5 Android App Development Mistakes Programmers Should Avoid

Android is currently the most preferred mobile operating system by consumers across the globe. With over 85% of the smartphone users in the world using Android OS in some form or another, this operating system is only bound to get better as it gets into more hands. The major factor which drives its popularity is that fact that it is free, customizable, and is now not only available for phones or tablets, but also on your TV, watch, and car too.

With the Google Play Store playing host to over 2 million Android apps, the massive popularity of the OS is further contributing to increasing number of apps being released on a daily basis. Android apps are being developed all across the globe and the competition is fierce in this domain. Building a great app which provides the user with the best experience is of utmost importance. Apps behave differently on different devices and programmers need to understand this very well before developing the app. In this article, we have listed the common mistakes by android developers which need to be avoided in order to build a great app.

5 Top Mistakes Every Android Programmer Must Avoid During Development

The Android app development sphere is witness to massive competition as app developers rush to get to the market with their products. In order to stay ahead in such a competitive atmosphere, android programmers need to be creative while developing their apps while pushing for faster development times. At the same time, it is easy to commit mistakes which can delay the development time, thereby reducing your chances of capturing your target market. Here we have listed some of the common android development blunders which can be avoided during the development phase -

1. Rewriting Existing Code

   This is one of the most common mistakes in android app development. Features such as network calls, database access, social logins, JSON parsing, image loading, etc. are common features and are used in almost all apps. Rewriting code for these features is a big mistake and wastes a substantial amount of time. These features have readymade codes which have been written and tested several times in the past and the mistake of rewriting them for your app must not be done. It is always good to do some basic research about existing feature codes and find which ones can be used in your app.

2. Improper Usage of Bitmaps

   Smartphone users love content, especially when they are in the form of images. Images are really good content which can be used to convey a lot of information at one glance. But the major problem with displaying images in your app is that it consumes a lot of memory. The image needs to be loaded into memory before it is displayed on the screen. Using bitmaps for this process is therefore one of the most common techniques used by programmers to reduce memory usage and lag. Not understanding the concept of bitmaps therefore results in developing an inefficient mobile app. It is always good to measure the view in which you are going to display the image, scale the image accordingly, and show only what can be displayed.

3. Not Using minSdkVersion 14

   minSdkVersion 14 is the latest version added to the Android software development kit. Developers need to move on to the latest version with new features instead of working with the older versions. Supporting older phones and devices adds complexity to the code and is difficult to maintain. This also stalls the development process. If you are starting anew and want to provide a great experience to the users, then the older versions need to be given a rest and the latest versions need to be embraced. As smartphone users have moved on to better devices, the developers should too.

4. Not Employing List View Hierarchy

   Developers have been using deep view hierarchy for layouts for a long time now. Layouts have an XML presentation in Android. To draw the required content, the XML needs to be parsed, the screen size needs to be measured and the elements need to be placed accordingly. This can be a time-consuming and resource intensive process and needs to be optimized. List view flattens the hierarchy and optimizes the entire process. Therefore, developers need to make use of this process so as to fasten their development times.

5. Making the Users Wait

   Data packages are not sent, acknowledged, processed and received in an instant. More often than not, there is a certain time delay in the entire process and the user has to wait. Sometimes there might be network failures or packages may get destroyed or lost on the way and the process may never complete. But all this can be easily measured and safeguarded against. Successful network calls are more likely to happen as compared to unsuccessful ones. So it is safe to assume that the process initiated will succeed in most of the cases and the user can be notified in the rare occasion of a failure. In the modern day world, users expect immediate feedback from apps and nobody has time to wait. This can be a deal breaker for any android programmer.

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