Swift

Many believe that the language will be one of the most used languages and has all the potential to reshape the future.

Released in June 2014 by Apple, Swift has gained immense popularity across all the possible realms of the iOS mobile app and Web development. With latest framework and libraries, the tool becomes the primary choice for developers which allows to code with Objective C. The language forays into the apple ecosystem with efficient APIs, Cocoa and Cocoa Touch. Apple has been ingraining all the possibilities to reduce all the scope for vulnerabilities associated with Objective C. There are so many other attractions when the language is used for coding cutting-edge mobile apps.

According to TNW, Swift is one of the fastest-growing languages. Google is also considering to include Swift as their official language for coding Android apps and if the prediction is true, the demand for Swift developers will skyrocket than any other popular language.

Meanwhile. the language is used to code iOS and Apple web for all the available platforms but since it’s open source and available for use. It will be beneficial for those who pick up the language early in time.

JavaScript + HTML

JavaScript is one of the third most popular languages used world wide to create application up above client could imagine. When used in combination with HTML, the amalgamation becomes more powerful and has greater benefits for mobile apps.Both are religiously used by developers to create different types of application including games.

HTML is one of the most prominent languages when it comes to web development. With simpler ways to insert complex data types, HTML is a preferred choice of top web developers. Whereas JavaScript is popular to be used on multiple platforms.

PHP

HyperText Preprocessor (PHP) is an open source server side scripting language developed by Zend technologies in 1995. Initially, the language was used for building websites but now it’s used for general purpose programming.

server side scripting, command line scripting and for coding applications. Using PHP, the app can be used to write complete Android, iOS, and windows apps.  According to many statistics like Jobs Tractor, PHP is the most popular programming language. The percentage of developers located worldwide that use PHP language is 78.6%.  It ensures that the language can easily be considered for building your next app.

C#

C# is known as C Sharp. It is a multi-paradigm programming language, which is object and component oriented. It’s a general-purpose programming language developed by Microsoft. Appeared first in 2000, C# is developed and introduced by Microsoft as Swift was introduced by Apple and both share a common characteristic to rule the world of mobile app development in coming years. Developer Economics Survey states, 38% mobile developers use C# for part of their work while 16% use C# as the main language.

BuildFireJS

BuildFire.JS leverages the BuildFire SDK and Javascript to allow developers to rapidly build mobile apps with the power of the BuildFire SDK & BuildFire backend along with JavaScript seems to be a great combination by top mobile app developers worldwide to develop apps. BuildFire.JS was built to have a flexible architecture to give developers the option to utilize any client-side Javascript framework they like including: jQuery, Angular, React, Underscore and many more.

With BuildFire already having plugins that cover 70% or more of the common business use cases, developers only need to build specific functionality that’s unique to the client, rather than build the whole thing from scratch. This helps a development team to prepare mobile apps in less time and labour.

At BrainMobi, our professional developers are experienced to perfectly match the compatibility of a language with the theme of the mobile app.

Which language out of these is your favourite? Mention in the comment section below.

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Before That we Will See, Why There is Actually a Need to Port iOS App to Android?

If we see the previous year statistics, we will find that there is a significant increase in the number of android users. More and more people are showing interest in Android devices, which resulted in huge investment in Android version of iOS apps. The owners of iOS apps are discovering that they are missing out on a large market, and it is must to port iOS app to android. It is better to focus more on freemium strategies and in-app purchases rather than making it a free app.

Android market is open to all and there is no restriction on what your app can do. This might affect how you want your android app to be designed. The app updates are almost instantaneous, which means there will be only a few users who are not satisfied with your app.

Things to Consider When Porting iOS to Android

You need significant adaption when porting iOS app to android. We recommend you not to use design tools that are intended for iOS. Most of the common app design tools provide iOS templates and you may think that they fit the android platform as well. However, one should know that porting iOS app to android will lead to conflicts between the ported app interface and design of the android device. There are many contradicting features between iOS and Android, such as – buttons, lists, tabs, date/time, widgets, navigation etc.

