Mobile App Development Stack: Definitive Overview

There are over 5.7 million mobile applications on the App Store and Google Play Store. The global mobile app revenue reached $133B by 2021 and $170B by the end of 2022.

Year	Total App Revenue (in billions USD)	IOS App Revenue	Google Play App Revenue
2016	$43.50	$28.60	$15
2017	$58.10	$38.50	$21.20
2018	$71.30	$46.60	$24.80
2019	$89	$58.40	$30.60
2020	$111	$72.30	$38.60
2021	$133	$85.10	$47.90

Clearly, the mobile app development market is growing. Besides, the level of Internet connection reaches 5G and beyond, and the quality and capacity of mobile devices improve year after year. But so do user requirements. A good idea for an app isn’t enough nowadays. It has to be lightning-fast, highly intuitive and responsive, update regularly and quickly, and have no bugs.

How to achieve that? The first step should be choosing the right mobile app tech stack.

In this article, we at ProCoders want to highlight the importance of this underappreciated decision. Because, you know, if you choose the wrong mobile app tech stack, you may encounter issues during the development and future updating processes, not to mention financial losses and reputation destruction.

Definition and Importance of a Mobile App Tech Stack

A mobile app tech stack refers to the combination of programming languages, software development kits (SDKs), frameworks, and other technologies used to build and run a mobile application. Think of it as the foundation upon which your mobile app is constructed. The tech stack plays a crucial role in determining the performance, scalability, security, and overall success of a mobile app.

Choosing the right mobile app tech stack is essential for several reasons. Firstly, it ensures that the app meets user expectations in terms of speed, functionality, and user experience. A well-chosen tech stack can make the difference between a smooth, responsive app and one that is slow and buggy.

Secondly, the right tech stack makes the mobile app easier to maintain and update, which is vital for long-term success. As user needs and market conditions change, your app must be able to adapt quickly. Lastly, a robust tech stack can enhance the app’s security, protecting user data and maintaining trust.

Brief Overview of the Mobile App Development Process

The mobile app development process is a multi-stage journey. It typically involves the following stages:

Mobile App Development Planning

This initial stage involves defining the app’s purpose, target audience, and key features. It also includes market research and feasibility studies to ensure the app meets user needs and stands out in the competitive landscape.

Mobile App Design

In this stage, the app’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are crafted. Designers create wireframes and prototypes to visualize the app’s layout and flow, ensuring it is intuitive and engaging.

Mobile App Development Services

Mobile app development is where the tech stack comes into play. Developers write the code, integrate third-party services, and build the app’s frontend and backend. The choice of tech stack significantly impacts the speed and quality of development.

Molbile App Testing

Rigorous testing is conducted to identify and fix bugs, ensuring the app functions smoothly across different devices and operating systems. This stage includes unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing.

Mobile App Deployment

Once the mobile app passes all tests, it is deployed to app stores like Google Play and the App Store. This stage also involves setting up the necessary infrastructure and hosting to ensure the app is available and scalable.

How Does Choosing the Right Mobile App Technology Stack Influence Product Value?

Picking a proper mobile app technology stack is like fitting a piece into a puzzle. You can potentially fit in the wrong piece, but the puzzle will look unwholesome, faulty, and non-satisfactory. For example, when creating a mobile banking app, you have to choose between native or cross-platform app development because one may make the project go over the budget, while the other may have limitations on one or another platform.

What are your priorities?

The right mobile app development set will:

• Make sure the design and performance match your audience. People need fast, intuitive, beautiful, and functional apps. By meeting their requirements with a modern mobile technology stack, you attract more potential customers and create a reputation. The market is pretty competitive, so doing “good” isn’t enough.
• Make your app almost eternal. Picking a mobile app technology stack that will stick around will make it easier to update the app, accommodating it for the new requirements of the market. Also, not all systems are possible to migrate if something happens, so it’s better to make a safe choice beforehand.
• Increase revenue. People are ready to pay for quality and speed. High-end UX achieved with the right mobile app technology stack will ensure you get a steady ROI for a long time.

Native App Development Tech Stacks: iOS App Development, Android App Development Tech Stack

Native app development, including Android app development, means you create an application for a specific OS like Android or iOS.

Android App Technology Stack

Native Android App Programming languages – Java and Kotlin

Java has been around for ages and remains one of the most popular programming languages, which makes your apps suitable for any device with Java support. It’s best for enterprise-level development.

Kotlin is a cross-platform programming language that was launched for Android app development tech stack use. Google recommends it as one of the top choices for tech stack for Android app as it’s secure and even stronger than Java.

