#24 Top 15 Powerful Tools for Android Application Development
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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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.