For many entrepreneurs seeking mobile apps for business, all mobile apps are the same. An Android app that runs on Android devices and an iOS app that works on iOS devices.
However, this is not the scene with mobile app developers. They have to deal with the big question first –“Which is the best framework for mobile app development of this particular requirement?”
You might also not know that there are several kinds of Android and iOS mobile apps. Here is a glimpse for your better understanding:
- Native Android Apps on Java
- Native iOS Apps on Objective-C or Swift
- Web apps on HTML5, JavaScript and CSS
- Hybrid Apps on HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript
The best category is of the native apps, which are more optimized and stable, but come at a higher cost and take a longer duration for mobile app development. Companies with higher development budget and large requirements use such apps.
On the flip side are the Web apps, which are generally cheaper but come with limited features and scalability as they run on browsers. They typically install a web browser on the device with a particular mobile site bookmarked on it. They offer the same usability and UX that mobile responsive sites provide.
Then come the hybrid apps that run both on Android and iOS phones. They carry most of the pros and cons of both native and web apps as they are built on a hybrid of technologies from both. They are cheaper than Native apps and possess more stability than web apps. However, they are still slower and less optimized than Native apps.
Each of these classifications has its own benefits and cons. They are developed on different frameworks and use varied tech stacks. So which is the best mobile app development framework for your mobile app development project?
We will understand this in deep. In this article, I am going to enlist 10 mobile app development frameworks used by mobile application development companies and developers across the industry. You would be surprised to know the brands that are running the apps developed on these frameworks.
Top Mobile App Development Frameworks in 2019
1. React Native
Inspired by the massive success of ReactJS, it was an in-house project of Facebook made available to the public on GitHub. With over 1,800 contributors and 15 thousand commits, React Native is one of the most admired repositories on GitHub.
If you love JavaScript, there is no better selection than this mobile app development framework to develop your Android as well as iOS Apps. React Native utilizes the same libraries like ReactJS. Also termed as ReactJs for developing app components, it’s hard to question its cross-platform compatibility to build hybrid apps.
While React Native does not give a purely native app, you still can’t point out the developed app is not native, because it uses the same building blocks as Objective-C and Java use for building native iOS and Android apps. It offers an equal UX and speed similar to native apps.
React Native has made is place among many lists of top mobile application development frameworks in 2019. Developed by Facebook, this framework powers the mobile apps of top brands like Instagram, Tesla, Airbnb, Walmart, and many other fortune 500 brands.
2. Ionic
Iconic is an extremely popular and open-source framework for hybrid apps development. It is used by many mobile app development companies to deliver first-class solutions for simple to most complex requirements.
Like ReactJs, Ionic is also capable of developing Native-like user experience and stability. It uses HTML, CSS3, and JavaScript to provide the best development environment to build even the biggest commercial apps. You can also access the Ionic market to download projects and templates developed by other contributors.
Working with the very powerful Angular SDK, you can also use this framework in combination with PhoneGap. If you love JavaScript and Angular, you can build topnotch hybrid apps using the Ionic framework.
3. Xamarin
Xamarin is yet another framework to develop cross-platform mobile apps. It is managed by Microsoft hence, gives access to the C# code-base. Unlike others in the list, it does not use HTML or JavaScript. So if you are not comfortable with JavaScript and still want to develop high-end mobile apps, you can rely on C# used by the framework.
Be advised that C# is as powerful as Objective-C or Java codebase. You would get a similar kind of feasibility and scalability for your apps using Xamarin. It offers one of the quickest ways to develop mobile apps by coding really fast. You get to use the same IDE, API, and language everywhere. The Xamarin Studio IDE is built integrally with Git for easier access to the repositories.
Xamarin is associated with the top brands like IBM, Xoriant, and Microsoft for development support. It is safe to say that Xamarin is one of the best mobile app development frameworks.
4. Adobe phone gap
Based on Apache Cordova, the Adobe-owned mobile app development framework is a cloud-based solution. It’s also open-source, free, and best suited for small to medium-sized hybrid mobile app development.
