Here is everything you need to know about cross-platform application development, why businesses need it, its benefits, different frameworks, which to use, and more.

1. Cross-Platform App Development: A
Complete Guide
A decade ago we never imagined an era of the internet where
we could order things online within a few minutes. Today,
regardless of the time and location we are in, if we are hangry
or want to purchase anything, the first thing we do is go
online, search for a website or an app, and purchase from it,
food or otherwise.
Consumers are so used to purchasing things online from the
comfort of their homes that providing them a seamless

2. experience regardless of the platform they use has become a
need of the hour. Today businesses need to develop a
responsive website and an application with uniform designs
and experience. But, providing this seamless experience is
difficult and expensive for companies due to native app
development.
Many companies opt for cross-platform app development
looking at the complexities of native app development and
high investments. If you are wondering what cross-platform
app development is, you are at the right place. Herein, I will
walk you through everything about it, its framework, benefits,
etc.
Keep reading:
What is Cross-Platform App Development?
Cross-platform app development involves developing a single
app that runs on multiple operating systems instead of having
different versions of the same app. Developers can start with
mobile app development using a single code-base compatible
with any operating system and work seamlessly.

3. Cross-platform app development uses the “Write Once, Run
Everywhere” approach to build mobile apps; it removes the
app development versions for Android and iOS. Reusability of
code and a single code-base is one of the major reasons most
startups opt for cross-platform development. This type of
development is compatible with various mobile operating
systems, and so it reaches a wider audience. It has a rapid
development, turnaround time and is cost-effective, making it
a go-to choice for everyone.
There are two types of development, i.e., cross-platform and
native app development. Both have their merits and demerits,
but most people wonder about the difference between native
and cross-platform app development. So, let’s see the major
differences between them:
Difference Between Cross Platform and Native App
Development:
With cross-platform app development, users don’t need to
write code multiple times; a single code base allows
developers to write code once and run anywhere. Here,
regardless of the platform, you are developing an application

4. for, the application will run and support various operating
systems. Whereas with native app development, you will need
to code dedicatedly for multiple platforms, it will also require
you to invest in dedicated employees for each of the
technologies.
Native app development is costly compared to cross-platform
development, and with the increasing demand for the
applications, the market is competitive. To meet these
increasing demands, companies shift their focus to
cross-platform app development.
Going further, let’s see some of benefits of cross-platform app
development:
Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development:
Increase Audience Reach:
Using cross-platform apps, you can deploy an application for
multiple platforms at the same time. With the single app, you
can target iOS, Android, and web platforms. This helps you
reach broader audiences and attract the correct audience
from across the world. As your application will be available on

5. a large number of devices, it is obvious that you will reach a
larger audience.
Code Reusability:
Code reusability is one of the major benefits why companies
and developers prefer cross-platform app development.
Developers can easily reuse and rewrite the code because of
the “write once, run everywhere” approach. They don’t need to
create new code for each platform, and as a result, it helps
them save some time and money.
Faster Development Time:
Cross-platform app development uses a single-code base
which makes the development process faster and easier.
Developers need to write code only once on either of the
cross-platform frameworks and while compiling it, the source
code will run like native. Once the application deploys and
there is a need for further updates like new features, security
patches, tweaks in features, etc., you can write the code once
and push the platforms’ updates.
Uniform Design:

6. Cross-platform app development helps you to develop an
application that is responsive and has a uniform design.
Regardless of the platform on which the user accesses your
application, it will be responsive. The application developed
using cross-platform recognizes the user interface elements
easily and responds accordingly. This enables designers and
developers to have uniform UI/UX for different devices and
provide a better and consistent user experience.
Having uniform design on all platforms is essential as it helps
businesses to have their brand voice and marketing strategy. It
will help you to stand ahead of competitors, rank on various
search engines, and retain customers on your website.
Native App-like Experience:
Application built using cross-platform technology feels and
runs like native apps. Pick up any technology you want to
develop an app in, you will have to write code once, and upon
compilation, it runs like a native app. With the latest tools and
advanced frameworks, the entire process of ecommerce
mobile app development becomes easy. Today various
frameworks make it easy to write the code, run it, and convert
it into source code which helps apps run like native apps.

