Mobile Development

iOS, Android, cross-platform mobile applications

Mobile development refers to the process of creating software applications designed to run on mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. With mobile development, developers face a choice between native and cross-platform development. Native development is the practice of building separate apps for iOS and Android operating systems, while cross-platform development involves writing a single codebase that covers both operating systems.

Native development offers the best performance, with faster loading times and smoother user experience. It gives immediate feature support when the operating systems release updates, and is better integrated into the device’s hardware, such as its GPS and camera. They come with a higher overall cost, however, as it relies on hiring separate development teams, and can mean slower release cycles and more maintenance.

Cross-platform development may use frameworks like React Native or Flutter. React Native uses JavaScript and React, and is widely used by web developers. It has its pros and cons, and organisations may choose cross-platform development for reasons of speed and cost-effectiveness. Cross-platform development offers a faster time to market, since code only needs to be written once and can be deployed across iOS and Android simultaneously. It has a lower development cost since organisations can get away with having one single team rather than two separate teams working on the different operating systems. It’s easier to maintain since updates and fixes can be deployed and applied to both systems simultaneously, and can offer a more unified user experience and interface, giving the same look and feel across different devices. That said, it can also mean drops in performance, and delayed feature access when new iOS or Android features are released. Cross-platform development can mean more storage space on the user’s devices, and also require third-party libraries that can degrade over time.