Tools for android application development and Android mobile devices in the market are on all time high. The demand for apps and experienced application developers is only going to increase in future. If you want to know which tools are increasingly in demand these days and essential for a developer to know, then this article is for you. Please go through and don’t miss to give any inputs or comments in the comments section.

As the need to go fast with your development process technologies are evolving and trying to give an integrated solution. Some IDE’s have already established themselves & some are in the process of maturity.

Below are the top favorite tools for android application development.

Android Studio

Since Android studio is official development environment for all android applications, it is always on the topmost priority. Google created android studio back in 2013. Since then it has taken place of Eclipse android development tools (ADT) as the primary IDE.

It provides developers an option of code editing, debugging and testing tools with an easy drag and drop interface.

Please check link to know more

Android Debug Bridge

Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a command-line tool that lets developers communicate with an android device. The adb command help in installing and debugging apps and it provides access to a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on a device. It is a client-server program that includes three components – a Client, a Daemon (adbd) and a server. adb is included in the Android SDK Platform-Tools package. You can use ADB as a terminal for sending commands to the device and PC as needed.

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AVD Manager

AVD Manager is a very useful feature & short form for Android Virtual Device. The AVD Manager is an emulator used to run android apps on a computer. By Using AVD, developers get the ability to work with different vendors and with different OEM’s. Performance and responsiveness for different android version, screen sized, and resolution can be tested.

Please explore more.

Eclipse

As mentioned earlier, eclipse used to be first choice for developers for long time but now its popularity has reduced. We are mentioned here because still many developers use it to create android and cross-platform apps.

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Firebase

Firebase is a platform developed by Google for creating mobile and web applications. It was originally an independent company founded in 2011. In 2014, Google acquired the platform and it is now their flagship offering for app development.

The Firebase Realtime Database lets developers build rich and collaborative applications by permitting secure access to the database directly from client-side code. Data is persisted locally and even while offline, Realtime events continue to fire, giving the end user a responsive experience.

Please explore more.

FlowUp

 Flowup helps 360-degree application monitoring, developers who are very conscious of application performance. Key features include frames per second, network traffic, CPU and memory performance. You can also check how space your app is consuming. Using such tools will help client retain users for longer period.

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GenYMotion

Genymotion helps developers test and preview an application on different scenarios. It comes with pre-installed standard android images and graphics which are quite helpful in the testing process. With such emulator’s developer get a greater speed.

Please explore more at https://genymotion.com/

Gradle

In 2013, Google publicized gradle as a recommended build system for android application. It is based on apache maven and apache ant; it helps you automate your build process.

In conjunction with android studio its very easy to add libraries using minimal code.

Please explore more at https://gradle.org/

IntelliJ IDE

This is a product by JetBrains, IntelliJ IDE is modernly designed for better readability and productivity. Its fast and rich in feature though @ 149$, IntelliJ IDEA isn’t cheap. However, developers can leverage the community edition which available for free.

Please explore more at https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/

Instabug empowers mobile teams to release with confidence through comprehensive bug and crash reports, performance monitoring, and real-time user surveys and feedback.

Instabug

Majorly used for beta testing and bug reporting. Instabug is used by some of the most famous names in the tech industry, as Yahoo, PayPal, Lyft, BuzzFeed.

Please explore more at https://instabug.com/

LeakCanary

LeakCanary is a memory leak detection library for Android. LeakCanary’s knowledge of the internals of the Android Framework gives it a unique ability to narrow down the cause of each leak, helping developers dramatically reduce OutOfMemoryError crashes. It is an open source java library that makes it easier to detect leaks in app. LeakCanary is available on GitHub.

Please explore more at https://square.github.io/leakcanary/

Nimbledroid

It is a functional performance testing for android & iOS. Developers can monitor every critical user flow for every build of your mobile app. With the help of nimble droid, you can point out issues that degrade user experience early in the dev cycle. Also, seamlessly integrate with your CI workflow.

Please explore more at https://nimbledroid.com/

Proguard

It’s a code obfuscate tool to shrink your java and android code. Its an open source shrinker for Java bytecode, to enhance, obfuscate and optimize your code.

Please explore more at https://www.guardsquare.com/proguard

Sourcetree

It is free Git client for Windows and Mac. Sourcetree simplifies how you interact with your Git repositories so you can focus on coding. Visualize and manage your repositories through Sourcetree’s simple Git GUI.

