Cross-Platform Mobile App Development is Moving Ahead

Mobile app development is an industry that continues to keep growing. Although the industry has developed a lot from its early days, there is still much work to be done in terms of cross-platform development. The promise of having tools that help you develop just a single app to work on the different platforms has been made a number of times, but the tools have not always matched the rhetoric. But things might finally be about to change.

Why cross-platform in the first place?

Not every mobile app has to have a cross-platform functionality. The key for any organisation is to develop an app that fits the overall strategy and this might mean focusing on a single operating system. Nonetheless, there are certain benefits to cross-platform development, including its ability to cut down the costs. If you want an app that works on a number of platforms, developing a single version will cost less than having to develop a multiple versions. Furthermore, the maintenance of the app, not to mention the increased market space, are important aspects to consider and which are often made easier with a cross-platform app.

The old promises

As app development improved, many experts were vouching on for HTML5 to be the saviour of cross-platform development. According to the experts, by developing apps with HTML5, the mobile apps would be available on all platforms and ease the pressures on the web developers. The most notable successes in the field were the hybrid mobile apps available on Facebook.

But the story of HTML5 suffered a blow in 2012, when the hybrid approach was largely forgotten. Facebook announced that it wouldn’t be using it any longer, as the iOS version, which had just come out, didn’t match the language. Instead, iOS had been rewritten as a native application, with plenty of mobile app developers realising the limitations of HTML5.

New cross-platform tools

After the developers decided it’s time to move away from HTML5, the focus shifted to creating tools that don’t simply find compromises. It was time to move away from settling with a middle ground, instead of creating cross-platform apps that work with the same efficiency as native apps.

The biggest issue had been the distinct UIs that iOS and Android phones have.  But new tools have made it easier to ensure the different aspects of UI are taken care of without the need to create a separate app. Performance tools, such as Appcelerator, can help in the build up process and offer functionalities you might not find elsewhere. What’s even more is the availability of cross-platform solutions that allow developers access applications and files across different operating systems. Management systems like Parallels.com have allowed teams to overcome common development issues and make the application use possible no matter the location.The new tools have also improved in affordability. Mobile app developers can find special discounts to ensure the development process is cost effective.

As well as improving in efficiency and functionality, the new wave of cross-platform tools for app development has also brought about the ease of creating. Just five years ago, mobile app development was something only seasoned professionals were able to pull it off. The process was laborious and you needed to build everything from scratch. But the modern tools have provided a much wider access to developers, with a variety of skills.

The tools to look out

If you are looking into cross-platform mobile app development, you have plenty of options in front of you. Finding the right platform and services will always depend on your needs, so you need to carefully understand what you require from the tools. But there are a few tools you should definitely consider at this moment in time. These include:

• Xamarin which provides a C# codebase and code-sharing functionality on multiple platforms.
• Kinvey is a backend service for developers, operating in a cloud-based format.
• Xojo, which also offers maintenance-free web app hosting for businesses.
• Dropsource to provide you with an automated programming service to source the code.

The above is a snapshot into some of the best tools on the market. You can find further ideas from this Forbes article, for example. It outlines a range of services that can help individual developers as well as teams to succeed with their projects.

Cross-platform app development has definitely moved forward in leaps in the past few years. It continues to remain an important part of the app development process, with the benefits supporting the systems use. The tools have improved immensely and businesses can now rest assured the functionality that has always been promised can finally be fulfilled as well.