Does Cross-platform Really Kill Native App Development

Cross-platform app development tools like React Native, Xamarin, and Flutter makes complete sense for the startups, business, and organizations to invest in making for iOS and Android

We daily receive hundreds of questions on app development technologies, tools, processes, frameworks, and more. Many ask the difference between cross-platform, native, and hybrid app development. We agree that it is difficult to create apps because development platform choices are increasing day by day.

But in today’s blog post, we help you to choose the best app development frameworks and tools to develop a responsive and attractive platform.

Also, we will answer some of the top questions, i.e., Will native apps die? Is a native app development career dead? What is the future of cross-platform apps? And many more!

In 2020, the app downloads grew to 42.5% and the app market capital reached billions and billions of dollars. More than 95% of smartphones use Android and iOS as operating platforms.

For companies, mobile apps are now a medium to increase business brand awareness. The growing adoption of AI solutions such as chatbots in apps acts as the future of app technologies.

Also, the various adoption of development frameworks has made the “cross-platform vs native” debate a heated debate on the internet. Whether you should invest in native frameworks or a cross-platform framework, it’s still an unanswered question.

But, today we will try our best to answer it!

What are the Technologies for Mobile App Development?

Obviously, if you are applications for a particular section of clients say for Android or iOS then Native apps are best. Also, in some cases, the production of two local applications in the same stage is less expensive than cross-platform is best.

Also Read: The Future of Cross-Platform App Development

Let us clarify everything for you by introducing you to the term Technology Stack.

It refers to the cluster of particular technologies to create a mobile app of a particular type!

App development platform, application programming languages, app interface, designing tools, backend database tools of apps, application testing frameworks are tools and techs that make the best app development tech stack. All these together create the foundation of your final apps.

Every app development consists of a two-phase development process - frontend development and backend development. Both of them require different technologies and environments in their development.

Therefore, you must choose the right app development stack because the tech stack will reflect the app performance, functionalities, speed, robustness, future scalability, etc. depending on the operating system.

“Cross-platform app development is for startups, native application development to create complex apps, and hybrid app development for web app solutions.”

Native Mobile App Development Technologies

Native apps are those apps that are developed in a native environment for native operating systems like iOS and Android. With native frameworks, you develop separate apps for both iOS and Android.

"Native apps offer great device compatibility, seamless user experience, responsive user interface, robustness, high security, high-performance, and fewer limitations to the final build app architecture.”

	Android App Development Tech Stack	iOS App Development Tech Stack
Programming Languages	Java, Kotlin	Objective-C, Swift
Toolkit	Android Studio, Android Developer Tools	Apple XCode, AppCode
Software Development Kit (SDK)	Android SDK	iOS SDK

Lyft and Pokemon GO are the best example of Native apps working on iOS and Android separately and simultaneously.

Take the help of a React Native development company to create the best native apps in the industry!

Cross-platform Mobile App Development Technologies

In cross-platform apps, an app code is sharable by both iOS and Android operating systems. A cross-platform app universally supports several mobile platforms at once. As a result, a cross-platform saves a lot of time, money, effort just by creating a single code base for the app that works efficiently on iOS, Android, Windows, etc.

Also Read: Best Hybrid App Development Frameworks To Create Mobile Apps

Developers write a reusable code that guarantees speedy app development with no delays. Also, the application is easy to launch and update!

“Flutter and Xamarian are the best cross-platform app development frameworks. Bloomberg, Insightly, and Reflectly are its best app examples!”

However, the one disadvantage with cross-platform app development solutions is that cross-platform app face difficulties to use all the in-built functions of a smartphone.

Below is the table giving you all the information about app development. Have a look at it -

	Cross-Platform	Native	Hybrid
Tech Stack	One tech stack; single codebase (C#, .Net Frameworks + Native Libraries)	Different tech stack for each platform	One tech stack; single codebase (Javascript, HTML5, CSS)
UI/UX	Complete UI customization is possible for each platform for iOS and Android	Complete platform-specific UI	Common UI for all platforms (limited customization capabilities)
Performance	Good; close to native	Excellent	Medium - poor
Code Sharing	Yes, up to 90% is the same code	Different codebases	Sharable codebase to some extent
Time-to-market	Time-to-market is fast but Android needs more time	Same time-to-market for Android and iOS	Fastest time-to-market due to the single code base
Hardware Capabilities	Highly capable hardware is needed	High native tools are needed	Medium capabilities can work well

Let’s sum up: Native or Cross-Platform App?

Now, you know the technologies for mobile app development. But, the choice entirely is of you to choose between native or cross-platform apps depending upon your requirements and budget.

Choose native app development if:

•  The app requires free access to the resources and services on the phone
•  When you want a responsive web application
•  You want the application to work offline
•  The app must make use of the device’s hardware
•  You are launching an app with updated and improved features

Choose cross-platform app development if:

•  You want low responsiveness
•  You want no complex animation and complicated logic
•  You want reduced time-to-market

Remember that the choice of the app development strategy for your mobile application must be universal for the users who download and use the app you make.

The popularity of cross-platform app development is indeed more, but the usage of native app development is more. In the demand for making enterprise applications both are successful in the current times.

Conclusion

Today, we learned that there are two different mobile app development approaches - Native and Cross-platform. But, there is one more, i.e., Hybrid app development. All these three offers you the opportunity to make the best applications for business purposes.

Nowadays, all the mobile app development service providers use some of the best app development frameworks such as React Native, PhoneGap, Xamarian, and Flutter.

Each framework uses a particular technology and tool to create a successful mobile app development. You have both options cross-platform and native app development to create your dream business applications.

The choice depends upon the features and functionalities you want in your app.

Our suggestion is to choose an app development framework wisely depending upon your requirements.

Before leaving this blog post, let’s tell you that neither cross-platform is killing native nor vice-versa. Now, mention your valuable comments in the comment section below!