Cross-platform mobile frameworks reduce the gap between development and release. Developers can build an application that runs on multiple platforms using the same technology.

There are several mobile frameworks you can choose from including Flutter, React Native, Xamarin, and Ionic.

1. Flutter SDK

Flutter website home page

Flutter is an open-source software development kit (SDK) released by Google in 2017. It’s used to develop cross-platform apps for Android and iOS. It can also run a single code base on Windows, macOS, Linux, the web, and embedded devices.

With Flutter, you can build an application once and deploy it on Android and iOS and achieve a similar UI and feel. This is because Flutter comes with Material Design and Cupertino, the design languages for Android and iOS.

Key Features of Flutter

  • Flutter has an increasing number of packages and plugins you can use to add extra features to your application.
  • Flutter is easy to get started with. It uses ready-made widgets as building blocks for its UI. There are both Material Design and Cupertino widgets that help you implement both Android and iOS design guidelines easily.
  • It has a hot reload feature that helps you see the changes in the app as you code, enabling you to quickly build new features or fix bugs.
  • Flutter has detailed resources including well-structured documentation, video tutorials, and code labs. These resources are helpful to anyone learning Flutter.
  • Flutter supports large fonts, screen readers, and sufficient contrast on top of other accessibility features supported by the underlying operating system.

You can start writing Flutter apps by following this Google codelab Flutter tutorial.

2. React Native

React Native home page

React Native is an open-source UI software framework created by Meta and publicly released in 2015. You can use it to develop mobile apps for Android and iOS.

React Native builds on top of React, a popular JavaScript library, so any well-versed JavaScript developer should be able to pick it up quite quickly.

React Native apps utilize native platform APIs which give the app a native feel and look.

Key Features of React Native

  • React Native offers fast refresh. You can see the code changes reflected on the app as soon as you hit save, This speeds up the development and debugging process.
  • React Native uses a component-based approach like React. This simplifies building complex UIs and speeds up the development process.
  • As mentioned, React Native builds on top of an already popular language, so there’s a large community to answer questions related to the framework and help fix bugs. Furthermore, this community contributes third-party libraries that you can install to add features to your app.
  • React Native does not use a web view but uses native views to render an application that provides a native-level performance.
  • React Native has accessibility properties that let you create accessible apps. These properties are extensions of the accessibility APIs already provided by iOS and Android.

See React Native's getting started guide to create your first React Native app.

3. Xamarin

Xamarin home page

Xamarin is an open-source platform for building iOS and Android apps with .NET and C#. It was built by the developers who created Mono, a .NET framework, but Microsoft acquired it in 2016.

Xamarin doesn’t enforce a one-size-fits-all solution for all platforms. It lets you use platform-specific APIs to build your app. Xamarin.iOS allows you to develop iOS mobile apps while you can use Xamarin.Android for Android apps. You can also create an app that you can deploy on iOS and Android from a single code base using Xamarin.Forms.

Xamarin exposes all the underlying APIs and functionality of the operating system to the application. It also compiles all the code into a native binary which gives the app native-like performance.

Key Features of Xamarin

  • Xamarin applications are natively compiled which means apps have near-native UI and performance.
  • Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android gives developers full access to iOS and Android APIs and elements.
  • Xamarin applications use a full Ahead of Time (AOT) compilation. This optimizes performance by reducing start-up time, at the cost of increased file sizes.
  • With Xamarin.forms you can create a single code base that’s shareable across multiple platforms.
  • Xamarin allows you to compile applications made for iOS on Windows with Visual Studio or XCODE IDE.

Get started with Xamarin on the Microsoft Learn platform.

4. Ionic Mobile Framework

Ionic framework homepage

Ionic was created in 2013, initially to help build mobile apps using Angular. However, as more frameworks emerged, Ionic was rebuilt to allow developers to create cross-platform mobile apps using a framework of their choice such as React, Vue, or Angular.

Using a framework is not a must as Ionic also distributes its own library of native components for iOS and Android. Each of these components follows Material Design and iOS design standards.

Ionic is essentially an NPM module and requires Node to run.

Key Features of Ionic

  • Ionic uses Cordova plugins which allow you to integrate native device features like Bluetooth, maps, and GPS into your app. Together with web components, you can create apps that combine native and web elements.
  • Building the UI is fast since you can start with the pre-designed components and theme and then customize it to your liking.
  • You can use Ionic with some of the popular UI frameworks like React and Vue which makes it easy to learn. You can also use it as a standalone library.
  • Ionic mobile apps render using a web view which means you can test the application right in your browser.

Visit the Ionic framework documentation to start building mobile apps using Ionic.

How to Choose a Cross-Platform Framework for Your Mobile App

One thing to consider is your current skill set. A .NET developer will find Xamarin easier to use while a JavaScript developer may find Ionic or React Native easier to work with. Dart developers may lean towards Flutter even though its use of widgets promises a shallow learning curve for any developer.

You may also want to consider the support of the framework. Flutter, Xamarin, and React Native are backed by large companies. However, Xamarin is more established and is a better choice for enterprise applications.