Do you believe, Android has a market share of more than 85%?
In the mobile app development industry, Android OS has a very dominant place than any other OS. It is a very popular and open-source development platform that offers many features and development flexibility to mobile app developers.
Android has evolved and captured not only mobile markets but also markets – televisions, cars, PCs, home appliances and smartwatches. This is the reason many businesses taking advantage of Android app development to reach the maximum audience, expand their businesses and generate revenues.
For the effective development of the Android app, you need to choose the best framework for app development that satisfies your requirement and provides ample features. There’re many frameworks available that can get the job done but one needs to identify the main goal of the app so that they can find a very suitable option.
In this article, we’re going to discuss 5 top Android app development frameworks to choose from for your next project.
React Native:
React Native is considered as one of the most popular Android app development frameworks from the survey of “Stack Overflow Insights”. Seeing that, it is the most loved and wanted open-source framework by developers. It is started by the Facebook hackathon in 2013, and officially available in 2015. The “React” in React Native is a JavaScript for developing apps for both Android and iOS platforms. It also enables API and native platform-specific component integrations and thus famous for well designed and native-like interfaces across multiple platforms.
React Native has a large base of followers, community, and developers across the globe. It is also adopted by top businesses like Instagram, Tesla, Uber, Walmart, and more.
Specifications:
- Released in 2015
- MIT License
- Written in JavaScript and React
- Deployment options include Mobile, Web, UWP
- Native API access – JavaScript and 3rd party Libraries
- Native Widget UI Element
- Flux and Redux MVC Architecture
- Used by approximately 42% of developers
- Support forums GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev Community and more
Ionic:
Ionic is yet another popular open-source framework for android app development for building cross-platform apps with a single codebase. It is very powerful and allows developers to build apps using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Ionic also uses Angular JavaScript, which is again an effective framework for mobile and web app development.
Ionic also features CLI (Command-Line Interface) to make app development faster and much comfortable. It also utilizes Cordova plugins to access components such as GPS, camera and much more. With each and every update Ionic improving with performance and optimization.
That said, Ionic is an ideal choice for app developers and businesses who what to build interactive mobile apps and hybrid apps. Some of the apps that built using are Untappd, Pacifica, MarketWatch and more.
Specifications:
- Released in 2013
- MIT License
- Written in JavaScript
- Uses HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript
- Deployment options include Mobile, Web, Desktop, and PWA
- Standard and Rich UI Elements
- AngularJS MVC Architecture
- Command Line Development Interface
- Used by more than 5M+ developers globally
- Multiple supports forums including Ionic forum, Stack Overflow, and Slack
Flutter:
Flutter is a free and popular open-source framework that gives an excellent edge to developers to build high-quality, engaging and expressive native apps for Android and iOS platforms. It is a bit new in the market comparing with the above two frameworks though, it already created a name for itself. It is developed by Google and it is utilized by Google ads.
Flutter uses Dart programming language, it effectively uses existing code to help teams in developing mobile apps and it’s an ideal choice for developers who want to build hybrid apps. Apps built by Flutter compile to native code by exploiting a 2D rendering engine by Google.
Flutter app development is increasing tremendously and gaining more popularity among companies. Some of the top companies that use Flutter are Alibaba, Tencent, CapitalOne, eBay and more.
Specifications:
- Released in May 2017
- New BSD License
- Written in Dart, C, C++
- Deployment options include Mobile, Web, PWA, and desktop
- Widgets for Material Design, Rich UI rendering components, and Cupertino
- Skia MVC Architecture
- Used by 30% of developers
- Support forums include Slack, Github
Corona SDK
Corona is a beginner-friendly and open-source framework. It is recognized as one of the effective 2D and 3D cross-platform mobile development framework for creating mobile apps and games with a single code base across the world. It uses Lua language, a lightweight and powerful scripting language. The platform also provides many features like plugins, built-in APIs and Corona Native extensions to enhance the app development process.
Corona’s SDK also provides a simulator that allows seeing the work changes instantly. Many leading game companies and businesses use Corona SDK like Angry Birds, The Lost City, WarCraft, and more
Specifications:
- Released in December 2009
- Free to use
- Written in Lua
- Used for mobile and web deployment
- Implements Corona APIs, REST
- UI Designer, UI frameworks and plugins
- Game controllers and MVVM architecture
- Used by more than 500+ developers
- Corona Forums
Native Script:
Native Script is a perfect choice for those who want to build apps for multiple platforms in a short time. As mentioned it’s an open-source framework where you get everything to build a native apps like JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue.js or Angular. Native Script works differently unlike the rest, It focusses on native UX, which is very convenient when integrated with cross-platform sharing code.
Native Script allows us to use free templates, app samples, demos, and plugins. It is used by many large companies such as Dell, Microsoft, Symantec and more.
Specifications:
- Released in March 2015
- Apache 2 License
- Written in JavaScript, CSS, Angular
- Mobile, Web, Desktop and PWA deployment options
- JavaScript API Access
- Native Script UI Elements
- Composable MVVM Architecture
- Development interfaces include CLI, Sidekicks, VS Code, Plugins
- Used by 2.1M+ developers
- Stack Overflow, Slack, Github, and more support forums
Conclusion
There’re many Android frameworks for mobile app development, and it is tedious to choose one from them for your next project. Hust to help you, we’ve made the top 5 list of best Android app development frameworks to help you get some knowledge. We hope you’ve benefited from reading this article. Do your research well, and you can even utilize one or more frameworks to create stunning Android apps!