Toolkit – Android Studio and ADT (Android Developer Tools)

Android Studio is an environment that speeds up the development of applications for all devices supporting this OS. It enhances the speed and flexibility of engineering with its built-in templates and a smart editor for code.

Android Developer Tools is a compilation of APIs, libraries, an emulator, samples, and a debugger. It’s similar to the Studio, but also provides test automation support, while AS provides space for the whole development process.

UI Mobile App Technology Stack – Android UI or Jetpack Compose

Android UI is full of stylish and functional templates that will save time and money. Jetpack Compose is a more innovative solution where developers can describe the elements to an algorithm to make them dynamic.

iOS App Tech Stack

The iOS developer tech stack often looks like this:

• Programming languages for Native App Technology Stack– Objective-C and Swift.
  Objective-C is a highly flexible language for OS X and iOS mobile apps. It can be used to create new apps or upgrade existing ones. It’s a tried-and-tested language with multifunctional 3rd-party libraries and great C-type language compatibility.Swift was developed as a replacement for C-based programming languages. It’s fast, efficient, and highly readable, sometimes even compared to English due to its intuitive build. It’s safer in terms of errors and has a growing community.
• Toolkit – AppCode and Xcode.
  iOS SDK includes an iPhone simulator, various frameworks, APIs, Xcode IDE, and other instruments. In combination with Xcode, the kit enables development teams to build a technology stack for iOS app development that includes official languages like Swift and Objective-C. AppCode is an open-source 3rd-party toolkit similar to Xcode; it has community support but still relies on Xcode a lot.
• UI – SwiftUI and UIKit.
  SwiftUI is a very fresh framework launched in 2019. It offers a faster and more productive way of creating wholesome UIs. UIKit is the main framework at the moment, with templates that help save time and make iOS apps more appealing.

But what if you don’t want to build two separate apps, yet you want to cover both markets (iOS and Android users)? There are two ways to go then: cross-platform custom mobile app development and hybrid development. We’ll overview both.

Technology Stack for Cross-Platform Applications

Cross-platform app development allows you to build an app that would work with multiple OS without writing native code and using development tools twice. ProCoders often recommends such a cross-platform app development technology stack because it’s flexible, time-saving, and cost-effective.

Flutter for iOS and Android Apps

Flutter is a Google SDK created for:

• Android
• Google Fuchsia
• iOS and Mac
• Linux
• Windows
• Web development

So, by including Flutter in your mobile development tech stack, you can use one code for any of these platforms. It’s also an optimal choice if you want to shorten the time to market, as the building process is speedy and solid, as well as bug fixes and new feature detection.

By the way, you can hire Flutter developers through ProCoders and get a flexible UI for your next mobile application for an adequate price.

Xamarin for Cross-Platform Apps

A Microsoft-built platform offers native-like applications for:

• Android
• iOS
• Windows

The framework utilizes .NET and C#, with 96% of its code being reusable. It allows for both MVVM and MVC design and is debugging-friendly. It’s also heavily supported by its community, which means it’s a stable modern platform.

React Native

This is a JavaScript framework used to create solutions for:

• Android
• iOS
• Web
• Universal Windows Platform (UWP)

Applications built with the use of the framework work with native APIs, which enables you to create outstanding functionality for mobile and web services. React Native is a valuable element in a tech stack for mobile apps used when the project needs an intuitive user interface and high responsiveness.

You can hire React Native developers through ProCoders, as many clients come to us for this type of apps, even not knowingly. There are many businesses with amazing, ambitious ideas and limited budgets.

Recommended: WordPress Mobile App Development

Technology Stack for Hybrid Apps

Hybrid app development implies a mix of web and native apps. This approach allows you to create a web solution and hide it in the case of a native application. It opens in a browser within the latter, which can be WebView in the case of Android and WKWebView in the case of iOS.

Apache Cordova

Apache Cordova is a framework that uses the most commonly known languages, such as:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

The special feature of Cordova is its ability to encase the written code in a native box for multiple platforms, which means one code can run on multiple OS. The framework is an important addition to your mobile tech stack as it contains plugins that enable engineers to build in features that will access the sensors, cameras, file systems, GPS, and other functions and storage of devices where the app is running.

Ionic for an iOS and Android Technology Stack

Ionic is an open-source SDK for hybrid and cross-platform apps for mobile, web, and desktop. It uses AngularJS as a base for core functions, which allows for the quick and easy addition of essential features like push notifications and analytics.

