Which Mobile App Development Frameworks Are Still Holding Up in 2025?

Ten years ago if you wanted to build a mobile app, you had two main options: (1) Native - iOS or Android, or (2) Hybrid frameworks like Ionic or Cordova, sort of web to mobile converters and yes there were Xamarin and Cordova, and now for building mobile apps, there are at least five different technologies to build mobile apps, and selecting one is a necessary step before you build a new mobile app, you are new to development or are experient at it.   

In recent times you don’t just pick a framework because it’s trending, but because (1) it fits the job, (2) saves time, and your (3) users won’t wait through a spinning wheel or a blank white screen, they’ll not wait for a second, uninstall you and move on. To resolve this frameworks are used. They quietly hold the weight of your app’s performance, look, feel, and future scalability.

The clients from startups in Sharjah to FinTech firms in Berlin need the “next big thing,” a.k.a best mobile app development frameworks that have matured, scaled, and stayed honest to what developers and users need.

So, what do we mean by ‘Framework’?

A few years back, a logistics startup founder wanted to have a UI kit with both iOS and Android to be launched in three months, without pressure, not really! But the presence and usage of frameworks saved the game.

Do All Mobile App Frameworks Work the Same Way?

There are different kinds of frameworks depending on what you want. Knowing the difference is critical. You don’t build a high-performance ride-hailing app in a hybrid wrapper unless you enjoy app store one-star reviews.

1. Native frameworks (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android)
   Built for one platform. Maximum performance, deep device integration, but higher dev costs.
   
   
2. Cross-platform frameworks (Flutter, React Native, Kotlin Multiplatform)
   Once written, used multiple times. Saves time, but trade-offs on performance or access to native APIs.
   
   
3. Hybrid frameworks (Ionic, Cordova)
   Web apps wrapped in native containers. Fast for simple apps, but not ideal for complex features.
   
   
4. Progressive Web Apps
   It is a web app that is accessed with a URL, via an app -like icon on a mobile devices. It cannot be accessed or downloaded and installed from the app store or play store.

What Are the Top Mobile App Development Frameworks People Are Using in 2025?

Now comes the part everyone asks about. Which frameworks are leading the pack this year? From Dubai startups to European banks, these are the frameworks that scale and deliver.

If you’re in the UAE tech scene, Flutter is everywhere. Real estate apps. Food delivery. Tourism.

Why? One codebase. Two platforms. Rich UI. Google-backed.

In one of our UAE projects last year, we built a citizen services app using Flutter. It looked sharp, performed well, and halved our go-live time compared to native.

Flutter’s advantages in 2025: (1) Hot reload for faster dev cycles, (2) Strong support for material and Cupertino design, (3) Great documentation, (4) Growing plugin ecosystem

If you want to build high-performance apps with a native look and feel across iOS and Android, Flutter just works.

What About React Native? Is It Still Worth It?

Meta still backs React Native. Back in 2022, people were wary of inconsistent performance. That does not exist anymore. It remains a top pick for startups with lean budgets but high ambitions. You get: (1) Reusable components, (2) Community support, (3) Easy integration with existing web apps.

As an example, a ride-sharing app we built for an Abu Dhabi based client last year used React Native. It worked great as it had (1) Live maps, (2) Push notifications, (3) In-app payments, all done just in time, within budget.

But what was the downside? Heavy animations still feel a bit off sometimes. But for most business apps, it’s more than enough.

Kotlin Multiplatform Is Picking Up Steam. Why should you care?

Kotlin Multiplatform lets you share logic between Android and iOS. Not the UI, just the core logic. Which is a smart idea if you want platform-specific UIs with shared brains. A fintech app we handled for a Gulf-based client chose this route. Why? They needed tight control on UI for both platforms but didn’t want to write business logic twice. Kotlin Multiplatform gives you: (1) Shared codebase for logic, (2) Native UI freedom, (3) Less risk compared to full cross-platform frameworks. It's still not for everyone, but it’s ideal for enterprise apps where design language matters and long-term scalability is key.

Is SwiftUI Dominating Native iOS?

