss your needs with specialists at Smart Sight Innovations. The smartphone app development company has worked on applications for firms from several categories.
About Author:-
Isha Mathur is a Professional Content Writer at Smart Sight Innovations. Isha holds spectacular skills in the field of technology and has been diving into the field for 4 years. She is always curious to know about technology updates. You can contact her on Facebook.