Cross Platform Mobile App Development – Advantages and Disadvantages

The popularity of mobile devices and tablets among users has developed a new market of mobile applications development. Cross platform mobile app development has proven advantageous, but it also comes with certain drawbacks. Read below to know the pros and cons of cross platform mobile app development.

Cross platform mobile app development has been gaining popularity among mobile app developers. The apps developed are easy to use on different platforms such as iOS and Android. However, there are certain advantages and disadvantages of cross platform mobile application development. Given below are some of the pros and cons of cross platform mobile app development.

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Advantages of Cross Platform App Development

1. Rapid app development with reduced cost

Multi-platform mobile app development follows an inversely proportional equation between the deployment and cost shared. Faster development of a mobile app reduces its cost. Additionally, the code developed is reusable for other projects on either of the mobile platforms. It indirectly saves cost as an organization does not have to re-invest in developing a new mobile application from scratch.

2. Better plugins

Cross platform Development environments such as Appcelerator and PhoneGap have a huge library of plugins, enabling easier access to plugins over either of the mobile platforms.

3. Reliable development framework

Web developers find it easier to use cross platform frameworks, as they are designed for simplifying scripting languages. HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the backbone of majority of internet applications, making it a natural transition over various platforms.

4. Easy integration

Cross platform mobile app development enables easy integration with a cloud environment. For example, exchange integration is coded on cross platform environment and it will execute on multiple mobile platforms.

Disadvantages of Cross Platform App Development

1. Firmware update may not include all supporting features

Google, Apple or Microsoft timely updates its framework by adding many new features. As the coding languages are different, the communication bridge that the framework creates, may not allow certain pieces of information to execute.

2. Restrictive tools

In cross platform frameworks, it becomes mandatory for developers to use tools and suites which are limited to the respective app. This leads compromising user preferences, and repeating a new cycle by learning to develop the same app from scratch.

3. Slower rendering

Cross compilation applications have a higher chance of being slower, and the user is unable to use the tools of preference. The code rendering time is also slow as it renders codes for each platform.

4. Inefficient code

As the mobile app development is not carried out in platform’s native language, the efficiency of the final code is heavily dependent on the translation engines of the cross platform tools. It may result the final code containing a bloated code, and inefficient coding techniques which an experienced developer would avoid using.

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