A little bit about us

We are a Troubleshooting Technology company, which has been engaged in the design and development of IT solutions for business, education and government agencies for more than 6 years. During this time, we have implemented dozens of projects, from mobile applications and web services to integration platforms and analytics and automation systems.

What are we going to talk about

In the continuation of the last post, let's look at what approaches there are when developing a mobile application. And in this section, we'll talk about the cross-platform approach (one app for iOS and Android based on common code, Flutter, React Native, etc.)

Cross-platform

Cross—platform development is a way to create mobile applications in which the same code can be run on different operating systems (iOS, Android, etc.). Instead of writing a separate version for each platform, the developer uses one framework, and it already adapts the application to the desired system.

The idea of "one code for everyone" existed back in desktop development (Java, Qt), but gained popularity in the mobile world after it became expensive and time-consuming to develop two separate applications. The breakthrough came when Facebook released React Native in 2015, and Google introduced Flutter in 2017.

The approach is good because it saves time and budget, simplifies support, speeds up the launch of MVP and allows you to release updates to both platforms at once.

What is the difference between PWA and native applications?

We talked about PWA in detail in a previous post. In short, this is a mobile-friendly website. A native application is written for a specific OS and makes the most of its features. Cross—platform is the golden mean: the application gets access to almost all the functions of the device, but most of the code is common to both platforms.

React Native

A framework from Facebook, writing logic in JavaScript or TypeScript. The interface is drawn using native iOS and Android components, and communication with them goes through a "bridge" — a special layer that transmits commands between JS and the platform.

Pros: the feeling of a real native interface, a well-developed community, TypeScript support.

Cons: with complex animations, the bridge can become a bottleneck, and for some functions you will still have to write native code.

Flutter

A framework from Google in the Dart language. Instead of using ready-made OS elements, Flutter draws the interface itself, using the Skia engine. This gives the same appearance on all devices and high-speed operation.

Advantages: full control over the design, high performance, predictable display.

Cons: applications are heavier, the design sometimes looks "not native", and there are fewer ready-made libraries than the JavaScript environment.

For most users, the difference with the native app will be minimal. Cross-platform apps are fast and support gestures, animations, and offline functions. Differences can only appear in very resource—intensive tasks - 3D, AR, working with functionality unique to a particular platform, or heavy graphics, where the native still wins.

The cross-platform gives almost full access to the device's functions: camera, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, sensors, offline mode. If there is no ready-made plugin, the developer can write his own native module and connect it to the common code.

The team is smaller — one or two developers are often enough. The time frame is shorter than when creating two separate native applications, and the cost is usually a third or half lower. Support is simpler: updates and edits are made in a single code, but sometimes new versions of iOS or Android still require improvements for each platform.

A cross—platform is an excellent choice if you need to quickly and relatively inexpensively release an app on iOS and Android, while providing the user with an almost native experience. It is suitable for startups, e-commerce, corporate services, educational and service applications.

It's not the best option for projects with maximum performance and graphics requirements, heavy games, or solutions where a fully native interface is important.