List Of Best 12 Android Application Development Frameworks | Cross-Platform Frameworks
Technostacks
Note:- This article is updated on 25 November 2020.
Cross-platform android development frameworks offer coders with an absolute set of tools developed to enhance productivity by resolving universal issues. The question is which android frameworks will be most good for you in 2021. To lend a hand, we have created a comprehensive list of cross-platform frameworks and detailed android framework architecture for your development projects.
List Of Top Cross-Platform frameworks For App Developers
- Corona SDK
- React Native
- Flutter
- Xamarin
- PhoneGap
- Ionic
- Native Android Framework
- Appcelerator Titanium
- TheAppBuilder
- NativeScript
- Sencha Touch
- JQuery Mobile
With almost 3 million mobile applications on Google Play, the Android operating system leads the overall landscape. The small businesses, SME’s and large enterprises work hard to set up a sturdy mobile presence and grip their share of the market. However, not everybody has the know-how and assets vital to construct an app from scratch by means of native tools. Also, it is highly time-consuming and pricey to build an Android app over an iOS app. However what if I say you that this is not relatively true? In fact, there is an assortment of frameworks accessible to facilitate developing apps swifter at the same cost and effectiveness.
The intent of this best android development framework is to lessen the effort the developer puts in by escalating productivity, offering inbuilt tools and technology solutions to work on the tricky part of coding. I will sketch some of the most excellent frameworks here so you can outline out which is finest for you or can be utilized as a Google android framework.
The endeavour of Frameworks Is to Transform Mobile Development to as Effortless as Probable.
Let’s see today’s best Android development frameworks.
Corona SDK
Corona SDK assures up to ten swifter game and mobile development solutions. This is feasible as Corona app backend framework depends completely on Lua, a lightweight multi-paradigm programming language with a prime focus on compactness, swiftness, portability, scalability, robustness and trouble-free usage.
The authorized websites guides to turn absolute beginners into seasoned professionals. The guides go over the whole thing from the fundamentals of mobile development to more superior topics. Corona SDK is 100 % free, executed on both Windows and Mac OS X backing real-time quality testing.
Modernization and swift application development
Corona is exclusive in that it empowers advanced and quick app development. Its matchless development and iteration pace, supported by its dynamic API, turns it to a precise framework for all-purpose development and gaming.
This framework additionally hosts native UI support, an integrated engine, and over 500 APIs, along with a powerful advertising platform created for developers. This framework is outstanding and uses highly flexible programming language.
React Native
React Native is created by Facebook and utilized by Airbnb, Instagram, Tesla, Walmart, Baidu, as well as many other Fortune 500 companies. It is a highly useful and open-source version of Facebook’s React JavaScript framework. As React Native utilizes the similar UI building blocks as most iOS and development framework for android applications, it is unattainable to differentiate a React Native app from an application developed utilizing Objective-C and Java.
Boosts Swiftness of Development and Saves Resource Costs
React Native increases the speed of development and saves resource costs. With only one code written, it saves the two times efforts for development and sustenance of maintenance and only one team of developers to be hired.
The framework is trouble-free to market as it backs over-the-air updates. The feature allocates you to bypass the tedious market stores agreement process if you want to make slight changes swiftly. You just have to send a modernized version out, the targeted users can download it, and the application upgrades can be enabled quickly.
You can very well save up to 48 hours which are required to submit an application to App Store and up to 24 hours when applied in Google Play. Thus, you can be in charge of the required updates releases for your developed software application.
Flutter
Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit for creating striking, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a solitary codebase. The professionals can enable apps to life in no time with Stateful Hot Reload. Utilize a superior set of entirely customizable widgets to create native interfaces in minutes. It eases the cross-platform development procedure and is exclusively written in the Dart language.
In a recent technology survey for android app development frameworks, we came to know that around 30 % of developers utilize the Flutter platform. The framework’s development interface comprises sharp CLI tools. Further, it supports GitHub and Slack forums.
Why Flutter was built and why you should utilize it?
