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How to Choose Technologies for Mobile App Development?

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11 min read

What language should we use? How do we save data? What are the top mobile app development technologies in 2022? These are some questions business partners and prospective customers ask.

In most situations, company owners know who will use their app, what issues it will answer, and how it will make money. Most firms require help from a reputable mobile software development company when choosing the best tech stack for mobile app development to bridge the gap between business demands and execution.

Choosing the appropriate mobile stack may minimize development costs, speed time-to-market, and make your app easily maintained and scalable for future expansion. Let’s start with the technological stack description and the latest mobile app development technologies for your company strategy.

What’s a Tech Stack in Mobile App Development?

For iOS or Android app development, an app technology stack is a set of software components, programming languages, frameworks, libraries, platforms, tools, and UI/UX solutions required to create a mobile app.

Frontend technologies and back-end app development are the backbones of software development projects, and the stack selected will affect security and user experience. Your iOS app development technology stack may become a competitive advantage, enhancing your company’s market position and helping it to grow.

Why It is Important to Choose a Modern Technology Stack?

Let’s look at what you stand to gain by putting effort into deciding the application development technologies list for your app.

  • Design that meets customer needs. When the right technological stack is employed to construct mobile applications, internal and external users benefit, and your content management system’s user-friendliness and integration capabilities are vital in today’s fast-paced, competitive digital economy. Self-reflection is important, but actions count more. In today’s competitive market, only outstanding customer service will win. “Excellent” is the new “good,” so “do more” to stand out.
  • Return of investment. Your internal customers’ user experience (UX) directly affects your market success. This is the main thing, right? Invest in something long-lasting and profitable.
  • System compatibility. Due to the labor needed, organizations may struggle to update to newer technology app. If things go wrong, data migration may be impossible. Investing in future-proof technology reduces the possibility of a move and simplifies it if necessary.
  • Longevity. This is vital. When designing Android applications, pick a stable technological stack. You’ll need to change out stack pieces quickly.

What Technologies are Used for Mobile Application Development?

Native app development offers several advantages over hybrid ones. New technologies in mobile application development may be readily incorporated into an ecosystem (like Apple or Google Pay, Siri or Google assistants) while delivering speed, security, and reliability. Famous native app examples are Uber, Lyft, Pokemon Go, Trello, Evernote, and Dozens.

Native iOS App Development

Programming languages: Objective-C or Swift

iOS mobile development tools: Xcode

Objective-C has been the main coding language for years and is still extensively used. Mobile app development teams may choose Objective-C if they need to handle a huge legacy project or if they lack qualified Swift developers. On top of that, you can pick Objective-C because:

  • it’s a well-tried and tested language;
  • it offers good compatibility with C++;
  • it provides easy use of private APIs;
  • It has an expressive code syntax.

Swift is new, yet it’s among the best technologies used in easy mobile app development. Swift is a more useful and robust technology for building iOS apps. It is very popular for the following reasons:

  • faster work and better performance;
  • safe and more resistant to errors;
  • clear syntax guarantees better code readability and easier support;
  • progressive and versatile language;
  • huge community support.

Swift app development is quicker and cheaper for businesses. We use this language to construct our own products, and we just published a PurchaseController module that embeds in-app purchase capabilities into mobile applications.

Native Android App Development

Programming languages: Java, Kotlin

Android app development tools: Android Studio

We’ve already confronted Kotlin vs Java in one of our previous blog posts, but when it comes to native Android app development, these languages are in great demand.

Java is a seasoned computing language used for web development, Big Data, and more. Open-source libraries and technologies reduce development and deployment times for software developers. Mobile teams prefer it because:

  • it’s highly secure;
  • it’s easily scalable and portable;
  • self-operative memory management;
  • multi-threaded capability;
  • vast functionality.

Kotlin is younger than Java, yet it’s a solid programming language. Compatible with Java, enabling multi-language development teams. It’s a better Android developer technologies for mobile app options due to the following:

  • lazy initialization feature to prevent threads;
  • a clear and effective syntax that results in up to 35 percent fewer lines of code compared to Java;
  • better security and fault tolerance;
  • large ecosystem and good support;
  • extension function;
  • strong community.

Kotlin is a consistent, lightweight, and short tool for developing Android apps. Our internal products and most client projects use Kotlin.

Cross-Platform Technologies Used in Mobile App Development

Programming tools: React Native, Flutter, Xamarin

Look at the best technology stack used for cross-platform mobile app development.

