Now, if you want to understand the app development industry well to figure out whether cross-platform can be the perfect strategy to ace the competition, we have a few stats to share. Here’s a look at these stats:
- A Statista report suggests that in 2022, 255 billion mobile apps were downloaded
- 76% of the smartphone activity done between July 2021 to June 2022 was chatting and exchanging messages
- As of the fourth quarter of 2022, Google Play Store had over 3.29 million mobile apps
- Gaming apps were the most popular category on the Google Play Store in the third quarter of 2022
- A Survey organized in April 2022 displayed, 71% of gamers based in the US were interested in playing their mobile games on a PC or console
Top cross-platform development frameworks
Now that you know how massive the app development market is and why it is necessary to build cross-platform apps now, you should know these development frameworks as well. Top cross-platform development frameworks are designed to help you target multiple smart devices and operating systems.
These frameworks are equipped with several features, UI/UX elements, and other such components that are useful for building and deploying cross-platform apps faster. Let’s get to know some of these leading development frameworks better.
1. React Native
This framework had been dominating the market before Flutter took over. In 2019 and 2020 the platform was used by 42% of developers around the world consecutively. React Native blends the capabilities of native apps and the scalability of cross-platform apps to deliver apps that drive growth. While building apps, React Native allows you to create several versions of components and supports the sharing of a single codebase across platforms.
2. Flutter
This cross-platform app development framework has been leading the market in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, approximately 42% of developers around the world used Flutter while in 2022, 46% of developers were using it. Flutter, the open-source cross-platform app development framework is owned by Google and supports platforms like Android, iOS, Fuchsia, Web platform, macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows.
3. Cordova
The third most popular cross-platform app development framework, Cordova is popular among the leading cross-platform app development companies around the world. The framework is owned by Nitobi which released it in 2011. Some popular apps that used Cordova for development are Untappd, SparkChess, and Localeur, among others.
What are some benefits of cross-platform app development?
Cross-platform app development process has several advantages to offer. These advantages have motivated more and more developers to give this technology a shot. To know more, here’s a list of the benefits of using the cross-platform framework for building your app.
- Cost reduction - One of the major advantages of building a cross-platform app is reducing the overall cost that goes into building the app. These frameworks provide the ability to deploy apps on multiple operating systems and devices using a single codebase. Due to this ability, the cost to hire cross-platform app development companies goes into hiring people for each platform, running repeated tests, writing codes for each platform, etc gets reduced.
- Faster app testing - Cross-platform app development speeds up the testing process by reducing the requirement of organizing repeated tests for each platform. You can test a single app using specifications and features of different devices or you can speed up the process further by using automated app testing frameworks as well.
- Faster deployment - Building apps using cross-platform development companies helps you convert your vision into a full-fledged application faster and deploy it across multiple platforms. As mentioned earlier, the ability to use a single codebase on several platforms saves money and time for developers.
- Large community support - Thousands of cross-platform app development companies around the world use popular cross-platform development tactics. This helps developers find the required community support.
- Wider userbase - A cross-platform app lets you target a range of devices and operating systems which makes your app suitable for a larger userbase. You can use the same codebase to build an app that runs on Android, iOS, Windows, and other such devices.
How to build a cross-platform app?
The cross-platform app development process includes several layers of activities that begin as soon as you set your mind on building an app. Some phases that are involved in building a cross-platform app:
1. Plan and research
For the success of your app development project, you need to do thorough research and plan it well. The planning phase will include research, visualization, budget planning, tech stack strategy, development strategy, targeted platforms, and app testing strategy among others. Now, the research part for building the cross-platform app can be the trickier part.
Some steps that are often involved in the research of building an app include-
- Shortlist objectives of your research - To organize a successful research strategy, you need to be clear about the motive of the research. If you are researching the market to build an app, pick research objectives related to the kind of app you want to build.
- Identify the target audience - Once your research objectives are clear, pick a targeted potential user base for your app. This phase includes understanding the demographics of your target user group, identifying their income level, identifying common devices and operating systems used in the market, etc.
- Identify your competitors - Another crucial step involved in the app development research is identifying your competitors and their strategy. Knowing your competitors better can help you figure out what strategies have worked for them and what not.
- Explore market trends - Keeping up with the app development trends is a good strategy if you want to build a cross-platform app that meets the requirements of the modern consumer. App development trends often evolve in parallel with new technologies.
- Create a user persona - A user persona refers to creating a dummy persona of a potential user. You define the pain point, the strategy to eliminate the pain point, the persona’s demographics, and other such characteristics to imagine the target user. Accordingly, your cross-platform app research will be organized.
- Use analytics-based tools - Analytics-based tools like Google Analytics, AHREF, Google Trends, etc let you know what is trending in the market. You can use these analytics to plan a product that meets the requirements of the consumer in the market.
- Organize interviews and surveys - To gather more authentic user data, organizing interviews and surveys can be a perfect strategy as well. Through surveys, you can ask quantitative questions to identify pain points and resolutions that target groups expect from an app.