Please explore more at https://www.sourcetreeapp.com/

Stetho

Stetho is a sophisticated debug bridge for Android applications. When enabled, developers have access to the Chrome Developer Tools feature natively part of the Chrome desktop browser. Developers can also choose to enable the optional dumpapp tool which offers a powerful command-line interface to application internals.

Please explore more at http://facebook.github.io/stetho/

The list is never ending you can explore Vysor, Visual studio with Xamarin, Ionic, Sencha, Unity 3D (Game developers), RAD Studio etc.

How to select App Development tools

To select the best mobile app development tool, organization need to consider the following factors:

In future sessions, we will have hands on session to evaluate platforms one by one. Please do not forget to check below article also:

Continue exploring at Teknonauts.com

Ashish Kumar Singal

Ashish is technology freak with around 11+ years of experience in IT Landscape. He started his journey as a device driver programmer in 2010. From that point he has evolved as a Mobility and IOT Architect, he completed his M.Tech from BITS Pilani as System Architect. He is working as Principal Architect at Oracle currently.

linkedin.com/in/ashish-kumar-singal-0252812b

Introduction

iOS 14 is the newest iteration of Apple’s iPhone operating system, and in this article we will focus on the changes which we will have to make in our application to support iOS 14 and what are the latest key features of iOS 14.

Let’s check on which devices iOS 14 is capable of running and these are.

iOS 14 supported devices

• iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max,
• iPhone XR, iPhone X
• iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone SE (1st generation), iPhone SE (2nd generation)
• iPod touch (7th generation)

and below is the configuration of software we require to develop & run iOS 14 apps.

Development requirements

Use Xcode 12 to build your apps for iOS 14. Xcode 12 requires an Intel-based Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15. 4 or later. Xcode 12 includes Swift 5.3 and SDKs for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, watchOS 7, and macOS Big Sur.

Now, let’s check what are the main changes this iOS brings for us which we need to take care.

Changes in iOS 14

While this is not directly related to iOS 14, but now is the time to finally remove UIWebView from your app and start using WKWebView because Apple stopped accepting new app submissions using UIWebView back in April.

Below are the changes you should have to do in your app to support iOS 14.

Data Privacy Changes

In iOS 14 you will be required to disclose information regarding the kind of data your app collects and whether it is used to track users. This information you provide will be shown on App Store page of your app. This can be done in App Store Connect when you submit a new version of your app for review.

Tracking Permission

With iOS 14, access to the user IDFA (identifier for advertisers) is now opt-in. You need to explicitly ask the user for consent via the App Tracking Transparency framework in the following scenarios:

1. displaying targeted advertising
2. sharing personal data with a third-party (e.g., location)
3. using a third-party analytics SDK that collects data to serve advertising or measure advertising efficiency

If the data collected by your app never leaves the user’s device then you do not need to ask for this permission, or if it used for security purposes or fraud prevention.

If the user denies consent, the advertising identifier will return a string of zeros, rendering it useless. For more details on the implications this may have on your app, please check this article “Apple’s Changes to IDFA in iOS 14.”

Photo Library Changes

Starting with iOS 14, there are now two ways you can access the user’s photo library:

PHPicker offers an integrated search and allows for multiple selection. This is particularly useful as it forgoes the need to develop or integrate a custom photo picker.

Limited picker, where your app only sees a (very) limited subset of the user’s photo library. This becomes the standard way of asking for permission and is not opt-in for apps. It also affects apps built with older SDKs, the user will see below dialog when your app tries to access the photo library.

Apps with an older SDK will always return “authorized” even if the user grants you limited permissions this is because of the compatibility purpose. Your apps with older SDK remain working if you don’t do anything, but the user experience may be impacted.

With limited picker option the recommended practice is to request authorization every time you need access, this is because If you are authorising single time only, and if you selects, some photos, then the next time when you will access to the photo library, you will only see the exact same photos as you have provided access to those photos only.

Approximation Location

Now users can limit an app’s location access to an approximate location and can grant precise or approximate location access to the app. You can also prompt for a one-time precise location if needed. The radius of the approximation is few miles in diameter and will increase/decrease dynamically depending on the context. 

