Key Mobile App Development Technologies

“The rich and interactive experiences we have come to expect on mobile apps have created new standards and expectations for all digital media including the web. The result is websites are evolving to become more mobile app-like in their rich functionality.“

– Raj Aggarwal, CEO, Localytics

Top Technologies Used For Developing Mobile Apps

Today, mobile applications have surpassed websites and all other tools used by businesses for branding, customer support, sales, and a lot more. A mobile application is an efficient (and cost-effective) way for brands to stay connected with their customers. The user does not need to be on a computer, and all updates, promotions, and assistance can be provided directly to them via their smartphone. 

If recent user statistics are considered, users prefer mobile applications more than websites and other business applications. The world will have 6.648 billion smartphone users, which translates to approximately 84% of the world’s total population. Even YouTube says that over 70% of their traffic comes from mobile phones. Thus every business wanting to sell its products/services, provide assistance, communicate or promote its offerings considers building a mobile application.

Mobile applications can be of various types and come with multiple features. Hence, the application you develop should depend upon your business’s needs and the functionalities you require. For instance, if customer assistance is your only concern, you should go for a simple app that offers all the information that your customers need, along with a chatbot. Similarly, if you want to sell the products within your store, you will likely opt for an ecommerce application. 

While it is crucial to figure out the features you want in your app and the resources you will need, it is also vital to know which mobile development technologies or platforms will match your present and future needs. Be it an Android, iOS, the cross-platform or hybrid application you would be developing, you must make yourself aware of the most-used mobile app development technologies today.

Top 5 Programming Languages Used To Develop Mobile Apps Today

Here are the five most popular languages which are used to develop mobile apps:

1. Java

 Ever since the inception of Android in 2008, this OOP (object-oriented)  language has been the most preferred and official language for developing Android mobile applications. Java is a highly versatile programming language and leads to added flexibility to your mobile app. In addition, this app development technology is extensible and modular, allowing users to choose between multiple open-source libraries. It is one of the reasons why Android apps are growing so fast.

2. HTML5

If you are looking for a technology that helps you develop web-fronted applications for mobiles, look no further than HTML5. This technology predates mobile applications and has developed many websites and applications. Thus, organizations that find cross-platform mobile app development technologies challenging, choose HTML5 since it helps deliver suitable functionalities to your app along with an exceptional user experience. 

HTML5 offers the advantage of ‘write-once-run-anywhere'( i.e., applications written in this language can be run on multiple platforms), which improves your application’s visibility while making it affordable. This app technology also supports offline browsing and accelerates your time to market.

3. Swift

If you plan to build a mobile application specific to Apple iOS only, swift is the application technology you must choose. Swift is a popular language for iOS app development that offers innovative features with minimal coding. Swift is powerful and intuitive yet easy to maintain, making it the most preferred language of iOS app developers, who also use it for macOS, watchOS, tvOS, etc.

4. C++

C++ offers a simplistic base for multiple programming languages and has the power to create dynamic technology applications with complex functionalities. Today it is one of the most highly sought-after mobile application development technologies for creating multi-platform applications. C++ allows you to code and develop applications in its platform, which, once ready, can be deployed in iOS, Android and Windows without sacrificing the application’s security or performance. Its simple and effective compiler-based programming approach makes C++ a versatile tool that is platform-agnostic. Moreover, its sister language Objective-C used by Apple systems before the launch of swift in 2014.

5. PHP

PHP is easy to learn and uses a 3-layered model for creating dynamic mobile and web applications. This OOP language is highly suitable for mobile applications that need database integration. Hence popular PHP frameworks like Lumen, Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter are used extensively for creating mobile applications with complex backends and data migration requirements. PHP is used in many large-scale application development projects. This open-source application technology simplifies authentication, caching, and routing.

A host of tools are available at your disposal if you are looking forward to creating your application using the above programming languages. These application development technologies are perfect for creating robust mobile applications from scratch and even offer you multi-platform capabilities to help you reach a large number of audiences.

Top Tools To Help You Build Your Own Mobile App

Here are some of the most popular and user-friendly mobile app development technologies that can help you create your first mobile application effortlessly:

• PhoneGap

Also known as Apache Cordova, this open-source mobile app development framework uses CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript for creating native applications for iOS apps, Android, and Windows. In addition, PhoneGap allows you to merge native and hybrid code snippets, resulting in applications that are neither truly native mobile applications nor web-based tools.

• Appcelerator 

This open-source framework is the ideal choice to develop hardware-based mobile applications. Thus, if you use IoT devices and want to build an application to connect and draw insights from them, you should consider Appcelerator. The framework uses PHP. HTML and JavaScript for creating native Android, iOS, and Windows UWP apps.

• RhoMobile

This powerful suite is based on the Rhodes open-source framework that supports native application development for numerous platforms. This mobile app technology is beneficial for developing native-customer, cross-platform, and mobile enterprise apps. RhoMobile uses web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, Ruby, and JavaScript for most operating systems, including Windows, iOS, and Android.