The next thing to consider is fragmentation that is derived from different screen resolutions. You should consider app’s data and graphics to be displayed both on small and large screens, considering vertical as well as horizontal layouts. Though you can ignore some of the older versions, you should consider 10% of screen resolution. Some of the popular versions of android system are – Ice-cream sandwich and android 2.X, KitKat, Jelly Bean, Lollipop and Marshmallow.

Android Design

Now, once you have decided to port an iOS app to android, you should consider thinking android design. The problem is that there are many iOS tools that have iOS templates and designers use them to design android apps. However, the designs conflict with the feel and look of the app. It will take a lot of effort and time to implement. Moreover, there are problem areas such as round buttons, tabs at the bottom, lists with right pointing arrows and so on.

To avoid these problems, the first thing you need to do is avoid using iOS design tools. Just use drawing tools such as Photoshop, Visio, Balamiq next etc. If you want to get a quick overview of android UI, you can check the official website of Android. Google also has created a page describing how to design for pure android app. 

Should you Adapt New UI?

With the changing algorithm of Google, it changes the way apps can be architected internally for smartphone and tablet layouts. Google provided compatibility library that allow the latest UI elements to run on new and old android devices without changing the look and feel of the app. When re-designing the app for android, you should focus on how the data and graphics will be displayed on screens of different sizes.

Google strongly recommends following the UI language known as “Material Design”. This will help android audience get familiarized with common UI. Material design has a few common UI elements that have better support for developers.

Read More: Mobile App Design Basics: Common UI/UX Mistakes to Avoid

How to Export Graphics?

Android has a different graphic asset and you need to adapt your app’s graphic assets for android. This means, you need to resize, export and name new files. It can be a bit easier than exporting assets for iOS. For instance, if you are exporting .png images, you should consider grouping the assets in different sizes 1X, 2X, 3X and 568h@2X. It would be a big headache to create precisely sized assets for each android device. Hence, the best solution is to scale assets to correct size for relevant device screen. This could be one of the reasons why graphic images on android are not as crisp and beautiful as they do in iOS.

Code Porting

The next thing to consider is the code porting, Check if it is possible to take objective-C or recompile it for android. The android apps use Java and if your iOS app uses Vanilla C, it is possible to reuse the same code for android. This is beneficial for porting complex libraries as well as to enhance the performance of the app.

Some mobile app developers make the mistake of sharingembedded UI designs into the app. Sometimes, the specificationsinclude UIs that gather information to be sent to social networking apps. There is no need of such sharing for android apps. Instead, mobile app developers should consider using action_send intends to other social networking apps.  This means users should be able to share to other apps and there is no need to write a separate code against server-side sharing APIs.

In short, it is essential to consider which characteristics of your product are time-sensitive and use the programming tactics accordingly.

How Long Does it Take to Port?

Since the app has already been developed for iOS, it will not take much time to port to android. Though porting seems to be a straight forward process, it is not quick. The time to complete the porting process will depend on the complexity of the app and selection of supporting devices. Device inconsistency will create surprise for the mobile app developer, and hence even a small change will mean additional time for porting. Different devices use different hardware components which causes your device to interact with OS and hardware in an unexpected way.

How to Submit the Ported App at Play Store?

Once the app is ported successfully to Android, it should be submitted to Play Store in the similar way it is submitted to iTunes. You need to provide screenshots, regions, ratings and other details about the app to the developer. Go through the guidelines of submitting the app to Play Store. Google will review your app and approve or reject it on the same day.

Conclusion

There are many mobile app developers who have huge experience of porting iOS app to android. To bring amazing results, the template for app porting should have – adaptation plan formula, UX testing, source app business logic analysis, proper coding & testing, etc.

At BrainMobi, we have ported several apps from iOS to android and have huge experience in android and iOS development. The porting process can be a smooth sailing, if you understand how to prepare the assets for Android before you start!!

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