The Mobile App Revolution: Why You Should Be A Part of It

If you have a business, then you must be aware of the fact that mobile apps are bringing great changes in how people do their work, shop or connect. Applications are becoming the bridge between the customers, employees and the products or services. And the rise of smart phones has created a thriving market for the mobile apps and this has in fact helped businesses to increase their productivity by effectively mobilizing their resources and enhancing the user experiences. Though the process is gradual and iterative, mobility has brought in a huge change in the way businesses operate.

Here is why you should be a part of the mobile app revolution

Simplicity in the front end:

Having a mobile application for your business would result in giving easy access opportunities to your customers. It helps them to reach out to you any time of the day and even on the go. The easy front ends of enterprise apps are often attractive and intuitive so that people can enjoy while availing various services. Not only shopping, people can also play, watch movies, listen to music and do various other works without having much trouble. Mobile app brings with it the freshness that today's business can no more afford to miss.

Keeps the users more engaged:

Building an app is easy, but creating something that can keep your customers engaged may be difficult. Mobiles have become an integral part of human life and so it is the best device through which you can keep your audiences engaged. It is by developing a mobile application that you can help employees become more productive and keep your customers hooked to your business. Offering personalized information or message is easy with such apps and this increases the chances of conversion.

Mobile centric business

If online business owners want to develop a revolutionary app, then they must adopt a mobile centric approach. They need to think of mobile first and if they can adopt a long term mobile centric vision, then they can easily develop applications that ensure great experiences and are also integral to all their applications. The trend of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environment has also changed the way business owners think today. If they want to be at par with the latest trends and technologies, then it is a must to develop a mobile app for the business.

Reach out to a wider market base: 

For making a business successful, it is important to have a huge market base. And this is possible by developing a mobile application that can be accessed from any device and OS. The mobile app can easily be accessed even on the go and people can gather information about the products and services anytime and from anywhere. It also helps to target a huge market base as there is no geo limitations. People can easily access your app and get the desired information.

Mobile centric strategies are the ultimate future of all enterprises and it is very important that businesses realize the importance of leveraging mobile platforms that helps them to effectively address the varied challenges that includes integration, scalability, security while enhancing the user convenience.

Mobile applications are becoming an important part of every business and today almost every industry think of creating an app so that they can easily interact with people, help them avail services, products and etc. any time of the day and from anywhere.

By Om Namdev

The 10 Proven Best Free Mobile Messaging Apps

Developers the world over are constantly innovating. They design and develop messaging apps that let us stay connected conveniently to each other in this fast-paced modern world. Most of these apps require you to subscribe or pay to download and install. Quite a good number though are available absolutely free-of-charge.

We are going to highlight, and briefly explain, our selection of the top ten best free mobile messaging apps as of the year 2018. These apps generally let users make free voice and video calls, share instant messages, photos, and even text messages. We hope this will help you get started hassle-free. A selection of the 10 proven best free mobile messaging Apps.

#1: WhatsApp

This is perhaps the king of mobile messaging apps. It was jointly developed by Brian Acton and Jan Kuom. The app was taken over by Facebook Inc. in February 2014. It presently boasts of over 1.5 billion total users who are spread out in over 180 countries. It is also visited by 450 million users monthly and 315 million users daily.

The app basically lets users send each other instant messages, make video and voices calls, and send free text messages among other features. It does have a payment option which, at the moment, is limited to India alone. This is the WhatsApp Pay feature. All the transactions are processed by the Unified Payments Interface.

#2: Facebook Messenger

Closely trailing WhatsApp is the Facebook Messenger. As the name suggests, it was indeed developed by and is owned by Facebook Incorporated. It boasts 1.4 billion active users as of December 2017. It is presently installed on 87.5% of all Android devices in circulation. It does have a payment option which is still in beta version at the moment.

This messaging app enables two Facebook users to chat, exchange files and photos, make video calls, and even send each other text messages. It does not require the subscribers to share their telephone contacts as each user logs in with his Facebook username.

#3: WeChat

WeChat stands apart from the top messaging apps in that it originates from the most unlikely location - China. By the close of the year 2017, it had around 963 million monthly active users. It is basically a social chatting tool that lets its users chat freely with their friends. It also has a friend-finder tool which enables you to track the location of your contacts via the GPRS functionality.

