Top 15 Mistakes Android Developers Should Avoid

Android is an open-source operating system with the best community and developer's reach. It has more than 2 million active users per month and has dominated the OS market since 2011. Because of the low cost, abundant resources, and high success rates built on the best development environments, Android developers gravitate toward this niche. And characteristics like a stunning user interface, the fastest data speeds, storage, media support, and messaging are the main reasons why Android is the most popular operating system in today's technological industry. Additionally, Android is available in several versions, each with new features that are separate from the previous versions. Android 11 is the most recent version of Android available. Among its additional capabilities are web browsing, multitasking, resizable widgets, Android Beam, Google Cloud Messaging (GCM), and multi-language.  However, if you have big dreams of creating awesome Android applications, you must avoid some popular Android development and marketing mistakes to succeed. Additionally, you should have a highly effective and knowledgeable team of Android developers with expertise working on small to large-scale projects in various app specializations. 

What is Android Development

The beginning of Android development can be found in 2008. But before we look at Android development, let us discuss what an android is all about. Android OS is a mobile operating system with a Linux foundation that mostly powers smartphones and tablets. An operating system built on the Linux kernel, a GUI, a web browser, and end-user applications that can be downloaded are all included in the Android platform.  However, Android development is a branch of software engineering that is focused on making apps exclusively for devices that use the Android operating system. In other words, Android software development is the procedure used to produce apps for hardware running the Android OS. Kotlin, Java, and C++ are three languages that can be used to create Android apps. It can be created using different languages and the Android Software Development Kit (SDK).  However, all non-Java virtual machine (JVM) languages, including Go, JavaScript, C, C++, and assembly, require the assistance of JVM language code that may be provided by tools, probably with limited API support. Cross-platform app compatibility is possible with several programming languages and technologies (i.e., for both Android and iOS).

Top 15 Mistakes Android Developers Should Avoid

In case you are new to the android development world and wish to indulge your curiosity, we have discussed what android development is all about. And now, here are some of the top mistakes android developers should avoid while working on their projects. 

1. Not considering the platform's strength 

The Android Play Store and iOS Apple Store are the two launch platforms available to applications. So choosing the right platform for the same is an important choice. While iOS is superior to Android in terms of privacy, security, and a premium feel, Android has a larger global user base. Therefore, the platform must be chosen in accordance with the app's niche and unique selling proposition. It is also possible to design an app that works on both platforms, but doing so would cost more money. Therefore, consider your app's goals before deciding which platform to use.

2. Working Simultaneously on Android and iOS

If you have a large budget and are in a rush to get your product to market, you can run iOS app development and Android app development simultaneously, but it will cost you in terms of project management, post-production issue management, and simultaneously distributing updates on both platforms. Therefore, it is recommended to execute development projects on a single mobile OS platform, iterate the product, and implement any modifications in the real-world market before moving forward with the project. After confirming that everything is functioning properly on one platform, consider adding more platforms while drawing from your previous expertise. Your chances of success and ROI are thus good.

3. Not considering an MVP as a Beta product

Not having an MVP is another of the top mistakes in app development that developers should avoid. An MVP primarily relates to the app's core and limited capabilities and helps assure that people download the app. An MVP also suggests that the software will receive frequent upgrades, which keeps users interested. In this situation, effective communication can be quite important. Make sure all the bugs and technical problems are fixed in your MVP. After the app's debut, you can definitely end yourself in the devil's lane if it was designed with several flaws and errors that weren't fixed.

4. Not prioritizing Encryption 

These days, security and privacy are the guiding principles for every digital progress. Not even auto-notifications may be enabled. Everything that involves sharing personal data requires consent, and developing apps is no exception. Data breaches and privacy intrusions by hackers are a daily occurrence in our digital age. Mobile apps, therefore, need to be protected from invaders and unwanted entrants, yet this issue is frequently disregarded. Many developers still operate under erroneous presumptions or lack a thorough understanding of the specifics of the security and privacy regulations. It might seem shocking, but 37% of the apps competing for approval on the app store are rejected due to privacy issues. Consequently, weak encryption and privacy concerns become another big app development error that developers should avoid.

5. Not Using Density-Independent Pixel (dp)

You should be aware that the standard pixel unit (px) differs from the virtual density-independent pixel (dp) and is better suited for Android programming because to the extreme hardware fragmentation found on this platform. Use density-independent pixels to describe layout dimensions, orientation, or position at all times (dp). Technically, based on the actual density of the device's screen in use, the device system scales the dp unit as needed and transparently at runtime. As a result, it can assist you in beautifully overcoming fragmentation problems.

