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Crosswalk

17
34
+ 1
6
NativeScript

538
1.1K
+ 1
516
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Crosswalk vs NativeScript: What are the differences?

Developers describe Crosswalk as "Replace Android’s default WebView with Crosswalk, a predictable web runtime for developing powerful Android and Cordova apps". Crosswalk is a web runtime for ambitious HTML5 applications. All the features of a modern browser, deep device integration and an API for adding native extensions. On the other hand, NativeScript is detailed as "Build truly native apps with JavaScript". NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Crosswalk and NativeScript can be categorized as "Cross-Platform Mobile Development" tools.

Some of the features offered by Crosswalk are:

  • Develop around device fragmentation
  • Provide a feature rich experience on all Android 4.x devices
  • Easily debug with Chrome DevTools

On the other hand, NativeScript provides the following key features:

  • 100% Access to Native Platform API
  • NativeScript is free of charge as an open source project
  • Code with JavaScript. Style with CSS

Crosswalk and NativeScript are both open source tools. It seems that NativeScript with 17.2K GitHub stars and 1.27K forks on GitHub has more adoption than Crosswalk with 2.17K GitHub stars and 569 GitHub forks.

Advice on Crosswalk and NativeScript

Hello,

We're just brainstorming for the moment and we have a few questions.

We have an idea for an app that we want to develop, here are the prerequisites:

1) cross-platform (iOS, Android, and website);

2) as easy to maintain as possible / well documented / widely used;

3) Visual Studio Code and Copilot compatible;

4) Text to speech;

5) Speech recognition;

6) Running in background (screen off with TTS and speech recognition);

7) could be using TypeScript;

8) Monetized through ad and in-App payment for premium version;

9) Display on lock screen (Android only I guess)

So what would you recommend?

I've been trying to review the options available, and I've considered:

  • NativeScript

  • React Native

  • Flutter

  • Any other?

Thanks in advance for your help, and I'm open to any comments.

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Replies (2)
Gabriel Alao
Lead Developer at The Web Gurus LLC · | 2 upvotes · 11.4K views
Recommends

Use Flutter and Firebase as a backend service, Firebase also helps to speed up the development and rollout of the app. The cloud-hosted NoSQL database provides a real-time database that helps you store and synchronize data between the clients. This indeed makes it easier for you to access the data using any of the devices.

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Recommends
at

Hi there, for cross-platform functionality in terms of 3D assets if any, echo3D can help you with that. It's 3D asset management on the cloud so you can write your references to the objects and update them in the echo3D web browser. echo3D is not yet on this platform but it will be soon!

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Decisions about Crosswalk and NativeScript
Gabor Galazzo

As a startup, we need the maximum flexibility and the ability to reach our customers in a more suitable way. So a hybrid application approach is the best because it allows you to develop a cross-platform application in a unique codebase. The choice behind Ionic is Angular, I think that angular is the best framework to develop a complex application that needs a lot of service interaction, its modularity forces you (the developer) to write the code in the correct way, so it can be maintainable and reusable.

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Pros of Crosswalk
Pros of NativeScript
  • 2
    Essential for Android hybrid apps
  • 1
    Improved performance
  • 1
    Hybrid desktop apps
  • 1
    New Modern Cordova
  • 1
    Pretty decent solution to Android WebView issues
  • 75
    Access to the entire native api
  • 47
    Support for native ios and android libraries
  • 46
    Support for javascript libraries
  • 46
    Angular 2.0 support
  • 44
    Native ux and performance
  • 37
    Typescript support
  • 35
    Backed up by google and telerik
  • 29
    Css support
  • 27
    Cross-platform declarative ui and code
  • 25
    Fully open source under apache 2.0 license
  • 11
    Vuejs support
  • 9
    60fps performance
  • 6
    Powerful data visualization with native UI
  • 5
    VS Code integration
  • 5
    Angular, typescript and javascript support
  • 5
    No need for Mac to build iOS apps in Telerik Platform
  • 4
    Extended CLI support
  • 4
    Cloud builds as part of Telerik PLatform
  • 4
    Truly Object-Oriented with Typescript
  • 4
    On-device debugging
  • 4
    Extensibility
  • 3
    Access to entire native api
  • 3
    Live reload
  • 3
    Easiest of all other frameworks
  • 3
    Easy to learn
  • 3
    Backed by google
  • 3
    0 day support for new OS updates
  • 3
    Publishing modules to NPM
  • 2
    Vue.js support out of the box
  • 2
    VueJS support
  • 2
    Svelte support
  • 2
    Powerfull mobile services as part of Telerik Platform
  • 2
    Native ui with angular
  • 2
    Vue support
  • 1
    Playground
  • 1
    Hot Reload
  • 1
    HMR via webpack
  • 1
    Very small app size
  • 1
    Write once, use anywhere
  • 1
    Easy to use, support for almost all npm packages
  • 1
    Rich ecosystem
  • 1
    Compile to Apple/Google Stores via CloudCompiler
  • 1
    Has CSS ;-)
  • 1
    It works with Angular
  • 1
    Code reuse with your website
  • 0
    Dart

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of Crosswalk
Cons of NativeScript
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 5
      Lack of promotion
    • 1
      Slower Performance compared to competitors

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    What is Crosswalk?

    Crosswalk is a web runtime for ambitious HTML5 applications. All the features of a modern browser, deep device integration and an API for adding native extensions

    What is NativeScript?

    NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use Crosswalk?
    What companies use NativeScript?
    See which teams inside your own company are using Crosswalk or NativeScript.
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    What tools integrate with Crosswalk?
    What tools integrate with NativeScript?

    Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

    What are some alternatives to Crosswalk and NativeScript?
    React Native
    React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.
    Flutter
    Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.
    Ionic
    Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.
    Xamarin
    Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
    Apache Cordova
    Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
    See all alternatives