Cross-platform apps are trending these days owing to the advantages they offer over native apps. One of the most widely used tools for developing cross-platform apps is the Xamarin framework. It’s a Microsoft-owned tool that empowers developers to build apps for both iOS and Android using a single codebase and follow and set cross-platform app development trends. The final quality and performance of the app depend on how smartly the tools offered by Xamarin are used by the developers. In 2022, Xamarin is all set to rule the cross-development market and dictate the industry trends with its convenient features.
Business Benefits of cross-platform app development
Maximum Exposure
Leveraging a cross-platform approach ensures the mobile app can be deployed over different platforms. Hence, the time taken for the development of a single app ensures targeting of both target audiences – iOS and Android platforms. Hence, these apps ensure maximum exposure in half the time!
Quicker and Easier Maintenance & Deployment
With one developed app for multiple platforms, deployment and maintenance of the code becomes a breeze. Updates can be ushered in for multiple platforms at once, saving time and money in the interim. Bugs could be fixed once too!
Swift Development Process
The swift development process ensures that cross-platform apps are in trend. Single source code reduces development time and efforts by 50 -70%. Business apps, games, utilities can be developed swiftly.
Reusable Code
The code can be used multiple times. There is no need for developers to write codes from scratch to generate new code for every platform, thus eliminating repetition and extra efforts.
Easy Integration with Cloud
Cross-platform mobile apps are seamlessly compatible with various plugins that align with cloud settings. The code can coordinate with plugins and extensions to easily help the app scale and add new functions.
Faster Time-to-Market
Since the code is written once, it could easily be customized to align with new requirements. Building cross-platform apps, allow app developers to lower Time-to-Market (TTM) and ensure quick deployment on the Play Store or the App Store. They can make minor changes easily and update apps faster than their competitors.
Uniform Design
Designers can utilize interface (UI) elements to facilitate outstanding UX on their apps. Cross-platform mobile development allows developers and designers to work in sync to develop an outstanding design compatible with app functionality for multiple platforms.
Xamarin is so popular with businesses today because mobile apps are a highly effective way for all large and small organizations to reach out to their target audience and engage them. Due to the unmatched popularity of mobile apps, commercial houses are cashing in on them with the ultimate goal of achieving higher profits. Since Xamarin permits the building of apps for Android and iOS rapidly and cost-effectively while delivering a native app-like experience, it’s one of the most sought-after smartphone app development tools today.
Here we analyze how three flourishing sectors – e-commerce, gaming, and fashion, are relying heavily on Xamarin to capitalize on the cross-platform app development trends 2022 to cater to customers in a better way.
E-commerce
The pace at which e-commerce is growing can be assessed from the fact that in 2019, its worldwide revenue stood at 3.53 trillion US dollars and by the year 2022, it’s projected to grow to 6.54 trillion USD. And in e-commerce, smartphones dominate desktops and apps reign over websites.
In 2022, Xamarin trends will be leveraged to the hilt by eCommerce companies to enhance sales and create new horizons. Here are the reasons:
Rapid App Development:
The rapid pace at which developers build fully functioning mobile apps using Xamarin will be the highlight of cross-platform app development this year. The online market is unbelievably competitive and agility is vital for businesses to keep ahead of the competition. As per 2022 mobile app trends, quick development and release of flawless apps determine the success in attracting target customers and improving sales.
E-commerce apps are time-sensitive and this is one of the areas where Xamarin’s features are unparalleled.
- The fast development of apps on Xamarin lets businesses keep up with marketing trends and respond quickly to tackle industry challenges. This leads to a higher market share.
- By using Xamarin.Forms, developers can reuse up to 100 percent of their codes across platforms, a trending feature in cross-platform app development 2022. This expedites the app development process.
Cost-effectiveness:
Another disruptive cross-platform app development trend is the reduction in the app development time and the use of Xamarin resources to lower the development costs. Since the e-commerce segment is highly sensitive to product pricing, the money saved on development can directly be used to offer higher discounts to customers.
Being cost-effective is critical to customer acquisition and hence Xamarin is favored by businesses. And the reasons are:
- The ability to use up to 95% of the source code reduces costs. This is a trending feature of cross-platform apps that helps e-commerce businesses devise competitive pricing strategies.
- The maintenance costs of these apps are also relatively low. This ensures lower operating costs.
