While developing mobile apps, businesses target Android due to its massive worldwide mobile operating system market share. Alphabet has made Android available as an open source mobile platform. Also, it updates the mobile operating system at regular intervals with new features and enhancements. But the penetration rate of individual versions of the mobile operating system differs.
Alphabet does not regulate the Want to Invest in Silver? Here’s How to Start Android smartphones, tablets, and phablets manufactured by various companies. Hence, the devices manufactured by different companies come with varying hardware features despite being powered by the same version of Android. That is why; it becomes essential for developers build mobile apps by targeting a wide range of devices powered by different versions of Android.
While planning, developing, and testing the mobile app, they need to focus extensively on its accessibility, functionality, performance, usability, and security of the mobile app to keep the users engaged regardless of their choice of Android device. Also, they need to explore ways to make the app deliver personalized user experience across varying devices and operating system version. They further need to address a number of common challenges to develop a robust Android app.
1) Software Fragmentation
As mentioned earlier, the market share of individual versions of Android differs. According to the latest data released by Google, the most recent version of its mobile operating system – Nougat – has a market share lower than its predecessors – Marshmallow, Lollipop and KitKat. Each new version of Android comes with several new features and enhancements. The developers have to include specific features in the app to make it deliver optimal user experience by taking advantage of these new features. At the same time, they also need to ensure that the app delivers rich and personalized user experience on devices powered by older versions of Android. The developers have to target multiple versions of Android to make the application popular and profitable in the short run.
2) Varying Hardware Features
Unlike other mobile operating systems, Android is open source. Alphabet allows device manufacturers to customize its operating system according to their specific needs. Also, it does not regulate the Android devices launched by various manufacturers. Hence, the devices come with varying hardware features despite being powered by the same version of Android. For instance, two devices powered by Android Nougat may differ from each other in the category of display screen size, resolution, camera and other hardware features. While developing an Android app, the developers need to ensure that it delivers personalized experience to each user by accessing all hardware features of his device.
3) No Uniform User Interface Designing Process or Rules
Google has not released any common user interface (UI) designing process or rules for the mobile app developers. Hence, most developers build Android apps without following any standard UI development process or rules. When the developers create custom UI interfaces in their own way, the apps do not look or function consistently across different devices. The incompatibility and diversity of the UI affects the user experience delivered by the Android app directly. The smart developers opt for responsive layout to keep the UI consistent across many devices. Also, the developers have to test the UI of their mobile app comprehensively by combining both real devices and emulators. But often developers find it daunting to design a UI that make the app look consistent across various Android devices.