Cross-platform app development enables you to create apps for more than one platform such as Android and iOS using the same codebase. Because there are many different platforms and app development tools on the market, cross-platform development enables you to release your app for all of these platforms on all marketplaces.
If your app does not run cross-platform, you are going to lose out on a lot of potential users or customers, plus using a cross-platform development solution prevents you from needing to re-create the app for a new device in different programming languages.
#1: Appcelerator
Compatible with Windows, Android,andiOS, Appcelerator comes with everything you need to create mobile applications from a single JavaScript codebase. To date, Appcelerator has powered over 100,000 mobile apps and developers using this tool have instant access to over 5,000 APIs.
Appcelerator is packed full of top-tier features too, such as the drag-and-drop placement of objects and inbuilt hyperloop features. There is also real-time analytics – including analytics relating to performance – which can help you find and fix major issues with your app in real-time, as they come about.
#2: PhoneGap
If you are looking for something which gives you more creative control, PhoneGap may be the tool for you. It is an open-source freeware program for creating mobile apps on iOS, Android and Windows phones, using web development languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
PhoneGap taps into hardware features found in many modern smartphones such as the accelerometer, GPS, camera, sound and pretty much everything else. In addition to this, there are many resources online which have been created by PhoneGap to show you the ropes and teach you how to build applications within the platform.
PhoneGap works both on Windows and MacOS, and you can even test your apps natively on your own device before going live.
#3: NativeScript
NativeScript is another free open-source tool which allows you to develop cross-platform mobile applications. In fact, it is completely free and there are no paid or premium options at all.
Using NativeScript, you can instantly begin creating mobile apps for both Android and iOS (but not Windows, which is largely dead anyway) using Angular, JavaScript or TypeScript. There is also additional integration with frameworks like Vue.Js and it has hundreds of different plugins and extensions for added functionality.
Unlike Appcelerator and PhoneGap, NativeScript does require some prior knowledge such as the ability to use command-line and you need to provide your own text editor (such as Notepad++) and have it set up for the codebase you are using. There is a lot of documentation, though; you’re not left in the dark.
If you are developing a mobile application, you should be using a cross-platform tool to ensure that your app will work on as many devices as possible. The reason for this is obvious, yet many people opt to build their apps for different devices and platforms individually (such as building an Android and iOS app from scratch) instead of utilizing tools which will enable the app to work on both.