6. Inefficient Resources Management in Android App Development

For an Android app to run smoothly, it needs resources like photos, icons, layouts, text strings, etc. These resources require more than one alternative to fit in every device, from microscopic to huge handhelds, due to the requirements of responsive design. We need a sophisticated architecture for resource management to externalize the application resources from the code. By establishing directories and sub-directories in the res/directory of your Android project, we may independently maintain such resources. For some device configurations, you should also provide alternative resources in addition to primary resources. For Android to use the right resource at runtime based on its current configuration, you can group all specifically designated resource folders and subdirectories together.

7. Not Using Responsive Designing Tools in Android App Development

As part of the process of developing mobile applications, responsive bitmap pictures are made. Simple PNG images are therefore inappropriate for this use. This is because a standard PNG image file loads with an empty one-pixel border around the image. It allows you to draw the empty region's stretchy patches and content area. If it adds problematic patches when loading, the picture or graphic could end up with artifacts when it is resized to fit different mobile screen sizes. Here, adopting the appropriate responsive design tools is important. This will reduce the likelihood of any negative patches ever occurring.

8. Avoid the Use of Fragments

The Fragment concept was first introduced in the Android OS Honeycomb release. It claims that fragments are distinct building blocks that can be found in an activity with a complex life cycle. It facilitates the optimization of several screens with simple parent activity management. We can mix fragments, reuse them, and arrange them as needed. Since it consumes memory heavily and for a longer period of time, technically, launching some separate activities for app displays is problematic in many ways.

9. Blocking Main Thread

Human eyes and brains view anything with a latency of more than 100 milliseconds and a frame rate below 24 as having an unsteady experience. Therefore, you must stop such occurrences by making your app responsive and speedy. Fundamentally, the main thread is in charge of this, and when it gets blocked—even for a brief 5 seconds—it prevents the app from responding and irritates consumers. It is, therefore, desirable to reserve the main thread for its essential functions and assign other tasks to the worker or background threads. These tasks include making network calls, loading bitmaps, processing images, querying databases, reading or writing to SD, etc.

10. Writing Code from Scratch

Many Android developers think to code for some shared activities from scratch using secondary threads to keep the main thread free. By writing code for network calls, image loading, database access, JSON parsing, and social login, you should thus never attempt to reinvent the wheel. Instead, use Gradle to create the system, Retrofit or Volley to make network calls, Picasso to load images, Gson or Jackson to parse JSON, and popular social login implementations.

11. Not Following Image Optimization in Android App Development

Technically, an image loads in memory utilizing bitmap technology before being displayed on the screen. The system must store 8 bits, or one byte, for the Alpha, Red, Green, and Blue (ARGB) channels in the bitmap. As a result, the bitmap's configuration is changed to ARGB 8888, and when calculating memory, you must multiply the image's width and height by 4. On the other hand, since mobile devices only have a small amount of storage and RAM, maintaining large images places a heavy burden on the memory. As a result, it is preferable to maintain image size in line with the perspective that displays the image. If at all possible, reduce the size or trim the large image to fit the view. The best advice is to just display in the image what is visible in the view.

12. Using Nested Weights

Since Android layouts use XML presentation, drawing content on the screen requires XML parsing, consideration of the screen's dimensions, and placement of UI elements appropriately. It is an ongoing, resource-intensive activity. The system can reuse the layout after single inflation. However, the likelihood of some points in the layout being inflated and all hierarchies flattened is higher. Because of this, using nested weights is bad for performance and should be avoided. Nested linear layouts can be replaced in favor of a Grid Layout (also known as RelativeLayout), which has better performance.

13. Neglating update 

The ultimate goal of developing and releasing applications is to generate income and reap financial benefits. Therefore, it is important to have a specific plan in place to guarantee that the app can be effectively monetized. Even though this might not seem to be a direct application of app development, developers still need to be involved in a big way. Everything needs to be scheduled, from making and launching updates on schedule to developing and setting out a plan for them. A systematic approach must be started from the beginning to satisfy the punitive gains. Apps may employ an in-app purchase interface or charge a fee to use them. The stakeholders should carefully consider appropriate monetization.

14. Not considering adequate testing

One of the biggest app development errors that developers frequently make is not testing it enough or not testing it at all. Laterally combating the bugs appears to be a good idea, however, that is not how it should be done. There are no second chances for the mobile app after it has been uploaded to the play store or, worse yet, downloaded to the device. Even though we are aware that testing a mobile app requires time and can be a laborious process, this is not a sufficient justification for not doing so. The idea is that if a problematic program ever makes it to a user's mobile device and causes a problem, that user is likely never to install it again.

15. Ignoring feedback 

One may argue that errors in app development are common in people's daily lives. The success of the application depends on the changes to the app. Frequent updates persuade customers that the application is still being worked on and improved. An ideal software can never be created the first time around. As a result, obtaining the data and input from important users to make adjustments and redesign the app should be a continuous quality control process. Most apps fail in the same areas, which makes them unsuccessful.

Why Should You Choose us as Your Android App Development Company?

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