React Native combines JavaScript and TypeScript to resemble native apps. React Native uses the same UI building pieces as Android and iOS but with React and JavaScript. It’s the greatest approach to developing cross-platform mobile applications since it’s more mature than Flutter and more popular than Xamarin. We will also talk about why people like React Native when making a mobile app and some of the benefits are:

  • platform-agnostic;
  • good performance, close to the native;
  • high responsiveness;
  • live reloading;
  • strong community and rich ecosystem.

Flutter is a revolutionary UI kit for designing appealing and effective mobile, web, and desktop apps from one codebase. It’s built by Google and features all the applications, widgets, and tools a mobile team needs. We’ve previously compared React Native versus Flutter’s commercial strengths. They are:

  • hot reload feature to see all the changes to the code right in the solution in real-time;
  • ability to reuse existing Swift, Java, or Objective-C code and get access to native features, like GPS or camera;
  • fast time-to-market;
  • smooth and quick performance, close to native.

Xamarin lets developers reuse up to 96% of their code while redesigning UI components for each platform. Xamarin developers build code in C# or.NET and compile it into iOS and Android binaries. Top advantages of building mobile applications using Xamarin on the Microsoft architecture are:

  • ability to use MVVM and MVC design patterns to speed up development, make it easier for team members to work together, and make debugging easier;
  • functional and high-performing code;
  • shared application logic;
  • massive community support.

Xamarin, React Native, and Flutter app development services provide code reuse, reduced project length and costs, and faster time-to-market. This works well for JavaScript, Dart, and .NET teams who don’t upgrade their tech stack.

Hybrid Mobile App Development: PhoneGap vs Ionic

Programming tools: PhoneGap, Ionic (plus Cordova)

Let’s examine the most popular coding frameworks.

Let’s compare PhoneGap to Cordova, the trending mobile app development technologies. Adobe PhoneGap is an open-source framework that runs on Apache Cordova and includes a full toolbox. It has JavaScript APIs to access device sensors, data, and cameras. PhoneGap app development has various benefits:

  • a vast number of libraries to eliminate excessive coding and improve app functionality;
  • predefined templates to accelerate the engineering process;
  • good compatibility with external tools.

Ionic is an AngularJS-based framework for hybrid mobile app development. PhoneGap/Cordova should be used to access GPS, sensors, and more. It supports several external plugins and extensions and reuses DOM components to improve solution speed. Ionic app development benefits include:

  • fast implementation due to the rich ecosystem;
  • material design support for beautiful UI;
  • helpful community.

Both PhoneGap and Ionic app development enable you to go beyond browser-only limits and access mobile device features. To use TouchID or Bluetooth, install a plugin. If you need scalability and software security, choose Android or iOS.

Progressive Web Apps

If you’ve been studying mobile app development for your organization, you’ve probably heard about PWAs (PWA). We can’t overlook them since they’re so popular in software engineering.

The progressive web app is a mobile-optimized website that may be viewed on a mobile browser. This method is termed an in-browser app since it appears like a normal app without requiring download. Google workers developed the phrase in 2015, but now such solutions enhance conversions and revenue. Forbes, Starbucks, AliExpress, Lancôme, Flipkart, and more have progressive web applications.

These are future mobile app development technologies for companies who can’t afford mobile app development or want to test a new income source. Progressive web apps also offer:

  • offline availability;
  • good performance and smooth user experience;
  • seamless responsiveness to any screen size;
  • connectivity to the native device or system features;
  • prompt deployment at a low cost.

Despite these advantages, progressive web applications have certain issues. PWAs aren’t supported by all browsers and software, so go native if you require fingerprint scanners or GPS.

Which Technology is the Best for Mobile App Development?

Aspects of iOS and Android App Development Services

Native apps are tailored for a device or platform. When developers construct an app for a certain platform, they may leverage its strengths without sacrificing other devices. Long-term, the product will benefit.

Pros of native apps development:

  • They load, execute, and run faster, with fewer mistakes than cross-platform ones. No additional software layer slows down your apps.
  • Native apps can work offline. Internet connectivity is needed to utilize online features or obtain data from a web server.
  • Native apps give a better user experience owing to their greater performance and offline capabilities. Native apps may leverage the platform’s built-in UI and UX. To maximize mobile device space, modify the interface’s aspect ratio, size, and resolution.
  • Native programs are much safer. This is crucial given the saturated app industry. We can accelerate testing without sacrificing quality.

