Importance of mobile app architecture

Mobile applications have taken over the market in a storm and are set to continue this trajectory. This is because mobile phones are integrating ever more powerful processors in them, making it possible for smartphones of today to host apps that can do enough work as some applications on computers. However, you need to understand something known as the mobile app architecture if you want to be deeply familiar with mobile application development.

This is also helpful to clients, as this will help you determine how reliable and powerful your app is. It is however most helpful to mobile app developers, who may want to develop an application from the ground up and who may especially want their app to be integrated with the best of features. A strong and reliable architecture provides security, performance in the sense of speed and also an attractive design.

So what actually is meant by Mobile app architecture?

The mobile app architecture consists of the individual structural elements of the app and the interfaces that those elements have. Mobile app architecture takes into account the fundamental UX and UI design considerations, needs of the end-user, security concerns and performance requirements. Backward compatibility is also covered in mobile app architecture. All these things are approached with a high level of abstraction. As you can guess, all the mobile apps you may have ever come across have a particular mobile app architecture. To really be successful, however, you or the app development company you hire must have significant experience in developing it.

How is success dependent on mobile app architecture?

Mobile app development begins with a high-level abstraction, that is the design of the architecture. This has far-reaching consequences, as clients and end-users of today demand an ever-increasing number of features at an affordable price. You as a developer also have to compete with others to serve the same amount of end-user population. This is why having a very good knowledge of app development is crucial to your success.

A failure of any of the features is unacceptable in the app markets of today. You need to be careful to design an architecture that can incorporate the possible changes that your app may have to go through with future updates. Usually, a failure of an app can be traced back to an element in the architecture that was not properly designed. It usually happens because developers are not careful. You can develop a good architecture if you stick to the design plan we give you on developing a good mobile app architecture. This will work regardless of the operating system on the mobile device.

Elements of a solid mobile app architecture

Following are all the different facets of a good mobile app architecture design, and the app development company you may go to should have strong expertise on them.

Device capabilities

The first step while considering the design of your app architecture is to consider the different types of devices your app may be used on. Different devices have different types of screen sizes, CPU strength, memory and other technical characteristics. It becomes very important when your app has some special requirements(of hardware or software) that are only met by a certain set of devices. Usually, you should keep such special requirements to a minimum.

Bandwidth

The network of the smartphone is something that you usually do not have control over. That is why you need to be absolutely knowledgeable on data access mechanisms, caching, and state management which becomes important in low network conditions for an app. Your design should ideally work in the lowest of mobile network bandwidths.

User interface

The user interface is a very important part of the app. It is what the end-user gets to see, and as such should be both aesthetically attractive and functionally easy to understand. It should be fast and high performing under all circumstances. UI and UX design needs to encompass various objective and subjective considerations for the user interface to be good.

Real-time updates

Real-time updates should be deeply considered in the mobile application development process. Real-time updates can drain the phone battery and data a lot, so you need to make sure what your end-users really want. This is also not a big deal if their devices can handle it.

The 3 Layers of mobile app architecture

Mobile app architecture is usually divided into the following three layers. All three layers should have a strong interconnectedness and must be securely built.

Presentation layer

The presentation layer is all the parts of the mobile app architecture that is visible to the end-user. This includes all the UX, UI and navigation elements. Understanding the clients' requirements such as deployment restrictions and selecting robust data validation mechanisms is also a must to design a good presentation layer. It is both a technical feat combined with artistry.

Business layer

The business layer deals with all the code that handles the manipulation of the data associated with the app when it is functioning. It is subdivided into the domain model and the service subcategory. The domain model is a very important part of this layer because it looks deep into the specific problems that may occur in the app.

Data layer

This is the third and the deepest part of the mobile app architecture. Also called the data access layer, this layer deals with the storage of data(also called persistence) and transmission of data(networking) used for data transactions in an app. Security and speed are the two most important characteristics of this layer. Unless you have full expertise on everything related to the individual layers in the mobile app architecture, you are better off hiring a good app development company for the purpose as your market reputation will surely depend on the usability and features of your app.

Conclusion

As you can understand, the success of your application depends on the integrity and flexibility of your mobile app architecture. If you are planning on making your app the best in a certain marketplace you can do that by contacting an application development company that has significant experience in designing all the layers of architecture. Nextbrain Technologies is one of the biggest mobile application development companies in India. We are headquartered in Bangalore and develop both iOS and Android applications. We have a lot of experience in developing mobile applications, so, therefore, we also have many clients that we work with. We have in-house UX and UI designers who are key players in developing such architecture.