Top Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools

Is coding your passion? Are you considering making it your career to reach the zenith? There is a set of factors that determine the success of an app. App developers are learning more with each passing day and enriching the market with great mind products. However, one aspect that is often overlooked is the app development tool in use. While considering the app development tool for your project, you should keep an eye open for the quality of its plugin library and API besides other integration aspects.

There is a vast number of platforms in the market these days, and there is an equally broad market of various devices by several companies. In such a situation catering to the needs of only one app while designing an app is not economically feasible. You should thus aim to develop an app that is compatible with several platforms. With a cross-platform mobile app development tool, you would only need to create a single code and not multiple ones, unlike the native app development. Therefore, such apps cut down a lot of your efforts and costs in the process. Let’s have a look at the best cross-platform mobile app development tools available in the market.

1. PhoneGap

The team behind Apache Cordova engineered it. It is an open source tool which has a compiler, debugger and a tester with popular web technologies inculcated in it. There was a widely circulated myth in the past regarding the limited capabilities of PhoneGap to design only simple apps. It was also said that this app doesn’t make the best use of the device’s capabilities. A variety of additions have debunked this myth. Image Capture Plugin, Push Plugin and Media Recorder Plugin are just a few names on the list. The apps created through PhoneGap have been working fine and are very efficient in the tasks assigned to them. Take for instance the CP Jobsite App. This app has revolutionised the world of professional painting by connecting the supervisors of painting services with their dispersed workforces effortlessly. Tracking the progress of the task at hand is effortless. Users at the other end can click a picture of the progress and then send the same to their supervisors via the app. Its instant messaging service is incredible and allows supervisors to notify the workforce about any updates with immediate effect.

Web technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript form the crux of Phone Gap, and thus the developers can easily avail the same while creating their codes and therefore utilize their existing skill set. Time to market is brought down to a great extent with its feature of code reusability across iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry and Firefox OS. The architecture of the app is plugin enabled. Thus, the developers can create featured apps while making full use of the device’s capabilities through APIs. It even supports in-app purchases from App Store for iOS and Google Play Store for Android.

However, if you aim to create a graphics-intensive app, you might face some performance issues. This problem can be easily overcome by employing third-party solutions to enhancing caching and graphics acceleration. OEMs are coming up with better technical specifications these days. A little concern is thus accounted for.

 

2. Appcelerator

Appcelerator is a top-rated app among cross developers these days. It holds your hand throughout the process. It helps you to build, connect and eventually even measure the functionality of your app. It is based on JavaScript. Java is extremely popular among coding enthusiasts these days. Thus, you will not face any problems in this end. It also has a universal code concept. This means that rapid product development and delivery is ensured because you will not create multiple codes for various platforms. One single code will work efficiently on all platforms right from iOS, Android to Windows Phone and Blackberry.

If you are short on time, this app can be your savior It is known in the industry for its speedy results, and you can build the prototype of the app effortlessly to evaluate the user’s interaction with the UI. It cuts down on your efforts in the best manner. Its schema-less data store, ArrowDB. Let’s you deploy data at zero setup efforts. It even facilitates seamless integration with the existing continuous delivery systems like SCM and MDM solutions. It’s equipped with pre-built connectors available for MS Azure, MS SQL, Salesforce, MongoDB, Box, and various others.

One major drawback of this app is the frequent user complaints regarding it being buggy and laggy. However, the developers of this tool claim that they have fixed the same in the newer version of the app. Despite efforts being put in, there is a poor rapport with its developer’s community when it comes to providing quick solutions to the queries of the users.

There is a vast number of apps in the market which can help you out in this regard. This is a popular arena of exploration and developers are toiling incessantly to come up with the best tools to serve your purpose. There are certain drawbacks of the apps listed above. However, these two are the best that the market has to offer for now.
If you are a part of a cross-platform app development company, your focus should always be on striking the perfect balance on what is available to you and what is asked by your client to reach the bliss point. These apps cut down on your efforts and hassles in a substantial manner and will help you to achieve your target in the minimum possible time. They will also cut down on your casts and thus boost your profit margin.

If you have any further queries regarding the same, please feel free to ask in the comments section.