NativeScript is the open-source framework that builds native iOS and Android apps from JavaScript / TypeScript / Angular / Vue / Svelte. Unlike React Native, NativeScript provides direct access to native APIs from JavaScript without a bridge — at the cost of a steeper learning curve and a smaller ecosystem.
Adoption has stayed niche, particularly compared to React Native and Flutter. Courses cover the choice of UI framework (Angular and Vue are the most common), accessing native APIs, plugin authoring, and the build pipeline. For most teams in 2026, React Native or Flutter is the default cross-platform choice; NativeScript fits specific cases where direct native API access without bridges matters more than ecosystem breadth.