“Vision 2021” was launched by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, back in 2010.
Ever since the UAE has been in the process of becoming a global leader in the field of technology, the services related to Mobile App Development in Abu Dhabi had surged ever since.
The tech revolution also to be known as the 4th Industrial revolution brought in the development of technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, etc.
This gave the UAE a vision of being a digitally enhanced country, which allowed vision of 2021 to happen and also led to the creation of technologies like 3D printing, IoT, AI, etc.
Moreover, the MENA region is attracting a lot of young entrepreneurs to open up companies and widening the array of digital service, this acts as a catalyst in speeding up the ongoing technological revolution.
Overview of Mobile App Development
Before we get into the technical details about app developments it is necessary for everyone, a businessman or a developer, that mobile phones have grown to become a very intimate part of people’s lives.
Apps are built on two platforms; Android built by Google or iOS built by Apple, we have a majority of the user base using Android, and the rest using iOS. In any case, it is necessary to consider the perspective of the end user, before building an app.
The UAE region already has an exceeding demand for Mobile App development due to the digitalization of many huge brands, companies.
The government too is moving onto the digital platforms with the use of trending technologies like AI, Big Data, IoT, etc to maintain efficient records and smoother functioning.
Android Mobile App Development
We can develop native Android apps in Java and Kotlin programming languages.
Mobile app development is gaining a lot of importance with the growth in digitalization. There is a lot of demand for apps, in order to ease the workload on developers google introduced various tools to speed up the development process.
Tools such as, firebase, is provided and also owned by Google for developing mobile and web applications, Android Jetpack is another tool that allows the developer to use the best code available, it basically is a library of codes.
App development budget for any company big or small falls in the mid to high range therefore it is necessary for the company to predetermine on which platform to build its application. In 2020 the google play store estimated total users of 2.6 billion.
Keeping figures aside app development completely depends on the business’s target audience like if you plan to launch the app in the US you should opt iOS, when Asia android has a larger market share.
Kotlin and java being the two programming languages for android apps, developers prefer using Kotlin as they have strong community support, even google encourages the use of Kotlin to develop android apps.
iPhone Mobile App Development
To build your app on an iOS platform two programs are used, Objective- C or swift.
iOS provides a smoother and rich user experience according to market statistics.
The development time for an iOS app takes less coding time as swift is readable more easily than Java, which is belief of about 63% of the developer community.
Further, iOS provides various tools for the developers to work with in order to improve the development process and make it more accurate.
They include
TestFlight — It is an online application owned by apple, and is only provided to iOS developers for testing and installing the iOS applications.
XCode — It is a development environment provided to iOS developers and can be used only on a macOS. It has tools which speed up the development process making it more accurate.
iOS SDK — Owned by apple inc. iOS SDK is a software kit that is provided especially for mobile app development.
Swift Playground — This is again a developing platform, provided for iOS developers, it is integrated with XCode.
The iOS community has stricter rules than that of Android, they can reject your app multiple times for various reasons, such as poor performance, security issues, content, etc.
For making the code more powerful and secure iOS provides other tools such as AppCode and CodeRunner to ease the work of developers.
Methods of Mobile App Development in Abu Dhabi
1.CROSS-PLATFORM APP DEVELOPMENT
Cross-platform apps are basically apps that can run on all operating systems, be it android or iOS. Cross-platform apps can be installed on your device just like any other app.
They are also known as hybrid apps, what makes them hybrid?
Hybrid apps have some elements of the native apps and some elements of web apps like even if they are not installed in your phone, you can access them online via browser.
Now choosing where you want your app to be built, a cross-platform or native is totally up to you. Cross-platform apps are comparatively cheaper as one app has the ability to function everywhere.
New companies or start-ups find it more convenient to begin with cross-platform apps as they can be used on multiple platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows simultaneously.
