What are the best mobile application development tools?‍

In today’s fast-paced industries, startups realize that they can grasp more opportunities to increase their profits by fulfilling their customers' demands. One of these opportunities includes access to mobile application development tools. Since most of us use our smartphones to search for any business, knowing how to develop smartphone-compatible apps for your business becomes vital. 

This is why mobile app development tools have recently become prominent in the market. So let’s dive deep into this blog to understand the development, working, and uses of mobile application development tools.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Mobile App Development Tools

Although developing a mobile app has become easier than before, if you are looking forward to building an app that aids your business, then you need the right strategies and efforts, cost, and marketing. Here are a few factors to consider:

• Usability
  

  The mobile app development tools must be manufactured so that the tool interface is easy to navigate. It must work in such a way as the users have expected it to work. 

  The tool must focus on enhancing the features to make the work easier, and the interface must be so easy and ready to use that the users shouldn’t need any extra help. 

• Budget
  

  Development tools can be expensive and, many times, there are additional costs to get the tools' key features. You must be sure that the tool will provide the features that it promises. Also, the price of the development tool must accommodate your budget. 

• Security and Integration
  

  The mobile app development tool must allow the admin to use the built-in security controls on the device. You should check that the tool is providing relevant and acceptable levels of security. 

  While selecting the right development tool, you must always consider how well it integrates with the systems and devices that use the application throughout its lifecycle. The tool must also allow other systems to build an application with the necessary integration. 

• Deployment 
  

  When deciding on the right mobile application development tools, the developer must have the appropriate information about the extent of supervision and control, availability, supervision, and scalability. 

Best Mobile App Development Tools

Mobile application development refers to software development for smartphones or smart portable devices, mainly Android Tablets and iPads. Moreover, mobile application development tools refer to software that helps in creating the said mobile applications. Mobile application development outsource is when you give an external agency the task of doing this.

Now, let us explore some of the best mobile application development tools and their advantages and disadvantages. 

1. XCode

XCode is an integrated development environment made by Apple for the app development of software for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It is the only official tool for developing iOS-compatible apps, which can run on iPhones and iPads. Moreover, XCode can help develop apps for watches and tvOS.

Programming languages such as C, C++, AppleScript, Python, etc., are supported by XCode. It is also capable of building fat binary files containing codes of various architecture in the Mac-O executable formats. XCode applications can run on both PowerPC and Intel-based platforms in 32 or 64-bit codes. 

The most interesting feature of XCode is that it offers GUI tools for designing and working. 

Advantages

• XCode offers a well-designed and easy-to-use user interface creator. 
• It is an excellent platform for code creation. 
• Along with other features, a user working with XCode gets an opportunity to learn profiling and heap analysis naturally. 
• The newly created apps can be easily tested on the simulator of XCode. 
• The app store contains a wide variety of people ready to pay for the apps.

    Disadvantages 

• The major drawback of XCode is that it only works on Apple Operating Systems.
• The outdated C language makes XCode more complicated and frustrating if you are habituated to using a more modern language. 
• The use of multiple tabs is not supported by XCode, making it difficult for users to work on multiple windows.
• Any information regarding solving problems based on previous Apple NDA on XCode development is not available online. 
• The process of exporting your app onto a device is very complicated.
• The process of approval for the app store may be lengthy and annoying. 

2. Android Studio

Android Studio is an integrated development environment for the Android operating system. It has undergone many recent updates that have extended its features and capabilities. Furthermore, it is best suited for fast-paced development and provides a high-quality output of apps on all android devices. 

When developers have to develop any app from scratch, then they make use of this integrated development environment platform. 

Advantages

• With the help of Android Studio, coding apps becomes easier and more accurate. This is accomplished with the help of a smart code editor which is equipped with IntelliJ IDEA. 
• Android Studio has given an all-time advantage to all android mobile app developers. Mobile app development companies can bring changes to their existing apps very easily. This is all because of the instant run. Codes can be modified in the OS emulator itself or the physical device without actually restarting the app. This also eliminates the process of creating a new APK.  
• It also offers faster programming and testing processes. It has provided us with a three times faster emulator in RAM, CPU, and I/O devices. The process of testing has become faster in the virtual environment than the real devices due to the friendly user interface provided. For faster reading and programming of codes, Android Studio is facilitated with sensor control and effect features. It also has a drag-and-drop feature for faster installation of APK. 
• With the availability of Cloud Test Lab Integration, the user need not create only one application for testing the compatibility with different mobile devices. Instead, with the help of Android Studio, the developer can build only one app and can test it on multiple devices. 
• This also enables the addition of indexable URL links for promotional activities. 

