I decided to ask ChatGPT what suggestions it had for building cross platform applications. Here’s it’s response, along with some commentary, specifically around the offering by the Uno Platform.
What's the best guidance for building cross platform applications?
From ChatGPT:
The best guidance for building cross-platform applications can be broken into strategic decisions, tooling choices, and development best practices. Here’s a comprehensive set of recommendations tailored for modern app development in 2025:
🧭 Strategic Decisions
1. Define “Cross-Platform” Clearly
Decide what platforms you actually need to support:
- Mobile (iOS, Android)
- Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Web (browsers)
- Embedded or smart devices?
Also clarify performance, UX, and platform-specific functionality requirements. “Write once, run anywhere” often needs compromises.
Uno Platform enables the creation of applications that targets all of the above targets. Whether you're building for mobile, desktop, web or devices, you can build your application from a single code base with the Uno Platform.
🛠 Tooling & Framework Choices
2. Choose the Right Technology Stack
Each stack has trade-offs in performance, tooling, community, and long-term support:
🔹 .NET MAUI / Uno Platform
- Best for .NET developers
- MAUI: Good for mobile/desktop; limited web support (via Blazor)
- Uno Platform: Stronger web and Windows support, good for enterprise/WinUI compatibility
🔹 Flutter
- Excellent native performance
- Great UI consistency across platforms
- Web support improving but still behind mobile
🔹 React Native + Expo
- Strong JavaScript ecosystem
- Good native module support
- Can reuse code with React for Web
🔹 Electron / Tauri
- Electron: Easy desktop apps with web tech, heavier footprint
- Tauri: Lightweight, Rust-backed alternative, gaining traction
🔹 Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
- Great for broad reach (especially web and mobile)
- Limited access to native APIs
Choose based on:
- Team skills (C#, Dart, JS, etc.)
- Performance and UX needs
- Platform coverage
Uno Platform provides developers with a variety of options when it comes to building their cross platform application. It supports developers working on Windows, MacOS or Linux, with extensions/plugins for Visual Studio, VS Code and Rider. The UI can be written in XAML or C#; there's support for both the traditional MVVM and MVUX, a more modern, MVU-based, approach to state management.
🧑💻 Development Best Practices
3. Architect for Scalability and Portability
- Use clean architecture with clear separation of UI, logic, and services
- Apply MVUX, MVVM, or Redux patterns based on framework
- Leverage dependency injection to swap platform-specific implementations
4. Maximize Code Sharing
- Share business logic and models across all platforms
- Use abstraction layers for platform-specific services (e.g., camera, storage)
- Use shared resources for styling/themes when possible
5. Build for Native UX
- Respect platform conventions (navigation, gestures, typography)
- Use adaptive layout techniques
- Provide platform-specific polish where it matters
In addition to the core platform, Uno Platform offers a number of libraries that support the creation of well architected applications. Uno.Extensions leverages the Microsoft Extensions to provide feature such as Dependency Injection, Configuration, Logging and Navigation. As mentioned earlier, there's support for both MVVM (Recommending the Community Toolkit MVVM for a code generation based approach) and MVUX for state management. As the entire platform is .NET based, it makes it easy to leverage other community packages and to reuse logic across both the client application and any server logic. Lastly, unlike some of the web-based offerings, Uno Platform creates a native application that ensures high performance across all target platforms.
🔍 Testing & Tooling
6. Automate Testing Across Platforms
- Use unit tests for core logic
- UI automation tools (e.g., Appium, Playwright, XCUITest)
- Use CI/CD pipelines with tools like GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Bitrise, etc.
7. Use Hot Reload / Live Preview
- Drastically speeds up development feedback loops
- Available in MAUI, Uno Platform, Flutter, React Native
The Uno Platform is, and will continue to be, free and open source. Recently Uno Platform Studio was released, which is a subscription based offering that's aimed at making development of Uno Platform applications even quicker and easier. The Community license includes improved Hot Reload support, whilst the Pro license includes Hot Design, a runtime designer experience that allows you to adjust the layout of your application whilst it's running. No more messing around with fake/mock data at design time; now you can see exactly how your application looks as you make changes.
🌍 Deployment & Maintenance
8. Plan for Platform-Specific Deployments
- App Stores (Apple, Google, Microsoft)
- Web hosting (for PWA/web builds)
- Manage signing, updates, versioning per platform
9. Monitor and Analyze
- Use tools like App Center, Firebase, Sentry, or custom telemetry
- Track usage and crash analytics per platform
10. Keep Dependencies Up-to-Date
- Use LTS (Long-Term Support) versions of frameworks
- Stay on top of breaking changes across OS versions
You can publish your Uno Platform application to the appropriate platform stores. There are existing .NET libraries for various monitoring and analytic tools, which can be used with an Uno Platform application. As Microsoft announces new versions of the .NET Framework, the Uno Platform is right there with near day-on-day releases to ensure you're always able to take advantage of the latest features and improvements.
🚀 Final Thought
The best cross-platform apps don’t just run everywhere — they feel native, perform well, and are maintainable by the team that builds them.
If you tell me what languages you prefer, which platforms you’re targeting, or what kind of app you’re building (consumer, enterprise, internal tool), I can tailor this even more.
Ok, that's a wrap - I thought ChatGPT did a relatively good job of providing guidance for cross platform developers. Hopefully the additional information specific to the Uno Platform provided in this post will help you in the selection of your cross platform technology as you embark on your next application.