• WidgetPad

WidgetPad is the best technology for mobile app development for cross-platform applications. Using technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript, WidgetPad offers coders many options such as code distribution, versioning, and editing. In addition, this framework allows you to develop apps for iOS, Android, and the web.

• MoSync

MoSync is an open-source multi-platform application development kit for mobile that uses programming languages such as Python, PHP, Ruby, and JavaScript. In addition, MoSync is integrated with Eclipse-based IDE and allows multiple-platform native mobile app development using C and C++ programming.

Top Mobile App Development Frameworks That Developers Need To Explore

• Flutter

Flutter is the reigning cross-platform mobile app development technology that has garnered the appreciation of thousands of developers worldwide. This mobile application technology uses ‘Dart’ as its principal programming language instead of JavaScript, which results in fast and effective analysis and fabrication of UIs. Additionally, Flutter extends a range of plugins that are backed by Google, allowing mobile applications to be created for iOS and Android platforms.

• React Native

This open-source Javascript framework is hailed as the world’s most-preferred native app development technology. React Native provides ample support to IDEs and mobile application development technologies to create native apps for Android and iOS platforms using JavaScript. Hence, applications created using React Native are indistinguishable from those produced using Swift, Java, or Objective-C.

• Ionic

Ionic is widely recognized as the mobile development platform of today. It combines JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 to effortlessly develop native applications and create UI functionalities. Ionic works on UI/Ux WebView Services (for Android and iOS) and is built on Apache Cordova and AngularJS, making it easy for developers to create, expand and customize cross-platform mobile applications.

• Xamarin

This cross-platform framework offer coding advantages of C# uses a single code across Windows, iOS, Android, and other platforms. Using code-sharing benefits, Xamarin helps build applications that render the same experience as native applications. 

Xamarin enables you to deliver native iOS, Android, and Windows applications using a single shared .NET codebase, allowing you to save time and costs considerably. In addition, the platform enables you to access the full spectrum of functionalities exposed by the underlying device and platform, which also includes platform-specific capabilities.

• NativeScript

NativeScript is one of the most desired open-source frameworks for developing Android and iOS applications today. It allows developers to create mobile apps using JavaScript or any programming language that trans-compiles to JS. Some of the most notable features of NativeScript include Native API reflection, Vue.js, and Angular integration. Additionally, this framework helps developers repurpose 3rd-party libraries from CocoaPods, npm.js, and Maven into their applications without using any wrappers.

• Felgo

Previously known as the V-play engine, this popular cross-platform app development technology is used extensively to create mobile apps and games. Felgo uses Qt as its principle framework, resulting in a more simplified development of the developed apps and games. This allows developers to create modern and flexible applications that can be compiled natively from a single codebase for iOS, Android, Web, Desktop, and other embedded platforms.

• Mobile Angular UI

This open-source mobile development framework combines Bootstrap 3 and AngularJS syntax’s best features, including the missing components of Bootstrap. In addition, it offers new UI components such as modals, overlays, switches, sidebars, etc. Mobile Angular UI uses Bootstrap and AngularJS, the developers can easily learn the framework and get started swiftly. The framework also allows developers to build HTML5 hybrid apps for mobile and desktop with much less effort.

Trends Dominating the Mobile app development Arena

• Statista predicts that, the global shipments for AR headsets would cross 30 million units – a 12-fold increase from 2020. As Augmented Reality becomes highly pervasive, many industries dealing with training, industrial maintenance, safety, healthcare, and education will be adopting AI-powered applications.
• Voice assistants and chatbots are presently automating the most frequent human-to-business interactions. Thus, many organizations use AI integration to boost user engagement and save money. Experts believe that by 2025, almost all customer interactions will occur via channels supporting artificial intelligence.
• In recent years, the increased initiatives taken by crucial e-commerce players have led to a growth in mobile and digital wallets. As a result, the mobile wallet market size will grow with a CAGR of 15% within 2020-2026 in the US alone, which is fueled by factors such as convenience and availability of user-friendly and cost-effective smartphones and extensive promotions from banking services providers.
• Consumers today want faster data speeds with low latency and enhanced user experience through augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality(VR). Along with seamless HD video calling, live streaming and gaming experiences also contribute to the steady rise in 5G adoption .
• Page loading times can adversely affect businesses’ bottom-line, especially for domains like ecommerce. Hence, Google’s AMP(Accelerated Mobile Pages) plugin is used extensively to provide visitors with an app-like browsing experience (i.e., real-time page updation without reloading). As a result, AMP is quickly becoming a key criterion for ranking mobile websites. 

Conclusion

Mobile applications have become the most convenient source of communication between businesses and their consumers. Cross-platform applications and device-agnostic codes are becoming increasingly common in business and public domain apps. Using the right technologies/functionalities, brands can get much closer to consumers through exemplary mobile applications. Thankfully, a range of technologies is available to developers today that have the potential to transform any business into a success.