2. Visualize your app
Once the research process for your cross-platform app development is done, the next phase is visualizing your app. The visualization of the app helps you come up with a UI/UX that will become the recognition of the app. Some steps that are involved in designing the app are-
- Create a wireframe - The wireframing part includes creating a rough sketch of the app that you have envisioned. In this phase, you need to prepare a strategy for the layout, structure, and placement of features. In short, the wireframing part includes preparing a UI/UX strategy for the app.
- Prototyping the design - Another crucial phase of the app development process is prototyping the design of your app. The app prototype is an advanced version of the wireframing where you prepare a realistic UI/UX layout along with all components. In other words, prototypes are the preliminary versions of apps that are not functioning yet. There are a range of app prototyping tools available that can help you speed up the cross-platform app development process.
- User testing - Once you are ready with the prototype of the app, collect feedback on the same from your colleagues, friends, and everyone else who can help you. Gathering user feedback can help you figure out if the app you are building is helpful or not.
- Refine the app design - When you have collected feedback from potential users, refine the app design strategy based on it to make it more user-friendly. This phase can help you improve the future app engagement experience.
3. Shortlist the tech stack
Depending on the kind of cross-platform app you want to build, pick a tech stack and hire the people with the relevant experience. The tech stack can vary depending on the features you want to integrate, your app development budget, targeted platforms, UI/UX strategy, and more. Some common tech stacks for building cross-platform apps are Titanium, React Native, Xamarin, Flutter, etc.
4. Prepare an app development budget
The cost to build an app varies depending on several factors including the technology you are using, the wage of the cross-platform app development company you are planning to hire, licensing fees, fees of any security certifications, and more.
The overall app development budget might also include costs of marketing the app and app maintenance costs, so prepare a budget that you can afford for a smooth development process.
5. Find the right app development company
To build an app that brings growth, you will need to hire the right company. So, you can explore the above list of top cross-platform app development companies that will help you find and hire people who understand your requirements. You can filter companies based on their tech expertise, project history, per-hour costs, minimum budget requirements, etc.
6. Market the cross-platform app
To ensure once the app is launched in the market, you need to prepare a fool-proof app marketing strategy. You can also hire cross-platform app development companies that offer app marketing services as well to outsource the activity and save money on packages. An app marketing strategy covers the pre and post-app launch phases.
Even before the app is launched, it is important to create a market presence for it. So, using popular app marketing tools, you can prepare a marketing plan that lets users know that your app is about to launch in the target market.
Some phases that your app marketing strategy will include are-
a. Preparing an app marketing strategy - The app marketing strategy will be based on the research data that you gathered. Find commonly active communication channels in your target market and the right app marketing companies to announce the launch of your app and market it after it’s launched
b. Prepare an app marketing budget - The app marketing budget you are planning to spend on the app should cover pre and post-launch phases of the app. The app marketing budget will vary depending on the number of days of ad-running, targeted communication channels, targeted reach, and more.
c. Pick targeted platforms for marketing - Depending on what platforms are very popular among users, pick targeted platforms to market your app. Most app development companies are using tactics like social media marketing, influencer marketing, and websites to promote their apps.
- Social media marketing - Social media marketing strategies often include optimizing marketing campaigns for popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and more.
- Influencer marketing - Influencer marketing refers to hiring popular influencers to create and promote content that their followers can see.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Website-based marketing strategies include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make your app visible across search engines.
- App Store Optimization (ASO) - App Store Optimization (ASO) means promoting your app among the top results on app stores.
7. Test your app before the launch
Now comes the phase when your app is almost ready to join the real world. However, testing it before launching is the ideal thing to do to ensure there are no bugs or any kind of incompatibility issues. There are automated app testing tools existing in the market that can help you reduce the cost and time involved in the testing phase of the app.
8. Launch the app
Now when you are done with all the steps, launch the app in the real market and keep an eye on its performance. It is ideal to keep an eye out for bugs and get rid of them as soon as possible before the app’s reach expands to a larger number of users. Reviews and ratings posted by actual users are the best sources to identify these bugs and maintain them.
Choosing the Right Cross-Platform App Development Company as Your Ideal App Partner
Around the world, millions of mobile app development companies are providing cross-platform app development services but finding the pioneers in the field, it may seem unachievable for immediate requirements.
To mitigate any such grievance, we prepared this report that ranks those cross-platform mobile app developers who provide the best in class cross-platform mobile development solutions to clients globally.
Modern methods like cross-platform mobile app development have stormed into the forefront to make the app development process equally powerful, faster, and flexible. A cross-platform app development company that knows the tricks of the trade will help you have an app that will be compatible with multiple platforms with equal efficiency.
Hopefully, this report will help you find the app development company that understands your cross-platform app development strategy and help you build the best product out of it.
Lastly, if you are a part of an app development company as well and would like to showcase your agency among top names such as the ones given above, just register your app development organization. Getting listed in such reports can help you boost the visibility of your organization and help you find potential clients hidden among the audience of MobileAppDaily.
