Since Google first showed us Android in 2007, it has emerged as the biggest whale in the smartphone OS market. It has multiplied by leaps and bounds with a plethora of different devices. Frameworks for Android App range in hardware from budget Android phones to Flagship state-of-the-art devices, and it has a presence on our watches and TVs as well.
At Cubix, we are constantly brainstorming on how we can create apps that meet all standards, take all the loads without complaining, and do a lot without such a single hiccup. Here is a list of the best android app development libraries and frameworks as well as when they should be used.
Useful Frameworks for Android App Development
There are numerous open-source tools for the Frameworks for Android App, including many cross-platform frameworks such as Flutter, React Native and Ionic. Let’s go over each one and its advantages and disadvantages, beginning with the default.
Android SDK and Kotlin
Kotlin is a fantastic programming language. Extension functions, null protection, Coroutines, and Lambda expressions are all first-class features. Developers enjoy writing less boilerplate code than in Java, and the optional semicolon(;) at the finish of each line is a delight.
If you need to deal with a variety of devices, such as Google TV or Wear OS wearable devices, you may be limited to Native development kits because almost no cross-platform SDKs support these devices.
On the other hand, Kotlin only allows you to develop for a single platform. In the best-case scenario, KMM can be used for logic and API calls, but it does not support cross-platform UI design, which must be done using native dev kits only.
Flutter
Flutter was introduced in 2017, making it relatively new in comparison to other cross-platform SDKs. But not for Dart, the programming language used by Flutter.
Dart is an advanced programming language. It is a modern typesafe programming language with features such as Null safety, Extension methods, and Higher Order functions that are useful in addressing modern app development challenges.
Flutter enables developers to create great UI experiences with its composable as well as declarative approach, which works seamlessly on Android, iOS, and the Web with surprising performance across all platforms.
Flutter will be available for Desktops very soon. Google held a competition called Flutter Clock Challenge to create clock faces with Flutter. Flutter is a no-brainer for apps; it can even be included in existing apps via Flutter add-to-app.
Flutter is simple to learn, but tackling complexity can be difficult for developers with a functional programming mode of thinking.
Flutter, on the contrary hand, does not currently support Wear OS or Apple Watch. If you want to use your code in various sizes such as TV and Wearables, Flutter does not yet support them.
Also, because Flutter does not use the first-party UI toolkits received by Apple and Google, it will not receive any new functionality or UX updates as soon as they are released. Instead, it will render its widgets.
React Native
After Android and iOS, React Native is the third most popular platform for app development. It is without a doubt the most popular cross-platform SDK for mobile apps. Because of the use of JSX, it is the preferred choice of a strong community of JavaScript developers.
Unlike Flutter, React Native makes use of genuine native platform-specific components, ensuring native appearance and performance. Which allows developers to write code once and support both the Frameworks for Android App and iOS platforms.
React Native is a tried-and-true SDK with just a number with well Facebook apps.
React developers complain about long build times for binaries, but you can’t use the same code for the web and other platforms. There is React.js for that, but UI created with Flutter simply runs on different platforms without any issues.
Android App Development Libraries
Libraries are crucial in the development of any framework. It reduces the effort required to develop the things we use the most frequently during development. We have a plethora of libraries available to us thanks to authors and a large developer community.
It is said that the number of framework libraries available demonstrates the framework’s popularity in the community. Let’s talk about the library that we use at Cubix.
Jetpack for Android
Google announced a collection of libraries for native Frameworks for Android App app development at Google I/O 2018. It assists us in adhering to best practices, reducing boilerplate code, and writing code that is consistent across Android versions and devices.
Frameworks for Dependency Injection
When it comes to dependency injection, Dagger2 is first in line. Hilt, a newer version of it, was recently released by the Android team. Dagger is a static dependency injection framework that uses annotations.
Koin Overview
Kotlin is used to create Koin. It requires less configuration than Dagger2. It supports lazy injection and ViewModels and produces far less boilerplate code than Dagger 2.
Network Overview
It’s one of the best HTTP clients for Frameworks for Android App and Java. It is very simple to implement a popular developer choice. It also supports popular serialization libraries, allowing us to select one based on our needs.
Volley Overview
The volley was created by Google. It allows you to schedule network requests. This is a better choice if you need a network client for all network operations, including image loading.
Coil Overview
It is the first Kotlin-based image-loading library that also supports Coroutines. The coil is fast, light, simple to use, and modern.
Download an image
Glide simplifies the retrieval, decoding, and display of video stills, images, and animated GIFs. It offers a versatile API that enables developers to connect to virtually any network stack. Because it supports loading video stills and GIFs, Glide is a popular choice among many developers.
Fresco
Facebook has invested in Fresco. It loads images more quickly than Picasso. It improves application performance and reduces OutOfMemoryErrors.
Crashlytics and Firebase Analytics
Firebase is one of the best solutions for analytics and crash reporting in Android apps. It monitors crash reports in real-time. We can create events to track our users’ actions.
Libraries for Android created it.
It is our responsibility as members of the community to contribute in any way we can. Cubix believes in volunteerism. As part of our open-source contribution, we created several libraries that can be used in our Apps.
Find about Software development for the rest of us
To sum up
There are numerous frameworks, libraries, and SDKs available to help with Android app development. However, we’ve covered some of the best ones here. Understanding these frameworks, libraries, and SDKs will undoubtedly aid, Cubix can improve the quality of your Android apps.