Apple’s been steering developers toward SwiftUI since its debut in 2019, and by 2025, UIKit is legacy tech for most new projects. SwiftUI’s declarative syntax simplifies UI construction and cuts development time significantly. In a recent hospitality app we built for a Dubai-based chain, SwiftUI allowed us to deliver pixel-perfect UI with native performance. Features like real-time room automation, multilingual support, and smooth animations came together without fighting with the layout system or hacking legacy components.

The performance difference is real too. SwiftUI apps now launch faster and run smoother thanks to optimizations introduced in iOS 16 and refined through iOS 18. It’s tightly integrated with Apple’s core tech stack: Swift Concurrency, Combine, Core ML, and now visionOS. You get clean data flow with Combine, structured async code with Swift’s native concurrency, and direct access to on-device AI with Core ML all within SwiftUI’s layout model.

Market indicators back this shift. According to Sensor Tower and Statista reports, over 75% of new iOS apps submitted in 2024 used SwiftUI either partially or fully. Developer adoption rose by 32% year-over-year in the enterprise segment. Apple’s own ecosystem (1) Settings, (2) Watch apps, (3) macOS now runs on SwiftUI.

What About Jetpack Compose for Android?

The main reason to use Jetpack Compose? Time. Compose reduces boilerplate and rewrites. You build a UI with functions, not inflated layouts. The preview tools are reliable now. Animation APIs are smoother. Developers don’t waste cycles fixing nested views or wrestling with fragments.

In one logistics app we built across Southeast Asia and the UAE, Compose let us ship a multi-role UI with role-based layouts, gesture inputs, and offline syncing — all faster than any old XML approach. Updates were easier. Adding accessibility took less code. Maintaining dark mode was effortless.

What makes it future-ready is not just the syntax, but how well Compose integrates with the full Android ecosystem in 2025.

You can plug in:

• Kotlin Multiplatform to reuse business logic across platforms
  
  
• Coroutines and Flow for smooth async and reactive UI updates
  
  
• Hilt for dependency injection with clean architecture
  
  
• Room for offline caching without external wrappers
  
  
• ML Kit and TensorFlow Lite for edge AI features like OCR or translation
  
  
• Jetpack Glance for building widgets with the same Compose syntax
  
  
• Material 3 for design consistency across Android form factors
  
  

Compose also fits naturally with Android Studio’s latest tools. You get live previews, device mirroring, and layout inspection, all tuned for Compose-first apps. By now, over 60% of apps on the Play Store that launched in 2024 used Compose as the main UI layer, according to Android Developers Blog and internal Google metrics.

Why Are Mobile App Frameworks Getting Serious in the UAE Right Now?

Mobile has become a standard for the UAE market. Every serious product is mobile-first. Every new startup pitch includes an app. From government portals to logistics tracking, frameworks are defining delivery timelines, scalability, and end-user trust.

Flutter is everywhere. Ride-hailing, eCommerce, food delivery. It’s fast, flexible, and lets startups go live on iOS and Android with one codebase. Kotlin is holding up the back-end logic for many public sector platforms. It’s stable, backed by JetBrains, and pairs cleanly with Jetpack Compose. React Native stays the go-to for fintech and healthcare apps, especially those integrating with web platforms or internal admin tools.

UAE’s mobile app development services are growing because they have to. Not because it’s trendy. Smartphone penetration in the UAE crossed 98% by late 2024. Consumers expect mobile-first UX. Delays, bugs, and clunky layouts cost you more than just bad reviews—they kill adoption.

The UAE government is pushing hard on smart services. Now over 90% of federal and local services in the UAE are accessible through mobile. That puts pressure on development teams to move fast without breaking quality.

For mobile app development companies in the UAE, framework shapes cost, delivery, and future scaling. A successful mobile app in this region is built on frameworks that work well with (1) real-time APIs, (2) biometric authentication, (3) multi-language support (including Arabic), and (4) low-latency data handling.

If you're building apps in the UAE in 2025, the choice isn't about what’s trending. It's about what stacks together without falling apart when real users hit “Download.”