Disadvantages 

• The Android Studio does not run on a low-end computer. Its minimum requirement is an i3 processor with 4.4 gigs of RAM. 
• Sometimes, the work efficiency of the user is hindered when the Android System freezes, stops working and restarts on its own.
• The emulator of the Android System is a bit slow compared with other android emulators.
• The Android System needs more than 4 GB of RAM to run smoothly. If the system has to RAM of less than 4 GB, then it may not work efficiently.
• The installation process for Android systems is very annoying and lengthy. It takes approximately 3 minutes for an installation, whatever the configuration of your computer. 

3. AppCode

AppCode is a smart integrated development environment that simplifies code management for users and saves time. It works for macOS and iOS. It supports multiple programming languages and users can work according to their preferences. They can also integrate their existing development tools with AppCod like Git, CocoaPods, Perforce, Gira, etc.

Advantages

• The major benefit of AppCode is that it deeply analyzes the structure of codes. In this manner, debugging the codes becomes easier. Therefore, the process of development becomes faster.
• Another benefit of AppCode is code refactoring. Code refactoring is a process in which the code structure is changed without altering the external behavior of the code. Hence, the developers can use this technique to make their code attractive and enhancing. 
• AppCode offers the feature of a user interface that the users can use to customize their app. 

Disadvantages

• It does not support Android. 
• It is not a web-based platform.

Corona

Corona is a cross-platform mobile app development tool that readily creates applications for mobile devices and computer systems. It is the best development tool for creating 2D games. 

Advantages

• The advantage of cross-platform development tools is that the developer has to write the code for the apps only once, thereby saving time and energy. 
• It has more than 1000 APIs and plugins, enabling any developer to convert their idea into interesting games and apps. 
• The Corona SDK has around 347 studios that help in communicating ideas with developers in the community. 
• It also has the unique feature of AEL-GS integration. 

Disadvantages

• Live streaming or audio and background playing of music is not supported by Corona SDK for both Android and iOS. This is the biggest disadvantage, as the availability of foreground music is only not enough. 
• Instead of Corona, the language used is Lua, a scripting language. Thus, the performance and flexibility of the app might be hindered. 
• While working with Corona, the developer has to wait for the features to be added to the library. 

5. Appcelerator

Appcelerator is also a mobile application development platform. It is used by developers who want to develop apps that run on different platforms using a single code language. It can run on Android, Windows, and iOS. It uses most modern languages, like JavaScript and API. 

Advantages

• The speed of development of apps is very fast and flexible while working with Appcelerator. 
• It helps in the development of web-interacted applications with web services and technologies. 
• It consists of a community of millions of developers working with cross-platform development tools to create many applications.  

Disadvantages

• The complexity of the development and costs increase as the complexity of the application increases. 
• It is obvious that the mobile app development tool is faster if they are in the native development environment. But Appcelerator offers a cross-platform development environment, but the experience is not smooth and comfortable. 
• At first, Appcelerator will provide unlimited features, but sooner or later, you will realize that the number of bugs is increasing. 

6. Ionic

Ionic is an open-source SDK that can work on both Android and iOS platforms. It is used to create hybrid mobile apps. It uses JavaScript, HTML, and CSS as its coding language. It is an npm module that needs the installation of Node JS to function. 

Advantages

• Mobile applications can be developed in a very short and flexible time as compared to native environment development. 
• It needs only simple and modern web technologies such as Angular, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for the development process. 
• It also provides the feature of browser support for the applications. 
• It has the best UI and plug-in components to enhance app development. 

Disadvantages

• Although several plug-ins are offered in the Ionic platform, it isn't easy to find a stable plug-in. With an unstable plug-in, application development may become more difficult. 
• The spotting of errors may be more difficult in an ionic native framework. 
•  The ionic platform cannot be used to develop game applications. 

