Top 6 Mobile Application Development Platforms
Software review site G2 recently ranked 140 mobile app development platforms.
Out of that extensive list, only six made it into the Leader’s quadrant.
So which six mobile development platforms do users rate as industry leaders? Let’s take a look.
What Are Mobile Application Development Platforms?
Mobile application development platforms give you all the tools you need to create a mobile application.
Most of these platforms focus on iOS or Android development—the two leading mobile operating systems.
However, some allow you to build applications that work on both systems. These environments often have a limited set of native tools.
Others give you the tools to create hybrid applications that work on multiple operating systems, in addition.
You can write, manage, and deploy anything from mobile games to e-commerce apps using these platforms.
Many mobile app development platforms include tools for mobile app testing, optimization, and debugging.
G2’s Top Mobile Application Development Platforms
As previously mentioned, G2 users rated 140 app development platforms. Here are the top six that made it into the Leader’s Quadrant.
1. Visual Studio
Visual Studio is Microsoft’s integrated development environment (IDE). You can use it to build console and graphical user interface (GUI) applications, as well as Windows Forms or WPF applications, websites, web applications, and web services.
However, the Visual Studio App Center is specific to mobile app development. With the App Center, you can automate the lifecycle of iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS apps.
Visual Studio App Center gets you connected and building quickly. You can test your app on thousands of real devices, distribute it to beta testers and app stores, and get real-world usage, crash, and analytics data.
Visual Studio sits at the top of G2’s Leader quadrant with a 4.5-star rating. It also ranks second for ease of use, behind Firebase.
2. Xcode
Xcode is Apple’s IDE for developing apps for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. As such, it’s the only officially supported tool for creating and publishing apps to Apple’s app store.
Xcode gives you all the tools you need to create an iOS app, including a text editor, a compiler, and a build system. You can write, compile, and debug your app and submit it to the Apple app store when you’re finished.
The Apple IDE accelerates the development process for seasoned developers and is user-friendly for beginners. It also supports a wide variety of programming languages – C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++, Java, AppleScript, Python, Ruby, ResEdit, and Swift. It uses Cocoa, Carbon, as well as Java programming models.
Xcode also includes debugging tools, so you can quickly find and fix errors in your app. And you to organize and manage your image assets and code files with Xcode’s project management tools.
3. Android Studio
Third on G2’s list is also ranked the third easiest to use: Android Studio. Whereas Xcode is Apple’s IDE, Android Studio is Google’s development environment for Android application development.
Like Xcode, Android Studio also gives you code editing and developer tools. These mainly come from IntelliJ IDEA, which Android Studio is based on.
The platform supports Android app development using a Gradle-based build system, emulator, code templates, and GitHub integration. Every project in Android Studio has one or more modalities with source code and resource files. These modalities include Android app modules, Library modules, and Google App Engine modules.
You can push code and resource changes to a running application with the Instant Push feature. The code editor helps you write code and offers code completion, refraction, and analysis. In addition, apps created with Android Studio are compiled into the APK format for submission to the Google Play Store.
4. OutSystems
OutSystems is a high-performance low-code platform that lets you easily create apps with continuous innovation. Its visual development tools and AI-powered automation features help you build a modernized app that’s secure, resilient, cloud-ready, and scalable.
OutSystems gives you everything you need to rapidly build, deploy, manage, and change your mobile apps. It offers full-stack visual development features like drag-and-drop UI creation, business processes, logic, and data models you can use to build full-stack, cross-platform apps. Also, you can add your own code when you need to.
When you’re ready to deploy and update your apps, OutSystems TrueChange automatically checks dependencies and handles all deployment processes. It also automates refactoring by analyzing all models and quickly refactoring dependencies. If you modify a database table, all your queries update automatically.
5. ServiceNow App Engine
ServiceNow App Engine is another no-code/low-code development platform. It lets you easily create applications and digital workflows, even if you have little knowledge of app development. Professional developers can use ServiceNow App Engine to develop more complex apps.
You can easily create data objects with ServiceNow App Engine’s tools and components. It has simple, pre-made UI components and simple logic and interaction components.
ServiceNow App Engine includes all the supporting infrastructure and integrated security, scalability, availability, redundancy, and flexibility most businesses need. In addition, it’s actively supported, with each new release of the platform adding several new functionalities.
6. Firebase
Firebase is another Google mobile app development platform for developing iOS, Android, and web apps. It appears lowest in G2’s Leader quadrant but ranks first in the Easiest to Use category.
Firebase gives you all the essential tools and services for rapid mobile app development. Thus, it enables you to get to market and promote your app quickly and easily.
Firebase also has uniquely flexible pricing. It is the only pay-as-you-go mobile app development platform, so you only pay for the services you use. This makes Firebase attractive to cash-strapped startups and citizen developers.
Why Are These the Top Mobile App Development Platforms?
G2 bases its rankings on reviews submitted by users and “data aggregated from online sources and social networks.”
Using a proprietary algorithm, G2 calculates the customer satisfaction and market presence scores in real time.
G2 says the top four factors that positively impact user satisfaction for mobile app development platforms are:
- Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
- Ease of Admin
- Ease of Use
- Quality of Support
G2’s algorithm determined that these attributes are most likely to predict user satisfaction within the category.
Of course, even the best mobile app development platform can be difficult to use if you have no experience building software. If you need help creating a custom mobile app for your business, give Taazaa a buzz.
