The latest articles on DEV Community by Frankie Jenkins (@frankie_runs). https://dev.to/frankie_runs https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4210626%2Fb00287e2-f766-4cdc-9ffe-322cbe427d66.jpg https://dev.to/frankie_runs en Frankie Jenkins Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:44:28 +0000 https://dev.to/frankie_runs/two-apps-one-api-lessons-from-a-shared-backend-3kpd https://dev.to/frankie_runs/two-apps-one-api-lessons-from-a-shared-backend-3kpd <p>We shipped an iOS and Android app backed by the same API. It went fine, but a few decisions mattered a lot.</p> <p>What worked:</p> <ul> <li>One versioned API, and clients that tolerate unknown fields</li> <li>Server-driven feature flags instead of hardcoded release rules</li> <li>A shared contract file (OpenAPI) that both apps generate models from</li> </ul> <p>What I'd change:</p> <ul> <li>We added a "v2" endpoint for one screen and it became three. Versioning per-field would have been better.</li> </ul> <p>I'm learning Rust for a small CLI that helps with release notes. Coming from Swift and Kotlin, the compiler feels strict in a good way.</p> mobile api architecture