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Top 5 Mobile App Development Frameworks 2021-2023

The foundation of any smart business strategy is to develop a fast-track way to reach the global audience. One of them is switching your business website to a mobile app.

However, to create a successful mobile app, it’s essential to have the right mobile app development framework, related technologies, platforms, and databases. With so many options to choose from, it can be overwhelming to decide which one is best for you. Hiring mobile app developers can help take the guesswork out of the equation and give you the competitive edge you need. These developers can create apps that are tailor-made to your business’s individual needs, as well as develop the necessary back-end frameworks and databases, and help to optimize the user experience.

Yet, with this post, we’ll discuss some of the most popular mobile app development frameworks for both iOS and Android platforms. But first- let’s quickly glance at what an efficient mobile app development framework looks like?

What is a Mobile App Development Framework?

A mobile app development framework is a library designed to help developers build mobile apps. Above all, it provides a fundamental structure that supports mobile app development and boosts the process while cutting the cost simultaneously.

To know more about the best framework for mobile app development 2020-2021, this article is the perfect read for readers, including newbies and owners who are still looking to pick the best one. Herein, we’ve listed the five best mobile app development frameworks that are highly recommended.

Best Frameworks for Mobile App Development 2020-21

Now, we’ve put together a list of the best frameworks for mobile app development. Let’s have a look!

1. React Native

React Native is one of the popular cross-platform frameworks that have been launched by Facebook. Backed by colossal community support, React Native is built on top of ReactJS, which has given massive competition to the long-time favorite, AngularJS. 

React Native offers high performance, cost-effectiveness, and faster time to market. When dealing with RN, you get a lower cost of maintenance. As a result, React Native reduces app development costs and simplifies maintenance.

It helps developers create mobile apps with JavaScript only, which is compatible with iOS and Android platforms. This framework builds a hierarchy of UI components to create the JavaScript code. Some apps built with React Native are Facebook, Airbnb, Walmart, Bloomberg, Instagram, Soundcloud, and UberEats.

Here are some benefits of using React Native for mobile app development, which you can keep in your mind:

  • Optimal performance
  • Modular architecture
  • Code effective
  • Code reusability
  • Large community
  • Third-party plugin support
  • Hot reloading support
  • Handy solutions and libraries
  • Integrated with NPM (Node Packet Manager)
  • Live reload feature: the first one is for code modification, and the second one is to preview the modified changes.

2. Flutter

Flutter is free and an open-source mobile UI framework created by Google. Flutter can be described in a few words as a framework that allows developers to create a native mobile app with only one code. It means that developers need to use one programming language and one codebase to create two apps, i.e., iOS and Android.

According to Google, “Over 2 million developers have used the Flutter framework in the last two years of its release, and it’s constantly growing.” Moreover, Google saw 10% month over month growth in March with nearly half a million developers using Flutter every month.

It is used to build native-looking Android and iOS apps from the same code base. It has been around since 2015 when Google introduced it and remained in the beta stage before its official release in December 2018.

Flutter allows its users to create apps for mobile phones, televisions, tablets, wearables, smart displays, etc.

Reasons why Flutter can be the choice for mobile app development

Faster App Development with Hot Reloading: Flutter is one of the cross-platform frameworks for speedy app development. This is because Flutter has native codes and “Hot reloading” or “Hot restart” features, allowing developers to view changes in the code within one second; therefore, it increases the developers’ productivity ten folds.

Flutter-based apps are majorly dependent on built-in widgets, but not platform widgets. Thus, the size of the app can be estimated at almost above 4MB. Flutter comes with a wide range of widgets, including navigation, scrolling, and fonts. This provides a native performance experience on both platforms, i.e., iOS and Android. Therefore, developers can easily save time on mobile app development.

Multiple IDE Support: No matter how complicated and broad you want an app, Flutter has recently become a developers’ top choice. The reason for this is excellent multiple IDE support, which results in a comfortable environment for developers in developing a cross-platform app.

Generally, when developers start working with an IDE, they do not prefer switching to another IDE. This is where Flutter takes momentum and provides access to a massive number of IDEs, including Android Studio, IntelliJ, VC Code, etc.

The name of popular apps made using the Flutter app development framework are:

  • Alibaba
  • Google Ads app
  • Reflectly
  • Cryptograph
  • Birch Finance

3. Ionic

Ionic is considered one of the best mobile app development frameworks and a popular open-source framework for creating cross-platform mobile apps using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The framework provides mobile-optimized components and native APIs using Cordova and Ionic Native. Written in TypeScript language, Ionic has the prime advantage is its templates.

