Frameworks You Can Leverage For Android App Development

It is well known that Android apps enjoy more extensive outreach to the audience than iOS, which still carries on an elitist stigma. Many businesses that want to start with a native mobile app project give Android more preference. 

Over the years, some development frameworks gained more popularity among Android developers. Let's describe a few of them here below. 

Kotlin Multiplatform

Kotlin is now the official programming language for Android app projects. Now Kotlin Multiplatform is the answer to the need for a development framework based on this powerful language. The framework has already gained huge traction by encapsulating the key value propositions of the Kotlin programming language. 

Some of the key reasons for developers to prefer Kotlin Multiplatform include the following. 

• Kotlin Multiplatform uses Kotlin, the official programming language for the Android ecosystem, which means it offers all the crucial native Android development advantages. 
• Kotlin Multiplatform, despite being a cross-platform framework, allows developers to switch to the native Android code anytime. 
• Kotlin Multiplatform is great for making subsequent additions of features because of its modular architecture. 
• Kotlin Multiplatform offers an easily manageable learning curve for the new developers. 
• Kotlin Multiplatform allows absolutely separating the UI layer from the app data resulting in easier app maintenance.

Flutter

Flutter is the widely acclaimed open-source SDK for cross-platform app projects created and maintained by Google. Because of Google's ecosystem, it is a more suitable framework for Android projects. Most app development consultants agree that by offering everything out of the box ranging from UI widgets to Google Firebase backend support, Flutter comes as an Android app project. 

Some of the key reasons Android developers choose Flutter for their app projects include the following. 

• Flutter uses Dart, a programming language with clean and readable code syntax and smaller code size. 
• In Flutter, we have a rich repository of widgets for creating a variety of native UI elements without relying on the native platform code. 
• The hot reload feature of Flutter helps in faster development, easier debugging, and making changes. 
• Because of its modular architecture and widget-based development approach, Flutter helps in MVP development or making incremental value additions for Android app projects.  

React Native

React Native, the widely acclaimed cross-platform development framework which was created in 2014 and since then maintained by Facebook, is also a suitable choice for native Android app development. React Native comes as an app development framework powered by a large and active community of developers. 

Some of the key reasons Android developers prefer React Native for their app projects include the following. 

• React Native provides a large range of reusable components for shaping the native Android look, feel, and user experience. 
• The Android developers using React Native can reuse up to 85% of the codebase when building the iOS version of the same app. 
• The Hot Reload feature of React Native helps developers to make instant code changes in the running app resulting in faster development and testing. 
• React Native has a very manageable learning curve as the framework uses JavaScript, the most popular dynamic web language. 
• The component-based architecture makes React Native perfect for easier value additions, updates, and maintenance. 

PhoneGap 

PhoneGap or the Apache Cordova is the widely used hybrid development framework that Android developers use to turn web apps into Android apps. The modular approach to development, a robust range of inbuilt tools, and ease of use are the key-value offerings that made PhoneGap popular among Android developers. 

Some of the key reasons Android developers prefer PhoneGap for their app projects include the following. 

• PhoneGap offers pretty much everything that Android developers need, including tools for compiling code, code debugger, and other app testing tools. 
• PhoneGap makes things easier for the new and aspiring developers by following common web development standards and by using popular web development languages such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.
• PhoneGap ensures lower development costs as it doesn't need any licens8ng fees and as it offers free access to a wide range of inbuilt tools. 
• Developers can easily extend the features and functions through PhoneGap for a native user experience. 

PhoneGap Lows

• PhoneGap is just a hybrid app development framework lacking ability to deliver the native and platform-specific user experience. 
• Since it only offers web languages and web standards, for addressing native mobile OS capabilities, developers need robust native development skills. 
• Compared to leading frameworks such as React or Flutter, PhoneGap is a lot slower and lacks native elements. 

Ionic

Ionic is the most popular hybrid app development framework used widely by Android developers for building lean, lightweight and high-performance apps in a quick time. Using the tried and tested web languages such as HTML5 and CSS allows extending the web features to the Android platform. 

The following are some of the key reasons Android developers use Ionic for Android app projects. 

• For creating and shaping a fully-featured Android app, developers just can rely on tested and tried web technologies and can build the app in the web browser only.
• Ionic has a very low and manageable learning curve involving only common skills like HTML, Angular, CSS, and JavaScript. 
• Ionic makes development further easier through an array of UI components and plugins. 

Xamarin

Xamarin is another robust development framework created and maintained by Microsoft that Android developers widely use. By using an array of HTML tools, the framework helps developers to create engaging native Android UI. 

Some of the key reasons for the Android developers to use Xamarin include the following.

• Android developers, while using Xamarin, get ready access to mobile hardware features and functions like GPS, camera, accelerometer, etc.
• Xamarin can accommodate both MVC and MVVM architecture, allowing optimum flexibility.
• Xamarin offers a robust and comprehensive ecosystem without access to the Visual Studio environment, C#. NET. 
• Xamarin also offers a robust and rich component store to help developers pick up everything they need. 

Wrapping Up 

You must be wondering why we have listed mostly cross-platform development frameworks for Android development. All the frameworks mentioned above have been used hundreds of times across successful Android app projects. For Android development, these frameworks have already proved their worth. 

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