Advantages of Cross-Platform App Development for App Owners

Briskstar

05 Dec, 2022

Why is cross-platform app development so popular among app developers? In this article, you can find out what the main benefits of cross-platform app development are and how you can utilize them in your project.

What is a Cross-Platform App Development?

The term cross-platform app development is Simple to understand when compared with native development.

Native apps are created for a specific platform, usually either Android or iOS. Cross-platform apps, on the other hand, use an intermediate language that works on different platforms. Typically, a cross-platform application will work both on iOS and Android, as these two systems cover the vast majority of the market.

You might also have heard about another approach, called hybrid app development.

What Makes Cross-Platform App Development Different From Others?

To put it simply, hybrid apps combine the features of native and web apps. In contrast, cross-platform apps use the same code-base for all platforms, while the differences are visible mainly in UI.

So, what makes cross-platform a good choice compared to the alternatives?

In general, with cross-platform in comparison to native you’ll get:

– support for different operating systems

– performance close, if not the same, as native

– cost-effective development

– larger market coverage at lower effort

– faster time to market

Who needs cross-platform app development?

With so many options available, there’s a range of reasons that call for a cross-platform app.

– Limited software development budget

– Limited time frame – you’d like to release the app as soon as possible

– Building an app for more than one platform

– Focus on a highly customized layout that matches your brand

– Flexible scope – you’d like to test different solutions and introduce new features along the way

– Need for a dynamic user interface

– Considering a desktop or web application for the future

Budget-friendly

Did you know that it takes between 20% and 50% more time to create a cross-platform feature, compared to creating the same feature for a native app?

Although this may sound more time-consuming at first, it’s actually a huge advantage for your budget in the long run. You need to invest more work hours at the start, yet a large part of the code can be reused between platforms. Subsequently, having a shared code-base for all operating systems means lower costs.

What’s more, when you’re developing cross-platform apps, just one team can take care of the whole project! You don’t need separate teams focused on Android or iOS only, which again, decreases the development costs.

Time-to-market advantage

This is another advantage that comes from having just one team working on the project. The process is easier to manage and synchronize, which makes the process much smoother and decreases time-to-market.

It’s also worth mentioning that the most popular cross-platform frameworks, React Native and Flutter, both come with the hot reload feature. Thanks to this solution, the developers can test their code and fix discovered bugs on the go. It makes it easier to experiment and test new ideas.

Thanks to all these assets, cross-platform development teams can create a prototype within just two weeks and release the minimum viable products in ten weeks only. Impressive, isn’t it?