How to do Rapid App Development Using Xamarin Plugins?

Mobile apps have become an important requirement for any business that wants to provide smart and effective solutions to its customers. There is a strong demand for mobile apps with support for both offline and online features. With the increasing use of smartphones which are based on different mobile platforms, developers are looking for a platform that provides the mobile app development roadmap.

Xamarin is one of the best cross-platform mobile app development solutions for creating native apps, Web apps, or combining both of them. And the new Xamarin 4 has come with major improvements that help developers to quickly create integrated and complex mobile apps. It allows them to reuse the same code up to 95% and perform functions similar to those of Java, Objective-C or Swift.

Xamarin 4 Features

• Xamarin Forms 4.0
• Xamarin Insights
• Xamarin Test Cloud 
• Xamarin.Mac

These features provide plenty of benefits including app crash management, tracking app usage metrics, creating platform-based unique user interfaces, and automating the app testing process. However, the best part of developing the Xamarin app is its plugins. Not only does it allow you to create fully native mobile apps on iOS and Android, but it also gives you 100% access to APIs of various mobile platforms. That's why the Xamarin plugins came into the picture.

Xamarin Plugins are in-built libraries that allow you to add cross-platform functionalities to your mobile apps. Meaning that everyone can create, consume, and use Xamarin plugins. Plugins support mobile platforms like iOS, 64-bit iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1 RT. It shows a complete summary of specific features of a device or shows cross-platform APIs with a single interface. Xamarin plugins have a bit size, fewer or no dependencies, and have a simple way to access a single feature or mobile device feature.

There is a number of plugins already developed which Xamarin offers. Let us go through the following list to show the rapid development of mobile apps using Xamarin Plugins.

Xamarin Plugins to Add Cool Functionality 

• Media Plugin 

Media is a term mostly used to match images and videos stored in a device. If you develop a mobile app that needs clicking of images, recording videos and displaying the image gallery, Xamarin Media Plugin will be needed. It allows you to add a camera, audio and video capabilities on iOS and Android from shared code.

• Messaging Plugin 

With Xamarin Messaging Plugin you can add phone calls, text messaging and email features to your mobile app. Whether you want to make a phone call, send an SMS or an email, the email plugin allows you to perform all these from shared code. It covers all popular mobile platforms like Android, iOS and Windows OS. But adding email attachments and sending HTML email is only possible on some mobile platforms.

• Geolocator Plugin 

Geolocation uses location services to provide users with a location they need at any time. It is mostly used in mobile apps to display city weather information, navigating to a destination or finding some nearby restaurants. It is also used in apps like Snapchat which includes geofilter features for increasing conversion rates. By adding the Xamarin Geolocator plugin to your mobile app projects, you can use GPS location services for all major mobile platforms. It also increases the volume of source code that can be shared between different platforms and includes a heading, speed and more.

Conclusion 

Apart from that, Xamarin provides many other plugins to add features like system calendar, app notification service, accelerometer, and much more. These days, the functionality of mobile apps is changing quickly and it is often tough to expose common services on different mobile platforms with the help of .NET. That is when Xamarin Plugins can help in solving the problem and optimizing code sharing. As a result, you can take advantage of the rapid mobile app development (RMAD) with Xamarin Plugins to deliver a high-performance native mobile app user experience.

If you have any queries related to web or mobile app development, feel free to contact us. We are a leading mobile application development company in India. Till today, we have completed 500+ projects of web and mobile app development in India, the USA and the rest of the world. We are acknowledged in the market for our affordable pricing policy, guaranteed SLAs and team of experienced mobile app developers.

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iOS App Development Services | Choose iOS platform for app Development

10 Top Reasons to Choose iOS Platform for App Development

There has always been a buzz about which platform to use to develop mobile apps and is very debatable. When it comes to developing native apps, is there still a dilemma between Android or iOS? On which to develop the application first and a lot more.

There has always been a rivalry between the development of the Android & iPhone Mobile App Development. As a result, there is always something new and fascinating about the market in terms of application development and end-users. The fierce competition between these two leaders who dominate the application market has even made it necessary for developers to judge and decide on the right option for career development.

Benefits of iOS Over Android 

• More Desirable App Quality 

Quantitatively, the number of applications developed using Android platforms is greater than those developed with iOS platforms, but when the quality of the application is taken into account, the tables of accountability are surely backward. The iOS platform offers unparalleled quality, especially in media niches, children's apps or games.

• No Mobile Carrier Data 

Android allows devices or smartphones to be overloaded with third-party applications with compromised quality with exorbitant subscription rates. Even many pre-installed applications do not achieve the promised quality, providing a misleading overall experience. Apple does not allow unwanted or useless applications. This is an advantage that iOS users enjoy on Android.

• Complemented User Experience 

Indeed, the UI or also called user interface on iOS or iPhone devices has not undergone major changes unless iOS 7 which unlike the Android mobile app platform varies a lot from one manufacturer to another because of skinning. Fragmentation is a big problem for Android, nearly 60% of all iPhone users use the latest version of iOS while this number is much lower when Android devices where less than 10% use the latest versions. Yet another problem with fragmentation is that a large number of carriers and handset manufacturers that are associated with Android do not keep their users updated with the newer versions.

While Apple does not allow Skinning and then allows users to upgrade to new versions, resulting in more consistent and improved user experience.

• Better Support for HTML 

HTML5 has the huge potential to replace Flash to meet the multimedia needs of users on the web. After all, it's already a big thing on the web, and better support will certainly boost the use of Apple devices.

• Dynamic App Icons 

The iOS icons are very attractive and enjoyable, they are aesthetically designed and some folders and applications display notifications even without a connection. While in this area android suffers due to limited capabilities.

• Listing of Apps is Tablet Friendly 

The Apple App Store offers long lists of apps that are categorically managed. It shows iPhone and iPad applications differently in sections. IPad apps are specifically designed to fit tablets because they have larger screens.

• More Improved Siri 

Apple has improvised its Siri with many surprising features that answer questions using Artificial Intelligence technology. The questions may vary from a variety of problems to which it provides very satisfactory answers. Siri has been made so sophisticated that very few answers surfaced.

• Better Power Management 

iOS is ahead in the race when it comes to energy management. One of the reasons being that ios is very disgusting to any third-party applications that run in the background. Another reason is that the iPhone 4S does not provide LTE support. The battery life is one of the most reliable measures to take into account when buying a smartphone. Apple surely gives its users a better feeling of satisfaction and many people vouch for the purchase of a cell phone.

• USB Audio Devices are Better Supported 

All the iOS or iPhone devices can record as well as play audio with their standard USB devices. This ability to play with USB audio devices is not available on Android phones. The USB ports on Android smartphones cannot accommodate audio devices. Potential buyers are putting more emphasis on smartphones that support good audio features and music on iOS devices sounds great.

• Ease of Compatibility 

Unlike Android, which is supported by the abundance of devices on the market, the variety of devices in the case of iOS are still compatible with each other. It is therefore quite easy for mobile application developers to focus more on development than on the compatibility of applications running on different devices. Apple or iPhone devices have the latest features and advanced processor speed with huge storage space, therefore all the iPhone users can use small, feature-packed mobile applications that can be created using the human interface guidelines used for mobile app development. iOS. iPhone and iPad are increasingly used by business classes and are making their way into our young and younger generation.

Wrapping Up 

The points above highlight some areas where iOS is doing very well. For businesses and businesses, adapting their products to the right market audience is a key factor in keeping their business at the forefront of users and enhancing the value of their brand. If you have any consulting requirements, you can contact mobile app development companies and resolve all your development related issues. 

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