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Meet John. He goes to the cafe near his office every morning to grab a plain croissant for breakfast. On Tuesday instead of a plain croissant, he got a chocolate one by mistake and his day was spoiled.

When the wrong ingredient gets into a croissant, it’s a trifle. New day - new croissant. But when you choose the wrong mobile app development technology stack for your app, it becomes a big problem, as the result you get, in most cases won’t correspond to your initial idea and users’ expectations.

What Is a Technology Stack for Mobile App Development

The technology stack for mobile application development refers to the combination of programming languages, software development kits, frameworks, and, actually, any other technologies that contribute to the final product. 

Generally, there are four main components of the tech stack:


Frontend Development

Also known as client-side development, frontend development is the practice of building graphical user interfaces through the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so that users can interact with them directly. Buttons, links, animations, etc, are products of frontend developers who are responsible for the look and feel of the website.


Backend Development

Server-side development or backend development is focused on scripting, databases, and website architecture. It’s a combination of “behind-the-scenes” activities that occur when users interact with the website. It might be an account login, making a purchase from an online store, and so on. Users browse websites without even knowing how much work was done in the backend to connect the web to a database.


Development Platform

A development platform refers to the type of software that allows businesses to build, test, and deploy their products in a short period of time. The development platform can be created yourself though most frequently, organizations decide to buy third-party products. Such products usually offer frontend development tools, mobile backend as a service and management tools for APIs.


Additional Needs

Different tools and technologies to improve the performance, security, and flexibility of the application.


Why Is It Important to Make the Right Decision?

The mobile development stack you choose and the end product you receive are completely interconnected. Therefore in the initial phase of development, you should decide on the functionality of the application, the budget you have for it, expected user experience, and precisely learn the technology stack options that can meet these needs.

Most programming languages have established performance strengths and limitations, the mobile app stack can hint at the final strengths and weaknesses of your application.


Technology Stacks for Different Kinds of Mobile App Development

The success of your application is directly bound to the app platform that you’ve chosen. Let’s assume that your target audience is located in the US. Approximately 58% of the US mobile operating system market share is held by iOS and 41% by Android. If your target audience lives in India, the situation is different - 94% of the market share belongs to Android. Therefore in the process of choosing a tech stack for mobile app development,  business owners have different paths to choose from, which in the future will dictate not only the functionality of their products but also their popularity.


Native App Development: iOS and Android

Native mobile applications are built for a specific platform. The most popular two are the Android tech stack and iOS. Native applications flawlessly integrate into the target operating systems, magnify user experience, and allow developers to immediately publish all updates and fix bugs.
native apps pros and cons

Android Technology Stack for 2023

If you decide to build a mobile application for Android, there is the following technology stack for Android app.

Popular Programming Languages for Android App Development

Java

Java pros and cons

Java is an object-oriented programming language widely used for creating large-scale apps and software. Java offers a shallow learning curve and advanced security app features that are major requirements for every organization. Easy, flexible, and reusable code, millions of available libraries, and a high degree of platform independence because of the Java Virtual Machine feature make Java take the place among top programming languages every year.

 Google, Netflix, Instagram, Spotify, LinkedIn, eBay, and other well-known companies use Java as a tech stack for mobile app development.

Kotlin

Kotlin pros and cons

Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that combines features of both object-oriented and functional programming. The language allows developers to extend existing classes with new functionality, reduces crashes at runtime, supports full Java interoperability, and comes with a lazy-loading feature. What is more, the language syntax is lean and intuitive and the code length is significantly reduced compared to Java. The null Safe function makes you avoid using nullable types and allows automatically removing mistakes and easing the process of debugging.

Google estimated that 70% of the top 100 apps on the Play Store are written in Kotlin.

Android App Development Tools

Leveraging Android Developer Tools, you receive full support in the process of building applications for Android. Apart from Android-specific coding support, software engineers get access to emulators, debugging tools, a graphical UI builder, and more.


Android Studio

Android Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for the Android platform. The development environment is adapted to perform typical tasks that are solved in the process of developing applications for the Android platform. In addition to the capabilities of IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio has several advanced features, such as a new unified application build, testing, and deployment subsystem based on Gradle assembly tools and supporting the use of seamless integration tools.

Android SDK

Android Software development kit includes a range of different components that are essential for building Android applications. It includes libraries, documentation, debugger, sample code, tutorials, and more. The components of the Android SDK can be downloaded separately.


iOS Technology Stack for 2023

Let’s have a look at the most popular options among iOS tech stack.

