Top Android Mobile App Development Frameworks

Android provides an adaptive app framework that allows you to provide unique resources for different platform and multiple device configurations. 

You may have heard scary stories about how long it takes - and how much more expensive - it is to develop an Android app than to develop an iOS app. But in fact, that's not quite true. With many frameworks available, developing modern Android apps does not take much longer time than developing iOS apps.

These frameworks help us to develop Android apps better and faster. We divided them into four categories: open source, standard Google framework, and paid frameworks for Android application development. Let’s have a look.

== Open Source Android Frameworks

It’s a common saying that quality of a product does not come cheap. However, many of the frameworks developers works on are free and open source.

= Framework of the Architecture:

ReactiveX

You can not bypass the functional programming when you develop an application for Android. ReactiveX is a framework that combines the Observer pattern, iterative pattern and functional programming into one. It's a basic framework that makes it easy to combine frontend and backend, and ReactiveX is available for most platforms. We use this framework in all our Android projects.

= Mobile Database:

Realm

It is a powerful framework for mobile databases. It can replace the heavy and bulky SQLite, and is much simpler and faster. Realm promises to save weeks of time on application development. As a plus point, search speeds of Realm are much faster than any other database frameworks. From the point of view of the user experience, this means a faster and more agile mobile application. We believe that Realm is one of the best framework for developing Android applications and many industries uses Realm in virtually every project related to Android app development.

= Interaction Backend:

Retrofit

It is a client-server framework for exchanging data between an application and a back-end server. Retrofit is much easier to use than its alternatives such as the Google Volley Library.

Data Linking

We use the data linking for saving time. Here are the frameworks that help us achieve this:

The Butter Knife offers a simple link to the field and method for Android views.

The Android Data Binding is similar to Butter Knife. In addition to linking, Android Data Binding also allows you to move the logic from the user interface to XML. This makes the code more readable and simplifies the development process.

Supporting Crash:

Crashlytics is a framework for error reports. It works in real time, providing detailed reports on all accidents. In addition, it also provides information on the most important issues to solve. Using Crashlytics data, you can immediately fix problems so that your application works seamlessly.

Crashlytics is very easy to implement and does not slow down your application or clutter it with useless data. Crashlytics also offers support for crashes and native errors. Accidents can occur and occur in any application. That's why Crashlytics should be a basic framework for all Android apps.

= Payment Frameworks:

Braintree

It is a one of the most popular framework which was acquired by PayPal many years ago. It has integrated all popular payment gateways, like PayPal, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Venmo and Bitcoin. The Braintree SDK is available in open source, but you will have to pay for transactions made through your application. Braintree can be used in any application that handles transactions. For example, money transfer applications, travel applications, on-demand delivery applications, and shopping apps.

Stripe

Like Braintree, Stripe is a framework for monetary transactions. While Braintree and Stripe offer same type of features, some people say that integration with Stripe is easy and it offers good flexibility for recurring bills. Both Stripe and Braintree can accept transactions from any country around the world. However, the availability of its services depends on the country where your current business is based. In this respect, Braintree supports many more countries than Stripe. In addition, Braintree has a faster settlement period of only 2-4 days compared to the 7 days of Stripe.

= Image Loaders

Picasso

It is an image loader that displays and caches images in the memory of a smartphone. Image loaders are used in all applications that work with images, such as photo editing applications, social apps, dating apps, shopping apps, or any other application that even includes a personal profile with a photo. profile.

Fresco

It was developed by Facebook. It is a one of the powerful library which loads images quicker than Picasso and does not slow down the application while it's in the process. We used Fresco in our latest projects for this reason.

= Social Media:

Facebook SDK

It offers many different features; Connect to Facebook, share, graphical API, links to applications, invitations to applications, ads and audience networks. Facebook SDK ads marketing value to your app. If you wish profile to check out the potential marketing value of Facebook SDK, check out our article on how to market and promote your app with Facebook SDK.

Twitter SDK

It provides same features when compared with Facebook SDK: Twitter login, sharing, analytics, links and ads. Most of the mobile apps use Facebook as people are having more Facebook accounts than Twitter accounts. However, Twitter SDK offers more than just a connection feature. It also facilitates the sharing of integrated content via Tweets.

= Standard Google Frameworks

Since Android is powered by Google, the frameworks that Google offers to app developers are very useful:

Google Play Services

It is a very broad framework with Google-optimized features such as Google Maps, Google+ sign-in, location, app invites, and ads. This Android framework is automatically updated with the help of Google Play Store, so its maintenance is very easy. Because the functionality is very broad, it is possible to use Google Play Services in most applications.

Google Analytics

It is used to collect information about the user's behavior. With Google Analytics, you can measure the success of your app, tailor the app to your users' needs, and improve your product strategy.

Google's Support Library

It ensures compatibility. When you develop an application, you naturally use a modern user interface that supports the latest version of Android. However, your user interface may not support older versions of Android. That's what the Google Support Library serves. With the help of the Google Support Library, you can create a new user interface that is compatible with older versions of Android. This allows you to make your application accessible to the largest number of users.

== Paid Android Frameworks

Unfortunately, not all the excellent frameworks are available in open source. The paid frameworks we use most frequently are for application analysis. Although Google Analytics is free, it's not the best analytics framework for mobile apps. It works best for websites. We suggest that our customers use one of the following two services for analysis:

Mixpanel Analysis

It gives basic functionality for free. But at some point you will have to upgrade to a premium version. Unlike Google Analytics, Mixpanel tracks events instead of pageviews. You can use Mixpanel to track an individual who moves from one stage to another in a funnel.

Yahoo's Flurry

It analysis allows you to track user actions in the app to understand and visualize usage patterns. Some would say that Mixpanel has more practical funnels than Flurry, but we would say it's a matter of taste.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many frameworks that can help you develop Android applications much faster and cheaper than you probably thought. We talked to you about some of the best frameworks for Android application development. So what are you waiting for? The Android market with its vast user potential is waiting.