Mobile Application

Development
Lesson 1: Introduction

Instructor: Muhammad Arslan Sarwar

 A software development field that
includes creating software for mobile
devices like tablets and smartphones.

Mobile Why is it Important?

Application  Over 7.21 billion smartphone users
development globally.
 Apps drive business, entertainment,
healthcare, education, etc.
 Android (~70%) – Open-source, used by multiple manufacturers

Mobile iOS (~28%) – Closed ecosystem, premium market

Others (~2%) – HarmonyOS, KaiOS, etc.
Operating
Systems (OS) History
and their Android (2008–Present)
market share iOS (2007–Present).
HarmonyOS (2019–Present).
Marketplace Of
Android vs iOS
Android has largest market share
Globally: 70% of mobile OS
Africa: 80%
Asia: 84%
Europe: 72%
North America: 51%
South America 88%
  iPhone is used by richer and more affluent users, and so, iPhone
users are more likely to spend money on apps than Android users.

Marketplace of
Android vs iOS
Despite Android’s
massive market share,
iOS still makes more
money
  Based on the Linux kernel
 Acquired by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance
(OHA)

Android OS  Features: Open-source, customizable, supports various devices.

Overview
 Versions: Stock Android (Pixel), Custom ROMs (Samsung One UI,
MIUI).

 Devices: Smartphones, Tablets, TVs, Wearables.

  Based on Unix
 Created by Apple Inc. only for Apple devices (Not open-
source)

iOS Overview
 Features: Secure, optimized, controlled ecosystem.
 Devices: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV.
 App Store: Strict guidelines, premium user base.
 1. Native Development – Built specifically for one OS.

Types of 2. Cross-Platform – Single codebase for multiple OS.

Mobile App
Development 3. Hybrid Apps – Web-based apps in a native wrapper.
Technologies
4. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) – Web apps behaving like mobile
apps.
 Developed to target a single operating system, either iOS or
Android OS in the OS’s required programming language.

 iOS: Swift, Objective-C using Xcode.

 Android: Kotlin, Java using Android Studio.

Native
Development  Pros: Best performance, Intuitive user experience, access to all
device features.
 Cons: Time-consuming and costly: Requires separate
development for each OS to target larger user base.

 Examples: Google Maps, Spotify, WhatsApp

 Create apps using cross-platform frameworks, which use platform-
specific SDKs (Android SDKs and iOS SDKs) from a unified API to
target different operating systems

 React Native by Meta uses JavaScript as the programming language.

(Instagram, Skype, Walmart, Airbnb)
 Flutter by Google uses Dart.
Cross- (Google Ads, My BMW App, New York Times)
Platform  Kotlin Multiplatform uses Kotlin still using native UI and platform-
specific APIs (Netflix, Yandex Apps)
Development  .NET MAUI by Microsoft (formerly Xamarin) uses C# and XAML.
(Red-Point, SportsEngine)

 Pros: Low costs, Code reusability, Rapid development, Easier

maintenance.
 Cons: Lower performance, Delayed platform features, Difficult
integrations, Larger digital footprint, Limited UI consistency
 A hybrid application is just a web application with a
lightweight native app "container" attached to it. With the
help of this container, the hybrid application can benefit from
native platform features and device hardware- like the
calender, camera, push notification, pinch and spread
functionality, and device hardware- that are not available to
web application.

Hybrid Apps  Ionic – Uses web technologies with a native shell.

(MarketWatch, Sworkit)
 Apache Cordova (PhoneGap) – Wraps web apps into a native
container.
(Wikipedia, Untappd)

 Pros: Faster Development, Cost-Effective, .

 Cons: Performance Issues, Limited Native Functionality
 PWAs are web applications that behave like mobile apps.
They run in a browser but can be installed on a device and
work offline using caching mechanisms.

Progressive
e.g. Twitter Lite, Pinterest , Starbucks
Web App
 Pros: No App Store Required, Offline Support, .
 Cons: Limited Native Access, Browser Dependent, Limited Push
Notifications
 It depends upon lot of factors
Cross-Platform
Factor Native 🏆 Hybrid 🌐📱 PWA 🌍
🤖📱
💨 Fast but
Performance 🔥 Best ⚡ Good 🚀 Moderate
browser-limited
User Experience 😐 Limited to
🎨 Best 👍 Good 🤔 Acceptable
(UX/UI) browser UI

Access to Native ⚠️ Limited via

✅ Full ✅ Mostly Full ❌ Minimal
Features plugins

Which Offline Support ✅ Full ✅ Full ⚠️ Limited

✅ Strong (Service
Workers)
platform to Development Cost 💰 High 💵 Medium 💵 Medium 💸 Low

choose? Time to Market ⏳ Slow ⏱️ Faster ⏱️ Fast ⚡ Very Fast

Maintenance 🔧 Complex 🛠️ Easier 🛠️ Easier 🔄 Simplest

App Store
✅Yes ✅Yes ✅Yes ❌ No
Presence
SEO Visibility ❌ No ❌ No ❌ No ✅Yes

Gaming, AR, VR, Business apps, Content-heavy News, e-

Use Case Examples High-performance social media, apps, enterprise commerce, blogs,
apps finance apps apps lightweight apps
  Object Oriented Programming concepts
 Class fundamentals
 Inheritance concepts
Pre-requisites  Type casting, Access modifiers
of this course
 Core programming concepts
 Arrays and operators
 Control statements
 Concepts of designing using HTML/XML
  Supporting multiple screens
 Multiple screen sizes
Mobile app  Screen resolutions
development  Screen orientations
issues/  Compatibility
challenges  Run apps on older platform versions
 Structuring your code
 Designing According to need/market
 Building a Mobile App in 2025: The BEST Technologies
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMb4RDpbRXs
Reference
Mobile App Development in 2025 - Choosing between
Video Flutter, React Native and more
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz0YeouiaOA
  Try installing
Self Exercise
 Setup Flutter SDKs