Programming Languages for iOS App Development

Objective-C

Objective-C pros and cons

Objective C is an object-oriented, general-purpose programming language. Objective-C received the syntax, primitive types, and flow control statements from C, and also is complemented by the syntax for defining classes and methods. The Smalltalk style messaging makes the language very simple to understand and dynamic typing features also greatly contribute to the language’s potential.

Objective-C is used to support Apple platforms such as iPhone, Mac computers, Apple TV, iPads, etc.

Swift

Swift pros and cons

Announced in 2014, Swift has become one of the most fast-growing languages in history. Compared to Objective-C, it has a simpler syntax and is able to interoperate with the huge body of existing Objective-C code developed for Apple products previously. Though it’s a completely independent language and has core features such as data structures, flow control, protocols, closures, etc.

Swift is a general-purpose programming language and now is a cross-platform language that can be used on Windows and Linux too.

iOS App Development Tools

Here are some of the most popular options for the iOS mobile app tech stack among software development tools.

Apple Xcode

Apple Xcode is a full-featured development environment that comes with integrated support for Git repositories, debugging tools, a graphical editor for building user interfaces, and documentation.

iOS SDK

The iOS SDK consists of tools used for developing apps for the iOS platform, including an application programming interface that functions as a link between software apps and the iOS platform. The newest version provides concurrency support, new kinds of shared experiences, powerful customization capabilities, and much more.


Cross-platform Technology Stack: React Native vs Xamarin vs Flutter

Cross-platform applications can run on different mobile platforms. Writing code once, you can reuse its significant amount again for another platform. This makes cross-platform development less expensive and long and adapts to most devices.

cross-platform apps pros and cons
React Native pros and cons

React Native is an open-source UI software framework for developing Android, Windows, and iOS apps. With React Native, the same code can be used for deployment on multiple platforms, you don’t need to write code in Swift for iOS, in Java for Android, etc. React Native uses JavaScript which is one of the most popular and widely used programming languages. The “live reload” feature provides two screens: on one you modify code and on another can immediately see these modifications. Being built by Facebook, React Native is one of the most trusted frameworks for cross-platform app development.

Instagram, Tesla, Skype, Airbnb, and Walmart use React Native.

Xamarin

Xamarin pros and cons

Xamarin is an open-source platform for building iOS, Android, and Windows apps created by Microsoft. Xamarin uses C# language, which is one of the .NET framework languages, to create applications for all platforms. Xamarin is natively compiled, with strong safety typing, a robust base class library, a native user interface, and native performance monitoring. Xamarin uses Visual Studio on Windows and Xamarin Studio on Mac OS X which are modern IDEs with plenty of features.

Flutter

Flutter pros and cons

Google introduced Flutter as a cross-platform programming framework aimed at redefining the development landscape. With its powerful rendering engine, versatile widget set, and the Dart language, Flutter presented a fresh perspective that resonated with developers worldwide. The platform gained immense support and admiration, drawing the attention of thousands of developers who embraced its benefits and capabilities.

Technology Stack for Hybrid App Development

Hybrid applications are a mixture of native and web solutions. Functioning like websites, they run from within a native app and its embedded browser.

hybrid apps pros and cons
Cordova pros and cons

Apache Cordova, formerly known as PhoneGap, is an open-source framework for building hybrid apps using JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 rather than depending on platform-specific APIs like those in Android, iOS, and Windows. The most prominent feature of Cordova is the ability to convert the code into a native application. The framework embeds the code into a so-called “native wrapper” which is able to access the device functions of several platforms.

Ionic

Ionic pros and cons

Ionic is an open-source AngularJS-based framework that leverages such web technologies as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, using modern web APIs. Ionic has ready-made UI components and typography that help to create attractive user interfaces and seamlessly integrate with a number of frontend frameworks such as Javascript, Angular, React, and Vue giving your team members an opportunity to choose their favorite stacks.


What to Consider When Choosing the Best Technology Stack for Mobile App Development?


Project Size

Accurate estimation of software projects plays a crucial role in selecting the optimal technology stack for a mobile application, which depends on the project's complexity. Projects can generally be categorized as small, medium, or large, each with its unique requirements.

1. Small projects, such as MVPs (minimum viable products) or single-page applications, are typically simpler in nature. For these projects, Flutter emerges as an excellent choice due to its user-friendly nature, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness. It is well-suited for apps that don't require high-load capabilities.