It does support a range of payment options. These include Native In-App Payments, QR Code, Quick Pay, and In-App Web-Based. Because of this, it brings along the benefit of utmost convenience to its users.

#4: Telegram

This Russian-developed instant messaging app is cloud-based. This simply means that it stores all the conversations, files, and data in a cloud. It thereafter avails this data to its users regardless of their precise locations on the globe. It grants its users the ability to send instant messages, exchange photos, files, videos, audio, and stickers.

At the moment, it has 180 million active users globally. The app has variants that are compatible with various operating systems and platforms. Among these are iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows Phone, Linux, and Windows NT.

It also has a payment option. This option basically acts as an intermediary between the end user-payer, the bot developer, and their preferred payment platform.

#5: Snapchat

In sharp contrast to other mobile messaging apps, Snapchat is multimedia. This simply means that it handles and transfers files of various formats and types. It lets users chat instantly, share files and photos, and hold live video conferencing, among others.

It had a whopping 187 million daily users as of the end of 2017. It is also available in 22 languages and is mainly popular among North American and European teens.

Other than sending each other messages, the app also allows users to send money to one another. The money is relayed by use of Square Cash's email payment platform.

#6: Line

Unlike most other mobile messaging apps that are restricted to mobile devices, Line accommodates several electronics. It can work well via cellphones, personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. It is free-of-charge and commands an active user base of about 217 million people. It is mainly restricted to Asia though.

With this app, users can chat; make conference voice and video calls, exchange photos and stickers, and even play games! It does have a payment platform called LINE Pay. This provides a secure and trustworthy payment service.

#7: KIK

Developed by the Canadian company, KIK Interactive, this software is a freeware instant messaging mobile app. It is available free-of-charge via the iOS and Android operating systems. It is also free to operate as it utilizes your smartphone's data plan or the Wi-Fi connectivity to send and receive mobile web pages, instant messages, videos, photos, and sketches.

In the year-ended 2017, it had 300 million active users. It is especially popular among US teens. The app launched its own digital currency called Kin. With this currency, users will be able to earn and buy items from inside the app.

#8: IMO

IMO supports and works well alongside other big instant messaging names like Yahoo!, AIM, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, and MSN Messenger. It basically lets you chat instantly with all your contacts in the aforementioned social networking sites. This saves you a great deal of time and effort as it absolves you from the need to log in to those sites separately.

Other than sending and receiving instant messages, the app also lets users make and receive video and voice calls, for free! At the end of 2017, the app had been downloaded 500 million times especially by the younger range of teenagers.

#9: Viber

Founded in 2003, this social chatting app bears several similarities with most other mobile messaging apps. It is cross-platform in that it can work well across several operating systems and platforms. Examples of these are iOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, Linux, and MacOS. It had a whopping 980 million registered users worldwide as of the year-ended 2017.

Apart from merely chatting, the app also enables its users to make phone calls to each other, absolutely free! Other than that, it also enables users to exchange media - like images and video records. It has no payment platform of its own.

#10: Kakaotalk

Closing our list of the top mobile messaging apps is this free mobile instant messaging application for smartphones. With a pretty small user base of just about 49.7 million10, this app is mainly limited to South Korea and much of Asia. It does have a bright future though as more and more people are anticipated to download it in the future.

The app is loaded with free text and free call features. It also works well across several platforms as MacOS, Bada OS, Android OS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Windows, and Nokia Asha.

It also comes along with KakaoPay which basically allows users to pay for certain products online using their KakaoTalk account. It also allows users to safely transfer money to their respective bank account from their Kakaotalk chat. They do this without necessarily using any of their authentication certificate or one-time-password (OTP).

Conclusion

Mobile apps for Android and iOS are indeed here to stay. Moreover, they also play a crucial role in enhancing how we connect to and share with people all around us. You just cannot afford to overlook them at all; not when you own a smartphone.

For this reason, you have to make every effort to download and install at least one of the free mobile messaging apps. The 10 best free mobile messaging apps we have identified and reviewed above will usually give you the much-needed starting point.

By Bob Tom

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3 'MUST' Methods To Ensure a Successful Mobile Application Development

Taking into consideration the growing technological development, businesses are rushing to tackle the need for mobile applications. Consumers and employees use their tablets and smart phones always, therefore the companies are regularly trying to discharge mobile apps to serve their customers and employees in a better way.

