Mobile App Development — Tools & Technologies for 2019
“Tech will transform from something we actively use to a more seamless integrated experience that is ‘on’ all the time.” — Daniel Bæk
Design and development of mobile apps has become easier and innovative, thanks to cutting-edge mobile app development tools and frameworks that have captured the scenario. There are hybrid frameworks, cross platform tools, APIs and many other frameworks that offer a rewarding experience to both — developers as well as end users. Looking at the rate at which these tools are performing, the coming year is sure to witness profitable results from these technologies. Today’s mobile app frameworks offer a simplistic life to developers with modern standards. Having seen the mobile application development trends for the coming year, it would be interesting to have a look at which mobile application development tools have carved a niche for themselves, have a promising future and why.
Mobile App Development — Tools & Technologies That Offer a Promising 2019
“Mobile is becoming not only the new digital hub, but also the bridge to the physical world. That’s why mobile will affect more than just your digital operations — it will transform your entire business.” — Thomas Husson
Mobile Angular UI
Mobile Angular UI has been one of the latest jargons in the arena of mobile and web development. As an open source platform to create HTML5 mobile apps, consolidating AngularJS with Bootstrap. Like other mobile UI frameworks like Sencha Touch, it is simplistic to convert a web app into a mobile app by appending a CSS file to the make the app responsive in nature.
- Key Features
-> Contains mobile components like sidebars, overlays, switches, scrollable areas
-> Depend on robust libraries like fastclick.js and overthrow.js
-> Offers enhanced mobile experience
-> No jQuery dependencies, no fat bootstrap js. Just a few angular.js directives super easy to learn to put things together
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Using Bootstrap with Angular
NativeScript
As a cross platform, free and open source tool, NativeScript has been carving a niche for itself by creating elegant mobile apps. Developers are leveraging its potential along with Angular, JavaScript, TypeScript and has Vue .JS coordination too. It is designed to offer significant code reuse with web and mobile tiers. It facilitates by offering a feel of the main component by giving high performance interface apps for Android and iOS.
- Key Features
-> Offers similar performance over hybrid solutions by designing native apps from JS
-> Has been chosen as a desired option by enterprises for a long time now
-> Integrates directly with Gradle and CocoaPods
-> Lets developers incorporate native Swift, Objective C and Java libraries in their projects
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> November 2018 — Everything You Need to Know about 5.0
-> NativeScript 5.0 is hot 🔥 out of the oven!
Xamarin
Xamarin has been a popular framework in building cross platform mobile apps. It has good support for wearables and can help create native apps for Android Wear and Apple Watch. Developers can design and develop native Android and iOS apps with similar design and UI. It is dependable, flexible and efficient by performance.
- Key Features
-> Xamarin makes cross platform development interesting
-> It showcases a methodology to develop and implement apps that cover the umbrella of leading mobile technologies like iOS, Android, Window Phone etc. with the provision of not writing the app for each platform separately from beginning
-> It is one of the robust frameworks which focus on all leading mobile platforms keeping intact the quality and performance quotient
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Beautiful UI for Apps with Telerik UI for Xamarin
-> The Xamarin Show: Exploring Awesome Xamarin & Visual Studio Features
React Native
As one of Facebook’s top open source ventures, React Native app development has proven its mettle as an adaptable, extensible and convenient platform to build mobile and web apps with access to the highly popular ReactJS library. It has been adapted, by the IT industry, as one of the best JavaScript libraries owing to the multifaceted ReactJS web and mobile apps that it develops.
- Key Features
-> Utilization of same UI blocks as in regular iOS / Android apps
-> Seamless combination with components in Java, Swift, and Objective-C
-> Easy to build a portion of an app in React Native and some using native code
-> Supports cross-platform development working seamlessly with Android / iOS
-> Because of the huge library of React components, faster build of apps
-> Component-based assembly builds more agile method to development
-> Faster speed, receptiveness, and agility of mobile/web app development
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> React Native, A New Flavor of Javascripting for Cross platform Mobile App Development!
-> Will React Native take over native mobile app development?
PhoneGap
PhoneGap, as a leading mobile app development tool, attaches the power of Cordova’s plug-ins that facilitate hybrid frameworks to attach the apps to native APIs and offer a native experience. As a cross platform development tool, it can be used to develop a stand-alone app that can be utilized by all mobile devices.
- Key Features
-> Compiles using SDK of the platform and installable on all main platforms
-> Third party tools that come along are useful in testing and manging the apps
-> Offers high flexibility to hybrid app developers
-> It can tap into the device’s hardware — camera, sensor, accelerometer etc.
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Everything You Need To Know About PhoneGap To Create An App
-> Which technology is better for cross-platform app development, Xamarin or PhoneGap?
