The market is flooded with mobile app development software and when it comes to choosing the right one, you may be a little bit confused. The technology continues to develop and augmentation and machine-learning options add to the existing work pool. Therefore, it is important to know the peculiarities of these software to choose the right one for the right case. After all, businesses want the final result when they outsource mobile app development. In this blog post, we will help you figure out which framework to choose for your particular case.
Types of Mobile Application Development Frameworks
Before we proceed to each software separately, we need to see the types of mobile application development frameworks available. Depending on your task, you may need to focus on a specific type.
There are basically three types of apps:
- Native apps
- Web apps
- Cross-platform apps.
Native apps are used to develop native applications for a specialized platform. As such, they meet the demands of a specific operation system (OS), for example, Windows or iOS.
Web apps are used for web app development for web API, web server, and web service interfaces.
Cross-platform apps are hybrid app frameworks which means they can be used to develop cross-platform mobile apps. By saying hybrid, I mean that these frameworks have the abilities of both native and web development frameworks.
What Are the Benefits of Mobile Development?
If you wonder why mobile apps are gaining momentum, you may have missed something in the business world. On-demand services, e-commerce, and other online forms of communication have opened up doors for the development of thousands of apps. Here is a short overview of why they are important:
- Mobile apps increase productivity and strengthen customer engagement.
- They have increasingly transformed the retail experience.
- It’s so hard to stand out of the competition if you don’t build an app.
- Easy payment systems.
- Customer loyalty.
These were just a few benefits of mobile app development.
But let’s dive into ten mobile app development software in 2022.
Reасt Nаtive
React Native is developed by Facebook. It is an open-source, cross-platform framework and helps to develop Android and iOS mobile apps.
When to choose React Native?
- If money is an issue.
- If you are well-versed in JavaScript.
- When you need cross-platform app development.
When not to choose React Native?
- When your application needs complex User Interfaces.
- When you build utilities such as battery monitors.
- For apps with a single OS.
- For apps utilizing a lot of computation.
Flutter
Flutter is an open-source framework. It is developed by Google for native Android and iOS apps. It uses a single codebase.
When to choose Flutter?
- When time is an issue.
- When you want to build a Minimum Viable Product.
- When you need the same code-base.
- If you want to use widgets for creating visuals for your app.
When not to choose Flutter?
- If you are concerned about your app speed. Flutter apps are quite large and “heavy”. They take a lot of space and, therefore, require more time to download or update.
- If you don’t know Dart.
- If you need strong iOS features support.
Ionic
Ionic is an open-source framework built with Apache Cordova (PhoneGap) and Angular. It can be used for native, hybrid, and cross-platform app development.
When to choose Ionic?
- If you need to move across platforms.
- If money is an issue. Ionic is free.
- If you need a community to talk.
When not to choose Ionic?
- If you are interested in games development.
- If you are looking for high performance with native applications.
- In case you need some highly specific feature or access to a non-standard piece of hardware. In this case, you will have to develop the plugin on your own.
Xаmаrin
Xamarin is an open-source framework of Microsoft. It is used for developing Android, iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS apps.
When to choose Xamarin?
- When you are concerned about the ease of work.
- When you want to reuse code but only in Xamarin environment.
- When you don’t want to spend too much time on maintenance.
When not to choose Xamarin?
- If you want to have full control over the code.
- If you want to generate reusable modules and components outside Xamarin environment.
- If speed is an issue. Xamarin files are quite heavy.
Swiftiс
Swiftiс is аn iОS-оnly арр develорment frаmewоrk. It has a user-friendly interface and, therefore, is simрle tо use. There is а 6-mоnth suссess guаrаntee. If you are dissatisfied for some reason, you can use it free for 6 months.
When to choose Swiftiс?
- When your are concerned only about iOS applications.
- When the user-friendly layout is an issue.
When not to choose Swiftic?
- If you are a large-scale organization.
- If you need community support.
Соrоnа SDK
Соrоnа SDK is quite popular. It is a free-to-use арр develорment framework fоr developing mobile game аррs.
When to choose Corona SDK?
- When you need to build game apps.
- When lightweight is a concern.
- When you want to build a cross-platform app easily.
When not to choose Corona SDK?
- If you want to work with ARMV6 Android devices.
- If you want to use a framework for free. It is not totally free. The free version is for evaluation. You need to pay if you want to release anything.
Аррсelerаtоr Titаnium
Аррсelerаtоr is аn орen-sоurсe, сrоss-platform арр development frаmewоrk thаt аllоws developers to create nаtive аррs using а single codebase.
When to choose Appcelerator?
- When time is an issue.
- When location is an issue. It is a cloud-based framework allowing developers to use it whenever and wherever they want.
When not to use Appcelerator
- When you seek community support. The Titanium mobile projects on GitHub have a list of open pull requests.
- If you plan to work with Apple since Apple has been rejecting some Titanium apps because of private API calls.
Native Script
Native Script is an open-source framework to build 100% native applications.
When to choose Native Script?
- For complex apps with high performance.
- If you are concerned with native user experience.
- If you are a beginner. Native Script is easy for beginners and even easier for experienced coders who know JavaScript, and OOPS.
- When you are concerned with a personalized tech stack.
When not to choose Native Script?
- If you want to work with DOM or HTML. Native Script does not support DOM or HTML.
- When you are concerned with debugging. Debugging in Native Script is harder than in React Native.
- If you don’t fully know Android and iOS APIs. Developers need to know the native Android and iOS APIs to access device hardware and other platform-specific functionality.
Framework7
Framework7 is a free and open-source hybrid framework to develop mobile, desktop or web apps with a native look and feel.
When to choose Framework7?
- When money is an issue. It’s completely free. No license fees AT ALL !!
- If you are concerned about ease of work. It’s easy to develop apps for iOS and Android.
- If you also work with Angular and React frameworks.
When not to choose Framework7?
- If you don’t like HTML5 markup-based solutions.
- If you work with platforms other than Android and iOS. Framework7 only supports platforms like iOS and Android.
Mobile Аngulаr UI
Mobile Angular UI is used for hybrid mobile apps. It is open-source.
When to choose Mobile Angular UI?
- When money is an issue. It’s a free open-source framework.
- When you work specifically with mobile or hybrid apps.
- When you also work with Ionic.
When not to choose Mobile Angular UI?
- If you are concerned about debugging.
- If you work with JavaScript as it lacks JavaScript components.
Wrapping up
The aim of this blog post was to help developers choose the right app for their specific case. While you may need to research more on the selected ones, it is a good overview of when to choose or not to choose a specific framework. Hope you enjoyed it!
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