Cross-Platform App Development Archives - RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

August 22, 2023October 10, 2023

React Native Apps and Cross Platform Software Development

Every business wants to grow, for that they need a robust information and data structure which can be used by their employees and customers. Businesses need to ensure user satisfaction by offering them a great digital ecosystem which enhances the digital user experience. Businesses use various software and applications to improve their processes, operational efficiency and to drive productivity and performance. That is not all, businesses always have several challenges, the tough competition, the ever increasing customer demands, the low performing teams and employees, and what not. When it comes to custom software development, businesses chose the solution which matches their technical requirements and also fits in their budgetary limitations. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other parts of UAE are well-aware of the impact of digital tools, software and mobile apps. However, most often businesses do not realize that they don’t need to acquire different applications for different platforms (which is very expensive), in fact they can have a completely customized software using the technique of cross-platform software development, which is most cost-effective way of launching your software or app to multiple platforms.

What is React Native?

The React Native is a JavaScript based framework and library to develop the frontend UI for software and applications. It is an open-source platform, which means it is free to use and it is developed by Meta, formally known as Facebook. The reason why it is so popular is that it enable developers to utilize native capabilities of the platform and develop cross-platform software applications while utilizing only React framework. This simplifies the software development process and enable developers to develop excellent applications for multiple platforms with very less time and efforts. Furthermore the software developers can easily utilize their JavaScript skills to work on React Native framework which minuses the learning curve. The React JS and React Native often confused with one another, however, both are different. The React JS is majorly used for developing websites and web-apps however, the React Native is a cross-platform software development framework which is built on top of React JS and it allow developers to develop applications for Android, iOS, MAC OS, Windows and a few other platforms. Furthermore the React Native can also be utilized for both frontend and backend development which make it superior from other counterparts.

What is Cross-Platform App Development?

The cross-platform app development is simply a method of providing your software, mobile application or web-apps to a diverse range of audience who are using multiple different platforms. This means all users from different platform would be needing same user experience, features, UI, etc. The biggest challenge of cross-platform software development is that a business would be needing multiple different teams to work on different platforms. Here are some cross-platform development tools:

Popular cross-platform development tools:

JavaScript: For website and web-app development
Kotlin: For Android app development
Swift: For Apple iOS app development
.NET: For Windows software and tools development

If you want to make your software and app available for all above platforms, then you will be needing at least 4 different teams to work on your single app/software. This could be very expensive, moreover it is difficult to manage multiple teams working on a same software or app. Furthermore each platform team will have different costing mechanisms, hence it would be difficult to meet release date. Later on, when you will be needing any maintenance, update or upgrade, your efforts and expensive would be multiplied to the number of platforms you are working at. That is where the React Native comes to play, it allow businesses to hire a single team and make cross-platform software development seamless and very cost-effective. The maintenance/updates are also easier and very less expensive.

Lear More: What Is Cross-Platform App Development?

What are the Benefits of Using React Native Apps for Cross Platform Development?

The React Native is rapidly growing on Stack Overflow and GitHub. It is widely adopted by businesses and organizations not only in UAE but all across the world. This also means that a developer can easily find community support and a huge number of ready-made plugins and scripts all over the internet which help developer speeding up the cross-platform software development projects. Here are some key benefits of using React Native apps and cross-platform software development for your business:

Quicker Development Process

Since you don’t require to have different teams working on your software for different platforms and only a single team can do that, the development cycle becomes shorter which also enables you to launch your apps quickly. Furthermore the React Native offers several features which help the programmers and developers to quickly develop their applications, and also it enables quick debugging and testing which makes development process much quicker than any other available framework. Moreover the code is also useable at several platforms which make development fast, it also reduce efforts to write code for multiple platforms and making changes to it. That is why the react native can effectively reduce the time and efforts of developing cross platform software.

Reduce the Cost of Cross Platform Software Development

The react native can greatly reduce the cost of your cross platform software development projects. Thanks to its ability to provide a reusable and compatible code for multiple platforms and reducing the efforts the time required to develop such mobile apps, web-apps and software has become very low. This also help reducing the cost. As less time and efforts are needed to develop a cross platform software, the cost is also low and since only one technology stack is required for the entire team, it is easier to find the skilled teams or vendors who can develop such software, apps and tools. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the software development agencies, such as RSI Concepts and many others are offering highly cost-efficient software development services, which also impact the cost of your software development and help business get a highly cost-effective solution.

