No more iOS vs Android contention: Hybrid development takes front seat

Being into mobile app development the biggest confusion spread among the business owners is: Which platform to choose?

The essential thing in which Web development is to be chosen so that it can help them to get maximum exposure and business gains so forth.

Well, if you go for native app development you need to have a lofty finding backing you up and if you choose a responsive development then you app is abstained from using core device functionalities.

This is why hybrid apps came into picture which lets you have the best of both the worlds.

1) Apache Cordova/PhoneGap

It was developed by Nitobi as PhoneGap, later it was given to the Apache Software Foundation and hence its name was changed to “Apache Cordova”.

PhoneGap is the popular name of Apache Cordova and it is certainly one of the most widely used hybrid platforms. HTML, CSS and JavaScript are technologies used for writing mobile applications by the developers who opt for PhoneGap. There is a native application container which is called as the “WebView” and inside this all the assets run. The whole idea is to pack a web application within a container which can make you JavaScript access the device level functionality which is not under the scope of any normal web application or responsive app. This is the reason which makes it one of the most in demand development.

It uses JavaScript, HTML and CSS which is one of the most positive points for it as there is a vast community of developers who develop using these technologies. Thus, you do not need to worry about the procuring resources possessing any special skills if you have chosen Apache Cordova. This helps in reducing the development time as now the developers can straight away start the development without any additional training.

The icing on the cake is that this is an open source software and hence it saves you the extra cost paid for purchasing the license of the platform

It allows you to leverage native app functionality and helps you to gain visibility on app stores which is also not covered under the scope of a responsive web application.

This platform works on a plugin architecture, wherefore it allowed modular extension of native APIs.

Apart from this there are ample lot of plugins offered by this platform which helps you to enable to get a wide range of functionalities without devoting time on something which is very common.

2) Appcelerator Titanium

If you need to save your time and resources you can opt for Appcelerator Titanium and it creates incredible Android and iOS apps by reusing a minimum 60% of the code for creating each distinct app for a separate platform.

Further, being an open-source tool you can easily get a lot of technical support from a vast community of developers who share their reviews and finding about the platform which helps you attain proper functionality.

3) IONIC

IONIC is another most widely used HTML 5 based framework for developing mobile apps. It is built on SASS and hence it provides several components to enhance the user interface in order to build highly interactive and feature rich apps. Further, it utilizes the MVVM framework for JavaScript and Angular JS for powering up apps. It offers data binding from two ways along with strong backend services and Application program interfaces, which makes it favorable for the developers to use.

4) Sencha Touch

Sencha Touch is another HTML5 based mobile app development framework for building web app that gives user experience just like a native application. If you wish to use Sencha Touch you can easily use  it along with the Apache Cordova(also known as PhoneGap) or along with native package of Sencha which packs the application in a container which gives native feel and enable it to select device level functionalities which is not covered by regular web applications.

There are several inter-operable products which are built from “Sencha Architect” which is an HTML5 based visual builder and offers Touch Charts for visualizing data. Apart from this it offers Sencha Eclipse Plugin for IDE integration and another one is the Sencha Space for rendering secure deployment of enterprise app.

There are a lot of things which you can get from Sencha such as MVC style architecture, extensible APIs, a wholesome library comprising of user interface elements and also UI themes.

5) Unity 3D

Unity 3D is an incredible tool to develop high end graphical games or simply you can count on this tool to develop websites with high end graphics.

It is a cross platform app development tool which  extends its limits beyond translation. You can leverage languages such as Boo, Unity Script or C# for developing your code, but simultaneously you can make them work on numerous platforms such as iOS, Windows, Android, PlayStation, Linux, Web and Xbox.

After distributing your games to all the platform you can leverage this cross platform tool to reach to all the app stores, social market and even find out what your users are up to via analytical tools provided by it.

At a glance!

Developing an app which runs on various mobile platforms such as Android and iOS is not an easy task as it is not just writing a code and then translating it for specific platforms.

Cross platform development tool help in reducing the hassle and on the top of it they reduce a considerable amount of time and resources consumed while developing apps for different mobile platform. However, you need to match the UI so as to update the system. As there are a lot of tweaks which are required in order deliver platform specific delivery on devices which have different operating styles and functionality.