Best Mobile App Development tools – A Detailed Comparison

brillmindztech

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In the era of technology and smartphones, a business cannot avoid the power of mobile app development. In current times, a mobile app alone could generate more than 60% of the quality traffic for your business. App development is undoubtedly the best sales and marketing strategy that a business could adopt but what holds most of us is the process, time, and cost to design and develop the application.

Open-source Mobile App Development Tools

Open-source mobile app development tools are easily available to Android and iOS developers free of cost which makes these the most sought-after choice among the developers. The benefits are certainly passed on to the app acquirer as well.Before development comes the phase of mobile app prototyping, this is the best mobile app development strategy a professional mobile app development company in Bangalore could apply.Tomas Laurinavicious (a lifestyle entrepreneur, blogger, and co-author of Mobile Design Book) says “I’m a big believer in prototyping and early validation. Before diving into development, I highly recommend sketching your app idea on paper and iterating it until your target audience gets it. Prototyping on Paper is a great choice that can save you hours of development work later. If you set clear goals, you can go from idea to functioning prototype in one day.”

As said, having a stronger base is a must. Prototyping is indeed the step where you can assemble your app ideas and introduce the changes as and where needed, substantial changes are often not recommended in the development phase. Have a business plan and go as per your business goals demands.Prototyping is only a milestone achieved, now comes the actual mobile app development. Built on some robust programming languages like HTML, CSS, Python, and Javascript, these open-source app development tools no doubt stand behind some of the best business applications. Being open-source these app development tools, these tools are available free of cost, the only protocol here is one needs to have a deeper knowledge of the application and implementation of these app development tools:

The best open-source mobile app development tools:

a. BuildFire.js

Based on Javascript, BuildFire.js is the framework behind many highly customized cross-platform business applications. The framework allows easy customizations with Javascript itself. Implementing the current functionalities of BuildFire, BuildFire.js makes 80% of the app development process easier and feasible by giving 45+ free open-source plugins that are focused on achieving standard functionalities that are needed. Giving some of the best applications

b. Framework 7

One of the best assets when it comes to mobile app development, Framework 7 works in the favor of app developers who are looking for an iOS app feel for Android users. The framework is designed for iOS applicability but is used by Android app developers to achieve iOS designs with Android support together. Applicability and implementation of Framework 7 needs the acute knowledge of HTML5, CSS and Javascript

c. Ionic

Whether it’s a hybrid application or cross-platform app, Ionic is responsible for some top-notch business applications that are highly used and are running successfully in the market today. The framework is crucially based on Sass, HTML, and CSS, if integrated with Angular.js the framework will help app developers build some highly optimized and advanced applications with less time to market benefits as well.

Also, Ionic and Apache Cordova together support iOS and Android Applications. With Ionic managing the standard UI components responsible for making an app look and feel like a real iPhone app or an authentic Android app, Cordova helps mobile app developers to build strong communication with the native phone’s API (using notification sound and vibration).

d. jQuery Mobile

Around 50% of the cross-platform applications that are currently live and are doing wonders in their respective fields are based on jQuery mobile. Known as the oldest mobile app development tool, the framework has more functionality than most of its counterparts.While jQuery makes it easier for the app developer to implement the classic Javascript features in the app, the upgrade is taken care of by CSS and HTML together. Also, the app development tool lacks the best native app functionality or a highly responsive and advanced UI, the flaw is replaced by promoting a standard one-code, different platform shareability.

4. Hybrid and Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools

Source: DribbleDeveloping potential multi-platform apps with a single code-base. There are instances when app iOS and Android developers seek cross-platform support with hybrid app development so that it is easier, cost-effective, and less time-consuming to build multi-platform supporting apps.Jason Kaneen, a freelance cross-platform native app developer working for Bouncingfish says that he is invested in Appcelerator’s Titanium SDK – the first app development tool to develop native applications in Javascript.

Jason finds Alloy MVC framework great to build MVPs that are competitive apps with 90% code-shareability on Android, iOS and other platforms. “For me, it’s native over hybrid apps (the websites that are running under native applications)”. In the Appcelerator platform, they have added Hyperloop (with the ability to create 100% of the underlying SDK from Javascript), Arrow Cloud Services, and ArrowDB making it easier and quicker to deploy API services in the application.