Support Multiple Platforms

There is a common impression among businesses and non-coders, that the react native is only meant to be used for Android and iOS app development. However, that is not true at all. The react native is a very useful platform with a wider range of compatibility. Businesses can develop applications and software which can be offered on Android, iOS, Windows, MAC OS, Websites and a few more. There is a huge online community support for the React Native platform and above all it is rapidly evolving and growing adding support for newer platforms and technologies. This means businesses and developers both can expect a sharp rise in compatibility and efficacy of the react native and its expansion to various other platforms. That is what makes react native much more superior than other such frameworks.

Native-like Experience and Performance

When it comes to platforms like react native, the biggest concern of the businesses is experience and performance. That was also true, but a few years back, not now. Now a days, there are so many advancements made to the react native core, and furthermore the Meta (Formally known as Facebook) has introduced a new JavaScript engine, Hermes, which enables static optimization and help reducing the app size. Furthermore the React Native can also render components to the GPU which is achieved by eliminating the gap between the JavaScript and the native components and results in high-performing apps. This enables developers to offer a native-like experience and performance by simply using react native and its advanced components.

Quick Debugging and Changes

One of the biggest advantage of the React Native is its features like hot-reloading, live-reloading and fast refresh. When making changes to the application’s source code or debugging it the developers will have to recompile the application, however, with the react native this isn’t require anymore. It means that the developers can see their changes immediately, almost in real-time without the need to recompile the entire application, which is a time consuming tasks. That is why the developers prefer to use react native, as it helps them make changes and refine their work without any extra effort or repeated tasks. Furthermore the new features of the react native framework are extremely useful in debugging typos, syntax and other common errors in the code, which makes it more productive and ideal framework for the agile development teams.

What are the Drawbacks of Using React Native for Cross Platform Software Development?

The React Native is one of the best framework available to this day for cross platform software and apps development. However, same like other technologies, it also has some drawbacks, although these drawbacks usually won’t impact a business, but in certain and very few number of scenarios these drawbacks could become problematic. Here are some drawbacks of using React Native for cross platform apps and software development:

Unlike native technologies such as Kotlin or Swift the React Native is based on JavaScript which is a dynamically-typed programming language. This requires developers to follow certain standards and rules in order to avoid bugs form the apps.
There are certain native modules which are not available in React Native, especially those are related to interacting with device’s hardware, hence when dealing with such functionalities the developers must have to insert native codes, which could also affect behavior and appearance.
When using a framework like react native for cross platform software development, the developers can never achieve the level of performance and integration which can be achieved using the native codes and APIs.
The operating systems of different platforms keep updating very frequently. However, the react native or any other cross platform app development framework is slow on adopting to new changes and introducing new features which are instantly available for the native apps.

There is a clear difference between the native app development and cross platform software development. However, frameworks like React Native are rapidly bridging the gap between these two. The modern versions of react native have already minimized a lot of problems, which makes it ideal for more than 90% of the businesses, there are only a certain sectors or businesses who still need to build native apps because they need sophisticated features and intensive hardware integration with their apps. Otherwise the react native is best for cross platform software development.

What are the Drawbacks of Using React Native for Cross Platform Software Development?

Conclusion

When it comes to mobile app development or customized software tools, the first thing businesses should consider is their needs. Both react native and the native app development has its own advantages and drawbacks. However, cross platform software development can significantly reduce your cost, efforts and time of development which is why most businesses are preferring it. The react native is also preferred choice of software developers as it is convenient, easy to use, debug, and it offers a variety of features which enable them to add advanced features to their mobile apps, and software tools. Furthermore the react native offers almost native like performance and experience. The developers can reuse the code, they can easily debug it and update it, and the overall efforts and development time can be greatly reduced. The react native framework is rapidly gaining popularity all around the world, the Meta is also introducing new features to make it better and the community support is also growing. All these are signs of a very bright future for React Native and cross platform software development. In this blog we tried to cover everything important about React Native and cross platform software development. This blog will give you a better understanding of cross platform and native apps. If you want to learn more or if you want our help to develop a native or cross platform app, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and someone will get in touch with you soon.