Selected companies are in a hurry to complete mobile application development which in the long run needs to be updated every now and then. This would not have happened if the client had given himself enough time.

Below are a few things which as a client, you can implement to avoid a hurried mobile application development process that will give you problems in the long run.

Formulate a plan for your mobile app

The worst fear most companies come across is that they are not aware of what they want exactly, and before liberating a mobile application, the first thing to do is to avail yourself a defined objective and a plan for your mobile app. You must weigh its achievements and the method which will be useful to the users.

Amateurs provide a recommendation to companies to organize a comprehensive plan of steps to be followed, their suitable time of completion and the overall expenditure. Be definite on your requirements for the application, and also get reviews from clients so that you are able to come to the right conclusion on what your objectives are with the mobile app development.

Selecting between staying-in-house or outsourcing

Companies are requested to intensely calculate if the applications can be handled by freelance developers or a mobile app development company or in-house. It is simpler for big companies to accomplish resources for full time in-house developers due to the considerable size of their IT section, quite often accompanied with a big number of mobile applications and quite a sturdy online presence.

Employing an internal IT staff for mobile app developments varies a lot on software development expertise, and most regularly, it is very difficult to select the sole personnel with development and design skills who is capable to achieve the entire project.

When contracting a company, look for that which is adequate for the dimension of your company because naturally, large companies work with their counterpart agencies. Do a thorough online search for reputable agencies around your area and you can as well ask for reviews from past clients and records of previous accomplished company's project from the agency.

Lastly, be definite to see the way the agency has incorporated your mobile app with latest software systems for previous customers and their objective to build it for you.

Test it and wait for users' feedback

Testing and getting a feedback are crucial points for mobile app development as the designers and developers are not the precise product users. After completion, the programmers are required to engage themselves personally so that they can recognize if the application will be worthwhile to users. An appropriate response can be achieved if the developers can either form trivial pilot groups or force the application out to the end user base.

By Hannah Cuthbertson

Hannah Cuthbertson is a technical writer, at Maxtra Technologies, who writes on mobile technology, app development, web app design & development and digital marketing. A leader in his own rights, her grad-friends see her as an avid researcher and a technology evangelist.

How On-Demand Apps Are Making Their Mark In The Mobile-First Era

The on-demand economy is one of the emerging and most money-making business concepts while outperforming all sorts of conventional business models. With the help of on-demand apps, entrepreneurs can drive customers to make use of advanced mobile technology and attain greater convenience to perform their regular yet crucial tasks.

Gone are the days, when apps were just for playing games, chatting or communication. At present, it serves as an efficient medium for growing your business as well as performing both professional and personal tasks quickly and efficiently.

The Story Behind the Upsurge of On-demand Apps

Think about a situation where you need to book a cab late at night to reach the airport? What if you are feeling quite low at home and craving for your favorite chocolate ice cream? These are the situations, where on-demand apps are the fastest to offer you the best service. These services greatly help people, especially urbanites to make their routine tasks simpler, thereby avoiding all sorts of mobility issues of densely populated locations.

Latest trends for Personalized Services

While dwelling in a densely populated place, there are many rules of traffic and parking issues. Thus, you might need to cancel out your shopping plans, especially after going through a tedious day in the office. Some of the situations that call the need of these services are:

From home cleaning to home decoration.

From food delivery to babysitting.

From skin care and makeup to furniture and fixtures.

From transportation to medical services and much more.

Crucial factors to know for Succeeding in the On-demand App Market

Some of the most crucial factors that decide the future of these kinds of services are:

• Easy and quick payment mode: Hassle-free payment mode will help in enhancing the customer experience while purchasing products and services.


• Convenience: People prefer to avail those services which, are convenient and help them to place the order quickly.


• Time Punctuality: Service availability within the predefined time duration.


• Cost-efficiency: The products and services must meet budgetary needs of the common people.


• Awareness of service: Your on-demand app must reach a wider spectrum of audience which, would increase downloads and usage.


• Product or Service Quality: Faster and Quality-oriented services gain greater trust of people and customer connect.

Wrapping Up

The consumer behavior is rapidly changing and it has become important for entrepreneurs to make their service mobile-driven and more accessible to customers. Thus, these services are now the new tool for seamless business growth. They offer great opportunities to companies for personalizing customer experiences and avail the desired services easily. Furthermore, they can serve basic demands of people and this, in turn, helped them to succeed in this mobile-first world.