Flutter takes a diverse approach in an effort to make mobile development enhanced and is one of the best android frameworks in 2021. It offers precise framework app developers work against and a specific engine that comes with a portable runtime for hosting applications.
Google’s Flutter framework utilizes a 2D rendering engine known as Skia for visuals related to material design and the Cupertino style. Flutter even facilitates a robust testing framework, allowing developers to implement UI, unit as well as functionality tests. The framework creates the Skia graphics library, offering widgets that are essentially rendered and altered to be just wrappers right on native controls.
Expressive and Supple UI
Swiftly ship features with a concentrate on native end-user experiences. The layered architecture enables complete customization, which leads in exceedingly quick rendering and expressive and supple designs.
Native Performance
Flutter’s widgets include all significant platform differences like navigation, scrolling, icons, and fonts, and your Flutter code is piled up to native ARM machine code utilizing Dart’s native compilers.
It has already been well proven that Flutter is a superior option for building mobile applications and that it’s a creditable rival to frameworks such as Xamarin Forms and React Native. Also, when it comes to choosing a framework, Flutter is the first option for hybrid app development.
Expressive, Stunning UIs
Pleasure your users with Flutter’s built-in good-looking Material Design and Cupertino (iOS-flavour) widgets, rich motion APIs, seamless, natural scrolling, and platform knowledge.
Businesses utilizing Flutter Framework
Flutter app development has been in the middle of the rising trends with leading organizations such as Alibaba, Google, eBay, CapitalOne, and Tencent, utilizing the framework to build mobile apps.
Advantages of Flutter Android Framework
It has the capability to build quick, striking, and expressive Native compiled superior quality apps on iOS and Android from a solitary codebase and in the minimum time possible.
Xamarin
Xamarin is one of the most popular android frameworks. Xamarin as a top android app framework was introduced by the professionals who built Mono. It is an Ecma standard-compliant and comes as a .NET framework with a set of compatible software tools. Xamarin enables developers with a single C# codebase that can be utilized to generate native apps for all key mobile operating systems.
Highly Utilized by Developers across the World
In comparison to other frameworks, Xamarin has been already utilized by more than 1.4 million developers across the globe. With Xamarin meant for Visual Studio, developers can take benefit of the authority of Microsoft Visual Studio and all its superior features, counting code completion, along with debugging of mobile applications on a device or simulator.
Xamarin Test Cloud makes it promising to instantaneously test apps on 2,000 real devices directly in the cloud. This is by far the most excellent way how to compact with the weighty fragmentation of the Android network and released bug-free mobile apps that work devoid of any chief issues with frameworks for android development.
Superior Cross-platform Software Development Tool
To one side supporting native UI, the ways app logic is being shared about multiple platforms transforms Xamarin to an advanced cross-platform software development tool. Application logic essential for the UI layer, such as input validation, the web service calls, and interactions with the database as well as backend enterprise integrations is only once coded in C# saving the time and efforts. Developers can share as much as 70 % to 75% of the code transversely working on the altering operating systems. This saves time requisite to re-coding and reduces the possibility of bugs to move stealthily in the code while building android app development software.
PhoneGap
PhoneGap framework is being sponsored by Adobe and Apache which works as a cross-platform application. It is the most trendy Android app development framework around the globe. It comes from the team following Apache Cordova, which is an open-source mobile development framework that utilizes CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, and is entirely open-source.
At its heart is an instinctive desktop application utilized to build apps, and serve those applications to linked mobile devices. At the end of the day, there are no more difficult to understand text commands those which can simply turn or get erroneous and are even tough to memorize as an android developer framework.
Desktop App, Third-party Software Tools, and Flourishing Community
The incredible desktop app goes together and works in sync by PhoneGap’s mobile application. The app makes it potential to right away see alterations on your coupled mobile device. Things that make PhoneGap so useful are its extended plugin library, 3rd party software tools, and a flourishing community.