November 24, 2022

What Is Cross-Platform App Development?

The cross-platform app development is a process of developing mobile applications and software that can run on multiple platforms/operating systems (OS). The native app building approach requires businesses to develop separate applications for separate platforms/OS. Which not only cost a lot but sometimes it is also not good for customer experience. The mobile apps have become essential for the modern businesses, studies have shown that the mobile phone users spends their 86% of the time on different mobile apps while on their smartphones. Another staggering statistic is that almost 83.3% of the world population have a smartphone in year 2022 which translates to almost 6.64 Billion smartphones worldwide. There has been a huge growth rate starting from past five years with the year 2017 with the largest increase in the global smartphone users according to a study published in OBERLO. With the rise of mobile commerce and an over-increasing trend of governments offering e-services via mobile apps, the smartphones experience have become even more important for an average consumer.

These all trends and development in the field of smartphone industry led to a worldwide adaptation of smartphone apps. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE have also started investing in smartphone applications. As now a days the 98% of the smartphones runs on Android and Apple iOS, so these two are the major platform that you should focus on. Businesses are well aware of the importance of the mobile apps and they are also very active in this domain. However, when it comes to mobile app development the businesses followed several approaches, majorly businesses prefer native apps. The native apps are excellent at several aspects, however, for an average mobile app, the native app development could become too expensive. That is why the cross-platform app development is gaining so much popularity not only in UAE but all around the world. In this blog we will discuss what is cross-platform app development and how is it so valuable and important for the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE.

Cross-Platform App Development

By definition the cross-platform app development is software or mobile app development method which enable the software or app to run on multiple platforms, operating systems or software environment. However, commonly the cross-platform app development is referred to as cross-platform mobile app development. We have witnessed the smartphone evolving from very basic one to highly sophisticated and powerful devices. The smartphone revolution begins with Nokia launching Symbian OS, then other manufacturers also followed and start building their own OS. However, sooner the Android took over the market. In the beginning the blackberry was a good competition but it also faded away soon, due to its exclusivity, lack of app repository and few other problems. Then the Apple gained huge popularity all across the world. Hence the famous competition and rivalry begins between iOS and Android OS. Now in 2022, almost 71% of the smartphone runs at Android OS and 28% smartphones are from Apple which runs on Apple iOS.

When it comes to smartphone apps or mobile apps businesses usually offer Android and Apple apps. The mobile app development have also evolved a lot, the companies have invested a great deal of resources and time in research and development to improve the mobile app development technologies. In fact there are some platforms that significantly increase the reach to mobile app development by offering no-code development platforms. There are also low-code development platforms which are for technical people, who have enough knowledge and experience of programming and source codes. However, the Android OS and the Apple OS is entirely different from each other. The Android operating system is based on Linux and the Apple iOS operating system is based on UNIX. These two are fundamentally different from each other hence the apps developed for these two platforms tend to follow completely different approaches, methods, techniques and programming languages/tools.

Earlier when a business wanted to develop a mobile app for these two smartphone categories they will have to hire two different teams who have skills for these two platforms. For example the Android app developers usually don’t work on iOS apps, and the iOS app developers also not work on Android apps. This results in a lot more problems than a typical software development project. The project manager usually have to manage two different teams, or two different outsourcing partners. This also means the cost of the two apps will also rise. This app development approach is called native app development. There are major differences between the native and cross-platform mobile apps but we will come to that later. Furthermore the Android and iOS mobile apps also tend to behave differently, hence offer slightly different user experience. Businesses always want to offer a universal user experience across all their communication channel, that help strengthening their brand identity too and they also want to minimize the cost of the mobile app development. This is what results in cross-platform app development.

Types of Cross-Platform App Development

With the passage of time the application and software development tools and programming languages also got improved. Now a days there are several software programming languages and platform that allow software developers to easily develop cross-platform apps. The cross-platform app development is not only limited to the mobile application in fact the cross-platform software are very common on other platforms too. Any business would want to reach out to maximum audience, whether they use Android or iOS or any other platform. Your audience would always be divided, if we take the examples of mobile apps, the audience would be always divided in two significantly larger groups, the Android and the Apple. Developing separate apps means additional cost, slightly different user experience at each platform, sometimes even the design could differ too, and there are several other problems. Managing two different teams or vendors is also hectic and increase the operational cost. Due to these reasons businesses love the idea of building a universal mobile app that can run on both platforms, Android and iOS.

