App developer 5app has launched a toolkit for developers building enterprise apps. The toolkit is a development environment that gives the ability to design, build, debug and deploy mobile apps across all types of smartphones and tablets.

It includes the cloud-based 5app Factory for building apps using HTML5, CSS and Javascript web programming tools and connecting them to enterprise systems via a standard API.

5app Engines then enables apps to run on any type of mobile handset, meaning apps only need to be written once to work across Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian and Windows Phone platforms.

5app CTO Tim King said with more C-level executives understanding the value of mobile business apps, developers are being tasked with “demanding design briefs” to build apps that work across any mobile platform.

King added that with mobile networks being less reliable than fixed networks, data can be lost or transmitted twice if care isn’t taken. The 5app Engines tool therefore provides communication synchronisation when there is connectivity but also allows some app functionality when devices are offline.

“With employees increasingly preferring to use their own mobile devices, business mobile apps must not only run across an astonishing number of mobile platforms and operating systems, but also offer the performance, reliability and availability demanded by any critical corporate system,” King said.

Use of the 5app Factory is free with a charge based on user numbers once the app is deployed. There is also a freemium option where apps can be deployed for free but do not include 5app’s real time communications feature.