Cross-platform apps, in particular, have high growth potential, this technological up-gradation did not only boost the requirement of developers but also gave the market a high competition especially for the high performing offshoring apps. The year 2020 is expected to witness a major rise in cross-platform app development with a monetary turnover of above $7.9 Billion.
It is important for a business to reach out to as much of a wider audience as possible and hence require a presence on all platforms like, Google play, App store, Microsoft store, etc.
Budgeting for app development has always been difficult for businesses as native apps require two resources, one for android and one for IOS for which an alternate solution of cross-platforms was created where only one resource is needed.
Some of the best and most used cross-platform development tools include React Native, Xamarin, Flutter, Ionic, Appcelerator, etc.
2.NATIVE APP DEVELOPMENT
Native apps are applications that are built for functioning on a particular operating system (OS).
They are developed particularly in the manner that they live on the device.
Native apps are known to have the best UX as they are built for supporting a particular OS, they can take advantage of the device features. They can get access to the camera, GPS, contacts, microphone, accelerometer and so on.
Native apps come with numerous advantages like fast and responsive, easy to tap into device functionality etc.
Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter are examples of social apps built by the native method. Some of the classic examples of native apps are the Playstore for Android and Appstore for iOS.
Many games and navigation programs also are built in the same manner.
They do have pros and cons too, the pros include fast and responsive software performance, Push notification, faster and efficient responsiveness, quality assurance.
On the other hand, the cons of Native apps include the requirement of multiple codes as per each device, costlier as two separate developers are required for each platform, for Android on Java/Kotlin and iOS swift or Objective C.
It is also pretty time-consuming as multiple codes are to be built for different platforms and they are a bit costly to develop as the development of two separate codes would require two separate resources.
Mobile Web App Development
Applications that require a web browser to be installed in the device are known as mobile web applications. Typically HTML is used to develop mobile web applications.
Web applications are not native to any particular operating system they do not need to be downloaded or installed.
Apart from HTML5 JavaScript and CSS are also used.
Web apps are quicker and easier to build compared to other apps.
Pros of a web app are that:
- 1.They do not need to be installed, you can access it via your browser.
- 2. The app content updates as the site is updated.
- 3.The do not require the approval of the app store and can be launched quickly.
- 4.The time required to develop web apps is also less.
Cons of having a web app is that they do not work offline, they are slower, and less responsive quality cannot be guaranteed.
There are other types of web apps known as progressive web apps (PWA) they are built on modern API’s to give a native-like response, they can be downloaded from your mobile browser and their safety is not guaranteed as they do not receive approval from the play store.
Intuitive UI/UX Design for Mobile App Development
Jef Raskin defines intuitive as familiar.
What is an intuitive UI?
By definition of intuitive UI’s, you do not allow a user to get confused. It understands the user and its behavior.
For a design to be intuitive it should have prior knowledge from experience in the real world or with the help of software.
Your design should allow the user to identify exactly what to do. It should not bring any obstacle in the user’s flow of using the application even for a second.
A UI is intuitive with a set of combinations.
Firstly, the UI should have clear indications as to what is going on it should be VISUALLY AFFORDABLE for the users to interact without having to experiment.
The functionality of an intuitive UI mainly deals with PREDICTABLE RESULTS.
Expectations should be set right, users need not have to deduce the effect. These expectations can be based on real-world experience or standards for conversation.
The RESPONSIVENESS of the UI, such as giving immediate feedback of that action also determines the success of an intuitive UI. The user should have the ability to navigate throughout your application without having to fear a penalty of any kind.
Finally, the user must be SATISFIED EMOTIONALLY with the interaction with your UI.
By now, we know that that progression and growth in the digital world we are witnessing now comes with a vision of giving everyone a smart future. The societies, political systems, all are to grow more efficient, innovative, and smart.
The UAE government for once is adapting this transitioning technology with open hands and also making huge investments.
The UAE accepts and acknowledges the role of technology in digital transformation for a smarter and better future.
Originally published at https://reviei.ae on December 24, 2020.