You can integrate the kit with Angular, Vue, and React frameworks and use a CLI (command-line interface) built using Node.js.

Additional Technology Stack for Mobile App

Here are some additional technologies you may need:

• You will need a database to store the registered user data of the service and maintain a proper build. You can use Mongo or MySQL, which is the most popular database at the moment.
• You can also choose cloud computing and storage, for which Amazon Web Server (AWS) or Google Cloud.
• Another important aspect is crash analytics software that will help your mobile app development team identify bugs and other app problems and fix them before launch. Some great options for analysis are Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics, Amplitude Analytics & Crash Analysis (for App Store and other platforms, except Google Play).
• Payment platforms such as PayPal, Stripe, and GPay will be necessary if you want to monetize the app through subscriptions, eShop, etc.
• Integrations for social login, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, have to be in your kit.
• Map integrations – Google Maps.

While the main stack consists of front end, back end, database, and other components, additional software is just as important when it comes to creating an appealing user experience.

So, you can see, there are various great technologies out there that can even provide a native app without your team building one. But how to choose a proper Android and/or iOS app technology stack?

How To Choose the Mobile Technology Stack?

Startup MVP

For a startup’s MVP for an event app, for example, ProCoders recommends cross-platform development. Thus, you’ll save on time and cost, launching a high-quality basic app with the possibility of upscaling.

React Native and Flutter frameworks are decent choices as they are easy to scale later and can provide the features of a native app at half the time and cost. The pool of talent is vast and reliable if you pick the right channels.

Mobile app for a successful business

Native apps have a lot of benefits, including:

• Faster speed due to fewer software layers needed to run the app
• They work offline except for the specific online features
• They are the most secure yet

However, you will need to develop two separate solutions, which will take a toll on your budget.

The next best thing is cross-platform development with React Native, for example. This solution offers pros like:

• Smaller team needs due to having one stack for all platforms
• Simple and fast development (aka time to market)

React Native is a wonderful choice if you want to incorporate IoT technologies into your application for higher speed, accuracy, and security.

For example, we’ve partnered with Roth River, using React Native to create an app for bourbon distillation control. The framework allowed for IoT integration for data tracking accuracy.

The decision as to the best technology stack for mobile app development depends on many factors such as the app’s scalability, the time to market, the budget you expect, the stage the project is on at the moment, and more.

Recommended: How to Convert a Website into a Mobile App?

What Mobile App Development Technology Stack Do We Use at ProCoders?

We mostly use cross-platform technology stacks based on React Native and Flutter for mobile applications. ProCoders’ specialists find them the most efficient in all terms. One app may take around 4 months to build, which isn’t much given what the market offers. Plus, many templates and code samples are available, saving you time and money.

Many companies come to us with lists of requirements that include budget limitations, especially young businesses. Spending a ton of money on an app that may not pay off doesn’t seem productive.

That’s why we do everything possible to create a stack meeting your financial and functional standards.

ProCoders offers skilled professional services to build apps from scratch to launch. This means we provide:

• Front end
• Back end
• Mobile app
• Cloud computing

So, you can collaborate with us to create the whole application. That being said, we are an outstaffing company with a vast pool of various talents. So, we can find specialists with any skills and any stack. It can be a dedicated team to create the front end and back end, connect APIs, and test the solution. Or it may be one QA specialist, a designer, or a middle/senior React Native expert.

Consider applying to our Discovery Phase to find out what set you need.

There, we look into the details of your project and see what technologies are necessary to achieve your business goals. It can be either cost-efficiency or specific time to market, aside from high quality.

Conclusion

The choice of a tech stack is responsible for at least a third of your success. Your mobile solution may need to be:

• Fast
• Highly functional
• Offering superior UX
• Run on all smartphones
• Cost-efficient
• Fast to build and launch
• Easy to upscale and upgrade, etc.

And all of this is reflected in the technology your team uses to build it.

You can choose native app development when you have a large budget and time and need superior, faster applications for both iOS and Android.

There’s also an option of cross-platform development with Flutter or React Native. It will save you money and time without damaging the speed and user experience too much. The tech stacks for cross-platform are almost as good as native, yet the code is reusable for both Android and iOS.

To pick the right option, you need professional help. We at ProCoders often encourage our customers to go for cross-platform development, but we won’t recommend something without knowing all the details about your project.

That’s why we invite you to apply to our Discovery Phase if you don’t have a clear idea of the project’s needs and requirements (or if you have that but have no idea what tech to use). We will study the info you provide based on our experience and provide a properly organized development plan.