7. React Native

It offers a cross-platform environment for app development. It is one of the most preferred cross-platform development tools. It can be used for both Android and iOS. 

Advantages

• One of the greatest advantages of using react native development tools is that it enables stable growth. The developers are assured about the specialized functionality of the platform, and their main focus is on app development. 
• The code written on this platform can be reused for different applications. 
• React native also offers ready-made solutions and a vibrant library. 

Disadvantages

• The debugging of the applications becomes very tedious as these are built using native coding languages. 
• The determination of the user interface is very difficult. 

8. Flutter 

Flutter is the mobile app development tool of Google. It helps create mobile, desktop, and web applications with a single codebase. It is not a library or a framework, it is a complete software development kit. 

Advantages

• It can work on both Android and iOS systems with a single codebase. 
• The development of applications is very efficient. In addition, the user can use the library and several features to customize the app. 
• The apps that are made using Flutter have fewer chances of crashing. 
• While using Flutter, the design and implementation can be carried out simultaneously. 

Disadvantages

• The response to the special hardware controls and new OS features is slow. 
• It isn't easy to embed any other software development kit into Flutter.
• The native dependent features may not be available. 

Framework 7

It is an open-source platform for mobile HTML. It is used for developing hybrid mobile apps. 

Advantages

• It is independent of any third-party library. 
• It can be used with React and Angular platforms. 
• Supports faster development. 

Disadvantages

• It only works on platforms like Android and iOS.
• The online community of Framework 7 is less than Android and iOS.
• The documentation is average. 

10. Xamarin

It is the application development tool of Microsoft with native performance. It works on platforms like Android and iOS.

Advantages

• A single code can be reused on multiple platforms. 
• Although Xamarin is a cross-platform application development tool, it is trying its best to match the features of the native development environment. 
• It eliminated all the hardware compatibility problems using plug-ins and APIs. 

Disadvantages

• The updates for the latest Android and iOS are not readily provided. 
• Limited access to open-source libraries. 
• The online community of Xamarin is less than Android and iOS.

Low Code Mobile App Development Tools

Low-code mobile app development tools are gaining popularity because of their usability. These tools can develop apps in no time without requiring much knowledge of coding. Using this tool, the development team can collaborate with sales, business analysts, and designers. Working together, they can build applications of any complexity level. 

1. Outsystems

It is a high-performance, low-code platform that provides some serious productivity tools. OutSystems is a software innovation company focusing on making the developers’ work easy. 

Features

● You will experience error-free deployment for your apps, in the cloud or on-premises.

● You can get real-time performance dashboards.

● You will be able to deliver scalable applications.

● Offers the latest security for your applications.

● Your applications could be integrated with any system.

2. Mendix

It is a high-platform app productivity language that is used to improve mobile and web applications. It combines low and no-code tools in one fully integrated platform. 

Features

● Agile project management.

● Visual modeling tools.

● Reusable components.

3. Zoho Creator

It is also a low-code application development platform that allows users to design, develop, and run any business software. It is used to build multi-platform applications. 

Features

● Create more applications with less effort.

● Connect with your business data and collaborate across teams.

● Create insightful reports.

● Gain instant access to mobile apps.

● Uncompromising security.

4. Appian

Appian is a low-code, single-OS application development platform that helps manage businesses and their processes with ease.

Features

● Drag and drop tools.

● It provides native AI services.

● It also offers no-code integration to AI/ML platforms through Google Cloud,

Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure.

● Without writing any code, you can integrate enterprise data, systems,

and web services.

Choose The Best Mobile App Development Tools 

Mobile apps play a significant role as they improve brand visibility and marketing channels. They can act as a bridge between a business and its customers to convey important information like updates and features very quickly and conveniently. Each development tool mentioned above helps to develop the application effortlessly and customizable.

So what’s holding you back? Get a low-code app development tool and make an app for your business now.  You’ll surely be blown away by the response from your loyal customers when they use the app! If you're looking for a more complex app, then you can check out these websites to hire mobile developers, too.

Author Bio

With a ‘roll up the sleeves, dive in, and get the job done’ approach, it was in year 2010 when Sahil started Parangat Technologies. Emphasizing a healthy work culture and a technologically driven company, he has successfully created a workplace where people love to work and live. He is a software engineer and a passionate blockchain enthusiast.