Android has always been a popular mobile platform but its popularity of these devices has witnessed a big surge in the last few years. This has led to an exponential growth in the number of Android users across the globe and a corresponding increase in the demand for mobile apps for this platform. Developers are also doing their part in enhancing the popularity of the platform.
They are leveraging the latest technologies to create apps with exceptional features to compete with their iOS counterparts. The step one of developing an Android app is choosing the right language that renders ease of development along with the ability to add the desired features in the app.
While some of these languages and technologies have been around for some years now, there are others that have generated interest in the recent times. Let us check the top 5 Android app development technologies that are making waves in 2018.
1. Kotlin
After dominating the Android domain for decades, Java was finally dethroned by Kotlin in 2016. This open-source language based on the Java Virtual Machine was released in February 2016 and has become the most popular Android app technology today. The reason that Kotlin has been able to surpass Java is that it less complex as compared to the latter and can integrate seamlessly with Android Studio, the contemporary development environment exclusively created for developing mobile applications for this platform. Moreover, app crashes are common in Java-based apps as this platform is not really good at dealing with bugs and errors. Kotlin, on the other hand, presents the errors during the compile time, which results in considerable savings in development time.
2. React Native
Another technology that is revolutionizing Android apps is React Native, which is a JavaScript framework used for writing natively-rendering apps for both Android and iOS platforms. These are real native apps rather than hybrid ones as the technology uses the fundamental building blocks which are used in the regular apps for Android and iOS platforms. It makes things faster and easier for developers by providing them the ability to write both the applications together while sharing a majority of JavaScript code between them. The front-end library of React Native is lightweight and extensible. Additionally, it can be easily integrated with Android Studio, which makes it ideal for creating Android applications.
3. Angular Material Design
The material design is a tech trend that has emerged as another popular phenomenon for Android developers in 2018. This technology is basically concerned with the design standards that are aimed to enhance the user experiences across the apps. The purpose of material design is to bring consistency in user experiences, something that has been lacking in Google products till now. The Android platform offers a range of features that enables the developers to build material design apps. These include APIs for custom shadows and animations, widgets for complex views such as cards and lists, and a material design theme to style the UI widgets. Angular Material is a specialized third-party package which facilitates the app development process through the utilization of the material design components. Instead of building the components from the ground up, developers can avail the out-of-the-box styled components which come with Angular Material.
4. Firebase
Firebase is an Android development tool which offers multiple services to enable the creation of appealing and feature-rich mobile apps for the platform. It is also considered useful for building applications that are integrated with a real-time database. Firebase comes with a range of features such as authentication, cloud messaging to alert the customers about the updates, storage capacity for user-generated content, accurate crash reporting, and advertisements using AdWords or AdMob. Moreover, it eliminates the need to configure a server as it takes care of the same by itself.
5. Figma
Next on the list of the latest Android app technologies that are making it big in 2018 is Figma. This is a modern tool which facilitates the creation of fully functional user interfaces for the app. Figma offers a myriad of design elements which can be added to the app with a drag-and-drop feature. Since the tool works on it web, it need not be installed before using. It is highly useful for enabling collaboration between designers, getting feedback from the managers working on the project, and making rectifications in an existing design.
Conclusion
These amazing technologies have totally changed the development process for Android developers today by rendering ease and speed into it. They can now create apps at a much faster pace than before and also enrich them with great features with lesser effort. No wonder, developers are embracing them as they build apps for consumers as well as enterprises. Using these advanced platforms and technologies is the best way to create better performing Android applications which are capable of delivering high-end user experiences.