The framework consents the professionals to see and check the transformations you are making as you work or run your program. The framework supports you create apps using the present as well as in-progress web technologies. The newest version of the framework offers Windows phone support and a range of CLI functions. It is considered as a “wrapper and packer” framework when used in a deployment environment as it can also be incorporated into a multiplicity of the different frameworks.
Ionic
It is a free and open-source framework which is licensed under the MIT license. It provides a complete library of elements, gestures, and software tools. Ionic facilitates you to develop modernized web and native mobile applications for all major app stores incorporating a single codebase. This can be made possible by premier native plugins; it’s tremendously straightforward to utilize functionalities and features such as Health Kit, Bluetooth as well as fingerprint authentication.
Superior Level of Presentation and Optimization
Ionic is also about presentation and optimization. All apps produced by using Ionic are sophisticated in display and performance. So far, around 3 to 4 million apps have been built by 4 to 5 million Ionic developers from across the globe. If you want to join them, explore their authorized website and learn more concerning this framework or just connect with a software service provider with your project requirements.
This framework is well-liked due to its cross-platform functionalities and features. It also offers the choices to integrate with AngularJS for building modernized apps. Its command line interface permits for functionalities and features together with emulators, live reload and logging. It is one of the open-source frameworks for structuring mobile SDK applications for budding native web apps.
How Ionic Framework Helps Developers
The advantages of the Ionic framework in app development includes its platform its aptitude to work on different platforms, default UI, feasibility to cross-platform development and its development on top of the frameworks like AngularJS.
AngularJS is a perfect approach to make program based apps, while with the help of the Ionic structure, resourceful designers can build hybrid and web based applications.
Ionic framework application development makes the most of Cordova plugins to lend a hand to developers in attaining diverse components of the adaptable framework, for instance, Camera, GPS, and much more to offer.
Native Android Framework
Native Android development platform stars in the midst of some of the most accepted and top android frameworks. The SDK offers developers with API libraries and developer tools essential to create, test, and debug radiant applications for the Android Platform. This is one of the android frameworks for app developers which is open source and has a user base of 5.9 million developers.
Use of Native Android Platform
Developers that require enabling parts of their apps right into native code utilize C and C++ as they will be able to facilitate these native libraries straight from their native code. Further, the Native Android Game SDK offers game developers far-fetched reachability with 2.5+ billion monthly active devices on the Android Platform.
Businesses utilizing Native Android Framework
Big names like Google, Slack, and Instacart are some of the leading brands that use native Android SDK.
Advantages of Native Android Framework
Native Android Framework offers a superior application framework that helps developers with the swiftest tools to create innovative applications and games right for mobile Android devices.
Appcelerator Titanium
The Appcelerator Titanium framework is an integral part of the Appcelerator Platform, which comprises each tool mobile app developers may require in developing, applying to test, and the deployment of the needed apps. The Titanium framework uses functionalities of JavaScript to call an enormous collection of APIs. These APIs call native features of the operating systems, providing incomparable performance as well as native look and feel.
The Visually-Oriented App Development Process
Titanium holds a visually-oriented app development procedure which depends majorly on pre-built blocks of code which can be accumulated by dragging and dropping functions. You can generate data models either by programming or with visual effects. Testing of the refined apps is executed in the cloud and monitored by utilizing the Mobile Lifecycle dashboard, which provides precious insights into app presentation.
A Higher level of Agility
With a high level of suppleness and flexibility, Appcelerator’s Titanium massively speeds-up application development with just a few lines of code in a small number of hours. It is significant to note that this would more often than not need more consideration and some days to be executed when you work with other frameworks.
Whether you decide on for native or cross-platform toolkits, Titanium is for all time an open alternative to develop a prototype to assess the user’s interface with the UI, agreed with its swift development. There are at this time more than 345,577,760 devices running all the way through an assortment of Appcelerator-powered apps. This framework also provides mobile testing automation, which facilitates manual testing and demanding operations.