Native Experience:
Today, Xamarin offers resources needed to build apps that match the native app user interface across all operating systems. A cross-platform app development trend to watch out for in the coming days is the demand for an experience that’s close to that of native apps. This adds to user delight and enhances the experience of people using the apps on any Android or iOS device.
The native experience of the apps built on Xamarin boosts e-commerce apps since:
- Developers can access OS-specific software features and device-specific hardware features. This guarantees a higher Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score.
- As native experience is a cross-platform app trend today, developers get a native user interface support for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and otherplatforms with Xamarin. This helps in better customer engagement.
Fewer Bugs:
One of the cross-platform app development trends is that the apps created on Xamarin have no or very few bugs. This helps e-commerce organizations deliver smooth apps for a seamless customer experience.
To sum up the advantage of using Xamarin are:
- Minimal bugs since the application code need to be validated just once for multiple platforms. This helps in customer acquisition and retention.
- The use of Xamarin Test Cloud for object-based UI testing helps maintain app quality. As a result, it helps e-commerce companies boost conversion and cut down shopping cart abandonment rates.
The Gaming Industry
cross-platform apps for gaming industry 2022
Gaming apps have always been a revenue booster for the app marketing economy and accounted for 35% of the industry’s non-organic installs and about 10% of the user’s time spent in apps. Xamarin game development efforts produce cross-platform apps allowing the creation of near-perfect gaming apps to meet the dynamics of the industry.
In 2022, the Xamarin framework, with its winning features, will help the gaming industry catch up with the latest mobile gaming app trends.
Wider Reach:
Since the mobile gaming community uses all kinds of platforms, majorly Android and iOS, cross-platform app trends give developers the opportunity of tapping into a broader market. The wider reach is also associated with a reduction in overheads and expenses, a twofold benefit for the business.
A crucial KPI to measure the success of any gaming app is the number of installs. Here, Xamarin can be of great help because:
- The ‘create once, use everywhere’ approach of the apps along with the UI tools to match the experience of native apps is a winning combo. It invariably leads to higher installations and registrations.
- Due to their platform-agnostic nature, these apps are easily shareable and accessible on most devices. Consequently, it increases the number of social shares of the app.
Unified Experience:
A cross-platform app development trend that will rule large this year is gamers wanting the same experience playing their favorite games regardless of the device or the operating system. Catering to another favorite cross-platform app development trend, Xamarin helps developers deliver that much-desired unified gaming experience with its native app-like features with reusable codes.
Game developers can greatly increase the chance of getting their apps downloaded and tried by potential gamers with a Xamarin-based gaming app. Reason being:
- Assistance in developing logic for controlling the flow of the game and maintaining the quality of graphics constant across all platforms. The benefit is that this adds to gamers’ delight and leads to better monetization.
- The wide range of functionalities offered by Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS would help developers build identical versions of the game for Android and iOS devices. This is particularly helpful in cloud-based multiplayer games.
Easy Updates:
Mobile gaming apps developed using Xamarin offer a simplified way of updating and maintaining the gaming apps. This app development trend also lets users enjoy the latest features of the games and protect their devices from all kinds of cyber threats.
Apps built on Xamarin are easy to update and facilitate easy sharing of security patches, bug fixes, and other exciting features. This is because
- The option of integrating SDK and API allows for automatic updating to the apps’ latest versions. This greatly amplifies user experience and engagement.
- Using Xamarin, developers can limit the app’s UI textures and layers and combine all graphic elements wherever possible. It drastically reduces the app update time.
Futuristic Cloud-hosted Games
In 2022 non-cloud players will take yet another step closer to get cloud-hosted. Today, the most popular mobile games are cloud-based and offer the multi-player option. As the cloud is an advanced concept, besides offering other benefits, it enables users to access the game from any device or location. The multiple access of the games facilitates the generation of higher revenue and gamer gratification.
To keep pace with the changing cross-platform app development trends, the Xamarin framework makes it easy for developers to build first-rate cloud-based mobile games with better graphics, security, and innovative ideas.
- A trending cross-platform app development feature is the Xamarin Test Cloud that facilitates easy testing of apps to enable interaction with multiple mobile devices simultaneously. This reduces time and cost efforts in testing the apps, leading to a quicker release.
- By practicing cross-platform cloud game development with Xamarin, developers eliminate the hardware limitations that they otherwise face. Since the games are cloud-hosted, they can be played even on lesser-powered devices.
