When your startup or business hires a mobile app developer to create an application, they leverage their experience, skills, and knowledge to create the best software for your needs. They also rely on different mobile development frameworks and strong app technology to complete the job efficiently. Let’s take a deeper look at mobile development frameworks.
What Is a Mobile Development Framework?
You can think of a mobile app development framework as a software development platform. By working with an app development framework, developers gain tools, libraries, and APIs to create mobile applications quickly and efficiently.
Developers like working with frameworks that offer many pre-built solutions. Such solutions help with common mobile app development challenges, including UI design, database integration, and cross-platform compatibility.
Mobile app developers can choose from multiple frameworks today, each offering unique features and capabilities. The best frameworks allow developers to create software for multiple platforms with native-like quality. React Native is an example of an excellent framework for Android apps and iOS apps with several native-like features.
Native vs. Hybrid
To understand mobile development frameworks better, you should know the difference between native and hybrid apps. Native apps are specifically developed for a certain platform or operating system, such as Android or iOS. They are generally faster and more reliable than hybrid apps. They can also use a mobile device’s hardware more readily. However, they must be developed with native tools. For example, Swift and Java work for Apple and Google hardware, respectively.
The disadvantage of developing a native app is that you must use two separate languages to create two separate apps, which consumes time.
Using a hybrid platform like React Native can be more efficient, depending on your needs and goals. With a hybrid mobile development framework, developers can wrap up a website in a native app shell and deploy it on the App Store and Play Store as mobile software.
Examples of Mobile Development Frameworks
React Native
React Native is a popular open-source mobile app development framework, widely used for creating cross-platform applications. The framework helps developers craft applications for different operating systems using a single codebase. In other words, developers have to write less code when developing for both iOS and Android platforms.
Although React Native is a hybrid platform, it has many native-like features.
React Native is built on top of the React.js library, allowing developers to utilize their knowledge of JavaScript and HTML to develop mobile apps. React Native also offers a series of tools and libraries that streamline the development process.
A lot of developers love working with React Native because it can create fast apps. It uses various optimization techniques and also runs code in a separate thread from the main UI thread to help developers craft apps at close to native speed. Examples of mobile software created with React Native include Instagram, Facebook, Uber Eats, and Airbnb.
Ionic
Ionic is also a popular mobile app development framework for developing cross-platform applications made with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Like a good mobile app development framework, it helps developers make software for iOS, Android, and the web.
Ionic provides a series of UI components that can be used to speed up the development process. It also features various tools and libraries for testing and deployment. Although the framework uses web technologies, it can provide close to a native-like experience to users. Examples of apps made with Ionic are MarketWatch, Instant Pot, and JustWatch.
Flutter
Flutter is a relatively new mobile app development framework and can help create high-performance, cross-platform applications for iOS, Android, and the web.
Flutter uses a programming language called Dart, which is designed to be easy to learn and use. It also carries a range of pre-built UI components for the convenience of developers. Additionally, it supports hot reload, which means that developers can see changes in the app instantly as they make them.
Flutter had some limitations when it was launched a few years ago. However, it has come a long way since 2017. The app is stable, mature, and fast. Surveys suggest that is now more popular than React Native. Examples of apps made with Flutter include BMW, KlasterME, and Google Ads.
Xamarin
Developers can create applications for iOS, Android, and Windows devices using the C# programming language with this framework. Xamarin enables developers to reuse their existing codebase and share code between different platforms, which speeds up development and deployment processes.
Xamarin supports various features such as UI controls, data storage, web services integration, and cross-platform testing. It also provides a Visual Studio integrated development environment and allows developers to work with different third-party tools and libraries.
Although the market share for Xamarin is less than React Native or Flutter, it has helped create some notable apps, including The World Bank, Alaska Airlines, and others.
NativeScript
NativeScript is an open-source mobile application development framework that can help developers build iOS and Android mobile applications with JavaScript and TypeScript. NativeScript is a popular option for developers familiar with front-end web development technologies.
Like other frameworks, NativeScript offers a set of pre-built UI components, backend integrations, and cross-platform plugins that can be used to reduce development time and increase productivity. It also offers support for Angular, Vue.js, and other modern frameworks, allowing developers to choose the technology stack that suits their project best.
The framework offers many advantages, like code sharing between platforms, easy integration with third-party libraries, and direct access to native APIs, to name a few. Overall, NativeScript is a versatile and robust tool for building native mobile apps, especially for teams with web development experience. Examples of apps made with NativeScript include MyPuma, Portable North Pole, and others.
Framework7
Framework7 is a free and open-source mobile HTML framework used for developing hybrid mobile apps or websites that have an interface like a native mobile application. Developers can make mobile, desktop or web apps with this framework.
It is built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and packaged with Cordova to enable native app functionalities. Framework7 provides a wide range of UI components, animations, and tools that are easy to use and highly customizable.
Framework7 is popular with developers who like a lightweight framework that integrates with other popular JavaScript libraries and frameworks. Some developers also use Framework7 to make prototypes quickly.
The Right Mobile Development Framework
Picking the right mobile app development framework depends on multiple factors. While there are no straightforward answers, here are some steps your team can follow:
- Identify the purpose and target platform of your mobile app.
- Evaluate the development tools and resources offered by the framework.
- Assess the expertise of your development team in different frameworks and programming languages.
- Consider the framework’s level of community support, documentation, and availability of third-party libraries and plugins.
- Check the cost implications of the framework, including licensing fees, development expenses, and maintenance expenses.
- Test the framework’s compatibility, scalability, and security features.
- Think about your need for cross-platform development. Ask yourself how well the framework supports multiple platforms, such as iOS and Android.
- Consider the development tools and resources offered by the framework, including IDEs, testing platforms, and deployment options.
Ultimately, you must select a mobile development framework that matches your development team’s expertise, project requirements, target platform, performance, compatibility, and scalability.
Expert Team
To develop a modern, functional, optimized, and successful app, you must partner with top mobile app developers who are well-versed in different programming languages and frameworks.
At Guaraná, we’re proud to be the foremost app development agency in North America. We offer a variety of professional mobile app development services in Toronto, Montreal, and Brooklyn, customized services to match your needs.
As leaders in mobile app development, specializing in native iOS app development and Android app development, we’re experts in multiple programming languages, technologies, and frameworks. In fact, we rely on our expertise in the following languages and frameworks to develop the top software for our clients:
- React
- Angular
- Node JS
- Swift
- Mongo DB
- Ruby on Rails
- JavaScript
- Java
Our line of development services covers mobile apps, web apps, Beacon, Augmented Reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoT). With our experience, you can avoid many of the reasons why apps fail in the marketplace.
Please feel free to get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you achieve your mobile app development targets. Our team of experts is happy to answer any queries.