Cross-Platform
ELI5 - The Vibe Check
Cross-platform means writing your app once and having it actually run on iOS, Android, and maybe even desktop and web, instead of building the same feature three separate times in three separate languages by three separate teams. It's not free, you often still write a bit of native code for the tricky platform-specific bits, but it beats the alternative of tripling your engineering headcount.
Real Talk
Cross-platform describes software written once, typically in a single codebase and language, and deployed across multiple operating systems or device platforms, as opposed to native development, which requires separate platform-specific codebases for each target. Frameworks like React Native, Flutter, and Kotlin Multiplatform enable cross-platform mobile development with varying tradeoffs between shared code, native performance, and access to platform-specific APIs.
When You'll Hear This
"We went cross-platform with React Native instead of maintaining two separate native apps." / "Cross-platform saved us months, but we still had to drop into native code for the camera integration."
Related Terms
Android
Android is Google's mobile operating system, the open, sprawling alternative to Apple's tightly controlled iOS, where basically anyone can make a phone tha...
Flutter
Flutter is Google's way of saying 'write once, run everywhere' and actually meaning it.
iOS
iOS is the operating system running on every iPhone and iPad, the walled garden where Apple controls the hardware, the software, and the app store all at o...
Kotlin Multiplatform
Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) lets you write your data models, API calls, and business logic once in Kotlin, then use them in your Android app and your iOS ap...
React Native
React Native lets you build iPhone and Android apps using React and JavaScript. It's like React put on a disguise and snuck into the App Store.