Summary: Building cross-platform applications with Xamarin has various advantages such as flexibility, low maintenance, code sharing ability etc. The Microsoft powered platform: Xamarin allows you to easily develop mobile apps that run on Windows, iOS and Android.
In today’s tech world, businesses from start-ups to Fortune 500, all look for faster development of mobile apps that deliver high levels of convenience and user-friendliness.
To get such high performance from smartphone apps, native app development is the preferred solution. But in recent years, cross platform app development platforms have emerged as a great alternative.
The open-source platform Xamarin is one of those alternatives which is used to build robust mobile applications for Android, Apple iOS and Windows.
According to Wikipedia, over 1.4 million developers opt for Xamarin’s products in 120 countries worldwide. Xamarin meets the expectations to build cross-platform mobile applications and highly supports the .NET development ecosystem to test and debug products.
If you want to develop a great mobile app through Xamarin platform then you need to delve deeper and understand the essential benefits of using Xamarin for mobile development.
1. Faster Development Process
If you are looking for an advanced and powerful app that meets your business needs, then Xamarin is the best pick among all. It is a sophisticated way of sharing code across multiple mobile platforms and takes less time to develop the app. The universal tools allow developers to write single application logic through C# and .NET for all three platforms at once.
Xamarin forms a second approach used for advanced versions that allow for rapid prototyping or producing apps with less platform-specific functionality.
2. Code Sharing across multiple platforms
Native app developers need to grasp more than one language like Java, Objective C, Swift, etc. Simultaneously, code in native apps is optimized for a particular platform that cannot be run on others. Whereas, Xamarin is a cross-platform software that creates app database interactions, web service scale, backend integrations, input validations and much more. About 75% of the code can be used and shared across various platforms.
3. Flexibility
Xamarin is an open-source technology that offers higher flexibility to choose components as per your requirement. Its useful resources like third-party web services, UI controls, cross-platform libraries help you achieve close-to-native performance.
4. Simplified maintenance
As it is a cross-platform application, Xamarin supports maintenance and updates easier. A developer needs to deploy the change or update the source file, and it would be applied to iOS and Android as well. The entire process saves time and money while keeping apps updated always.
5. No hardware compatibility issue
Xamarin is friendly and eliminates worry about any hardware compatibility issue. It offers a range of APIs and Plug-ins, also supporting cross-platform development. Xamarin is linked with native libraries and supports native-level functionality and better customization.
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6. Cost-Effective
Since the framework uses a single technological stack and reusable code, developers’ time and efforts are significantly reduced while saving time to release the software faster for clients. The entire process requires a single team to work as it is streamlined and eliminates additional expenses as are necessary for multiple groups to start building or scaling up.
7. Integrated testing
The platform offers comprehensive solutions to monitor and test app performance. One of the biggest challenges developers face with native apps is testing, updating, and maintaining. With Xamarin, updating and testing are simplified. UI- Xamarin Test Cloud and Xamarin Test Recorder allows you to run automated tests on real devices in the cloud and pop up performance issues, if any, before release. As a result, developers get the benefit of flawless source code.
The Azure cloud offers a robust app development environment that promotes developers to create rich mobile apps with higher scalability, on-demand resources, cost-effectiveness, and high availability.
8. Technical support
The platform offers stability, scalability, continuous technical backing, and issue resolution by Microsoft. The vibrant community online helps you quickly find answers and solutions that are unclear. The Xamarin component store allows developers to choose paid free and paid components from the store, which is built into the Xamarin visual studio extension.
9. Forms make it easier
Developers use Xamarin forms over native when they design and share the same structure across various platforms. While using native, developers need to grasp multiple native UI frameworks that increase the development cycle.
10. RMAD and. Net Embedding
Rapid mobile app development is a new concept that incorporates tools and reduces the time required to develop an app. RMAD is a code-free programming tool that fosters application development for mobile applications. Forms libraries for User Interface development and 100 percent code reusability eventually make the development process faster and easier. Xamarin meets the demand of business requirements while delivering a native app look and feel with consistent performance and higher user experience.
Winding Up
Coder’s pleasure Xamarin has a great future in the mobile app development world, considering the numerous benefits it offers. Being Microsoft-powered and open-source makes it a perfect choice to build highly safe and cost-effective smartphone apps.
What do you think? Is Xamarin a game-changer?
If you have some thoughts on your mind, please share them in the comments section. Let us all hear your expert opinion about Xamarin.
