You’re a beginner in mobile app development. What tools can help you get started?

New to mobile dev? Choose wisely! Native: Need deep control, and platform-specific functionalities (Swift/Kotlin, Xcode/Android Studio). Kotlin Multiplatform: Want to code once and deploy everywhere (Kotlin, platform-specific UIs).

IDE: Android: Android Studio iOS: Xcode Languages: Android: Java/Kotlin iOS: Swift Version Control: Git (GitHub/GitLab) UI Design: Adobe XD/Sketch/Figma Backend: Firebase/Node.js Database: SQLite/Realm Cross-Platform: React Native/Flutter Testing: Android: JUnit, Espresso iOS: XCTest Deployment: Android: Google Play Console iOS: Apple Developer Console Learning: Official docs, Udacity, Udemy, freeCodeCamp.

Use VS Code for any development , but basically you need to have Android Studio (for Android), and for iOS you need Xcode , You may need other in-between connectors for the non-native ones called "Hybrids". Example: for react native expo (Expo is an open-source platform for making universal native apps for Android, iOS, and the web with JavaScript and React.)

As a beginner in mobile app development, you can start by exploring user-friendly platforms like Flutter or React Native, which allow you to build apps for both iOS and Android using a single codebase. These frameworks provide comprehensive documentation, community support, and built-in UI components to streamline the development process. Additionally, utilizing integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Android Studio for Android development or Xcode for iOS can enhance your coding experience with features like code completion and debugging tools.

Android Studio for Android development, Xcode for iOS. Java/Kotlin for Android, Swift for iOS. Android SDK, iOS SDK for development. Git for version control. Android Emulator, iOS Simulator for testing. Stack Overflow, GitHub for community and resources. Tutorials, courses on platforms like Udemy. Design tools like Adobe XD, Sketch. Testing tools like XCTest, Espresso, Appium.

In the contemporary landscape, there's a multitude of programming languages available for both iOS and Android. This proliferation is a result of companies crafting their own programming languages tailored to their needs and usability preferences. However, despite this diversity, these platforms have established certain standards for application development. Personally, I opt for using the official languages recommended by these platforms. Companies engaged in mobile application development often make decisions based on budget constraints and the skillset available within their organization.

If you want to learn iOS development, definitely learn Switch, which is Apple's primary language or iOS development. On the other hand, if you want to learn Android development, definitely learn with Kotlin or Java. Like any programming language, learning these specific ones for iOS or Android development takes time, patience, and consistency. However, depending on whether or not you have experience in object oriented programming, learning the respective languages may not be as hard. Nevertheless, be consistent with how much time you put coding in the respective language each day or week. The more consistent and more time, the better.

You must be based on the algorithms course, you must think about each step that must be executed to solve a problem. We have to identify the problem, have the ability to break it down into small pieces, remove irrelevant information and proceed to create ordered sequences and instructions to solve them. When we have this identified and controlled, choosing the programming language is the least important thing, learning variables, procedures, functions will help us learn a language.

Learn Kotlin or Java for Android app development. Keep learning new programming languages so that you can be versatile. Learn swift for Apples iOS development.

It constitutes a pivotal aspect of the development process, augmenting both speed and user-friendliness. By incorporating this, we can significantly diminish development and debugging time. I opt for standard IDEs in IOS and Android development, streamlining the overall development process.

With the selection of the programming language, we choose how and where we are going to develop, in this case we have development environments that allow us to develop the applications we want. These environments are desktop or cloud-based. Some are complex to use, others are simpler, most of them are free. It is important to know these ideas as much as possible to get the most out of them,

In the process of developing a solution, you must test your system to see that it meets what is required. Therefore, it is important that the IDE you use allows you to run the solution in testing, debugging and monitoring your code mode. It is also an art to identify, know how to test and debug developments, which allows you to identify problem points and solve them. These tests, reviews, corrections, continuous adjustments of your development will help you to result in an adequate, neat and quality solution.

Deploying my first app was a huge stepping stone and it served as a learning experience, equipping me with practical insights into the processes of deployment. There were so many things that I had to work on even after the app was completed. From optimizing configurations to troubleshooting compatibility issues, each step presented a new challenge but an opportunity to learn and grow. I highly recommend trying to deploy and publish an app even if it's simple just to get the experience and have an idea on the process.

Once we have the final solution, we must deploy the solution where we want it to work. If it is a mobile application, let's see if we have the solution for which operating system is supported and publish it in the right place so that users can download or install it whenever they want. You must comply with the premises requested by each manufacturer, a digital signature, a form and level of packaging, it is also important to identify the level of support that your solution will have, what type of attention and error tracking you have implemented to provide adequate support.

Here is what helped me when I first started to learn iOS app development after graduating with an electronics major. I wanted to have an idea of what I want to build. So, I used Figma to create a sample app design which was for 2-3 screens including a landing page, signup, and log-in with OTP verification. Then I started creating the front-end piece of the app in XCode. I learned about how to use the View Controllers and how to have the frontend design correctly working for all types of devices. Then slowly I started to learn how to connect to GCP. How to create an email/mobile auth using Firebase Auth. Then slowly I started designing more pages in Figma exporting those assets to XCode and writing backend code for it.

When starting mobile app development, it's crucial to understand the importance of user experience (UX) design. While tools and languages are fundamental, the design and flow of your app can make or break its success. Beginners should familiarize themselves with UX principles and consider using design tools like Sketch or Adobe XD. Additionally, keeping up with the latest trends in mobile development, such as the rise of cross-platform frameworks like Flutter and React Native, can provide more flexibility in targeting multiple platforms with a single codebase.

Choosing wisely is not possible when you are a beginner. If you want to choose what to learn (Android, iOS, cross-platform), listen to the people who talk from experience and then make a decision. My advice: pick what you like. Software development is not easy to learn or work in. There will be moments when you doubt yourself and if you choose something you like, you will have a much higher chance of sticking with it and pushing through the hard times (which will come).