You app will remain functional, but if you require precise location at all times, you must convince users that it is necessary but your app should handle the scenario gracefully if the user denies. Also, users can change the precise location setting from the Settings app.

There are many more API level changes if you would like to check.. do visit iOS release notes.

It’s time to check some cool iOS 14 key features

iOS 14 Key Features

App Clips

An app clip is a lightweight version of an app that offers users some flavour of its functionality. You can open app clips from a number of places like Safari, Maps, and Messages, or through QR codes and NFC tags. Using app clip you can also download the full app from the App Store.

App clips are designed in such a way that it should capable of executing a single task. It should be lightweight & fast without needing the app to be installed.

Your full app can have only one App Clip, and the full app must support all of the App Clip’s functionality. App Clips must be small — no more than 10 MB for the uncompressed App Clip — to launch instantly.

There are some limitations to ensure a fast launch experience, preserve resources and to protect user privacy. To create an App Clip, you should first review the technology available to App Clips & identify your app’s most important task which you can put in an App Clip. Then, you can start with following tasks:

• Making changes to your app’s Xcode project and your code; for example, adding an App Clip target, sharing code between your App Clip and full app, and so on.
• Associating your App Clip with your website to allow the system to verify your App Clip.
• Creating your App Clip’s launch experience in App Store Connect and adding code to respond to invocations.
• Creating App Clip Codes that offer the best experience for users to discover and launch your App Clip.

For more information on App Clip implementation you can check App Clip documentation.

Widgets

Through widgets you can access to timely, at-a-glance information from your app right on the iOS Home screen.  If you are thinking to make your own Widgets then it must be written in SwiftUI.

WidgetKit gives users ready access to content in your app by putting widgets on the iOS Home screen or macOS Notification Center. Your widgets stay up to date so users always have the latest information at a glance. When they need more details, your widget takes them directly to the appropriate place in your app.

To implement a widget, you add a widget extension to your app. You configure the widget with a timeline provider, and use SwiftUI views to display the widget’s content. The timeline provider tells WidgetKit when to update your widget’s content.

Augmented Reality

Its ARKit 4 now with Location Anchors, which leverages the refine location feature in the new Apple Map to enable rear-camera AR experiences in specific geographic locations. You can place AR experiences at specific places. It allows you to anchor your AR creations at specific latitude, longitude, and altitude coordinates. It requires iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, or later and for now it is available in some cities.

A new Depth API lets you access even more precise distance and depth information and is specific to devices equipped with the LiDAR Scanner (iPad Pro11-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation), iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max)

Face Tracking extends to the front-facing camera on all devices equipped with a front-facing camera and the Apple Neural Engine (A12 Bionic and later).

Check more click ARKit 4 features and ARKit framework.

Machine Learning

Your machine learning apps gain new functionality, flexibility, and security with the updates in iOS 14.

Core ML adds model deployment with a dashboard for hosting and deploying models using CloudKit, so you can easily make updates to your models without updating your app or hosting the models yourself. Core ML model encryption adds another layer of security for your models, handling the encryption process and key management for you. The Core ML converter supports direct conversion of PyTorch models to Core ML. For more information, see the Core ML

The Create ML app’s new Style Transfer template stylizes photos and videos in real time, and the new Action Classification template classifies a single person’s actions in a video clip. For more information, see Create ML 

Siri

You can use the Siri Event Suggestions Markup to provide event details on a webpage and in email. Siri parses travel arrangements, movies, sporting events, live shows, restaurant reservations, and social events. Once parsed, Siri can suggest driving directions, a ride share to a scheduled event, or activation of Do Not Disturb just before a show starts. To learn how to integrate your own events with Siri, see the Siri Event Suggestions Markup documentation.

Conclusion

iOS 14 mostly focused on privacy. It is essential to make sure your app is privacy-oriented while providing a unique experience to your customers. Developers who add support of new features (like Widgets) early will (likely) get a healthy boost in engagement and puts you in a prime position.

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Himanshu Yadav

Himanshu is a hard working character, he is full of enthusiasm and comes up with innovative solution for problems. He is a strong Lead iOS engineer and have exploring IOS technologies from past 10 yrs in the Mobile Industry. Working with valuable brands like Airtel X-labs and bring immense experience on the table.

