Java android app framework

7 Best Frameworks & Libraries for Cross-Platform Android and iOS Apps in 2021

with links to relevant online courses and tutorials

Hello guys, there is a huge demand for developers with knowledge of cross-platform mobile app development frameworks like Flutter and React Native. This is obvious as no one wants to maintain a separate code base for their Android and iOS mobile app.

Having a separate code base is a maintenance nightmare because you have to work twice to put a bug fix or feature into each of your codebases.

Thankfully, Flutter and React Native solve its problem by allowing you to create a native-looking mobile application for both Android and iOS devices using the same code based.

While Flutter and React Native are definitely the leading cross-platform mobile app development framework, they are not the only ones as you also have frameworks like Ionic, Xamarin, and Native Script which you will learn in this article.

5 Best Frameworks to build Cross-Platform Mobile apps

Without wasting any more of your time, let’s dive into the best framework to build cross-platform mobile apps. We’ll also look at the pros and cons of each framework and which you can use based upon your strength. I will also mention relevant courses along the way for further learning.

1. Flutter

This is an excellent framework for developing cross-platform native mobile applications in 2021. Like Golang, TensorFlow, and Angular, Flutter is also from Google, which uses Dart (another programming language from Google) and provides SDK for developing a cross-platform native mobile application.

It’s always been challenging to release your app to different platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile, as you need to maintain a separate codebase. Flutter solves that problem by allowing you to create mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices using the same codebase.

Flutter has seen a lot of growth in the last 2 years, and it’s now the #1 framework for developing native mobile apps. If you have already decided to learn Flutter and looking for a resource, then I suggest you check out this Flutter & Dart — The Complete Guide [2021 Edition] by Maximilian of Acadmind on Udemy, one of my favorite courses to learn Flutter in 2021.

2. React Native

Apart from Flutter, if there is another framework you can check out for developing native cross-platform mobile apps, then they React Native. It uses React and JavaScript for producing high quality native mobile apps.

It’s the right choice for all web developers who wants to become a mobile app developer and already familiar with technologies like JavaScript and React. If you are one of them, then I suggest you learn React Native in 2021.

Also, there are a lot of resources to learn React Native, both free and paid, but if you ask my recommendation, I highly recommend you check out Stephen Grider’s The Complete React Native + Hooks course, one of my favorite resources to learn React Native online. Stephen is one of the best instructors of Udemy and his teaching style is really great

3. Cordova

Apache Cordova is another mobile application development framework originally created by Nitobi. Adobe Systems purchased Nitobi in 2011, rebranded it as PhoneGap, and later released an open-source version of the software called Apache Cordova.

It allows you to use standard web technologies — HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, and one is of the hot technologies to learn in 2021.

If you’d like to learn Cordova in 2021, then please check out Build iOS & Android Apps with Angular and Cordova, one of the exciting courses for learning Cordova.

4. Xamarin

Xamarin is a way to make mobile apps quickly for all platforms with a single, shared C# codebase, build a custom native user interface for each platform, or use Xamarin.Forms to write a single shared user interface across platforms.

It’s owned by Microsoft and quickly becoming popular for creating mobile apps for C, C++, and C# developers.

If you already know one of the C languages and you’re looking for a career in mobile app development, then I strongly suggest you learn Xamarin in 2021, and The Complete Xamarin Developer Course: iOS And Android! is a good course to start with.

5. Firebase

Firebase is not exactly a cross-platform framework for developing mobile apps but a useful framework for building backend. It’s actually Google’s mobile platform that helps you quickly develop high-quality mobile apps and grow your business. You can choose Firebase as a backend for your Android or iOS application.

If you are looking to move into the lucrative business of mobile application development in 2021, then learning Firebase is a very good idea, and Advanced iOS and Firebase: Rideshare is a good place to start.

6. Native Script

If somehow you didn’t like React Native and Flutter and looking for alternatives, then you can also check out Native Script. NativeScript is a free and open-source framework to develop a mobile application for both Apple iOS and Google’s Android platform.

It allows you to build native mobile apps in both TypeScript and JavaScript and using Angular and Vuejs. If you are a frontend developer and already know frameworks like Angular or Vuejs, then Native Script can be the right choice for you.

