Well the answer to that question is a big NO !!
Being a mobile app consultant at Truiton I can understand your pain of getting the design team to redesign an app’s interface again for the other platform. But trust me that’s the right thing to do. What I believe is if an app is being developed for both platforms, i.e. iPhone and android, then it should have the same user experience but NOT the same UI. As when user bought his phone he decided to go with the interface of that platform, as he liked it more than its counterpart, then who you to choose for him that this platform or that platform’s UI is better !
In software industry we are advised to maintain consistency in every aspect of software development, but it doesn’t mean we develop apps for different platforms with same UI. In a post somewhere I read a dude saying something like ” consider a case where I have an iPhone and show an app to a friend of mine and he downloads it it on his Android phone but its not as good as iPhone one, then what” – WELL DUDE, either code your android app in a better way or get an IPHONE !!
If you are still unclear about things consider a case where you have an android device, and in an app you have to delete a row from a list, now if we build this functionality as in iPhone i.e. delete button appears after you swipe left, being an android user even remotely you wont be able to think of this functionality as this is not an android gesture, in Android delete option or basically an item specific options appear only when you long press on that item. Although the new Gmail app shows something like that but its not what iOS has, it still has some creativity to it (Android Style). Hope this clears my point. To sum up my suggestion would be, an app on different platforms should have same user experience but different user interface. If you agree share this with your friends and follow (like) our page
Born in New Delhi, India. A software engineer by profession, an android enthusiast and an evangelist. My motive here is to create a group of skilled developers, who can develop something new and good. Reason being programming is my passion, and also it feels good to make a device do something you want. In a very short span of time professionally I have worked with many tech firms. As of now too, I am employed as a senior engineer in a leading tech company. In total I may have worked on more than 20 projects professionally, and whenever I get spare time I share my thoughts here at Truiton.
Good one. Had the same thoughts before even reading it.