How to build Cross-Platform Mobile Apps
By Vivek Mannotra, Community Contributor - December 2, 2022
Table of Contents
8A cross-platform application is an app that uses a single codebase that can run on multiple platforms. A cross-platform framework is a software that helps with creating a cross-platform app. Although it has not replaced native applications made by coding yet, cross-platform development has proven cost-effective.
- The low-code vs no-code application development market revenue will cross $47 billion in 2025.
- It can be deployed on multiple platforms, such as the web, iOS, Android, Windows, etc.
- Easier for developers since they don’t have to code separately for each platform.
- Coding can sometimes be eliminated so the designers and business analysts can create applications/prototypes directly.
Market share for popular cross-platform frameworks
Benefits of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development
- Mobile App for Multiple Platforms: The most significant benefit of building on a cross-platform framework is that the output of the development process can be used on multiple platforms. This approach is best suited where business functionality is straightforward and a short time to market is the goal.
- Reduced Development Cost: In a typical scenario, a tech product will need three separate development workflows – web, Android, and iOS. A cross-platform framework can bring down the required effort to less than half.
- Agile Development Process: Understandably, the development process will consume fewer human hours when a single code base is used. The flexibility of choosing between native, web, and hybrid allows for optimizing development loads across sub-teams. i.e. CPU-heavy or gaming applications will require more native development and optimization than an e-commerce app.
- Simpler Code Maintenance & Usability: Having one code base for multiple platforms means that when it comes time to add or remove functionality from the application, only one set of updates is sufficient for updating the application across platforms. Also, having a single codebase to perform testing means you don’t have to worry about scaling your testing efforts too much horizontally. You can instead focus on test case prioritization.
- Easy Cloud Integration: Since this is a relatively recent phenomenon, the tools and platforms for cross-platform development are built keeping in mind the tech trends of the day, which means most of these platforms support modern development methodologies like CI/CD, automation, cloud-based deployments, visualizations, etc. With cloud-based testing platforms like BrowserStack Automate and App Automate, you get a highly configurable and modernized workflow, weaving DevOps and QAOps into an integrated setup.
- Faster Time-to-Market and Customize: Because these platforms are built with the whole pipeline of mobile application development in mind, they come with tools, features, and extensions that support responsiveness, performance, and security—making the process more streamlined and efficient—resulting in a further reduction in the time to market for the product.
- Uniform Design: Although hard to achieve in some cases, the design output of cross-platform development can be consistent and effective. Responsive design principles are incorporated into the essence of the program, using the hierarchy of components and micro-services to break down functionality at the front and back end, respectively.
Various frameworks are available for cross-platform mobile app development, which we will discuss further in this article.
Also Read: How to approach Cross Platform Testing
Code-Based Cross-Platform Mobile App Development
Most popular cross-platform frameworks utilize a single code base to generate apps for different platforms. This means you must code on the programming framework supported by the platform of your choice.
Since translating one code base into multiple applications is not a trivial task, many popular options have their advantages and disadvantages regarding comparison.
Here are some code-based cross-platform development industry leaders:
1. Xamarin
Xamarin is an open-source, cross-platform app development framework owned by Microsoft. It is used for creating native cross-platform apps for Android, iOS, and Windows using C# and . NET. Xamarin apps are built using native user interface controls and provide a high-performance user experience.
Famous examples include apps for Fox Sports, Alaska Airlines, HCL, American Cancer Society, and BBC Good Food.
| Pros of Xamarin | Cons of Xamarin |
| Xamarin uses C# for coding, which works seamlessly for Android and iOS.
| Xamarin is free for individuals and startups; however, enterprises must buy a license for Microsoft’s Visual Studio.
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| Has a strong community of over 60,000 contributors from more than 3,700 companies.
| It is not recommended for apps that demand heavy graphics because each platform has a different method for visually laying out screens.
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| Allows for sharing more than 75% of code across platforms for “write once, run anywhere” ease.
| Offers limited access to certain important libraries that the app developers need for mobile app development.
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| It consists of a single tech stack for faster development.
| There is a decent overhead owing to the various layers and wrapping mechanisms used by the Xamarin engine. |
Learn More: Running Appium tests on C#
2. React Native
React Native is an open-source, cross-platform app development framework owned by Meta (prev Facebook). It is used for creating native cross-platform apps for Android, iOS, and Windows using JavaScript and TypeScript (a strongly-typed version of JS).
React Native and Xamarin are at the top regarding user adoption and popularity.
Instagram, Bloomberg, Pinterest, Skype, and Tesla are popular apps built on React Native.
| Pros of React Native | Cons of React Native |
| Up to 80% of a codebase can be shared across platforms, depending on the app’s complexity. Code reusability significantly speeds the development process.
| React Native is not entirely a cross-platform app framework. To use some functions as a camera or accelerometer, there is still a need to use native components meaning there will be a separate code for Android and iOS.
