Different stages in mobile application development
Building a mobile application involves multiple stages. You can easily take advantage of Microsoft services, tools, and technologies to build high-class mobile applications.
App development
You can build native single-platform client applications with languages like Objective-C and Java. You can build cross-platform apps by using Xamarin, React Native, and Unity. You also can build hybrid apps by using Cordova. To construct client applications, make use of IDEs and code editors, such as Visual Studio, Visual Studio for Mac, or Visual Studio Code on PCs and Macs.
Plan and design with back-end services
Microsoft provides a variety of services for setting up a secure, scalable, and reliable back end for your mobile application. You can create serverless APIs and triggers without having to maintain your own servers. Use push notifications, offline data sync, authentication, and data services to form a comprehensive and expansive mobile back end that supports a variety of app construction scenarios.
Building a back-end service has many requirements. You need to:
- Limit data storage on the device.
- Synchronize data across multiple devices.
- Make sure the application runs without network connectivity.
- Send notifications to users.
- Reduce battery consumption.
- Build a scalable, reliable, and secure back end.
- Automate server maintenance.
DevOps and continuous monitoring
To create mobile and cloud-focused applications, take advantage of continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), and continuous monitoring services to produce native builds for all platforms. You can run UI automation tests on thousands of physical devices, automate their releases through beta testing channels, or deploy directly to app stores. You also can gather usage analytics, failure, and exception information for their applications.
Additional services
Many Azure services can be consumed depending on the type and nature of application being built:
- Azure Cognitive Search to search all types of internal data, with fast querying.
- Azure Cognitive Services to use artificial intelligence in your application.
- Azure SignalR to enable real-time communication in your application.