Ionic Salaries and Rates in 2024

Ionic

What is Ionic App Development?

Ionic is an open-source UI software development kit that enables the development of cross-platform applications. Using standardised web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, anyone familiar with web development could develop an app, and add it to an app store.

The first versions of Ionic were tightly coupled to Angular, a frontend framework for building dynamic web pages and PWAs. The newest versions use web components that pair with other popular JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, or Vue. A developer can choose to avoid a framework altogether and build purely in JavaScript. Ionic is also backend agnostic, connecting with AWS, Azure, and Firebase.

Introduced in 2013, Ionic has grown to be the most widely used cross-platform mobile development technology stack. More than five million apps have been built using Ionic since it came into existence. Ionic modules are available through npm. It is part of a larger JavaScript ecosystem and requires Node.js to be installed.

Ionic Features

With Ionic, frontend developers can build WebView apps as well as browser apps. WebView is a component of Android apps that renders web pages in a native app container.

Ionic also leverages Apache Cordova plugins. Cordova is a tool for developing mobile apps using web technology. It uses its own APIs in place of platform-specific ones.

Cordova provides these APIs as plugins – that is, code that provides access to a native function, such as a built-in camera, gyroscope or sensors. Among other things, Apache Cordova provides Ionic apps with access to native APIs; it bridges WebView and the device’s operating system.

Ionic also has a companion library of Cordova-based plugins called Ionic Native that provide access to standard APIs and help with integration. Ionic is available in a free set (called Community Edition) and in an extended set curated by Ionic’s team (called Enterprise Edition).

Why Choose Ionic for Cross-Platform App Development?

One should notice that there are many frameworks available, and many companies use Ionic framework for their mobile apps. Here we will discuss several reasons why Ionic provides a good mobile experience for users of its app, and also what makes Ionic app development friendly for developers.

Rapid Development

Reduce time to market. With Ionic development services, you can have a team of Ionic developers to create a working MVP app/prototype within a short span of time. If the MVP is working for you, your development team can complete your app/website in Ionic or any other framework.

Cost Savings

With Ionic framework, you can develop cross-platform mobile apps with a single team of developers; you can save money on buying two different mobile platforms and hiring separate teams of developers for iOS and Android.

Cross-platform Compatibility

The developer of Ionic apps can release them for iOS, Android, and the web, all from the same framework, written in a single codebase (HTML, CSS, Javascript) and deployed to multiple platforms. That’s right, Ionic developers can reuse most of their code across platforms.

Native-like User Interface

Thanks to its library of UI components and ‘seed’ applications with code templates, Ionic apps look and feel like native apps. To the experienced developer, Ionic frameworks can be transformed into native functions.

Excellent Performance

You don’t need to ask an app developer to make your Ionic app fast. Hardware acceleration in Ionic ensures that the app runs smoothly, and a good developer knows how to leverage that power.

Tools with Native Compatibility

Ionic’s team also ships a library of reusable components and plugins, including front-end widgets, UI components, stock app icons, and more. Plugins allow you to connect to existing native APIs, such as Bluetooth, GPS, or a built-in camera, using what Ionic calls ‘Cordova plugins’ – without having to build bespoke APIs that access each underlying smartphone hardware component. The potential catch is that if there’s no plugin for something you want, you’ll have to build it.

Ionic also integrates with various other technologies, such as analytical tools, payment systems, security, testing tools, and more. Some plugins are offered as part of Ionic Enterprise, which is a paid subscription.