Higher Level of Code and Straightforward Reusability
This apparently does not operate like how the renowned Java goes forward and it is diverse to some extent. It is obligatory to set up the development of one of the two platforms and then put into practice the requisite measures to make the application also run on the other one. The benefit here is given to you- the developer does not have to be trained on two different languages and can arrive at a very higher level of code and its easy reusability.
TheAppBuilder
Used by some of the principal enterprises across the globe, TheAppBuilder framework supports a codeless UI to enable swift app development. It works most excellent when utilized to build information-based applications. The framework has pre-built blocks for functionalities like push notifications, polls, feedbacks, updates related to content, intelligence, and analytics. Best of all, it integrates unswervingly with Google Play, making it probable to publish completed apps with just a single click.
Enhances Communication and backs Non-technical Event Set-ups
TheAppBuilder further offers you a launch pad to engage and refresh your resources by measuring the company results. As much used for corporate apps it assists to stay engaged, measure and enhance your staff communications.
It offers benefits in the form of non-technical event app set-ups, highly accessible event content, boost in employee engagement at the affair, measurable event engagement, greater than before event management and handling its overall cost-effectiveness.
NativeScript
Angular, JavaScript, and TypeScript are on the whole the most powerful and used development technologies. With NativeScript, you can easily utilize them to built applications. It needs to put forward, NativeScript platform and UI through a single code base. This is different than other frameworks that have the similar functionalities. NativeScript is highly backed by Telerik, which is a leading Bulgarian organization providing numerous advanced software tools.
To be of assistance for mobile application developers so that they turn familiar with this framework, the authorized website has in store multiple ranges of resources and comprehensive tutorials. You can look through real-world application implementations, learn the official documentation, and even steer into the advanced source codes.
High Performance Admittance
Further running of the JavaScript on the UI thread permits NativeScript to provide high performance admittance to 100% of native platform APIs all the way through JavaScript. So running app code on the UI thread allows the NativeScript to picture all native APIs to app JavaScript in a competent and high level performance way. NativeScript plugins and highly developed modules by now cover numerous in general situations that need background thread processing.
Sencha Touch
Just like TheAppBuilder, Sencha Touch is an advanced focused framework for building universal mobile applications. It drives hardware acceleration techniques to reach higher performance grades. It comes with around fifty built-in user interface components and native themes, which make it easier to build eye-catching apps that, be a focus for users.
Full-Bodied Data Package
Integrated with the Sencha framework is a full-bodied data package that can get through data from any of the used backend data source. With this package, it is achievable to generate a compilation of data using extremely functional models that recommend features and functionalities like sorting and filtering. The framework has received much admiration from companies that have used it and other leading technology organizations.
Benefits of Sencha Touch development
Some of the other benefits of Sencha Touch development include its responsive touch features, high level of flexibility and compatibility, faster operational execution, in-built native packaging, integration with APIs and cost-effective solutions.
JQuery Mobile
This framework has a huge community base as it provides an assortment of appealing features. The functionalities include semantic markup, progressive enhancement, and theme able design, along with Cordova support.
Further, its effortlessness means that you can write the code once, and it will execute it virtually on any of the required platforms. It is a decent framework to utilize if you are even building apps on Windows Phones and Blackberry.
This framework further consent to developers to make a superior branded, responsive mobile application or web portal that will work on most trendy smartphones and tablets along with the desktop platforms. The jQuery Mobile builder offers an added support by including a custom JavaScript file, at the side of occupied and structure-only style sheets for creation usage.
Key Takeaways
In spite of which android mobile development framework you choose, don’t be frightened to alter your mind if you ever commence to feel like there are enhanced choices out there which suit your project requirements. Cross-platform frameworks for android development are enormously volatile, with new ones being launched and released on a consistent basis.
The key purpose of a good framework for android is to lend a hand for rapidly turning an uneven idea into an operational app and the operational app into an elegant product.
You can get in touch with us for consultation and investigation, so we can help you out to match your project with the finest mobile framework in harmony with your business and technology requirements along with your set budget.