6 Immensely Popular Frameworks for Hybrid Mobile App Development

The rapid increase in the number of mobile users worldwide offers a lot of potential to the businesses and users to reach a wider database. Every user nowadays has access to a smartphone which can be quite easily used to connect to the Internet and access the various features provided by smartphones. There are a large number of users who make use of apps on a regular basis to perform their day to day activities.

In order to attract more and more customers businesses develop apps to help users gain access to their services. Hybrid app development has become quite common nowadays in order to make sure that they are able to reach a large number of users on Android, Windows and iOS devices.

There are a number of reasons for which the developers opt for the Hybrid mobile apps. It is easier and cheaper to develop and maintain apps with the help of hybrid frameworks as compared to the native app development framework. It saves time and money and ensures that you are able to get your apps online easier and faster. Even if you are on a tight budget and schedule, you can quite easily develop apps. It is due to these reasons that a number developers opt for the hybrid model of app development.

Hence there is a large number of Mobile Hybrid App Development Frameworks available. While some of these are available for free, in case of others you need to pay a small fee in order to develop apps.

It is quite important that you select a good framework to develop the apps as you need to invest your precious time and money to learn the app development. There are a number of factors that make a framework good to use. These must be reliable as it ensures reliability and stability while you develop the apps. Along with the same proper documentation and dedicated user groups must be available. This ensures that you can either solve the problems on your own or seek the help of the experts whenever you encounter a problem. Along with the same, it is also necessary that you are able to use the full features of the smartphone.

Keeping these in mind, here I have compiled some of the most popular app development frameworks along with their merits and demerits. Go through these to decide for yourself which app development frameworks suits you the best.

Popular App Development Frameworks

PhoneGap

It is one of the most popular app development framework available. Using this, you can develop reliable apps for iOS, Android, and Windows phones as well. As it rests on the shoulders of giants like Adobe and Apache it is intended to provide a reliable and safe app development environment. Being an open source project, you do not need to pay a subscription fee.

In order to develop apps using PhoneGap, you do not need to learn a wide variety of languages like Java, Kotlin, Swift, Objective C, and many more such languages. Just a knowledge of the web development framework like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript can help you get going to develop even the most sophisticated applications.

It provides proper documentation to help you learn the app development. Along with the same, there are hundreds of thousands of developers and you can quite easily get in touch with the experts in case you come across any problems.

PhoneGap also provides you access to some of the native device APIs like camera, GPS, accelerometer, etc. in order to help you make the most out of the device and make it behave like the native app. There are also several native plugins using which you can add functionalities and also access some other components of the device like compass, file system, microphone, etc.

Xamarin

Xamarin is another most popular hybrid app developer platform. It is developed and managed by one of the most popular tech giant Microsoft. Developing apps in Xamarin is also faster and easier. It is also an open-source platform and hence you can use it for free. Here too you can develop apps using C# shared codebase. It makes use of cross-platform implementations of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) and Common Language Specification. It allows you to develop cross-platform apps for Android, iOS, Windows phones and Mac and Windows 8+ apps as well.

It is used by more than 1.4 million developers worldwide. Out of these, a number of its clients belong to Fortune 500 companies including Bosch, Slack, Pinterest, Kellogg’s, etc. This ensures the reliability and the performance of the apps developed using Xamarin. It also has a well documented thereby guiding you through every step of the way.

One of the best features of Xamarin is that it provides its users with an access to any of the APIs of iOS and Android. You can access all the tools of your device without any hassles.

It also provides you with an automatic binding generator that makes it possible to use your existing Objective-C and Java code, frameworks, and custom controls in your Xamarin app.

Same day support is provided for Apple and Google updates. This ensures that you are updated with the latest technology and make the most out of the device. You can also use it to develop Apple Watchkit and Android Wear apps. It is also quite easy to ship apps to Google Play Store and App Store.

Unity

Playing games on phones account for the most time consuming of the users. Games nowadays have become a billion dollar market and many new players like Facebook and Microsoft too have entered the market.

The games nowadays make use of many new and improved technologies like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Artificial Intelligence to provide an amazing playing experience. These technologies intend to change the market in the near future.

Unity is a cross-platform game development engine that intends to make the game development on Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows platform easier and faster. This too is used by numerous well-known game development companies. It is quite easier and faster to develop games and market it on many well-known platforms. Here you can use a wide number of technologies like AR, VR, and AI to develop even the most sophisticated games with ease.

It also has thousands of game developers by the virtue of which you will be able to get to develop your own apps and get support while developing apps and whenever you come across any problems. There are various resources provided by Unity itself that can help you to develop apps for free like tutorials, books, courses and is pretty well documented. It also features a store where you can where you can buy models, animations, sounds, extensions, etc. While some of these are free, in case of others you need to pay a small amount. Some of the games developed using these are quite well known with millions of app downloads.

While it can be used for free by small developers, bigger enterprises need to pay a small amount for developing enterprise level projects.

Ionic

Ionic is another open source hybrid app development framework that makes use of some of the most sophisticated web technologies to help you develop the apps and distribute it over multiple platforms with ease. It features several plugins that can help you to interact with the different device components like Bluetooth, HealthKit, Finger Print Auth, camera, microphone, etc.

It is properly documented with the help of real app examples, component demos, guides, and how to’s. This ensures that you are able to get instant help on your own in case of any problems. The performance of the apps developed is quite amazing. You can also use the APIs and plugins provided by PhoneGap, and Cordova to extend its functionalities.

It also has a vast user base with thousands of developers and a number of well-known companies like NASA, Baskin Robbins, Harley Davidson, Airbus, etc. use it to develop their apps.

Appcelerator Titanium

Appcelerator Titanium is also a popular hybrid mobile app development platform that helps you to develop apps for iOS and Android. The apps are written in JavaScript. You can also extend the functionality of the apps with the help of Appcelerator APIs, and custom XML. There are a number of mobile platform APIs and Cloud service that can be used in the backend. One of the best things about it is that it enables you to develop mobile apps rapidly with the help of Alloy MVC framework. You can also access the hardware of the phone with the help of several APIs. Another important feature of the same is that you can reuse the codes that facilitate the app development process even more.

If you are planning to develop apps on a personal level, it can be done for free. But for enterprise uses, you need to buy the subscription for the same. Some well-known organizations that make use of Titanium are eBay, PayPal, Cisco, Canon, etc.

Framework 7

Framework 7 is another hybrid app development platform that makes use of the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to help you develop amazing apps with ease and without any hassles. You can use it to develop iOS and Android apps. Framework 7 makes use of iOS and Android theme to make your apps look perfect on these platforms. The UI elements and widgets like modals, popup, action sheet, popover, media lists, tabs, layout grid, form elements, etc. can be quite easily used without the need to code in JavaScript.

It is also available to be used for free. There are a number of popular apps developed in Framework 7 and is properly documented to help you get help while the development process.

Summary

These are some of the well known hybrid app development frameworks. Apart from these, there are a large number of mobile app development environment available which can be used to develop apps. It is necessary that you choose the platform wisely before opting to choose one. PhoneGap and Xamarin are recommended for the App development, while Unity is the preferred option by numerous users for game development. However, it is necessary to get in touch with a good mobile app development organization that can guide you properly in developing the mobile app.

Acodez is one of the best mobile app development company in India which houses a team of dedicated app developers to develop a feature rich app keeping in mind the latest design trends. Over the course of 6 years we have have worked on a number of native and hybrid apps based on the suggestions and requirements of the business. During the course of time, we have been able to bag several national and international awards and have been featured as the best web design company in India by many leading industry magazines and rating sites.