It uses the teach stack of JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. If you are comfortable with the JavaScript stack, you can develop any app in a very quick time and with fewer efforts. Not just Android and iOS app development, you can develop apps for other platforms as well such as Windows, Blackberry, Mac OS, Ubuntu, and Firefox OS.
You don’t have to download and install the SDKs locally. All resources are available on the cloud. That means you can develop an iOS app using Phone gap from a non-mac computer as well. That’s cool as you are not limited by your hardware’s restrictions.
5. Flutter
Backed by Google, Flutter is a free and opens source hybrid app development framework. Despite being hybrid, it offers similar UI designing like native apps with Material design and Cupertino style. Flutter is trusted by the top brands and mobile app development companies across the industry.
The programming langue of Flutter is called as Dart. It does not depend on WebView or OEM widgets and uses Skia 2D rendering engine to build the native UI. The development experience is quite a user- friendly as you can test your projects without restarting in case there is an error.
You can embed the Flutter app engine into an app or build a completely new app from scratch. Mobile app developers also compare it with the top-notched React Native framework because of its grown popularity in a short span.
6. Corona SDK
Corona SDK is an open-source mobile application framework. It’s well-known for its user-friendly approach to build 2D mobile application is a lightning fast pace. Using this framework, you can develop the applications for iOS, Android as well as Kindle.
Corona SDK is powered by Lua programming language. If you are fond of developing gaming apps, Corona SDK is one of the best choices for quick development experience. The apps developed here are generally well-optimized in terms of usability and speed.
In addition to Gaming apps, the SDK can also be used for general apps development. Speedier development of stable and optimized mobile apps is the USP of this framework. You can use the SDK both on Windows and Mac OS X computers.
7. JQuery Mobile
This HTML5 framework made it our list for its unmatched support for cross-platform devices. A single app developed on this framework can run on all supported devices such as Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows, Kindle, Nook, and MeeGo.
I have seen Jquery in almost every list for best mobile app development frameworks. It’s comprehensible considering jQuery is already a popular technology and everyone knows how to code. Following the aspects of write-less and Do more, jQuery gives the simplicity of development like none other frameworks.
8. Intel XDK
Personally, I find Intel XDK more futuristic than others. It is a cross-platform framework like others in the list. However, the development becomes so easy with available plugins. The best thing is you can develop a single app and make it responsive to across all kinds of devices.
It’s not just JavaScript but Node.js. If you are aware of how powerful node.js is, you would know this is the right framework to develop even the biggest of the apps. Moreover, you can make your apps more futuristic with IoT support.
The real-time previewing is the USP that allows you to see the changes as you make them. You can achieve most of the implementation using a simple drag and drop alone. In addition to development, Intel XDK makes debugging, testing and emulation quite smooth.
9. Mobile Angular UI
Similar to Intel XDK Mobile Angular UI is well-equipped to develop highly responsive mobile apps. Using Bootstrap and Angular you can turn your hybrid mobile a great success. The perfect combination of Bootstrap, Agular, and HTM5 is all you need to build scalable applications.
Additionally, the Bootstrap syntax makes it so easy to convert any web app into a mobile app. You can use an array of pre-added components to make your app as smooth as possible such as sidebars, Navigation bars, various overlays, and Scrollable areas, etc.
10. Native Script
Native Script is an open-source mobile app development framework. You can create native mobile apps using tech like JavaScript, Angular, and TypeScript. Similar to Flutter it offers a flexible development experience for Android as well as OS app using a single code base.
The Frame is well supported by the community and you get access to a speedier development using the plugins developed by the community. Using Agular you can also share the codes between the web and mobile apps, making a perfect hybrid app for your cause.
To conclude
We at Instarama offer mobile apps development services for all sorts of platforms and operating systems. We are also the mobile application development company for purely native applications on Android as well as iOS platforms. Our team holds years of experience in development across all the frameworks mentioned above. If you are thinking about developing a mobile app, we can serve you according to the bests of your requirements.