10 Best Mobile App Development Tools in 2024

Last updated on March 14th, 2024 at 04:39 pm

Companies have rapidly realized that by diving deep into the customer’s preferences & needs, they can gain more loyalty among the user base and indirectly get more potential leads via word-of-mouth promotion. One such way to attune to your customer’s needs is by developing your mobile app so customers can remain in touch with you and vice versa. It has created a surge in the app development niche market.

Mobile apps offer people the ease and convenience of browsing content without commuting. Whether the app lists out generic tutorials, entertainment blogs, or extensions of a company’s website, it’s convenient to have a mobile app instead of just a web page. However, there are multiple ways to create a bespoke mobile app, whether it’s for Android or iOS.

Two ways to create high-quality mobile apps:

I. Native App Development Tools:

These tools can help you build specialized, high-quality mobile apps that people can easily operate. You get the option to choose its features, depending on the platform.

II. Cross-Platform App Development Tools:

You can create generic apps suitable for multiple platforms. It reduces the time and cost, but you will get limited options for customization. However, if you build a non-platform app using cross-platform tools, it would have a lot of bugs and malfunctions.

It might seem like it ultimately boils down to costs and human resources, but if you have a decent budget, it’s better to weigh in all the pros and cons of such tools before jumping to a conclusion. We have curated a list of the best apps, both native and cross-platform, to help you figure out what would work best for you.

Mobile App Development Tools

The demand for mobile apps has encouraged companies to develop tools and resources that can help you build the perfect mobile app in a matter of minutes and days.

Here is a list of advanced mobile app development tools to help you create a virtual image that best suits your brand and niche-

Five Native App Development Tools:

1. Android Studio

• Initial Plan: Free
• Demo: Not available
• Free trial: No

Android Studio is one of the most popular native app development tools thanks to its ease of operation. Developed by Google, it offers shortcuts for designing and coding, effectively cutting down on the time required to build an Android app.

Additionally, its designer layout smooths out the building process significantly. A minor but important feature of Android Studio is that it gives you the “drag & drop” option to create the layout of your app. There’s no free demo available, but it starts with a free plan, which doesn’t make much of a difference.

2. Xcode

• Initial plan: Free
• Demo: Not available
• Free Trial: No

Xcode has introduced new and advanced ways to create mobile apps for the Apple platforms. Its features, combined with the new programming language “Swift”, give you a live experience of the entire process. The “live rendering” feature in the UI Builder gives you the option to view your handwritten UI code in the designed layout, and it automatically changes as you make any changes to the user interface code. Apps created on Xcode are suitable for Mac, iPad, iPhones, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

3. AppCode:

• Initial plan: €8,90/monthly
• Demo: Not available
• Free trial: 30 Days

AppCode supports objective-C, C/C++, Swift, and web technologies like CSS, HTML, JavaScript, XML, and many more. It offers a diverse palette of integrations such as in-built Reveal Support and CocoaPods Manager. Some of its most useful features are tracking & fixing bugs, automating regular mundane tasks, and intelligence support from IDE. All these features help you create the most flawless app in a short amount of time.

4. IntelliJ IDEA:

• Initial plan: Free
• Demo: Not available
• Free trial: 90 Days

IntelliJ IDEA prioritizes the overall productivity and efficiency of native app developers. It helps with static code analysis, code completion, refactoring, and self-management of smaller tasks. It’s a multiplatform IDE that helps create apps for multiple platforms like Android or iOS. The tool supports multiple programming languages like Kotlin, Scala, and Java.

5. Xamarin:

• Initial Plan: $25/month
• Demo: Not available
• Free Trial: 30 Days

Xamarin, being a product of Microsoft, is a safe but advanced tool for native app development with numerous unique features. It has a platform-based IntelliSensor to make coding easier for the developers, with an app indexing and deep linking feature. With this, you can also get push notifications, a build-test-employ-repeat option for C++, and create advanced shared libraries.

Five Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools:

6. Appcelerator:

• Initial plan: Free( $199/month also available)
• Demo: Not available
• Free Trial: 60 Days

Appcelerator implements optimized APIs to market via cross-platform development, simplifying the testing procedure and access. It uses a single JavaScript code as a base to build cloud-connected apps. However, the best feature is its real-time analytics, which helps streamline user engagement and analyze the results.

7. Ionic:

• Initial Plan: Free
• Demo: No
• Free Trial: No

Ionic is a widely used mobile development tool because of its easy-to-learn and easy-to-create framework. Its advanced features enable quick prototyping along with a decent CLI. Based on standard web technology, Ionic allows developers to create hybrid, cross-platform, and progressive mobile apps efficiently. With its free framework and open-source UI toolkit intended specifically for mobiles, developers can create efficient cross-platform apps for Apple’s iOS and Android by using a single code base.

8. Adobe PhoneGap:

• Initial Plan: Free
• Demo: No
• Free Trial: Yes

The Adobe PhoneGap allows you to use multiple sets of technologies for a single code base. It’s an open-source, cross-platform app development tool that offers HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Web APIs for mobile app development. It lets the developers create files using multiple codes like HTML or JavaScript. Apps developed on Adobe PhoneGap are generally lightweight and reusable for users. It uses Cordova Technology, which means it can also create hybrid apps.

9. React Native:

• Initial plan: Open-source
• Demo: Not available
• Free trial: No

Developed by a Facebook Community, React Native is based on JavaScript technology that can help you create cross-platform mobile apps with a single code base. It allows the developers to create native-like quality, efficient apps. The vision is to create a cross-platform mobile app with features and quality that match a native mobile app. As a result, the user is provided with a native-like experience to boost brand image.

10. Ninox:

• Initial Plan: Free ($8.33/month also available)
• Demo: Available
• Free Trial: Available

This is a cloud-based for creating custom-made applications for browsers, iPhones, and iPads. It has a plethora of built-in templates, scripts, customizable actions, and a drag-and-drop feature to combine multiple databases.

Besides these pre-made options, you can also create custom forms, trigger responses, fields, and calculations that can be executed using the “visual formula editor”. Users can invite collaborators and control the access/permission granted to each individual. Different devices can be easily synced in real-time so multiple users can work on them simultaneously.

Conclusion

The mobile app development niche is flooded with tools to help you create cross-platform apps, progressive, and native apps. Every platform will vary in features, price, and quality, so it boils down to your requirements and budget. However, most of the listed platforms have open sources and free plans, so you won’t need to commit in a rush. We hope this helps you understand the niche better and decide based on your requirements.