By Rob Stephen

Rob Stephen is an experienced professional working with Vision & Solutions, specialized on app development in Australia who has great experience in building intuitive mobile apps.

How Developing A Mobile App Can Drive Revenue For Your Business

For entrepreneurs, turning their vision into a business is a big dream and it does not come easily. There are varied challenges that come from different corners and with the development of technology the chances of success have also increased. Mobile marketing is the new trend and various mobile apps can now help businesses engage their customers in a better way and also keep their employees well connected and boost the bottom line. In simple words, taking advantage of new innovations and mobile technology ensures that your company remains ahead of the market competition.

From implementing specific features like GPS down to the fact that people are carrying computers in their pockets, today smartphones also open up a world of opportunities for businesses both large and small.

Here is how a mobile app can help you

Geo targeted push notifications:

It was earlier suggested that mobile devices would present users with information all over the world in an automatic way. Today, geo targeted push notifications can be used in various ways in businesses:
• Notify fans about events, concerts and updates about the availability of tickets
• A national chain can send city or region based notifications about specific discounts or offers based on the user's interest.
• Retailers can boost their loyalty by sending special offers to their customers who have been purchasing for the past few years.
• Businesses owners can also announce sales or discounts on their products during specific seasons.

Mobile apps offer additional sales opportunities: 

Another biggest opportunity for businesses using mobile apps is to open up a whole new world of customers and engagement opportunities. Interactions with the customers has become geo-agnostic and mobile apps maximize the opportunity to reach the users within no time. There are push notifications that might remind the users of a nearly abandoned shopping cart and also bring them back and offer a more seamless experience for storing login information, which means an easier path to purchase and make transactions.

Data gathering:

Another powerful advantage of mobile apps for online business is that they can easily trace the behavior of the customer and what they actually want. Important things that can keep the users engaged or even at times turn them off can be analyzed. Tracking signals from mobile devices are opening the world of data gathering and analytics for the marketers. It is by using this data that advertisers can understand the behavior of the visitors and also use the information collected to make essential changes in the marketing strategy.

Dynamic sale offers: 

Once you get tied up with technology and start using push notifications, you will observe that many magical things will start to happen. Businesses can now gather essential customer data and track the ad campaigns to deliver best sales offers at the right time. Various mobile apps enable businesses to do varied things and implement dynamic sales strategies to boost revenues. For example, there are certain seasons when people do a lot of online shopping. Giving them discounts during festive seasons often increases the sales and ultimate revenues.

Wearable devices are drawing attention:

As per the International Data Corporation, the market for wearables is assumed to experience a composite annual growth of about 20.3%. From body sensors, wearable cameras to healthcare tracking devices, wearables are gaining popularity and are going beyond the healthcare industry and is going to be one of the most promising mobile app development trends of 2017.

Pushing through the funnel:

There are many customers who browse through the store, check various products and then walk out to another store without making a purchase. This is called bounce and online users bounce for various reasons and the reasons are even greater when it is on mobile. Some reasons are that the users might not have a credit card handy, or typing the information may be too tedious or there may be some other distractions and they may simply put their phone back in their pocket. One way to restrict this transaction abandonment is through automated address filling. Using the GPS of a phone, the transactional app can easily detect the user's location and automatically fill the address data. Such mobile applications make the transactions easier and reduces the bounce rates.

Become competitive: 

Many showroom owners complain that shoppers visit the physical store to inspect the goods in person and then after finalizing on the product, they purchase it online where the prices are usually cheaper. Price comparison tools help the retailers drive additional website traffic and sales and mobile apps are helping businesses to increase ROI by increasing their efficiency. With the apps, users can be narrowly targeted and customers can be lured back to make a purchase. All these efficiencies result in generating more revenues and enhance the overall customer's experience.

When it is all about mobile app technologies, business owners can gain great benefits of capturing their targeted audience and reaching out to them in an effective manner. Their chances of success also increase with access to various business data and helps to make an impact through applying various mobile technologies.