Android can be confusing. There are a lot of different versions, and many of them are still running on devices today. Keeping up with the latest version can be a challenge, don’t worry we have tried to covered for you everything about android 11.

Major Android versions are generally released once per year (though it wasn’t always like this), with monthly security updates released in between. Occasionally, Google also releases point updates (.1, .2, etc.), though those generally come without regularity. Oftentimes, more significant updates that aren’t quite as significant as full version releases warrant a point update—like the update from Android 8.0 to Android 8.1, for example.

Alongside every version of Android is a code name, which many people use instead of the version number. Each one is named after a dessert or some other form of confection, which is more for fun than anything else.

A Brief Android Version History

We thought it fitting to give a brief rundown of each Android version on the accompanying code name and release date. You know, for completeness.

• Android 1.5, Cupcake: April 27, 2009
• Android 1.6, Donut: September 15, 2009
• Android 2.0-2.1, Eclair: October 26, 2009 (initial release)
• Android 2.2-2.2.3, Froyo: May 20, 2010 (initial release)
• Android 2.3-2.3.7, Gingerbread: December 6, 2010 (initial release)
• Android 3.0-3.2.6, Honeycomb: February 22, 2011 (initial release)
• Android 4.0-4.0.4, Ice Cream Sandwich: October 18, 2011 (initial release)
• Android 4.1-4.3.1, Jelly Bean: July 9, 2012 (initial release)
• Android 4.4-4.4.4, KitKat: October 31, 2013 (initial release)
• Android 5.0-5.1.1, Lollipop: November 12, 2014 (initial release)
• Android 6.0-6.0.1, Marshmallow: October 5, 2015 (initial release)
• Android 7.0-7.1.2, Nougat: August 22, 2016 (initial release)
• Android 8.0-8.1, Oreo: August 21, 2017 (initial release)
• Android 9.0, Pie: August 6, 2018
• Android 10.0: September 3, 2019
• Android 11.0: September 8, 2020

As you can see, the update system was without any sort of regularity early on, but the Ice Cream Sandwich era started the yearly OS version update schedule.

A few other fun notes:

• Honeycomb was the only tablet-specific version of Android, and it ran alongside the Gingerbread build for phones. The separate phone and tablet OSes were then combined starting with Ice Cream Sandwich.
• Ice Cream Sandwich was arguably the most dramatic update to Android to date. It not only combined the tablet and phone versions of the OS, but completely overhauled the look and feel of the system.
• Google initially released developer-focused Nexus devices to highlight each Android version’s power. This eventually evolved into the consumer-focused Pixel device line we have today.
• Android KitKat marked the first time Google teamed up with a commercial manufacturer for an Android release. They did it again for Android Oreo.

The Latest Version of Android is 11.0

The initial version of Android 11.0 was released on September 8, 2020, on Google’s Pixel smartphones as well as phones from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and RealMe.

Unlike early versions of Android, this version doesn’t have a cute dessert name—or any other type of name beyond the version number. It’s just “Android 11.” Google still plans to use dessert names internally for development builds. For example, Android 11 was code-named “Red Velvet Cake.”

What’s in Android 11 

Android architecture 

it is a software stack of components to support mobile device needs. Android software stack contains a Linux Kernel, collection of c/c++ libraries which are exposed through an application framework services, runtime, and application.

Following are main components of android architecture those are

1. Applications
2. Android Framework
3. Android Runtime
4. Platform Libraries
5. Linux Kernel

In these components, the Linux Kernel is the main component in android to provide its operating system functions to mobile and Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM) which is responsible for running a mobile application. Linux Kernel is a bottom layer and heart of the android architecture. It manages all the drivers such as display drivers, camera drivers, Bluetooth drivers, audio drivers, memory drivers, etc. which are mainly required for the android device during the runtime.

More details – Behavior Changes

More Details – Privacy Features

More details – New and API Features

For explore more android 11and about teknonauts.

Ashish Kumar Singal

Ashish is technology freak with around 11+ years of experience in IT Landscape. He started his journey as a device driver programmer in 2010. From that point he has evolved as a Mobility and IOT Architect, he completed his M.Tech from BITS Pilani as System Architect. He is working as Principal Architect at Oracle currently.

linkedin.com/in/ashish-kumar-singal-0252812b