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| Allows for previewing results right away and offers ready-to-apply elements, thus shortening the developing time considerably
| Since the framework is not built in conjunction with iOS or Android, it sometimes lags behind the native platforms. This is one of the reasons that led Udacity to stop investing in React Native for new features.
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| The Hot Reloading feature enables developers to see changes made in code within seconds, not minutes, like when using native technologies.
| React Native lacks consistency when it comes to releasing updates
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| React Native focuses on UI to a great extent rendering a highly responsive interface
| React Native improves the speed of development but also increases the duration of the debugging process, especially on Android
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Follow-Up Read: How to Test React Native Apps on iOS and Android Devices
3. Flutter
Flutter is an open-source cross-platform app development framework owned by Google. It is used for creating native cross-platform apps for Android, iOS, and Windows using Dart. Some examples are Alibaba, BMW, Google Ads, and Tencent.
Many ready-made solutions for native apps enable developers to work with Continuous Integration platforms like Travis and Jenkins.
| Pros of Flutter | Cons of Flutter |
| Hot Reloading feature enables developers to see changes made in code within seconds instead of minutes. | There is limited support with apps built on the Flutter framework like smart TVs and some popular third-party plug-ins. |
| Flutter is based on Dart, an object-oriented programming language that developers have found rather easy to acquire the skill for and is almost twice as fast as JS. | There are several libraries with ready-to-implement functionalities; however, Flutter still lacks when compared to native development because most native APIs cannot be accessed. |
| Flutter has a full set of widgets in Google’s Material Design and in Apple’s style with the Cupertino pack to help with the UI design implementation. | Since Flutter-enabled apps use built-in widgets, not platform widgets, the app’s size is usually bigger. |
Read More: How to run integration tests on Flutter apps
4. Cordova
The Cordova platform by Apache is a tool that can be used to create mobile applications for s Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc., using CSS3 and HTML5 for rendering and JavaScript for logic.
It provides access to device-specific functions through JavaScript APIs so that developers can build apps using web technology instead of the native programming languages of each operating system (Java or Objective C). Since it uses web technologies, debugging is relatively easier.
| Pros of Cordova | Cons of Cordova |
| Cordova is an open-source platform that is free to use and distribute.
| It is hard to avoid platform-specific quirks, which may or may not lead to bugs in the final application.
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| It can be used to build apps for all the major and some discontinued mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Firefox OS, Bada, and Tizen.
| There is some grey area around functions being invoked by remote HTML. This adds to the widespread concerns over security as JavaScript allows for the manipulation of functional code during sessions.
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| Supports the use of many libraries, including Single Page Application (SPA) development frameworks like React, Vue, Angular, etc.
| Adobe earlier owned it under the title phone gap; later, it was acquired by Apache and renamed Cordova. The transition might not be smooth, and some plug-ins have gaps in documentation and support.
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Challenges in Cross-Platform Mobile App Development
Mobile app development cross platform is a rapidly evolving field. These platforms and frameworks are going through changes routinely, and new tools and techniques are coming over the horizon. We need to keep in mind all the pitfalls and limitations of these technologies, not to shy away from adoption, but only to prevent any unnecessary business-related disruptions and issues.
Here is the list of things to keep in mind when working with cross-platform technologies:
- Performance hiccups because of inconsistent communication between the native and non-native components of gadgets is one of the most commonly reported issues with cross-platform applications.
- This could be avoided with a better understanding and implementation of the syntax or configuration parameters set during the definition of functions on the platform. Try testing web app performance with Speedlab.
- Cross-platform app developers have difficulty maintaining cross-compliance of apps across devices and operating systems. A chance for the application to meet a new challenge arises whenever a new version is released. That’s why it’s a healthy habit to read up on new system-level changes and update the application to the best of its capability.
Check responsiveness on various devices with Responsive, Live, and App Live
- Testing cross-platform applications is an inherently difficult challenge that is solved with the help of modern cloud-based testing infrastructure like BrowserStack.
- Application behavior must be tested and evaluated on real devices. Every time you build an application, you must find the latest versions of several physical devices and build testing infrastructure.
Test On Real Device Cloud for Free
Closing Notes
With a streamlined application development process, it is natural to expect the testing infrastructure to have effective features and robust capabilities. Automation is among the top priorities for all QA teams.
With mobile app development cross platform and testing them on such a wide range of test environments, you can recreate real user scenarios and device experiences.
- You can adjust real-world variables like network conditions and geo-location.
- Test accessibility features like navigability and screen readers.
- You can test notifications on devices.
- Also, access the developer tools section of browsers on various operating systems.
Analysis and data visualization are the two post-testing activities that will help you understand, arrange, document, and visualize what happened during the test runs. Plus, it records the application behavior if captured efficiently in visual formats.
Once you have achieved a healthy level of collaboration with the business teams on analyzing the results of the various levels of testing, you can make the most sound decisions for the future of your cross-platform mobile apps.
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