By Prince N

Learn How To Make A Mobile App In Less Than 25min

Watch Harrison as he builds a mobile app using AppMakr with no coding. He walks through the entire mobile app development process from signing up to publishing an app into iTunes and Google Play. This is an updated version of Jay Shapiro's previous "How to make a mobile app in under 25min" video, with over 1 million views. In this version Harrison shows how AppMakr (acquired by Infinite Monkeys in 2013) can have easy to make icons and functions for his mobile web site, his blog, click-to-call and many others. If you've been wondering how to develop an Android app, but don't have the programming skills, this video will show you the free and easy way to get started with AppMakr

Why A Mobile App Is Necessary For Your Business

Willing to develop a mobile app for your business but aren't aware of its exact benefits? By this post, you will come to know about the mobile apps precisely.

Fundamentals of Mobile Application

As we all are aware of the age of smartphones. We cannot imagine a life without a smartphone as it has become an inseparable part of our lives. They come with the pre-loaded features that you can access anytime and anywhere. These are music, games, videos, internet and so on.

With the advancement of the technology, smartphones are also getting smarter day by day. The most important reason why all the features are accessed on a smartphone is it is portable than the PCs and laptops.

It has become an indispensable part of human life, not only limited to define a status symbol but has become a necessity of the time. It has influenced various aspects of human life and businesses are one of them.

As the main goal of a business is to reach to the maximum number of people for attaining a consistent growth by serving them all. Mobile applications are the latest forms to connect with the customers.

Mobile apps are the combination of self-contained programs designed to enhance the functionality of a mobile device.

Due to their advanced functionality and easy accessibility, they are very helpful for the businesses in their growth.

Types of Mobile Apps

Technically, there are two types of mobile apps, that are listed below:

• Native apps

• Hybrid apps

Native apps

These are the apps developed specifically for use on a particular platform. This is a mobile application which is coded in a specific programming language such as Java and Objective-C for android and iOS mobile operating systems respectively.

These apps have fast performance and a high degree of reliability. These can also access the other features of the phones such as Camera, GPS, Contact list and so on. The examples of these apps are Android, iOS, Windows, Symbian, etc.

Hybrid apps

These apps are like native apps and their programs are coded in the container of native apps. Like native apps, they also use the features of the mobile device such as Camera, Contact list and Phone storage, etc.

They also allow cross-platform development such as the same components of a program can be reused on different mobile operating systems.

By the following points, you will come to know how mobile app development service is beneficial for your business:

1. Keeps your Brand Ahead in this Techno-Race

As I have stated above that it is an age of technology and smartphones.

It is the necessity of a business to reach to the maximum number of clients. Therefore, a mobile application will assist a business to reach to its targeted customers in a better and convenient manner.

So, avail the mobile app development service and an assistance of technology to grow your business at its best without putting any extra potential in it.

2. Promotes your Business Indirectly

A mobile app is very helpful in the promotion of a business as it can be easily downloaded and operated as well. If a person finds something interesting and new then he'll also share it with others. Thus, if your mobile app is user-friendly then the user will surely suggest it to the others.

Hence, your business is getting benefit from the users and it will be an external advertisement of your brand without any charge.

Another reason is, people always prefer the new methods and technologies; these are the newest in the market, thus their chances of preference are more than any other conventional methods.

3. Provides a Better Platform to Reach a Large Chunk of Customers

The number of mobile phone users is more than PC users, therefore if you wish to target them then you must have a mobile application so that they can access your services/products on their mobiles. So, it is a better platform for your business to grow by increasing the number of

customers.

4. Convenient for a Business and its Beneficiaries

Mobile apps not only reduce the effort of customers but also tend them to perform smart work by saving their time as well.

Neither the customer not the business needs to interact with each other and a customer can avail the products/services of a company by ordering it through the mobile app of the same company.

5. Helps in the Improvement of your Business

It is very important to add a feedback form about your services in your business mobile app. By which, the customers can provide their valuable feedback and hence you will come to know about your business drawbacks. Thus, you can improve your services by knowing them. The customers' feedbacks will help you in improving your business.

Where can you get the quality mobile application development service from?

For getting a quality mobile app development, you will have to hire an expert mobile application development company that can develop a mobile application as per your business requirement.

Take the help of internet and find the top five mobile app development companies nearby you. Contact them and tell them your requirement and ask them whether they can develop a mobile application as per your requirement at an affordable cost or not? If yes, you can go with the same and get a mobile

application for your business betterment.

Conclusion

Does your business require a mobile app? If you are not sure then by going through the above post you will come to know why your business needs a mobile application these days.

In short, a mobile application will assist you in the promotion and improvement of your business. It will also keep your brand ahead in this race of technology.