NativeScript features deep integration with both Angular and Vuejs and allows you to write code on any language, which translates into JAvaScript like TypeScript or CoffeeScript.

If you need resources, I suggest you check out this Native Script + Angular: Build Native iOS and Android Apps course by Maximilian Schwarzmuller on Udemy.

7. Ionic

This is another framework for developing hybrid mobile applications using JavaScript. Ionic also allows you to build cross-platform mobile apps, which means you can create an application for any platform using one codebase.

Ionic Framework is a free and open-source and provides a portable UI toolkit for developing high-quality cross-platforms apps for native iOS, Android, and the web- all from the single codebase. It also has an Ionic React that leverages React for building hybrid mobile apps.

If you want to learn Ionic in 2021, then I suggest you check out this Ionic 4 MasterClass course on Udemy. It’s created by none other than Maximilian Schwarzmuller, one of the best instructors on Udemy and Youtube.

That’s all about some of the best frameworks you can learn for cross-platform mobile app development. You don’t need to learn them all, choose the one which suits your needs.

For example, if you already know JavaScript and React.js then React Native is the best framework for you but if you are coming from Dart background or don’t mind learning a new programming language like Dart then Flutter is a great choice.

Similarly for developers with C.C#, and C++ background can use the Xamarin framework for building cross-platform mobile apps.

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like this article useful and find these technologies worth learning for mobile app development, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.

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14 Best Android Frameworks for App Development in 2021

In the past couple of years, more and more businesses realized that apps are important to their brand experiences, as they can help establish a strong connection with customers. Over 2 million apps were available on the Google Play Store for download, Statista reports.

Today, many companies big and small include mobile applications into their marketing strategies, as the digital space provides a wide array of engagement opportunities.

Installed on the vast majority of existing smartphones, Android is often considered to be the best OS when it comes to building custom mobile apps. Many developers prefer Android as it is highly customizable and has a large community ready to help and provide useful information.

Android also has many integrated tools that help enhance the efficiency of an app while reducing the number of actions that need to be taken to perform a task.

Still, choosing the right Android framework for app development is not easy due to the large number of different options available. To lend you a helping hand, we have created a comprehensive list of the 14 best Android frameworks that can make the app development process fast and easy.

These frameworks help in reducing the effort that developers put in by boosting productivity and offering technology solutions to handle complex tasks.

Top Frameworks for Android App Development

Before we start, it is important to note that we categorize 14 top Android frameworks by their capabilities. Let’s have a closer look at the best frameworks for Android application development and what features they offer.

Best Android App Development Framework: Games Development

Unity

Unity is known as the best Android development framework for the development of multi-platform 2D, 3D, augmented reality, and virtual reality games as well as other simulations. Developed by Unity Technologies , this game engine comes in free and professional editions.

You can work with Unity in C# and UnityScript , the language of Unity that is similar to JavaScript. Unity is a cross-platform framework that and enables game developers to export their games to multiple platforms, like iOS, Web, PlayStation, Windows, Xbox, and more.

Being a physics engine, it can control the behavior of different game objects, lighting rendering, momentum, and graphic elements. Similar to many software development tools, Unity has a built-in editor that enables you to edit images and manage animations from the “Animator” window.

As of 2018, half of new mobile games and 60% of the augmented reality and virtual reality experiences are created with the Unity engine. All in all, It is an easy-to-use platform that allows game developers to create amazing content and a strong connection with the audience. In other words, the platform is a great choice for interactive experiences.

Best Frameworks for Android Development: High Performance

Kotlin

Originated in the minds of JetBrains , Kotlin is a statically-typed, modern programming language solution for Android that combines the features of functional and object-oriented programming. In 2017, Google declared Kotlin as an official IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Android development.

It runs on Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and is 100% interoperable with the Java language. In many scenarios, it is considered as a replacement for Java as it significantly streamlines the development process. Many programmers have adopted Kotlin as their primary language for Android.

Application developed with Kotlin also run as fast as the ones created with Java as they share a similar bytecode structure. In the recent Stack Overflow developer survey, Kotlin was ranked as the fourth most loved programming language.

