Have a Look at The Top Mobile App Development Tools Before you Build your Next Application

After analyzing a PwC report, we found two remarkable things about the future of business;

• 76% of the surveyed CEOs are optimistic that global economic health will improve.
• 47% of the respondents were confident that there would be better prospects for growth in the next three years.

On the other hand, as per a Gartner report on digital transformation, 87% of the business leaders prioritize digitalization in the company.

We have mentioned these two statistics to remove any doubt that you might have about building a mobile application for your business.

Building a mobile application for your business is not an ad-hoc marketing strategy anymore. It is a means to survival.

You are engaging with an advanced market, which prefers using mobile to entertain, buy, communicate, learn, and whatnot. Hence, irrespective of the fact which business you are into, having a mobile application is essential.

How to Make a Mobile App?

To make a mobile application, you need the right mobile app development tools. The good thing for you is that developing a mobile application today is easier than in the earlier days.

The coding languages may be the same, but the way we use them is different and quite amazing. If you have learned Java, C#, C, C++, HTML, Dart, or JavaScript, you can easily make an app with the best mobile app development tools.

However, it is not about using the tool that is important, but what sort of mobile app development tools you use, for that matter. To make a mobile application, you must know how to use a development tool, what languages it uses, and what additional technologies are required.

Besides this, it is also important to look at the cost, timeline, and efficiency of the same that is required. Although the mobile app development tools may look the same to you, there are several differences and not understanding them is not good for your app development process.

Below you will find a list of mobile app development tools divided by the type of app development.

Must Read: Mobile App Development Process: Easy Step to Build your First App

Cross-Platform development App Development

Cross-platform application development is a method wherein you write the code once, and it will run on any platform irrespective of the underlying operating system. In other words, you will write the code once for the application, which will run seamlessly on iOS, Android, and Windows devices.

Here is a list of cross-platform mobile app development tools you should know about.

• Xamarin

  Xamarin works in combination with the .NET Visual Studio to help you build native applications for different operating systems. You can build Windows, Android, and iOS applications with Xamarin.

  The platform uses a .NET code base for writing the application scripts. Because it also integrates with Visual Studio, Xamarin can also help you design the application apart from developing the same.

  The Xamarin platform is built on the C# programming language, and it utilizes the business logic layers to create large-scale applications. With Xamarin, it is easier to create applications with functions that require large amounts of local data and when you want the application to run with offline mode.

• Ionic

  Ionic leverages HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript along with an amazing SDK to build cross-platform applications with high nativity. Ionic has become one of the best mobile app development tools due to the presence of extensive features and functions.

  Ionic is integrated with Angular, which helps create a streamlined and productive ecosystem for application development. As it is built on the standard web technology, Ionic is one of the first choices for developers who want to create hybrid and progressive web applications.

  With Ionic, you can build applications using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular, and TypeScript. These are the technologies that are responsible for creating highly performant native-like applications combined with innovative and modern UI/UX concepts.

• React Native

  React Native runs with JavaScript, and with it, the developers can easily build incredible cross-platform applications that have a great user interface. It is built by Facebook and gives access to a native-like application development framework.

  There are a variety of reasons to include React Native in the list of topmost mobile app development tools. These include a robust framework, fast and lightweight platform that is also easy to use.

  React Native has “Write Once, Run Everywhere” workflows and helps engineer a mobile app to perform with the best traits and give a native look and feel to the users. Apart from this, React Native also has live reload capabilities that reduces the development time and make it easy to load the application without compiling the entire code.

• Flutter

  Flutter is known in the development world for building beautiful and incredibly streamlined applications. This cross platform application developer is developed by Google and can let you build applications in iOS, Android, and Windows applications for mobile, desktop, and the web.

  One of the most striking features is the Stateful Hot Reload, which works similar to a hot reload system but with the added ability while retaining the existing version. Using the Dart’s native compilers the code is compiled to the native ARM giving it the true representation of the underlying platform’s native elements.

  Coming from Google, Flutter also has a big developer community to help you learn its nuances and learn more about technology with every passing day.

• Adobe PhoneGap

  PhoneGap is not only a cross-platform mobile app development tool; it is also an open-source platform. This development technology builds robust and fast-performing apps with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web APIs.

  PhoneGap is a lightweight platform for building cross-platform mobile applications. Its lightweightedness arises from the fact that PhoneGap is a collection of HTML pages combined into one module. By developing an application on PhoneGap, the developers make these pages run on a particular device via different plugins, which then give a native-like application performance.

  One thing that you should know about PhoneGap is that its nativity functions are not as efficient as the other similar mobile app development tools. This is because PhoneGap depends on the Web View Engine or the operating system to render the UI/UX elements. So, any inefficiencies in the underlying platform will reflect in the PhoneGap’s ability to build a robust application.

These are the topmost and highly popular cross-platform mobile app development tools at your disposal. Some of these technologies are free, while others invite a monthly cost. However, you can test them out with the free trial extended to the users for a limited time.

Native Application Development

The critical feature of native mobile app development tools is that they are used to build applications for one type of operating system. Either it can be iOS, Android, Windows, and others. There is no interoperability of any level in native application development. In other words, if you are using a native application for mobile app development, you cannot run that application on any other platform except the one it was built for.

