Pros and Cons of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

In today’s era, the world has gone mobile and there is an increasing demand for mobile apps. Most organizations are already working on mobile app development but which OS to choose is the main concern? As there are many types of devices in the market, it’s hard to pick one mobile OS (operating system). In order to cater to the needs of users having different devices, organizations nowadays concentrate on cross-platform development that is a very common approach. The main advantage of cross-platform apps is that they are compatible across all mobile platforms. This helps to target customers of all segments, acquire more users and expand market share.  

While cross-platform application development can be an effective solution for many startups to reach as many users as possible, it has another side too. In this article, we will throw light on the pros and cons of cross-platform application development.

Pros of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

Cross-Platform Mobile App Development is all about the creation of source code that eventually supports the apps across various platforms such as iOS, Android and others. It also powers the app against different device types that include a smartphone, tablets, and more.

There is no doubt that cross-platform app development can become a bright opportunity for businesses if understood correctly. Here are some of the top pros of cross-platform development. 

• Cross-Platform Mobile App Development not only reduces the development costs, but it also allows organizations to capture a large audience in a short time that even keeps on growing. 
• The other top pro of cross-platform app development is that it saves time as it relies on codebase until the final launch of the app. This way it also eliminates the need for too many developers as it can be easily managed by a few. 
• Another significant benefit of this kind of development is that you will have to work on a single multi-platform code instead of two separate codebases when urgent changes are required before the final launch.
• You can save extra money for development with cross-platform apps as it allows you to live your app on major platforms such as Google Play and App store. This is how it saves your extra cost of native app development. 
• As mentioned above, you can grow your audience with cross-platform development. By launching your app on iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and other OS platforms, you can expand your market reach with a wide audience.
• For cross-platform development, there are modern open-source development frameworks that bring great consistency between platforms. These platforms are easy to use and are dynamic such as Flutter, React Native, Adobe PhoneGap, and Xamarin. 
• An amazing benefit of cross-platform code is that it is reusable and can be utilized in other projects. Not like native apps in which you have to update apps separately while its update, cross-platform code can be customized anytime as per need on all platforms. This again saves your development cost and time.
• The latest cross-platform solutions are built on smart cloud integration that helps to strengthen app features and implement new updates. Moreover, users’ information and data can be saved on the cloud to maintain your own record for future use.
• While developing cross-platform apps, developers face fewer challenges as there is no need to learn specific languages like  HTML, CSS3, or JavaScript, Objective-C or Swift. They can build a good app using their knowledge in JavaScript, CSS3, and HTML. JavaScript and CSS3 suffice for cross-platform app development.

Cons of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

• Many times cross-platform applications perform slowly because of its complicated code. Another reason is the mid-level and entry-level phones that have different platforms and screen layouts. When users face speed issues with the app, it causes unpleasant user experience, and you can lose many of them.
• The updates related to operating systems are difficult to implement in cross-platform apps as frameworks will need to adjust as per development tools by Apple and Google.
• The new update may contain some features that the development framework may not support that can seize the working of the complete application. HTML5 and CSS based apps may not integrate with hardware functionalities of the device such as camera, GPS and may consume more battery in comparison to native apps.
• It is also the case that native cross-platform app SDKs are not that mature therefore, the need to create GUI multiple times arises in order to achieve the platform optimized look and feel.

Bottom-Line

To conclude, cross-platform mobile development is beneficial for start-ups & SMEs as it provides faster development speeds and saves cost. That is what makes this framework the attractive choice of businesses all over the world. However, what suits your business perfectly depends on client requirements and resources you have, you must consider both the pros and cons of cross-platform mobile app development.