Cordova
Apache Cordova is considered one of the most efficient tools for creating mobile apps with HTML5, CSS and JS. It targets multiple platforms with a unified code base, is free and open source. Apache Cordova is a popular preference nowadays for applications which share a diverse amount of code within a large range of devices. Apache Cordova is well known for building multi device hybrid mobile apps using native device APIs like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, focusing on a wider range of mobile devices, taking advantage of the benefits of the ability of each individual device.
- Key Features
-> The major inclusion is supporting end to end development of cross platform apps with iOS and Android, also having support for Windows Store and Windows Phone, owing to Microsoft Open Technologies
-> It powers the build process for most free cross platform tools
-> It packages a single codebase into a native executable
-> The hybrid approach offers a WORA (Write Once Run Anywhere) approach
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Cross-platform frameworks offer one-code path to mobile dev
-> Create your first Cordova app
Sencha
Meant especially for cross platform app development, Sencha has many programs like Sencha Architect, Sencha IDE plug-ins and others. Its open range of tools help developers explore the best of the development arena. It has pre-built components that save big on time, cost and efforts.
- Key Features
-> Saves a lot of coding time for developers
-> Facilitates development of code in HTML5 format
-> Code is simplistic and fast to use in iOS as well as Android
-> Just needs code translation with tools like Phonegap
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Sencha Releases Ext JS 6.6 with npm Packaging and Open Tooling Support
Firebase
Firebase is a trending mobile app tool that is set to strengthen the clients dealing with the web, iOS, OS X and Android. It is Google’s mobile platform that helps quick development of high-quality apps and maximizes business RoI. It is sure to lessen coding time and has an efficient server management mechanism. Established in 2011, its database is a real-time service that facilitates synchronization and storage of data across clients.
- Key Features
-> It has a JSON tree database like NoSQL databases like MongoDB, Cassandra etc.
-> Has a special affinity towards enterprise level profitability through its mobile apps
-> Backed by Google and hence a trustworthy choice by developers
-> A single platform with products that work collectively and effectively
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Google is killing Fabric in mid-2019, pushes developers to Firebase
-> What’s new in Firebase at I/O 2018
Ionic
As an open source and cross platform tool, Ionic operates best on most modern devices. It follows native app UI guidelines, utilizes native SDKs, trusts UI standards and device features of native apps. There is a lot of platform independence, offline competencies and lessened time of development that the developers earn with Ionic. Since it is an HTML5 framework, it needs a native wrapper like Cordova or PhoneGap in order to run as a native app. It is built on Angular and SAAS.
- Key Features
-> Offers efficient third-party plug-ins
-> Builds amazing apps in one codebase for any platform
-> Lets developers build, test, deploy cross-platform hybrid mobile apps with ease
-> Ionic Appflow, Studio and Enterprise Engine form the core product range of Ionic
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Announcing Ionic Studio: A Powerful New Way to Build Apps
-> Ionic 3.0 has Arrived!
Corona
The best part about Corona is that with a few lines of code, you can start making mobile apps seamlessly. Supported by HTML and Lua (based on C) language, you can choose to go in for a native or cross-platform framework. It is ideally optimized for gaming graphics and helps you make games much faster. The good thing about Lua is that it is robust and scalable for mobile apps.
- Key Features
-> Ideal for fast game app development
-> Permits around 10 times quicker app development
-> Flexible, lightweight and multi-paradigm language
-> Emphasis on speed, usability and extensibility
-> Corona’s API suite features API calls for audio and graphics, cryptography, networking and device information such as accelerometer information, GPS, and user input as well as widgets, particle effects, and more
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Writing your first Android game using the Corona SDK
-> Hall of fame apps built with Corona
Flutter
Flutter is an open-source mobile application development SDK shaped by Google. It is used to advance applications for Android and iOS, as well as being the main technique of creating applications for Google Fuchsia. It is closely tied to another Google product — Material Design. Flutter is the only multi-platform open-source tool that is supported by an organization that executes a prime mobile platform also.
- Key Features
-> Supported by Google, it is lightweight and supports cross platform mobile app development
-> End users get a look and feel like most of the Google products they use
-> Creates beautiful mobile native apps in record time
-> Faster development, expressive UI and native performance
- Interesting / Latest Reads
-> Flutter Live ‘18
-> Top Apps Built Using Flutter Framework
“In my opinion, the future of mobile is the future of everything.” — Matt Galligan
With a diverse set of functionalities, features, value addition, there are many mobile app development tools today and there will be more in the coming year. What is important is how to choose the best applicable tool and leverage its potential to the best. The emerging trends in 2019 have a promising future ahead and it will be interesting to see how mobile application development unleashes its potential to the world. There is lot in store for enthusiastic developers, designers in terms of a variety of platforms, frameworks, technologies, architecture and tools.
