Mobile application development using Ionic framework, React native and Flutter

Mobile Applications

The use and development of mobile applications is an emerging and rapidly growing industry. Mobile applications have a positive impact on the world. The mobile application runs on a small handheld mobile device that is mobile, easy to use and accessible from anywhere. Nowadays, many people are using mobile applications to connect with friends, browse the Internet, file content management, document creation and processing, entertainment, etc. From anywhere, users can use mobile apps. People can do many things in daily life and business activities. Mobile applications not only affect users, but also play an important role in the business. Many commercial companies are using mobile apps to make money. Mobile applications have had an impact on society. The availability of mobile applications running in a mobile environment depends on many factors, such as: screen resolution, hardware limitations, expensive data usage, connection issues, and limited interaction possibilities. In recent years, mobile companies are trying to develop mobile devices with higher screen resolution, more storage space, and better connectivity, so as to provide a better environment for modern mobile applications.

Mobile applications are applications designed and developed specifically for ordinary users of specific websites. It makes them easier to use and update.

Mobile applications are software programs developed for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Mobile applications provide users with necessary services. Applications are usually small, single software units with limited functions. Each application provides limited and isolated functions, such as games, calculators or mobile web browsing.

The purpose of these apps is to provide utility, productivity and navigation for entertainment, sports, fitness, and almost anything else imaginable. Social media is one of the most popular areas in mobile application development and adoption.

Applications generally provide more interactivity and display more specific information in a format that is easy to use on mobile devices.


There are three basic types of mobile apps.

  • Native Apps
  • Hybrid Apps
  • Web Apps

Native Apps

Native mobile applications are built specifically for specific types of operating systems. They are called natives because they are native to a specific device or platform. Applications built on one operating system cannot be used on another operating system. In other words, Android applications cannot be used on the iPhone.They use development tools and languages supported by their respective platforms (for example, Xcode and Objective-C for iOS, Eclipse for Android and Java for Java. It provides complete control of all device controls (such as contacts, cameras, sensors, etc.) access permission. When developers use the native device UI, native applications ensure high performance and an excellent user experience.

The term native application is used to refer to platforms such as Mac and PC, such as photo, mail or contact applications that are pre-installed and configured on each Apple computer. However, in the context of mobile web applications, the term "native application" is used to understand any application written to work on a specific device platform.

The two main mobile OS platforms are Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Native applications are written in code mainly used for the device and its operating system. For example, developers use Objective-C or Swift to write iOS applications, but they also use Java to create native Android applications. The native apps can be accessed through the corresponding app store, such as Android apps in the Google Play store, iOS apps in the App Store, etc.

These applications can access all device hardware, including various sensors and peripherals (if any). Since executable files are compiled for a specific operating system and run directly on the operating system, these applications run very fast. They come with their development environment, including various simulators and infrastructure for actual device testing.

Compared with common web applications or mobile cloud applications in multiple systems, native applications can provide optimized performance and can take advantage of the latest technologies such as GPS.

For example, the Facebook application was once written in HTML5 to use the same code for iOS, Android and the mobile web. However, for iOS users, the app runs slowly, and Facebook app developers have created a separate code for iOS. Complex tasks can be re-balanced, such as networking in the main thread running the UI or in the background of the program.


Hybrid apps

A hybrid application (hybrid application) is an application that combines elements of a native application and a web application. Native applications are developed for specific platforms and installed on computing devices. Web applications are generally used on multiple platforms, instead of being installed locally, they are available on the Internet through a browser. Hybrid applications are often mentioned in mobile computing environments.

Hybrid mobile apps are any mobile apps you see in the app store, download them, and use them on any mobile platform and device.

Hybrid mobile applications are like any website you visit on the Internet. They are built with a combination of web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

However, the hybrid mobile application is hosted on a platform-specific native application to use that platform-specific WebView. In this environment, hybrid mobile applications can easily access the data and functions of a specific mobile platform.

This allows the hybrid mobile application to run like any other native mobile application on that particular mobile platform and device. Well, mobile app users cannot determine whether the app is a native app or a hybrid app.

In order to access the hardware functions (accelerometer, camera, address book...) of the device on which the native application is installed, the native elements of the user interface (iOS, Android) of each platform can be included: the native code will be used Access specific features to create a seamless user experience. If the hybrid function is called in WebView, the hybrid application can also rely on the platform that provides the JavaScript API.


Web apps

A web application can be defined as an application that can be accessed through the Internet using a web browser. You must have interacted with some web application that processes the input data and provides you with the required information. For example, in addition to allowing different online transactions, the official websites of different banks also provide information about customers and their accounts. In other words, we are talking about client-server based applications that run on the server and can be accessed by multiple client computers.

Web applications (Web apps) are applications that are stored on a remote server and delivered over the Internet through a browser interface. By definition, a web service is a web application, although not all, many websites contain web applications. Web applications can be designed for multiple purposes, and anyone can use it. There are many reasons from organization to individual. Commonly used web applications can include Webmail, online calculators or e-commerce stores. Some web applications can only be accessed through specific browsers; however, most browsers are available.

Popular applications include Google Apps and Microsoft365. GoogleApps for Work has Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, online storage, etc.


Mobile App Development Frameworks

Let’s have a look at some of the popular mobile app development frameworks that will become a major tool for the developers in 2019-2020.

  • React Native
  • Flutter
  • Ionic

React Native

React Native is a JavaScript framework for writing real, locally rendered mobile applications for iOS and Android. It is based on React's Facebook JavaScript library (used to build user interfaces), not for browsers, but for mobile platforms. In other words: Web developers can now write mobile apps that look and feel truly "native", all thanks to JavaScript libraries we already know and love. In addition, since most of the code you write can be shared between platforms, React Native makes it easy to develop for both Android and iOS.

Because React Native uses the underlying web technology, the screen in the application can be reloaded, thereby reflecting code changes almost immediately throughout the development process. In contrast to this, an iOS or Android application usually must recompile the code base, restart its application, and then navigate back to the screen to see its changes.

For developers who are accustomed to using React to use the web, this means you can use familiar tools to write mobile applications with the performance and appearance of native applications. React Native also represents improvements to conventional mobile development in two other areas: developer experience and cross-platform development potential.


Flutter

Flutter is a free and open source mobile UI framework created by Google and released in May 2017. In short, it allows you to create native mobile applications using only one code base. This means you can use one programming language and one code base to create two different applications for iOS and Android.

Flutter is a cross-platform development tool. This means that software developers can use the same code base to build iOS and Android applications. Cross-platform development is the best way to save time and resources during the entire development process.

Due to hot reloading, Flutter has gained a lot of appeal among mobile developers. Hot reloading allows immediate viewing of changes applied to the code on the emulator, simulators and hardware. The changed code will reload in less than a second. The application has been running all the time, and developers do not need to waste time on restarting it.

Flutter is an open source technology with an active developer community around them who provide support, contribute to the extensive documentation of the tool and develop useful resources. Both Dart and Flutter are free to use.


Ionic

The Ionic framework is an open source UI toolkit that uses web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build high-performance, high-quality mobile applications, desktop applications and progressive web applications. It allows developers to build once and run anywhere. It was created in 2013 by Max Lynch, Ben Sperry and Adam Bradley of Drifty Co. The first beta version of the Ionic framework was released in March 2014.

The Ionic framework mainly focuses on the front-end user experience or UI interaction and can handle all the appearance of the application. It is easy to learn and can be integrated with other libraries or frameworks (such as Angular, Cordova, etc.). It can also be used independently without the front-end framework of simple script include.

Officially, the Ionic framework has been integrated with Angular, but it also supports Vue.js and React.js under development.


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