So, if you really want to see your business growing then hire an experienced mobile app development company and develop a mobile app for your business betterment.

The post is written by Rakeysh Kumar. He has tried to aware people about the Mobile Application and their benefits for a business by this post.

By Rakeysh Kumar

How To Build A Mobile App From Idea To Build...To Monetization...To Scaling {VIDEO}

In this video Sharnee Bennett shows you how to take your mobile app idea to designing & building it and most importantly monetising your idea so you can build a real business that is bringing you money. It is actually very easy to build a mobile app. The hardest part is coming up with the idea and then next hardest part is following through & executing fully.

All You Need To Know About Cross-Platform Development Tools

It's certainly a difficult thing to select between operating systems like iOS or Android while going for application development especially for corporate needs. However, getting an application separately built for each platform would be a very costly affair. So the best alternative is cross-platform mobile application development. In this process, mobile apps are developed once and are run on all available platforms like Apple, Android, Windows or Blackberry. So, with a single shared code base developers can easily create device independent applications that can run on any mobile platform. It's an affordable approach for the businesses to target various platforms for huge audience base for corporate needs like marketing or sales. Lesser time, costs and efforts are required to develop cross-platform apps that can work really well on any mobile device and hence, enable businesses to expand their reach and promote their business much effectively. Moreover, maintenance costs are also reduced because here one has to maintain and invest only in one application without having to go for multiple apps targeted for various platforms.

So, what does this type of development require? What are the tools that can help developers to create such awesome applications that run seamlessly on all available operating systems and devices? Have you ever thought about it? Here's the answer.

Let us now consider a few important mobile app development tools that are widely used by the mobile app developers for this purpose:

Phonegap

PhoneGap is a popular open source framework that helps mobile developers to build mobile apps for platforms of their choice using standard web APIs. Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Symbian and Palm are the platforms for which a PhoneGap developer can create mobile apps for. Based on the popular technologies like HTML, CSS3, JavaScript and other distributed system technologies, this is just a perfect framework for development of cross-platform apps.

Xamarin

Xamarin is a good technology supporting the development of apps that can run on various platforms. Based on C# technology and sharing the code base with platforms like iOS, Android, Windows and Mac, Xamarin allows for easy and rapid development of platform independent applications that provide high performance and greatly improve user experience. Real time bugs, crash and exceptions can be found and well-managed with this platform.

RhoMobile

RhoMobile is an open source, cross-platform application development framework based on Ruby. Using this highly integrated platform, app developers can build some really awesome native apps for platforms like native apps for Windows Phone, Android, Symbian, RIM and iOS. The framework comes with the comprehensive range of features of mobile gadgets, so developing mobile applications for all types of operating systems becomes a lot easier.

MoSync

Mo-Sync is an easy-to-use open source framework for developing apps for a diverse platforms. The framework supports technologies like C/C++, Python, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby and Java and hence, is a good choice for mobile app development. With MoSync it's really easy to develop native applications no matter what type and category they belong to.

EliteMobileApp.com is a cross platform mobile application development services provider company in USA. We work on diverse technologies and provide our customers with end to end mobile solutions.

By Ronak B

Mobile App Design Tutorial {VIDEO}

In today's project we create a mobile app for a backpack company. I designed the app to fit an iphone 6. The design of the app is a little flat, based on colors and background image. However, the mobile app gets a little into material app design with drop shadows on buttons creating depth. This mobile app design tutorial shows you the general process and steps for creating a cool mobile app.

Top 10 Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools For Enterprises

The mobile app development has become imperative for enterprises success nowadays. The continued growth of the smartphones provides businesses a unique opportunity to connect with potential customers via mobile apps. With so many mobile devices storming the market each day, it's no treat for developers to create apps that can work on multiple platforms.

In the past few years, the popularity of cross-platform mobile app development tools has increased in a big way. These tools enable developers to write code once and run it on multiple platforms, including Android, iOS, and Windows. According to a recent study by Forrester, 60% of enterprises are already using cross-platform development. Cross-platform mobile app development tools will grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. As per the predictions of IDC, by 2017, the market for cross-development tools will reach $4.8 billion, increasing at a compound rate of 38%.

Below is the list of top 10 cross-platform mobile app development tools which have made the lives of developers a lot easier.

