Employees and customers are using mobile phones and tablets to do more business. The user experience that they have with your business apps is important. Native app development has historically ensured that the best app experience is delivered to your app users.
Unfortunately, native app development is expensive and laborious. Plus, in today's job market, these specialized developers are hard to hire, given how highly they're in demand.
Cross-platform app development is the creation of apps that are compatible with multiple mobile operating systems. Rather than developing apps for each platform using native app development, development for iOS apps and Android apps is completed with one codebase.
Cross-platform development is becoming a popular method for speeding the development of apps with outstanding user experiences on any device. Apps built using cross-platform approaches, also save significantly on development costs, because companies don't need to employ developers with knowledge of every mobile programming language.
Leveraging cross-platform mobile development tools speed app development and reduce traditional development challenges. For example, building native mobile apps for multiple mobile devices and operating systems can double or triple the number of resources and time necessary to develop business apps. With new devices launching rapidly, a myriad of screen sizes, and the BYOD trend, developing separate native apps for every business process is now viewed as a losing proposition.
Native mobile apps are written with specific platforms and devices in mind. While these can be preferred for complex consumer apps, they generally take longer to develop, are more expensive to create, and require experienced developers with knowledge of various coding languages. As a result, they are not ideal for internal business applications.
Cross-platform hybrid apps are a common choice for building enterprise apps as they often leverage rapid mobile app development (RMAD). These are low-code development tools that quickly build business apps using a single code base, and put apps in native device wrappers for the developer. These apps run on mobile devices of all types.
Even for those developers who prefer native development, cross-platform solutions can help them prototype apps faster. This can help them speed the collection of business requirements and gain real-world user feedback on design concepts or app layouts. For independent developers, prototyping apps with those types of solutions can help them showcase concepts and gain app approvals for new projects in record time.
Previously, developers couldn't trust cross-platform tools to deliver outstanding experiences. The software did not have much flexibility and limited the ability for developers to add the features and functions that truly enabled one code base to offer the best experience on each platform. Most solutions were inflexible and produced apps with mediocre app experiences.
That's no longer the case, with innovative development products.
Cross-platform development software has matured enormously. Now, the best solutions enable developers to craft apps that incorporate best practices for each operating platform and enterprise requirements. The top cross-platform solutions can:
With businesses demanding more apps to streamline activity, more and more developers are adopting cross-platform app development to complete high-quality app development projects faster.
New Survey shows developers are moving to cross-platform mobile app development.
There are many platforms and frameworks available to organizations looking to develop cross-platform mobile apps. When selecting one of these tools, organizations should keep the following features and considerations in mind.
There are many of these cross-platform app builders currently on the market. React Native is a mobile app development framework that allows you to build mobile apps for iOS and Android. Alpha Anywhere is a low-code mobile app development platform that develops cross-platform apps that work on any mobile device and PCs.
The Alpha Anywhere mobile app development platform is consistently ranked by app creators for its speed, flexibility, and rich mobile app features. This low-code software was awarded InfoWorld Technology of the Year and consistently receives 5-star reviews from users on product review sites like Capterra, TrustPilot, and Gartner Peer Insights.
These highly secure applications run like native applications on both personal computers and mobile devices. With built-in mobile app capabilities, developers with or without mobile development experience can rapidly create robust mobile apps in significantly reduced time than with competing methods using a single code base.
Alpha Anywhere Community Edition is a free version of the complete Alpha Anywhere platform for developers to prototype apps, craft working apps, and test apps in real-world environments. Unlike free trials from other software providers, Alpha Anywhere Community Edition has no time limit and does not limit the number of apps you can build. Simply develop your apps and do user testing on iOS and Android devices. Simply develop your apps and do user testing on iOS and Android devices with the user interface.
These highly secure applications run like native applications on both personal computers and mobile devices. With built-in mobile app capabilities, developers with or without mobile development experience can rapidly create robust mobile apps in significantly reduced time than with competing methods using a single code base.
When you're ready to take your app into production, simply upgrade to Alpha Anywhere to deploy your web and mobile apps to the app stores. Alpha Cloud enables one-click deployment for your apps, enabling you to keep your business applications safe and secure while speeding them to end-users’ mobile devices.
Understand the Pros and Cons of Low-Code Mobile App Development