Apart from the platform dependency, native mobile application development is subject to following a varied set of guidelines explicitly meant for each of the platforms. The developers must follow a specific set of graphic styles, gestures, visual effects, typography, among other things.

• Xcode

  Swift is the programming language required to write the code for iOS applications that can be used to write the application script in Cocoa and Cocoa Touch. However, when you combine this scripting task with the XCode tools and aspects, programming for iOS applications experience is streamlined and productive.

  XCode offers live rendering, which is a great tool to visualize the written code in real-time along with the UI code and reflecting the changes made immediately. With this mobile app development tool, the developers can build for the entire range of iOS devices from the Macbook to the Apple Watch and TV.

  All in all, XCode is a one-stop solution for iOS application design, coding, testing, and debugging.

• Android Studio

  As Android’s office IDE, the Android Studio is built for accelerating your android application development. It helps build high-quality Android applications for all sorts Android-powered devices. Right from the UI elements to coding, designing, layout, and whatnot, the Android Studio is an adept platform to create applications.

  The Android Studio is built by Google, and we can use Kotlin or Java to create applications with the platform. There are a ton of features and functions that makes using Android Studio a smart choice for building highly quality applications. This includes a visual layout editor, APK Analyzer, and intelligence code editor, real-time profilers, a fast emulator, and much more.

  Android Studio’s development expertise is also reflected via its drag and drop builder that makes it easier to add new application elements quickly.

• AppCode

  AppCode has the same function as XCode. It helps develop iOS and Mac OS applications by using multiple languages, including Objective-C, Swift, C, and C++. Along with this, with AppCode, you can also work with JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XML technologies.

  Not only will you benefit from the ability to write in several languages, but AppCode also gives access to different integrations, including CocoaPods manager. AppCode also fixes a lot of problems that developers might face in their work.

  It helps automating repetitive tasks, finding errors, fixing errors, and also gives you access to an incredible IDE, which makes it one of the best mobile app development tools.

When you want to choose between native and cross-platform app development, look at what you want to deliver. Cross-platform app development is cost-effective, and native app development will lead to a higher development cost.

However, cross-platform app development cannot match the nativity and feel of the application that you will find in native application development. Hence, look at the objectives you want to accomplish while choosing between the two.

Low code/No code

To make application development easier and accessible, the Low Code/No Code or LC/NC is used. As a next-gen technology, low code and no code reduces the amount of work required to build an application to a great extent.

As the term suggests, low code platforms are the ones where you need to write a lot of code. Several elements are pre-built on the platform, and you only need to edit them as per your requirements.

No code platforms take the entire game of coding up by one notch. These platforms completely remove the need to type in any sort of code and will help you build the application with drag and drop functionality.

Low code and no-code mobile app development tools are built to help developers build performant applications without spending too much time and money. Here are a few low code and no-code platforms you should know about.

• OutSystems

  With Outsystems, you can build and deploy high volume as well as low-grade mobile applications. It can also help you manage and make changes to these applications, along with helping you take care of the web applications.

  OutSystems is a low code platform that gives access to 140 ready-to-use UI patterns and templates to deliver on the UI development. Apart from the development support, OutSystems also gives you access to several support options to enhance the platform’s utility.

• FlipLet

  FlipLet is one of its kind mobile app development tools that is built to create and manage any sort of application without depending too much on coding. Even if a developer has a basic understanding, they can easily work with the platform.

  Like other low code systems, FlipLet also offers a drag and drop builder that helps even the non-technical or less experienced developers build custom applications.

  The inbuilt UX elements and design-friendly aspects will certainly enhance the development levels of the users and build applications for iOS, Android, and Windows platforms.

• AppSheet

  AppSheet is a no-code application editor and customization technology, which proxies as a mobile app development tool. The platform lets you create various types of applications by extracting data from cloud solutions, including DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and SmartSheet.

  After creating the application, the users can also customize the same to make it relevant towards the brand and features. The best part about AppSheet is the live emulator that helps visualize the final interface as per the changes.

• Quick Base

  Similar to the interface building applications, Quick Base is a no-code mobile app development tool offering multiple solutions, including workflow automation, task management, and various other application-based systems.

  Besides the drag and drop building abilities, Quick Base leverages a web form to acquire information about your website and then present the results according to the responses. It gives you access to robust APIs, home page customizations, and effective application governance functions for better control.

Low Code and No-Code is the next generation of application development systems. From reusable codes to reusable and editable components, we can expect a fusion of the reusable technology embedded into the next batch of mobile app development tools.

To Sum It Up

There are a plethora of platforms and technologies to build mobile applications. From the first programming that came out in the 1950s to the most recent ones, we have come a long way to build high-functioning and agile applications meant to enhance business functioning.

The vast extent of application development platforms varies in cost and complexity of use. Plus, they are also measured on the basis of usability and ease of use. Application development is not done in a vacuum; it is an integrated process where every little aspect matters and decides the efficacy of the next step.

Hence, select the right mobile app development tools with prior research and align your choice with your objectives plus audience.