1. Xamarin

Xamarin is a cross-platform app development tool that offers several amazing features such as the ability to add components directly from an interface, native API access, integration with backends, and forms interfaces for sharing the code. This tool empowers developers to build native apps for multiple platforms (Android, iOS, and Windows), with a single shared C# codebase. Moreover, developers can use the same APIs, language, and IDE everywhere. Xamarin has been used by several big names, including Dow Jones, IBM, Foursquare, and Microsoft.

2. Adobe

Adobe offers PhoneGap Build (cloud-based) and PhoneGap (an open source solution based on Apache Cordova).

The developed applications can access native, specific device functions across various device platforms, using Cordova, an open-source set of device APIs. With Cordova's cross-platform plug-ins and APIs, developers can build and code apps using Java Web languages - HTML5, and CSS3. Using Cordova, developers can create an app with a single codebase. The apps that are created once can be run on all devices- be it iOS, Android or BlackBerry.

3. Ionic

Ionic is an open-source SDK that comes with default JavaScript and CSS components. It helps developers to build cross-platform mobile apps using web technologies like SASS, HTML5, and CSS. Ionic framework comes with more than 120 native device features, including Fingerprint Auth, HealthKit, and Bluetooth. It also features TypeScript extensions and Cordova/PhoneGap plugins.

4. Sencha

Sencha Touch, an MVC-based JavaScript framework, provides a high level of responsiveness for your app and is compatible with all the latest versions of iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Developers can use Sencha to develop apps in HTML5, which can be further translated to cross-platform apps with the help of PhoneGap. Sencha comes with high-performance UI widgets for toolbars, lists, menus, and forms.

5. Appcelerator

Appcelerator is based on the concept of "write once, run everywhere" and offers a single JavaScript codebase for its applications. Apps can be created with fewer lines of code using Appcelerator. It also supports real-time mobile analytics and can be used to build Android, iOS, browser-based HTML5, and Windows apps. Appcelerator supports over 5,000 devices and the MVC framework Alloy, the Eclipse-based IDE Studio, and OS APIs.

6. RhoMobile

The RhoMobile framework is used for developing native and cross-platform enterprise and consumer mobile apps. Applications written on RhoMobile Suite can be run on Android, iOS, and Windows. This tool consists of a broad API set, a built-in MVC (Model View Controller) pattern, integrated data synchronization, an Object Relational Mapper for data-intensive apps, RhoGallery, RhoConnect, RhoStudio, RhoElements, and Rhodes. Mobile app development services using RhoMobile are provided on the cloud and comprise of synchronization, hosted build, and application management.

7. NativeScript

NativeScript has supported integration with Visual Studio Code and it allows developers to build the cross-platform native mobile apps from a single JavaScript codebase. This open-source framework gives developers a direct access to every component from Angular, TypeScript or JavaScript and native platform API. The structure part and coding style of NativeScript apps resemble HTML-based web apps. Gartner has named NativeScript as a "Leader" in the 2017 Magic Quadrant for Mobile App Development Platforms.

8. MonoCross

MonoCross is an open-source cross-platform mobile app development framework that lets developers create engaging apps on Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, and Webkit enabled phones. With MonoCross, you have the flexibility to write one app for all supported architectures and platforms and have a custom user interface for each platform. MonoCross uses the Mono framework, C#, and Microsoft.NET and you are not required to have knowledge of the low-level elaborations of all platforms.

9. Codename One

Codename One enables rapid development of applications and deep integration with the native platform. The flexible architecture of Codename One lets the UI work seamlessly across all platforms. The code is written in Java and the app is verified and tested with Codename One's test automation tools and simulator devices. This framework supports popular IDE's like IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans. It ensures compatibility with upcoming iOS versions as it uses ParparVM. The developers can build native Windows and native iOS apps without Windows PC or Mac machine.

10. Convertigo

Convertigo enables developers to develop mobile apps once and run on iOS, Android, and Windows. This platform offers four solutions - Convertigo Server, Convertigo SDK, Convertigo Studio, and Convertigo Cloud. It comes with various connectors like web services or SQL databases to connect to enterprise data. Convertigo has full sync data replication feature due to which data can be accessed offline.

Cross-platform mobile app development is based on the popular languages like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. The cross-platform mobile app development tools are quite versatile and let developers develop apps in one environment and run them on multiple native platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows.

Which tool will you prefer to get your apps developed? Reply in the comment section.

By Seema Sharma