The Fashion Industry 
Fashion is the one thing that never gets outdated, literally. To keep up with the changing times and customer demands, the industry is harnessing all the innovation thrown up by modern technology, including savvy mobile apps. All stakeholders of the industry including fashion designers, customers, and retailers are cashing in on the dynamic cross-platform app trends for benefits such as higher sales, business insights, understanding customer behavior, and more. The features and functionalities of apps on the Xamarin platform perfectly complement the requirements and dynamics of the fashion arena.
By 2022, one can expect Fashion and eCommerce app development will rule the roost and cross-platform apps created using the Xamarin tool will take the fashion world to the next level of success.
Developer-friendly Analytics:
Mobile apps can be created by integrating Xamarin’s custom analytics features to improve app performance and monitor customer behavior. Tracking user behavior is a popular mobile app trend and is important for fashion businesses since they can adjust their offerings accordingly, introduce promotional campaigns, and cater to the demands of the fashion–enthusiastic crowd.
Xamarin platform helps in creating visually appealing and high-performance apps as per the taste of the audience. This feature of Xamarin will be widely used in 2022 because:
- Fashion apps built on Xamarin allow precise analysis of the data generated by the use of the apps by consumers. Accurate prediction of trends and optimum inventory management.
- Analytics can also be used to monitor the production workflow, eliminate process pain points, and gain visibility into retailer activities. Better control of the business and higher chances of sales.
High-performance Apps:
For user convenience and brand building, it’s important to have a flawless user interface that offers a seamless shopping experience. For this, thorough testing of the apps at every stage of development and in every possible environment is of prime importance.
This year there would be increased focus on producing high-performance apps. Using C# and .NET for development, Xamarin app developers can use the native and iOS libraries to ensure smooth user experience.
- Using Microsoft Visual Studio to test the apps on Android and iOS devices, developers can identify bugs and fix them accordingly. This eliminates performance glitches.
- To meet the universal cross-platform app development trend of offering an end-to-end shopping experience, the app should have digital payment facilities. Xamarin allows integration and setup of payment gateways that are fully functional and secure. The results are Higher CLV and cart conversion rates.
Highly Engaging Apps:
Keeping the customer updated about discounts and promotional offers is important to keep the cash register ringing. The customer needs real-time alerts and notifications on their phone to take the necessary action during any offer or sale season. Xamarin app developers can set up pop-ups to be displayed on the device’s home screen. There can also be a customized messaging platform integrated with the app to facilitate easy communication between the business and the users.
Besides other capabilities, to meet the current cross-platform app development trends, Xamarin extends the features of in-app messaging, comments, likes, and photo sharing that spread the word about their offerings faster than anything else.
- An evergreen trend of cross-platform fashion apps built on Xamarin is their integration with social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. This will be widely practiced enhancing app exposure and visibility and increased downloads and usage.
- A 2022 rending feature of cross-platform app development is that brands would want to leverage savvy features like image recognition to enable users to buy products that they take a snap of. Intelligent shopping assistance that increases purchase frequency and customer loyalty.
Smooth Navigation:
Having smooth navigation through different app pages is an absolute necessity for fine user experience. Developers can use the built-in Xamarin.Forms navigation model using which they can combine a stack of pages in the Last-in-First-out (LIFO) pattern.
In 2022 here is how cross-platform app development will allow a fluid layout for fashion and lifestyle apps.
- Ease of creation of product categories and filters to help customers in choosing their desired products. This shortens the buyer’s purchase process and saves time.
- Developers get access to tools for keeping the loading speed at a minimum to avoid customer frustration. Businesses enjoy a low churn rate and high Repeat Purchase Rate.
In this age of the internet, organizations across industries are deploying the best technologies to please their customers by offering great customer service, streamlining workflow processes, and optimizing their resource management. The best thing about smartphone apps is that they empower businesses to connect directly with the target audience, make an impact on their lives, and establish a brand value. Leveraging the fast-changing cross-platform app development trends is a wise business choice since developers can save on time and costs while delivering a quality user experience. And among the platforms that facilitate the smart harnessing of cross-platform app trends, Xamarin tops the list by a massive margin and hence will be widely leveraged by businesses across industries in 2022’s.
Why Our Views Matter
This article is brought to you by FlatworldEDGE, a specialized Xamarin app development company, with over 10 years of experience in mobile app development. Our comprehensive understanding of Xamarin mobile app development comes from our experience in meeting diverse industry requirements which also gives us an inside out understanding of how the industry is evolving. It is through this understanding that we tell you more about how the Xamarin app industry is likely to shape up this year.