In 2021, many of the large enterprises are planning to move or are in the process of moving to Kotlin. Trello, Pinterest, Basecamp, Uber, Twitter, Airbnb, and Netflix are all migrating to Kotlin for Android application development. Since its launch, Kotlin has proved itself as a highly intuitive platform for Android app development.

Corona SDK

Developed in 2009, Corona SDK is a perfect software development kit for building speedy apps and games. This general-purpose, cross-platform framework enables 10x faster development than other Android app frameworks. Corona achieves this by integrating Lua, a lightweight and multi-paradigm programming language, which is itself layered on top of C++/OpenGL and allows to achieve high speed, usability, and flexibility.

Highly popular among game developers, Corona is free and available both Mac OS X and Windows, with real-time testing support.

I n addition, the framework has native UI support, over 500 APIs, and a dynamic advertising platform built for developers. Its API suite features are feature-rich, with graphics, networking, widgets, particle effects, and more. Simple to understand and integrate into Android, Corona SDK has gained notable popularity among Android app developers.

Sencha Touch

Perceived as one of the best Android development frameworks by Android’s development community, Sencha Touch is an enterprise-first framework built for native mobile application development. It is based on JavaScript and HTML5, which allows for creating universal applications for Android.

Sencha Touch comes with nearly 50 built-in UI components and native themes, enabling developers to create engrossing and eye-catching apps. The framework utilizes hardware acceleration techniques, so the apps created with its help exhibit high performance.

Big companies choose Sencha Touch due to its high-level compatibility and flexibility, responsive touch features, and fast execution. Apps built using Sencha Touch are rich in fluid animations, smooth scrolling, and are highly adaptive. Its huge collection of themes, enriched UI, integrated MVC system, and vast data package make Sencha Touch the leading Android application development framework.

TheAppBuilder

Powered by HTML5, TheAppBuilder is an app-building framework that supports a codeless user interface, which means users do not need to know how to code in any language to create a solid app.

Plus, with its drag-and-drop interface, developers can build applications really quickly. The framework comes with pre-built blocks which include features like feedback, content updates, polls, push notifications, and much more.

Android app development framework also got traction from users because it allows them to submit their apps directly to Google Play and boasts social network integration. Plus, it generates analytics reports, so users could identify the issues that slow down their apps. In most cases, businesses use TheAppBuilder to cut costs.

SproutCore

SproutCore is an open-source JavaScript framework used for developing blazing fast applications with advanced features. Developed by Apple , this HTML5-driven framework offers users a clear MVC design that enables performance optimization and scalability for applications. Unlike other JavaScript libraries, SproutCore comes with a complete set of tools required to build a desktop-like application in a browser, including routing, UI components, testing, and deployment tools.

With more than 50,000 items in the toolset, maintainable application code, and well thought out business logic behind it, SproutCore has become a top framework for Android app development. These features, when combined, provide a rock-solid foundation for building feature-packed, high-performance applications.

Best Android Frameworks: Native Apps Development

React Native

Backed by Facebook , React Native is a powerful open-source framework that offers ample support to other development tools and their IDEs. It is based on React, a JS library for web solutions. Companies like Instagram, Walmart, Airbnb, Tesla, as well as many other Fortune 500 companies, use the framework to develop native mobile apps.

As most of the React Native APIs are cross-platform, developers can write code once and then run it anywhere, which improves development speed and helps cut costs.

React Native uses building blocks similar to the ones employed in most Android development frameworks. With the hot-reload option in React Native, developers can link updated files while retaining the current state of the app. The developer community of React Native has been growing much faster than Facebook’s expectations.

Google Trends indicates that the framework has been gaining more and more traction in the past few years. As of today, around 1600 developers have used this framework.

Xamarin

Owned by Microsoft, and one of the top Android development frameworks, Xamarin offers an advanced toolset that enables developers to build native apps for multiple mobile platforms on a shared C# codebase. With Microsoft’s cloud testing service, the apps built using Xamarin can be tested on numerous devices. Moreover, its code-sharing feature makes it developers’ favorite as it reduces coding time and the number of bugs in the software development process.

Compared to other Android frameworks, Xamarin is one of the oldest cross-platform frameworks and is already used by 1.4 million developers across 120 countries.