7. When the application runs like a native app, it loads faster and
is responsive. As a result, it helps in better customer
experience.
Cost-effective Development:
In native app development, businesses need to hire multiple
developers for each platform, increasing their investment cost.
Whereas, with cross-platform app development, businesses
don’t need to invest in hiring multiple developers. As
cross-platform uses a single code-base, developers are skilled
in developing applications for multiple platforms. Hence,
cross-platform app development can help businesses to save
time, money and increase their ROI.
Easy to Update:
Updating your application becomes easier with
cross-platform. Let me explain how–with native app
development, you will have to write the same code multiple
times for different operating systems; next up you will have to
test, check, evaluate and update multiple times. Further, based
on different devices and operating systems, you might face
different challenges, and based on it, you will have to make

8. changes. All these things end up being extremely difficult and
time-consuming.
On the other hand, updating using cross-platform app
development becomes easy. You don’t need to write code
multiple times, evaluate, make changes according to different
platforms, etc. Just write code once, check, test, evaluate, and
push the updates. Based on the platform, the code will work
accordingly and provide better performance.
When it comes to the benefits of cross-platform development,
there are no limits. Over the years, frameworks have become
more robust and are helping the developer community and
businesses. But, with benefits comes demerits as well, so let’s
see some challenges of cross-platform app development in
brief:
Challenges of Cross-Platform App Development:
Switching Platforms:
Most of the cross-platform framework use JavaScript, and this
creates issues during reusable codes. In such a scenario,
finding the issue in the whole code becomes a difficult task

9. and consumes time, increasing the cost of mobile application
development.
Third-party App Integration:
It becomes difficult to integrate third-party applications in
cross-platform app development. The integration process
becomes difficult and lengthy as application developers will
need to make certain changes in the code based on each
operating system and its interfaces.
Sluggish Code:
Cross-platform application development is not easy, especially
for junior developers. They need cross-compliance during the
development process, which leads to sluggish code and results
in slow application. Cross-platform application development is
a perfect solution for small and medium-scale businesses as it
requires less investment and has more ROI.
There are plenty of tools available in the market which makes
ecommerce mobile app development easy. The increasing
demand for applications has given rise to strong framework
tools, making it easy to develop complex applications. Today,

10. plenty of frameworks have increased confusion about which
are perfect for cross-platform app development.
If you, too, are confused about which platform is perfect for
mobile application development, you are in the right place.
Herein, I will share with you the top frameworks useful for
cross-platform app development.
Top Cross-Platform App Development Framework:
Flutter:
Flutter is a popular framework for cross-platform mobile
application development. Flutter’s official programming
language is Dart; its open-source nature makes it
approachable for development. Today Flutter is the second
most used platform for app development because of speed,
native performance, expressive UI, and Hot Reload. These
features make it easy to develop an application; developers can
also modify the code and see results in real-time. These are
some of the notable features:
● Key Features:

11. ○ Fast Development
○ Responsive
○ Easy to use UI
○ Intuitive UI and widgets
○ Highly efficient apps
○ Structured coding
○ Easy to learn
● Following are some of the companies using Flutter:
○ BMW
○ NUBank
○ Tencent
○ Square
○ Dream11
React Native:
React Native is an open-source, cross-platform framework
built using Facebook that supports JavaScript codebase for
developing high-quality apps. React Native development
approach helps build high-performance mobile apps quickly

12. and makes the framework robust and reliable. It changes the
way cross-platform applications work today.
● Key Features:
○ Open source development
○ Faster programming
○ Codebase sharing
○ High performance
○ Responsive UI
● Companies using React Native:
○ Bloomberg
○ UberEats
○ AirBnB
○ Instagram
○ Skype
○ Facebook
Native Script:
If you are thinking about other alternatives of Flutter and
React Native, NativeScript is your answer. It is a free and