Cons of native app development:

  • The platform-specific code can’t be used for another platform. Often, you’ll need to adapt your app’s logic to fit the OS’s peculiarities and SDK.
  • Developing native software for many platforms may be costly and time-consuming. Developing for one platform is similar to developing for numerous. Each operating system increases costs.
  • The maintenance is as expensive as the development itself. Half of the developers I’ve spoken to update and repair their apps twice a year. One-third of them publish monthly or more regularly.
Looking to build a mobile application?
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Cross-Platform Technology Stack in Detail

Cons of cross-platform app development:

  • Cross-platform programming may utilize the same code base for many mobile devices. One technological stack may be utilized across all mobile devices and operating systems, simplifying development.
  • Developers don’t need to know several tech stacks to construct cross-platform solutions. This allows them to maximize a single stack. Using a single codebase speeds up application deployment to several platforms.
  • Cross-platform programming saves time when writing code for many systems. The task and framework selected will affect time and resource savings. Using React Native, app development may be halved. React Native lets you use pre-made components instead of designing them from scratch. Merehead uses React Native to build mobile apps.
  • Cross-platform solutions may be utilized on several platforms or operating systems. Cross-platform applications may produce more money than single-platform apps by reaching more users.
  • A unified codebase allows a single development team to provide a uniform user experience across all platforms. It allows “seamless” movement from a smartphone to a tablet, laptop, desktop, or TV (game console or smart TV).

Cons of cross-platform app development:

  • A platform-specific technological stack may be customized significantly. Cross-platform solutions lack the strong platform and device integration of native solutions.
  • Less design flexibility means fewer chances to enhance and modify performance. Even if all other prerequisites are satisfied, cross-platform solutions will never be as speedy, reliable, safe, and frictionless as native apps.
  • User interface and experience may differ among platforms and operating systems (for example, Windows has a Start button, but macOS has no analog). Due to platform-specific limits or design requirements.
  • Apple App Store and Google Play Store handle cross-platform programs differently. Passing government procedures, inspections, and tests may be time-consuming and difficult.

Criteria to Consider While Choosing a Mobile App Development Stack for Your Next Project

How do you choose from the many mobile development tools and frameworks? Choose a trusted IT partner or development team and a viable app stack. This provides a functional solution, simple scalability, strong security, and smooth maintainability. When choosing a mobile app development platform, consider:

  1. Project type. It’s crucial when choosing full-stack mobile technology. If you want a rapid, safe, and attractive banking app, choose Android or iOS development. Depending on your company objectives and clients, we’d propose Swift or Kotlin.
  2. Time to market. Timing is vital if you and your rivals are working on a game-changing innovation. Depending on your team’s ability, consider React Native or Xamarin app development to be first. Some of our customers choose native Android or iOS development stacks.
  3. Budget. Every company exists to earn money. When exploring a novel concept, firms don’t have the money to simultaneously produce iOS and Android apps. In such cases, you may use any technique. However if you have a JS team in-house, use React, and if your organization likes Microsoft, use Xamarin. Both methods offer code reuse, which speeds delivery and covers all platforms.
  4. Long-term strategy. Scalability and stability relate to how effectively your program handles abrupt use increases. In today’s competitive environment, customers are less loyal. Thus these actions are vital to your business’s success. Your application must develop horizontally, vertically, and laterally to keep up with a rising user base and company. Regular post-release maintenance ensures flawless functioning and reduces customer churn.

Questions to Ask When Deciding on a Technology Stack for a Mobile Application

We’ve prepared a list of questions every business owner or engineering team should ask before going for their big suite of technologies.

  1. Is it well-documented?
  2. How helpful is the community?
  3. Is it new? How often are new versions released?
  4. Who owns and manages the technology?
  5. How small/large is the talent pool? Will there be any difficulties with recruiting?
  6. How long does it take to learn it?
  7. How large is the ecosystem (plugins, modules, others)?
  8. What are the maintenance needs?
  9. How may my business benefit from this technology?

Asking those questions, remember there are no right or wrong answers. Each business is unique, and this list will help you make the right choice.

Wonder How DashDevs Can Help?

DashDevs has over nine years of experience in the web and mobile engineering field. We’ve come a long way since we used to just make apps for Android and iOS. We’ve now created over 500 successful software products for clients worldwide.

We offer consulting and development services for business technology in strategic planning, data analysis, DevOps, software testing, and design. This is made possible by our deep knowledge, track record, and a list of app developers with great expertise.

FAQ

Can python build mobile apps?

Interpreter-type languages are not supported by iOS or Android. It implies you won’t be able to execute the Python program natively. This is why developing phone applications with Python was uncommon in the past. There are, however, a number of Python GUI frameworks available to bridge the gap between having the Python program run natively on mobile devices.

What software do app developers use?

Here are some of the best mobile app development software options available today.

  1. Appery.io
  2. Zoho Creator
  3. Appian
  4. Appy Pie
  5. BiznessApps

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