App development has blossomed ever since the widespread usage of smartphones. They have evolved into one of the most significant aspects of our lives, from connecting with people globally to a source of knowledge or entertainment, amusement, etc. They strive to simplify human life and put everything at the user’s fingertips. App developers are constantly building the most fantastic apps in the market with useful features that draw consumers in.
What is a Native App?
A native application is a simple mobile application or a software program created for use on a particular platform or device. Relevant coding languages and development tools are used for the specific platform. For instance, Swift is the preferred language to build apps for the iOS platform, while for Android, Kotlin or Java are the preferred options. Various native app development tools and resources are universally available to support the creation of these apps.
Native apps are widely chosen for the below reasons:
- Native applications are quicker and more consistent as they are created specifically for their target platforms.
- They deliver the best performance as they are designed and tuned for a particular platform.
- They blend effortlessly into their target program, resulting in a uniform design and a user-friendly application.
- Natively developed software has complete access to hardware components like the camera, compass, SIM card, accelerometer, fingerprint scanner, etc.
In the mobile context, native apps understand the language of their specific operating system. The most famous native apps include games like Pokémon GO, social media apps like Twitter and navigational tools like Waze.
Developing a Native App
Developing a native application typically involves using one of three approaches. These are:
- Create separate apps for each platform
- Reuse code for each platform with a cross-platform app development framework.
- Develop a progressive web application (PWA)
Most developers create apps for mobile, using mobile development tools. The native applications on a specific system share standard functionality and appearance. You will realize that iOS and Android apps have many workflow and functionality differences. Users access these apps through specific app shops like App Store or Google Play.
Apple and Google offer their own software development kits (SDK’s), User interface elements and development tools to app developers. Native app development allows developers to have control over the user experience and to create apps that are simple to support.
What is Xamarin?
Xamarin is an incredible .Net program that helps build native apps for Android, IiOS and Windows. It has garnered a large user base over time mainly because it is one of the oldest frameworks. Xamarin app development is more versatile as compared to its competitors and is user-friendly. It offers a fundamental structure for gaining access to native platform functionality. It also provides add-ons for editors that help with coding, syntax highlighting, etc.
Xamarin also offers cross platform mobile app development, just like React Native. React native is the most desired open source mobile app development. It works on a JavaScript framework and is designed for building apps on multiple platforms. It allows developers to build native iOS or Android apps with a single codebase. You may use the existing React Native Android or iOS applications or can start from scratch and build a whole new app. As the same code is used in both platforms, introducing new features is simple.
Apps can be developed very quickly with the help of React Native as it provides a variety of preloaded features and components, thus speeding development. Most developers adore React Native as it requires less coding. But, for the purposes of this article, we’ll be looking at how to develop a native app using Xamarin.
Generating Android Native Apps with Xamarin
Xamarin users can access Android APIs (Application Programming Interface) without changing the data structure or language. You must ensure you meet all system requirements before designing an Android Native app. While generating an android native app, you need to follow a few simple steps to enable a user-friendly and creative app.
Steps to Create Android Native Apps
Below are some easy steps for creating an Android Native App:
- The first step in developing an Android app is ensuring that Xamarin is correctly configured and installed on your system.
- The second step will be checking and ensuring everything is ready to start the Android app creation process.
- Thirdly, you will have to use Android’s native user interface (UI) to create the Xamarin solution.
- In step four, you will create a blank app solution and name this as a portable app.
- After developing the solution, in step five, you must verify that there are no internal errors.
- You publish the data service codes on various platforms in step six.
- Once the Android app is created, step seven is to choose a background property. You can access the property windows by clicking on the solution explorer link. You can now change the app’s style and feel. The design of an app has a significant impact on whether it succeeds or fails. As a result, you should take extra care when building an app.
- When the new app solution is complete, the developer can view the file in the code editor to substitute the automatically produced UI code with a new one.
- As the last step, you should check your newly developed app on the visual studio Android Emulator. Let the device copy the app design and you can then click the “start” button. The app is perfect to use without errors or problems, when it runs on the device.
The wisest choice of using Xamarin in creating native apps is that since the codes are already developed and established, you can share between platforms easily. Now your app is ready to use and you can download it.
