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Dhruv Joshi for Quokka Labs

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Difficulties When Web Developers Dive into Mobile App Development

It is a typical moment when web developers start mobile app development and face many errors that are difficult to solve because of their lack of familiarity. Well, some developers learn quickly, and some learn slowly. Some developers who started mobile app development a few months ago are still struggling to resolve some bugs/errors. When they solve one, another one is ready to cause headaches.

Well, it's all about learning, improving, and getting familiar with app development.

So, let's see the most significant difficulties new mobile app developers face and the easiest tricks to solve them.

Confused Choosing a Language or A Framework for App Development

It's common to face difficulties choosing a framework for mobile app development. Still, it's interesting to learn and find the perfect one. The confusing part is selecting an ideal framework from a sea of frameworks and programming languages. Most developers act like sheep and select the framework that others are choosing, and at last, they get problems. So, choosing a programming language or framework you are familiar with is best for mobile app development.

The best solution is always to choose a familiar programming language or framework you want to dive deep into and learn new things about.

Hard Fixing App Development Environment

It is one of the biggest headaches for a new mobile app developer to set up a thing for mobile app development. Over time, these problems can be easily fixed when you keep learning things.

In mobile app development, developers must set up different SDKs, packages, and virtual devices. Also, developers use Android Studio, which nearly all android developers use for android app development. But Android Studio is for high-end devices that can face difficulties running on mid-range devices.

So it's better to use low specification IDE for app development and a mobile device to run the app.

Problems With Different Platforms for App Development

It is also a typical problem developers face when they want to write different code for Android and iOS. Writing code for both platforms is challenging as you're new to mobile app development. Other concerns are common when deciding whether a feature will work on Android or not or whether it will work on iOS.

To solve these issues, it's better to use a cross-platform development framework to ease problems. For mobile app development for Android and iOS, use React Native and Flutter to use the same code base on both platforms. It reduces coding difficulties and saves time too.

Deployment Problems

The final app is distributed to publishing platforms like the Google Play Store and Apple Store. The new developers transitioning from web development to mobile app development are unaware of where they should deploy the app so users can download it. Also, most users prefer downloading the app from the Google Play Store or the Apple Store. But these popular platforms require subscriptions to deploy the app and run a security check. It is why new ones don't know about it and get confused.

The Google Play Store only requires a one-time payment and is user-friendly, so it's the best app distribution platform.

Other Gem-Like Important Tips

  • Finding online tutorials and creating your own (small) projects from scratch are the best ways to learn.
  • Get to know the platform possibilities and interface rules. You'll discover that features like maps, contacts, GPS, gyro sensors, etc., are standard across all platforms.
  • Do some coding instead of spending too much time watching coding videos.
  • Learn how the platforms differ and users' expectations for the apps' functionality.
  • Go native and immerse yourself in the platform's specific development tools and documentation if you only want to build explicitly for one platform. For iOS, that would be Swift and XCode, and for Android, Java, and Android Studio.
  • Build hybrid apps using the available building blocks, code, and plugins using React Native (JS-based) or Cordova if you want to target both iOS and (possibly later, or vice versa) Android (HTML, CSS, and JS-based apps).
  • Once you've finished building your first (simple!) app from scratch, you'll get a grip of it and move on to the next one.

Final Wise Words

It takes time to transit from web development to mobile app development. Also, it takes energy to understand app development frameworks and programming languages. Doing it hands-on rather than just watching coding videos is always a good idea. Setting up everything from web development to mobile app development takes some time. Still, learning, fixing, and repeating is the best way to be an excellent mobile app developer.

I hope you enjoyed reading the post. Hit like if you got something valuable from it. Thanks.

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