Developing a mobile app with Ionic and Angular Frameworks
Introduction
If you want to build a mobile app for both iOS and Android from a single codebase, several mature cross-platform (platform-independent) frameworks dominate the landscape in 2026.
These frameworks use different underlying strategies—some draw their own interface, some bridge to native platform buttons, some wrap a website in a native shell, and others only share behind-the-scenes logic.
| Framework | Creator | Primary Language | UI Rendering Strategy | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flutter | Dart | Custom Engine: Draws its own pixel-perfect widgets directly to the screen. | Highly customized, brand-heavy apps that need to look identical on iOS and Android. | |
| React Native | Meta | JavaScript / TypeScript | Bridged Native: Maps your code to the actual, native UI elements of the phone. | Rapid MVPs, social media, and content apps built by teams with React/web experience. |
| Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) | JetBrains | Kotlin | Native UI: Shares underlying logic, but uses native SwiftUI (iOS) and Jetpack Compose (Android). | Performance-critical apps that need uncompromising native feel and shared backend logic. |
| .NET MAUI | Microsoft | C# | Compiled Native: Maps single C# layout files to platform-specific native controls. | Enterprise, B2B, and internal tools for teams already heavily invested in the Microsoft/.NET ecosystem. |
| Ionic / Capacitor | Ionic Team | HTML / CSS / JS (React, Vue, Angular) | Web Wrapper: Runs your website inside a high-performance native container (WebView). | Simple data-entry apps, rapid prototypes, and teams looking to quickly convert a web app to mobile. |
As I am experienced in Java and Angular an do not see critical performance needs for a simple app, I go with Ionic / Capacitor.
Installation of Ionic / Capacitor
TODO