Here are some examples of different cross-platform app development methods:

Hybrid Mobile App Development: The hybrid mobile apps are developed using web technology such as HTML5 or JavaScript. The apps are built on a development platform which puts native wrapper around the app to make it compatible with supported platforms.
Progressive Web App (PWA) Development: The PWA or progressive web apps are built as a website but behave like a mobile app. The PWA are exclusively built to take advantage of the native features without requiring the user to download the app locally.
Rapid Mobile App Development (RMAD): The RMAD or rapid mobile app development is done via no-code mobile app development platforms. Usually used for internal or small mobile apps with limited functionalities.
Universal Apps: The universal apps are build using a universal codebase for multiple platform to make an app or software able to run on all required operating system/devices and platforms. The Windows Universal Apps are the example of universal app development method.

Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are eager to enhance their offerings to the customers for the sake of better experience and higher productivity. For that businesses offer multiple self-service solutions and enable their customers to communicate via multiple different channels. For example, instead of visiting a real estate office, you can upload the document through the smartphone apps via in-built scanning feature that can utilize the device camera to scan a document. There are hundreds of different features that businesses in UAE are utilizing to enhance the customers’ mobile experience. That is what fueled the cross-platform app development trend in past few years and we are witnessing a rapid growth in this trend which might remain growing for many more coming years in future.

Benefits of Cross-Platform App Development

The cross-platform app development can literally cut your efforts to half, the businesses don’t have to deal with different teams and they don’t have to pay twice for the same app for different platforms. This not only reduce the initial cost but it also help reducing the operational, maintenance and upgrading cost as well. It makes management simpler and more convenient. Here are some key benefits of cross-platform app development which distinguishes it from traditional app development methods:

Reusable Source Code: The cross-platform app development allow using a single codebase which eliminates the need of writing different codes for different platforms. Using a single codebase reduce time, efforts, bugs, and simplify the app development process.
Quick Development Time: Due to reusable code and single codebase the development work is already cut short, furthermore the designing process also become simpler as there is only one UI design which significantly reduce time required to develop cross-platform apps.
Cost-effective:As there is no need to develop separate apps for separate platforms, the develop cost is very less for cross-platform app development. Furthermore the maintenance and upgrade cost is also very low as business will have to manage only one team/vendor for all platforms.
Wider Reach: The cross-platform app development allow businesses to reach out to a wider audience who is using multiple platforms. Thanks to the single codebase the cost of reaching out to multi-platform based audience is also very less comparing to native app development.
Easy Marketing: Since there is only one app that has to be tested and launched, the businesses need very less efforts and time to test and launch the apps. Collecting analytical data and customer feedback to measure the success is easier and relatively simple.
Consistency: Since the cross-platform apps are developed once the UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) is also designed once. It means the cross-platform app development offers uniform and consistent customer experience on all supported platforms.
Quicker Upgrades and Customization: Since the cross-platform apps are developed on a single code base and then wrapped in the native framework to support multiple native platforms, all the upgrades and customization has to be done once and it will reflect on all platforms.

The cross-platform app development allow businesses to build mobile apps for both Android OS and Apple iOS fairly quickly and with less cost and efforts. Quicker updates and customization also ensures businesses remain up to date and competitive. These are some of the major benefits of the cross-platform app development. The business needs varies so does the solutions, however most of the times the cross-platform app development is the smartest approach to develop reliable apps and software.

Conclusion

The technology is evolving and improving on a rapid pace, which give rise to new trends and sometime a complete transformation in a particular industry. The mobile app and software development has become an integral and essential part of the modern day businesses. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are putting tremendous efforts to maximize the customer satisfaction and to achieve the higher productivity and performance. When it comes to software development or mobile app development, there are several approaches which can fulfil the needs of the business. However, in order to maximize the ROI of a project the business will have to take the right route. The cross-platform app development have become very popular in past few years. It is due to the shift in market trends, growth in the business needs and significant improvement in the app development and software development technologies, platforms and programming techniques. The cross-platform app development is gaining huge momentum and we are witnessing the same growth for a few more coming years.

In this blog we have discussed the basics of the cross-platform app development. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you are looking for a cross-platform app development, feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

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