13. open-source cross-platform framework, useful for app
development. NativeScript lets you build an application in
TypeScript, JavaScript, XML, CSS, using Angular and Vue.js.
When working with NativeScript, you don’t need to install any
plugins to access the camera, GPS, or other features as they
are in-built. This makes it easy to code in NativeScript and
provides better performance.
● Key Features:
○ Free and open source
○ Multiple components support
○ Native methods and libraries support
○ Easy to code
● Companies using NativeScript:
○ QA Limited
○ University of California
○ Lorven Technologies
Corona SDK:

14. Corona SDK is an open-source, cross-platform framework
perfect for building apps for desktops, mobile phones, tablets,
etc. The framework is reliable as it offers a back-end
framework language called Lua; it is a lightweight application
development language. Corona SDK’s primary focus is on
significant parts of app development like portability,
scalability, and it is easy to use.
● Key Feature:
○ Open-source frameworks
○ Easy to use
○ Multiple useful plugins
○ Lua Scripting language, easy to learn and use
○ Built-in analytics
● Companies using CoronaSDK:
○ Source books
○ Lorven Technologies
○ IEEE
PhoneGap:

15. PhoneGap is also one of the well-known platforms for
development tools that supports different languages like
HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. These tools make it easy for web
and app developers to develop an application. If a business is
looking to develop a cross-platform application, PhoneGap is a
perfect choice as it develops apps for all major platforms and
adds features like add-ons. Moreover, developers can too use
this framework without the need to have any hardware
restrictions.
● Key Features:
○ Fast deployment
○ Quick and easy testing
○ Single codebase
○ Strongly typed language
○ Popular web technologies
○ Multiple libraries
● Companies using PhoneGap:
○ Accenture
○ Typeform
○ WebbyLab

16. ○ Zendesk
Xamarin:
Xamarin had an open-source, cross-platform mobile
application development framework which Microsoft took
over. Similar to other frameworks, Xamarin uses the same
codebase for Android and iOS apps. Xamarin uses C#
programming language, eliminating the need to learn Swift or
Java and is more beneficial than React Native as it provides a
more native app-like experience.
● Key features:
○ Free and Open-source framework
○ Performance-oriented framework
○ Easy to maintain
○ Advanced technologies
○ Large community of contributors
● Companies using Xamarin:
○ Fox Sports
○ Siemens

17. ○ Pinterest
○ World Bank
Ionic:
Ionic is one of the popular cross-platform app frameworks
which uses Angular and Cordova. This framework helps
developers to create a user-friendly app interface. It is an
open-source framework that allows developers to change the
development process according to their unique project ideas.
It is a framework for developing hybrid mobile apps using
JavaScript. It also has an Ionic React that leverages React for
building hybrid mobile applications.
● Key features:
○ Fast prototyping
○ Concise documentation
○ Single codebase
○ Advanced technologies
○ Ready-made UI components
○ Plenty of in-built plugins
● Companies using Ionic:

18. ○ Airbus Helicopters
○ Electronic Arts
○ National Health Service (NHS)
○ Sworkit
○ Instapot
Conclusion:
Cross-platform app development is the NOW of application
development. Today there is a massive change in the way we
interact with technology. Applications have made it easy for
users to do everyday tasks. The increase in the usage of mobile
applications gives rise to app development. Today there is an
application for almost everything which makes our lives easier.
Additionally, cross-platform applications are revolutionizing
the app development experience. It is constantly pushing the
boundaries of development and making the entire process
simpler. If you are wondering how to develop an application,
you can reach out to us.
We have experienced technical experts who will help you with
the entire process of application development. We have helped

19. many customers build their great products, which are
cross-platform app development.
Source:
https:/
/www.biztechcs.com/blog/cross-platform-app-devel
opment-complete-guide/