Xamarin became a part of Visual Studio IDE, which made large companies in industries like healthcare, and energy shift to using this framework. Xamarin has been around for a while, but the number of developers using it has increased a lot over the years as compared to other frameworks for Android.

Appcelerator Titanium

The best Android framework according to some developers, Appcelerator Titanium is an open-source platform for building native apps with a single JavaScript codebase. Titanium became popular as it allows for creating multi-platform mobile apps using around 60%-90% of the existing code. The framework employs the JavaScript programming language to ensure the high performance of applications.

Titanium can be used to develop solid games, while mobile apps built with Appcelerator Titanium can utilize hardware-specific features like Android menu buttons, OS-centric controls, and platform-appropriate notifications. Currently, over 345,577,760 apps run through this Android application framework. Also, it provides many other useful features like automated testing on mobile devices, application monitoring, and performance regulation.

Best Android Frameworks: Hybrid Apps Development

Ionic

Ionic is a free and open-source framework certified by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and allows developers to build progressive hybrid apps with the help of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Ionic has become one of the most famous frameworks for Android development due to its cross-platform functionalities and the ability to integrate AngularJS.

It hosts a simple CLI (Command-line Interface ) that facilitates features like emulators, live reload, and logging. As it is Cordova and Angular based, Ionic has a large community. Around 4 million Ionic-based apps were built, with more than 5 million developers in around 200 countries worldwide using the framework. Moreover, it integrates with many services, including Google Play, Instagram, and many more.

Flutter

Designed and maintained by Google , Flutter is a multi-platform mobile app SDK that can be used to build applications, but in a way that is different from other Android app frameworks. It simplifies the cross-platform development process and is written in the Dart language. When it comes to selecting a framework, Flutter is the best choice for hybrid app development.

Google’s Flutter framework uses a 2D rendering engine called Skia for visuals that are similar to material design and the Cupertino style. Flutter also serves as a solid testing framework, enabling developers to perform UI, unit, and functionality tests. Moreover, Flutter has best-in-class hot-reload functionality, which allows for seamless testing without the need to restart the application.

Cordova

Cordova is a free open-source Android framework that allows developers to build multi-platform apps using a single code base like Appcelerator Titanium. It is a hybrid framework that enables app development based on standard web technologies, including JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3. Cordova serves as a bridge between a mobile application and a web application.

Also, it can access native device APIs, making it hard to identify whether the app has been developed using a native language or not. Primarily designed to develop online apps, Cordova also provides support for offline scenarios, making it a perfect platform for developing desktop apps as well.

PhoneGap

Supported by Adobe and Apache , PhoneGap is an open-source Android app framework that allows software engineers to build apps using web development technologies (HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript). With PhoneGap, developers can instantly see changes during the development of the apps. Commonly used for developing hybrid mobile applications, PhoneGap provides best-in-class performance as well as the freedom to work without hardware-specific limitations.

In addition to Android, the platform helps developing apps for several other operating systems. The latest version of this cross-platform framework comes with a built-in Cordova WebView for integrating PhoneGap code into larger native apps. Its extended plugin library, third-party software tools, and growing community make it stand out among other Android app development frameworks

NativeScript

Listed as a top framework for hybrid app development, NativeScript is a free open-source framework that enables developers to create applications using Vue, TypeScript , and Angular . This Android framework is backed by a Bulgarian software company Telerik . From Gradle to CocoaPods, developers can easily reuse a wide array of plugins from directly in the projects with NativeScript.

The framework enables web developers who are well-versed in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, as well as Native UI markup, can build outstanding progressive apps with NativeScript. One of the biggest reasons to choose NativeScript for Android app development is that it offers UIs with the native platform’s offering engine, which is results in native-like UIs and performance. With JS running on the UI thread, NativeScriptenables high-performance on all native platform APIs.

Wrapping Up

Selecting the right Android framework for app development is a complicated process. If you are looking for a one-shot solution for app development, you should know that, since every business and project has different requirements, what works best for one company might not work for another.

First, you should consider the capabilities of each of these frameworks, then focus on your project objectives, and after, pick out the platform from the ones mentioned above — based on your business needs. That is the way you can guarantee your choice will have a positive impact.

If you have some questions left, don’t hesitate to contact our experts to get additional information about mobile app development.

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