2. Medium-sized projects, such as enterprise applications and online stores, demand more than a single framework for implementation. These apps often possess a broader range of features, requiring a technology stack comprising multiple layers and combinations of languages to accommodate the complexity.

3. Large projects, including marketplaces like eBay, social networks like Facebook, and enterprise resource planning systems, require a diverse set of programming languages and frameworks. These projects necessitate enhanced scalability, speed, and serviceability. To achieve optimum performance, a combination of technologies and tools must be employed.

Time-to-Market

If you have a groundbreaking idea and aim to be the pioneer in the market, developing a minimum viable product (MVP) could be your strategy. An MVP is a simplified version of a full-fledged mobile application. To expedite the development process, we suggest leveraging frameworks like Flutter, which provides prewritten code samples and accelerates the overall development timeline. By utilizing Flutter, you can streamline the creation of your MVP and potentially gain a competitive edge in the market.


Scalability

The ability of your app to handle increasing user loads relies heavily on the scalability and flexibility of its architecture. If you anticipate a larger number of users, it is crucial that your chosen technology stack enables your app to accommodate this growth seamlessly. JavaScript, in combination with the Node.js framework, offers inherent flexibility and is supported by a wide range of libraries and structures that facilitate excellent scaling capabilities.


Security

Ensuring the security of any app, particularly those that store personal data, is of utmost importance. Whether it's a banking app or a social network, it is crucial to implement robust security measures and risk mitigation practices. Therefore, when selecting technologies for your tech stack, it is imperative to choose ones that offer a high level of security.

If your app requires a heightened level of security, .NET Core is a viable option to consider. It features the Data Protection API, which provides developers with a powerful abstraction for encrypting data at rest. This capability adds an extra layer of protection to safeguard sensitive information within your app.


How to Choose the Right Mobile Technology Stack

App Needs

First of all, when choosing a tech stack for mobile app, you need to define your target audience, its demographics, the set of features your app should possess, type of technology, platform, estimated go-to-market time, etc. All these elements will define the set of frameworks, libraries, and languages that will be used to develop the product.


App Goals

What is the “problem” you’re trying to solve with your product? What are the competitive solutions available on the market and what features do they have? Set a business strategy with clear market and user research.


Skill Set of Development Team

Choosing between two similar technology stack for mobile applications, the ideal option will be to rely on the developer’s set of skills. If you already have a team of devs, introducing a new tech stack will increase the effort, time, and development costs.


Budget and Timelines

The budget has to include money for all phases of the project, including maintenance and continuous updating. Budget and timelines depend on many factors such as the cooperation model you’ve chosen, the number of team members, their experience, technology, set of features, and the type of your software application. 


Mobile Technology Stack at inVerita

At inVerita, we use a mobile app development tech stack supported by good ecosystems and based on open technologies. Such an approach allows our developers to easily integrate updates in the future, ensure high scalability and security, and test the product’s MVP in the market in the shortest possible time.

We provide a full range of mobile app development services including Android and iOS native applications, Flutter, React Native, Xamarin  cross-platform apps, and Cordova, Ionic hybrid applications.

You can learn more about inVerita mobile tech stack here.


Wrapping Up


The success of your mobile application is bound to many things, but the choice of proper mobile app tech stack must be the first topic that you thoroughly learn as soon as you decide to build an app. Clearly define the goals of your project, target audience, and set of features your app should have to be competitive in the market, and finally, choose the best technology stack for mobile app development that will be a  fit for your software. Expert opinion will be a big advantage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the app stack used for?
The mobile tech stack refers to a collection of technologies, frameworks, and tools used together to develop and deploy an application. The app stack includes various components that handle different aspects of the application's functionality, ranging from the front-end user interface to the back-end server infrastructure.
What is the best platform for developing mobile apps?
The best platform depends on your specific needs and considerations. If you prioritize a native experience and have a target audience predominantly on one platform, developing native code for that platform may be the optimal choice. However, if you aim for code reusability and a presence on both iOS and Android, cross-platform frameworks can be a suitable option.
How to choose a perfect technology stack for mobile applications?
To choose the best technology stack for mobile application, one should accurately estimate the software project, define your target audience, its demographics, the set of features your app should possess, type of technology, platform, estimated go-to-market time, its budget, and timelines.
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