FAQs That Still Come Up

Q: Can Kotlin Multiplatform replace Flutter?
 A: Not exactly. KMP shares logic, not UI. Flutter does both. It’s about how much control you want over platform-specific design.

Q: Can one framework handle web, mobile, and desktop?
 A: Flutter comes close. Some use React Native Web. But the trade-offs are real. Multi-platform doesn’t always mean multi-perfection.

Case Studies (UAE)

Careem’s stack was Flutter, Firebase, and GraphQL. They built their new driver onboarding and shift-tracking modules in Flutter for both iOS and Android. It cut their release cycle time by 40%. Live updates were handled with Firebase Cloud Messaging. State was managed using Riverpod, and offline capabilities were built on top of Firebase's local caching. App UI followed Material 3. Integrations with Maps, VOIP, and biometric auth were done through native Swift/Kotlin modules called via platform channels. No delays.

HungerStation switched to Kotlin Multiplatform for their merchant and logistics tools. They wanted full control of the UI but one shared logic layer with Core order routing logic, network layers, and auth were written once in Kotlin, used across Android and iOS. UI on Android used Jetpack Compose with Hilt and Room. The iOS side was SwiftUI. Real-time updates used WebSockets. Payments integrated via native SDKs. Multiplatform testing with Ktor and SQLDelight saved them from writing duplicate unit tests which resulted in smaller development team, fewer bugs, faster regional rollouts without any performance loss.

Over to You

No two products are the same. An AI-powered trading app needs different tech than a travel booking app. A delivery startup doesn’t have the same backend stress as a healthcare platform handling patient data. Framework choice depends on the business case.

If you need deep control over animations, offline support, or edge processing, native may be necessary. If the goal is to reach both platforms fast, iterate quickly, and test market response, cross-platform is smarter. Some businesses even mix Flutter for the customer app, Swift or Kotlin for the admin or logistics panel.

Picking a mobile app development framework in Dubai, requires (1) aligning budget, (2) timeline, (3) UX needs, (4) performance goals, and (5) available talent.

Xamarin is no longer widely used in the Middle East or globally for serious mobile app projects. Microsoft officially shifted its focus to .NET Multi-platform App UI, and even that hasn’t seen wide traction for high-performance consumer apps.

Kotlin Multiplatform, Flutter and React Native are dominating the cross-platform space in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar as they are fast, cost-effective, and well-supported. Framework selection in UAE is shaped by: (1) Arabic language support, (2) Right-to-left layout handling, (3) Strong mobile UX, (4) Time-to-market pressures, (5) Need for scalable, performant apps.

In Accordance with UAE Market

The UAE boasts one of the highest smartphone adoption rates globally, with over 91% of the population using smartphones. This market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.6% between 2021 and 2026. A significant percentage of UAE businesses plan to invest in mobile app development to enhance customer experience and streamline operations.

Middle Eastern markets like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar choose mobile app development frameworks based on a combination of factors including cost, development time, performance needs, and the availability of skilled developers. They often opt for frameworks that offer cross-platform compatibility, like React Native or Flutter, to reach a wider audience (both iOS and Android users) with a single codebase, reducing development costs and time.

React Native and Flutter are widely used for cross-platform development, allowing businesses to build apps for both iOS and Android from a single codebase. Flutter, developed by Google, is gaining traction for its ability to deliver high-performance apps with smooth user interfaces. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly integrated into mobile apps, enabling features like predictive analytics, personalized recommendations, and improved app performance. This framework is gaining attention for its ability to share business logic while allowing for platform-specific UI, making it suitable for apps needing native-like performance. Businesses need to consider regional legislation and obtain necessary permits to ensure user trust and compliance. Localizing apps with Arabic support and culturally relevant design is crucial for engaging the UAE audience. The UAE government is actively promoting digital transformation, which is driving the adoption of mobile apps and frameworks.

If your business needs clarity on what tech stack will work in the UAE market, we’ll help you sort signal from noise. At Konstant Infosolutions, we map the right framework to your product’s real-world demands. Let’s talk when you're ready to build with purpose.