It’s a multipurpose framework that helps develop hybrid apps, progressive web apps (PWAs), and cross-platform apps. Its user-friendly features make Ionic a desirable mobile app development framework.

Features & reasons why Ionic is the best framework:

Beautiful Default UI that is easy to customize: Ionic comes with a myriad of default JavaScript and CSS components, which cover most of the primary things you would want to build into a mobile app. It includes components like a sliding menu and other things such as:

  • Buttons
  • Lists
  • Navigation
  • Form Inputs
  • Tabs
  • Sliding boxes

Moreover, the themes and components present in the Ionic framework are customizable, which gives more freedom for app interface creation.

Cordova Plugins: The availability of Cordova plugins offer access to features such as Flashlight, camera, GPS, and more.

Ionic is built on Angular: If you’ve ever used the Ionic framework, then you’ve probably known the fact that ionic is built on top of the Angular framework. Ionic extends Angular with a bunch of stuff to seamlessly develop mobile apps with Angular. Google backs Angular though it does not necessarily mean it’s best for every situation; however, several smart engineers are working on building and maintaining it. Hence, it’s a pretty safe bet!

Big & Helpful Community:

Ionic has undeniably the most incredible sense of community that any developer has used in the past. It’s always a part of such a big, helpful, and friendly community.

Moreover, there’s always an existing blog post, which helps members with forums’ help. Users can even try posting app questions on social media, and you never know; you might get all answers to your queries from the founders of the Ionic framework.

The famous apps built using the Ionic framework are:

  • Diesel
  • McDonald’s Turkey app
  • JustWatch
  • Mclaren Automotive
  • Sworkit

4. PhoneGap

PhoneGap was first named Apache Cordova,” which was introduced by Nitobi. After that, Adobe purchased Nitobi and renamed it “PhoneGap.” It is a widely adopted technology for cross-platform mobile app development. Or, we can say that it’s a robust mobile app development framework to create cross-platform applications. The best part of this framework is that it reduces the usage of complex languages, including Java for Android and Swift for iOS.

PhoneGap strives to bridge the gap between hybrid and native apps for mobile devices. It lets developers build hybrid apps targeting all the devices using web-based languages like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

Adobe Systems powered this framework but now it is handed over to Apache to maintain and keep it open source. It also allows developers to write a single app, which is installed as a native app across multiple channels.

The name of the apps, which are developed using PhoneGap mobile app framework:

  • Wikipedia
  • HealthTap
  • The DHS Program
  • TripCase

Benefits of using PhoneGap framework:

Open Source: This framework can be used for free.

Plugin friendly: It supports several useful plugin integrations, accessible through Adobe repository, public git repository, and Node JavaScript platform.

Skilled developers are not required: Since PhoneGap uses popular and common technologies like JavaScript, CSS3 & HTML5; therefore, developers do not need specific expertise.

5. Xamarin

Launched by Microsoft, Xamarin is one of the best hybrid app frameworks supported by C# programming language. An open-source platform, Xamarin, is used for building hybrid mobile apps using .NET and C#. Additionally, being a Microsoft product, this robust multi-platform development framework has over 60000 developers and contributors, excellent customer support, and extensive documentation.

When it comes to an ideal framework with the least cost, Xamarin helps save money by creating three apps or platforms for one code, i.e., iOS, Android, and Windows.

Features & Reasons for the success of Xamarin:

  • Seamless UI Development: With the help of Microsoft Visual Studio and Xamarin Studio, it enables designers to create beautiful interfaces and enhanced user experience.

  • Multi library Support: Unlike React Native, this framework also lets coders use CSS libraries.

  • Best-suited for offline apps: Xamarin is best-suited for creating apps that work offline. This is because there are several instances when the application needs to perform without using the internet.

The following apps made with the use of Xamarin are:

  • The World Bank
  • BBC Good Food
  • HCL
  • Alaska Airlines

The takeaway

The best mobile app development frameworks provide a range of programming languages, features, and platforms. It’s all up to you to choose which framework is the best-suited as per your requirements, budget, technological requirements, and better chances of short term & long term success.

If you are looking for a professional company for mobile app development in Austin or near your region, then you’ll need complete research to align your motives. Don’t forget to share the complexity of your idea and the expected design. By doing so, it will help you out to answer all your questions.

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