The benefits of mobile apps for businesses are well-known to everyone. Mobile apps help businesses proactively reach their target consumers, help solve their problems and collaborate with them for a purpose. Hence, businesses focus more and more on mobile apps to reach their target audience, convince potential consumers and increase sales.
The mobile app market is facing fierce competition nowadays. You will be surprised to know that most mobile apps fail because of poor architecture. Hence, it is critical to think about a mobile app that stands out among the competition and helps your business gain a competitive edge. An ideal mobile app architecture will serve your purpose. We have compiled this guide to help our readers gain a deep understanding of mobile architecture and how it works.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
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What is Mobile App Architecture?
Mobile App Architecture refers to a set of techniques, rules, processes, and patterns that enable the development of mobile apps. The rules make the process of app development easy as it helps meet all requirements of the business and the industry standards.
The Various Elements of An App Architecture
Several elements are considered when it comes to the development of a mobile app. Usually, a mobile app is structured in several layers to make it easy for developers, such as the business, user experience, and data layers. That said, the architecture of a mobile app includes several elements, like the device in which your app will be used, the bandwidth, user interface, navigation methods, etc.
Important Factors to Consider When Developing Mobile App Architecture
We list a few crucial factors and elements that should be considered when building the architecture of a mobile app. It serves as the foundation of your final app, and hence, you cannot afford mistakes.
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Device Type
You will need to consider how your app will appear on different devices. A few key considerations include;
- How it will run on different screens, i.e., in different sizes and DPI.
- How compatible it will be with different processors.
iii. Its appearance on different devices, i.e., on mobile, tablets, different models, etc.
- The memory it will need.
Extra attention on such traits that include hardware and software details will help make the development procedure more reliable.
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Bandwidth Scenarios
The next factor that you should consider is the compatibility of your mobile app with the bandwidth of internet connection present across the globe. This factor is significant if you have your target audience in rural areas. Some countries have 5G, whereas a few are still using 3G.
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UI/UX
User interface and user experience will be word of mouth and serve as the app market watering. Such factors are delicate, and you should develop robust plans to work on them. The UI/UX is the center point of interaction through which your users will connect to your business. Hence, having a user-friendly interface is something that you need to have. That said, hire a mobile app developer who can make the UI both innovative and straightforward.
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Navigation
Navigation is a factor that comes at the design front. It helps users surf throughout the app. Proper navigation needs work both on the front end and the back end of an app. You can enable your users to navigate through the app features in several ways. However, you need to figure out what will prove to be the best for your mobile app. The list of navigation methods includes a stacked navigation bar, model controller, single view, gesture-based, scroll views, tab controller, search-driven, etc.
You will need to understand your consumers and the requirements of your app then choose a navigation method accordingly since it has a direct impact on the user experience.
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Real-Time Updates vs. Push Notifications
When you apply push notifications correctly to your outreach strategy, it will have a significant impact on your application’s engagement. Notifications help people remind themselves about the existence of your app. It brings users back again, and this strategy is full-proof, as is being tested several times. However, be careful in planning the frequency of push notifications when considering mobile app architecture since the users may delete your app and spread bad words about it.
Mobile App Architecture Example
A quality mobile app architecture helps make developing and maintaining a mobile app efficient and simple. Learn more about the different types of architecture for apps that run on different platforms.
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Android Mobile App Architecture
In general, the structure of android apps is complex, and a usual android application may contain numerous app components, like, activities, services, content providers, fragments, and broadcast receivers. That said, Android apps contain multiple components, and the users interact with numerous mobile apps at once; hence the apps should be able to adapt to different types of user-driven tasks and workflows.
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iOS Mobile Application Architecture
Developers build native iOS applications using Swift languages and Objective-C. Additionally, Apple provides best practices over app architecture with the MVC model. Other options are available for iOS, and the MVC model is made up of model, view, and controller. This model supports parallel and rapid development and the ability to develop multiple views. It is one of the best options for the development of mobile apps.
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Hybrid Mobile Application Architecture
The hybrid mobile apps leverage both web and native solutions. Native apps are used by Hybrid apps as shells for the development of the back-end but employ platform-neutral Javascript, CSS, and HTML to develop the front end. Such apps employ plugins like the Ionic Capacitor or Apache Cordova to enable them to access the features of native platforms.
When it comes to the development frequency, hybrid apps are built rapidly as compared to the variety of platforms available. They are also easily updated but are not ideal for interactive, complex, or feature-rich applications.
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Cross-Platform Application Architecture
Like the architecture of hybrid apps, cross-platform apps leverage a common codebase with platform-specific abilities in every native shell. The apps rely on frameworks instead of web language, like, Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin. The user experience offered by cross-platform apps is in closer approximation to Native, and it further helps make the approach more attractive.
The task of considering the best architecture for your mobile app may be daunting initially, but with the help of a few tips, you can do the job efficiently.
Tips for choosing the right architecture for your mobile app
A lot of things are to be considered when it comes to choosing the right mobile app architecture. As mentioned, it is the foundation of your app, and you need to look at a few things before finalizing the architecture of your app.
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Audience Analysis
The architecture of your mobile app should depend on the type of audience that you want to target. For instance, if you want to target both iOS and Android app users, you will have to get a native app developed to run on all platforms seamlessly. That said, you should carry out a detailed analysis of the audience group you will be targeting to understand what their likes and dislikes are.
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Key Feature Requirements
When deciding on the architecture of your mobile app, you should figure out all the features that you want to integrate into your mobile app. Mention the key features on the top and then the ones on which you can compromise. Specific business requirements will drive the list of features that your app will have. That said, you will need to know whether the mobile app will be suited for Hybrid, Native, or Cross-Platform development.
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Budget
Your choice of mobile app architecture will depend on the skill set of the developers, the development approach, and the analysis of the market scenario. However, undeniably the need for agile and rapid development outpaces the availability of IT skills for developers that build cross-platform and native apps. Hire a mobile app developer according to your budget to get a mobile app developed.
However, you should also note that any delay in the development of a mobile app may make it obsolete until it is available for the users in the market.
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Development Time
A few architectures designed for a mobile app may take more time to develop than some others. That said, the development of specific elements or integrations may take more time. However, you should get them built into the overall choice and plans.
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QA Testing of App
The proper architecture of your mobile app is proven to be linked to the ability of your mobile app to satisfy your target audience. To ensure that all intuitive functionalities of your app are working fine and that the operations are smooth, you will have to get your mobile app tested. In the end, you should check with your users whether they liked your application.
Final Words
The success of your mobile app has a strong connection with the consideration of the tech stack and its architecture. Pay attention to your unique business requirements and the user stories since it will enable you to plan all essential features that you want to include in your app. You can hire professional mobile app development services to leverage user experience to help you provide the best possible results.
