With the rise of Android and mobile app development, it’s no surprise that plenty of different frameworks has popped up over the years to make Android app development easier and faster than ever before. So which frameworks are worth looking into?
We’ve taken some time to compile this list of our ten favorite Android app development frameworks based on the popularity, user base, design, and functionality of each framework.
Hopefully, you can use this list as a handy reference when deciding which framework to implement in your next Android app.
Top 10 Android App Development Frameworks For 2022 and Beyond
1) Flutter
Flutter is an open-source app development framework that uses Google’s Material Design language and works on Android, iOS, and Fuchsia platforms.
Even though Google developed Flutter, it doesn’t limit you to creating apps only for Android. If you’re building mobile apps with Flutter, there will be no difference in their design or style regardless of whether they run on Android or iOS.
If you want to develop Android apps using native code instead of Dart, you can use Kotlin as a programming language. Another cool feature about Flutter is its support for hot reloading.
This means that once your code changes are saved, your app will be automatically updated so that you can see how your changes look instantly without having to rebuild and reinstall them again.
2) React Native
React Native makes it easy to build native mobile apps using only JavaScript. React Native is based on Facebook’s popular open-source JavaScript library, React.
The framework includes a rich set of components that allow you to build and customize mobile apps with native features quickly. You can also reuse your existing web development skills, as many React-Native developers are web developers.
If you want to develop an app for both Android and iOS devices, React Native lets you share most of your code across platforms.
However, if you want to develop an app exclusively for Android or iOS devices, you should use Java or Swift/Objective C.
3) Xamarin
Xamarin, created by a Microsoft spinoff company called Xamarin Inc., is considered one of our top picks for Android app development frameworks thanks to its slick support of C# and. NET.
If you want to build an app using Xamarin, you’ll first need to familiarize yourself with these two programming languages.
You can use third-party tools or Xamarin Studio—which is available on both Windows and macOS operating systems—to program apps using native Android components.
It should be noted that Xamarin isn’t as widely used as other Android app development frameworks on our list; however, it has recently been acquired by Microsoft. This means that it will likely gain more traction in the coming years.
4) Cordova/PhoneGap
Cordova and PhoneGap are two similar, open-source app development frameworks that let you build apps in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
They’re also based on Apache Cordova, a project that uses web technologies like HTML5 instead of platform-specific code (like Objective C or Java) to create mobile apps.
This can help speed up development times and save costs. It also means you don’t have to learn as many programming languages.
Instead, you can focus on one language—JavaScript—and still be able to make an Android app with it. The downside is that your app won’t be as fast as native apps written in Java or Objective C.
However, if your company doesn’t have a big budget for Android development, Cordova/PhoneGap could be an affordable option for creating some initial prototypes.
5) Ionic Framework
Ionic is an HTML5-based open-source front-end SDK and AngularJS-powered, mobile-optimized UI components that make developing hybrid mobile apps in HTML5 easy.
Ionic is built on top of Apache Cordova, which means it can be used to develop Android, iOS, and Windows Phone apps. The primary objective of Ionic is to simplify web application development using web technologies such as CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript.
The Ionic Framework helps developers create cross-platform mobile apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The vision of Ionic is to allow developers to build beautiful cross-platform mobile apps without all of the complexity, says Max Lynch, founder, and CEO of Ionic.
6) NativeScript
NativeScript is a cross-platform framework created by Telerik (yes, of UI components fame) that allows developers to build native mobile apps using JavaScript and Angular 2.
This framework is designed to simplify app development through code sharing across Android, iOS, Windows, and other mobile platforms.
NativeScript doesn’t yet have any major features or performance issues—it’s just an up-and-coming framework worth checking out if you’re interested in building native Android or iOS apps.
7) Ionic Angular
Ionic is an HTML5 development framework that makes it easy to build cross-platform mobile apps with JavaScript. With Ionic, you’ll be able to create an app once and deploy it across multiple platforms—including Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.
With built-in support for AngularJS, Ionic can help you quickly build consistent web applications across all devices. If you already have a few projects under your belt with AngularJS, Ionic is a great framework.
Because Android SDK is open source and free of cost, any developer from anywhere can download it from Google Play Store or through Android SDK Manager.
There are many features like Holo theme, Android UI Design guidelines, Floating Action Button (FAB), Material design, Fragments, etc., which makes Android application development faster than other platforms (e.g., iOS).
8) Xamarin Forms
Xamarin Forms allows cross-platform app development using a shared C# codebase and more than 40 native users interface controls.
It’s arguably one of the best Android app development frameworks on Android, as it’s built on Xamarin, which allows developers to share up to 90% of their code across iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.
Google’s Android Studio is another great choice for the top Android application development company In India; it’s based on IntelliJ IDEA and is fully supported by Google.
As an open-source project developed by JetBrains, IntelliJ IDEA has been downloaded over 100 million times worldwide since its inception; its commercial version comes with additional features like static code analysis, database tools, and integration with build servers such as Jenkins.
9) ReactJS
There’s a reason React is one of, if not THE most, popular frameworks in app development: it combines high-performance and versatility into a solid, easy-to-use package. Founded by Facebook, React is now backed by developers at Uber and Netflix.
The open-source library is actively maintained and boasts over 100,000 stars on GitHub. Android developers can thank their lucky stars that Facebook has ported React Native to Android.
It allows them to use JavaScript and React components to build native Android apps. This means you get a highly interactive experience without Java or Kotlin programming. It also means you can reuse up to 80% of your code across both platforms!
10) Google’s Polymer Project
Google’s Polymer Project has been around since 2013, though it hasn’t yet reached its full potential. Essentially, Polymer is a set of developer tools and code libraries that help speed up Android app development.
Many developers are still using hybrid frameworks like PhoneGap and Cordova with native Java to build their apps. These frameworks can slow down performance; therefore, Google created Polymer as an alternative.
Read Also: The 10 Amazing IoT Benefits for Your Business in 2022
Conclusion
Android remains one of the most popular platforms worldwide so If you want to reach your audience on mobile, it makes sense to develop an Android app.
There are plenty of development frameworks out there; In this article, I’ve discussed ten that might be worth your time.
Also, you can hire dedicated android app developers in India to know more about the top android app development frameworks suitable for your project.
