The last decade has seen exponential growth in the number of smartphone users around the world. In 2021, 53.4% of people globally were using smartphones, and the number is projected to reach a whopping 79.6% by 2025. This has led to a rise in demand for mobile-based services. Businesses and enterprises are doing their part to meet this demand by building apps to reach their customers more easily and proactively. However, many such apps have failed soon after their launch. This is mainly due to poor mobile application architecture. Now, what does that mean? Just like how the internal structure of your house or office is its architecture, mobile apps also need to have a solid architecture for them to function seamlessly.
What is Mobile App Architecture?
The framework within which an app is structured and organized is called its mobile app architecture. This covers the application’s overall layout, the arrangement of the code, and the specific frameworks and technologies employed. Application architecture is an umbrella term for a set of models and technologies used to build fully structured mobile applications that meet industry and vendor-specific requirements. When designing your application’s architecture, you consider apps that operate on wireless devices, like tablets and smartphones.
This blog will walk you through mobile application architecture and its various aspects.
The Importance of Mobile Application Architecture
Mobile application architecture plays a vital role in providing impeccable user experience, optimizing performance, and making room for future enhancements. You can think of it as the skeleton of a program – the quality of the mobile application as a whole hinges on how well the architecture functions. Overlooking even a single element in the mobile app architecture can jeopardize the success of your project. A well-designed mobile application architecture guarantees performance, scalability, maintainability, and adaptability in the development process.
Key Factors to Consider
UI/UX Design: Being the primary visual element of a mobile application, A well-designed UI can help your app deliver an intuitive and engaging user experience. This in turn enhances the user experience (UX) and helps with the retention of users.
Device Type: The performance of your app may be impacted by the capabilities of different devices. A tablet, for instance, has a larger screen and more processing power than a smartphone. This may have an effect on the user interface and the overall functionality.
Bandwidth: Users face a variety of bandwidth limitations depending on their location; some are on 5G, while others have spotty connections. Your application needs to be made to function in a range of network settings, including low-bandwidth networks.
Navigation: The way users interact with a mobile app can be greatly influenced by its design. Therefore, it is important to consider its navigation. How will users navigate between screens? Will they need to click on a menu? Can they just swipe back and forth between screens? The architecture of your application will be determined in part by your responses to these questions.
Types of Mobile Application Architecture
Monolithic Architecture
With monolithic architecture, the entire program is constructed as a single, tight-knit unit. Because all the features are bundled together, the initial development and deployment are fairly easy. However, as the app expands, this strategy might present problems with maintainability and scalability.
Microservices Architecture
Microservices architecture breaks up an application into small, self-contained services, each handling a particular set of features. APIs allow these services to communicate with one another, which allows for flexibility, scalability, and ease of maintenance. Microservices architecture makes Agile development possible, making it easier to scale individual components as required.
Layered Architecture
A layered architecture divides an application into three separate layers – data layer, business logic layer and presentation layer – each responsible for managing specific tasks. This method encourages code reusing and modularity. But it might also make interlayer communication more complex.
Event-Driven Architecture
Using event triggers, event-driven architecture emphasizes responsiveness and communication. Events generated by some app components cause updates or actions in other components. This architecture allows for loose coupling between components and is especially well-suited for real-time applications.
Client-Server Architecture
Client-server architecture separates the app into two components – client side and server side. While the server side is in charge of data processing and storage, the client side handles user interface (UI) and interactions. This architecture facilitates scalability, centralizes logic, and allows for effective data management.
Android and iOS Mobile Application Architecture
In the case of Android and iOS apps, they generally follow the Model-View-Controller (MVC), Model-View-Presenter (MVP), or Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) architectural patterns.
Model-View-Controller (MVC) Architecture
A software architecture known as the MVC framework divides the user interface (UI), data storage, and business logic into three distinct parts. This makes it possible for developers to work on each component individually. It also promotes code reusability and simplifies testing.
Model-View-Presenter (MVP) Architecture
The MVP architecture pattern splits duties into three layers: view, presenter, and model, which streamlines the process of developing application screens. The presenter acts as the mediator by managing user interactions and updating the view as and when required. This architectural pattern makes it easier to find a specific part of the code.
Model-View-View-Model (MVVM) Architecture
The MVVM architecture divides the application into three layers – view, model view (ViewModel), and model (Model). This allows for a more maintainable and testable codebase. Creating a reactive user interface is also easy with MVVM architecture.
Does Your Application Have a Good Architecture?
Refer to this checklist to find out.
- Efficiency: Your application carries out tasks under any conditions. The system is able to handle the load while being reliable and effective.
- Flexibility: There are few mistakes and it is easy to modify the chosen solution. You can alter one component without it having an adverse impact on the other.
- Extensibility: You can add as many features as you’d like to your application.
- Testability: The architecture of your mobile application is easily testable, resulting in fewer errors and higher reliability.
- Scalability: Less time is required for updates and development. You can manage multiple parallel threads of development thanks to the sturdy architecture.
Key Takeaways
It is crucial to take into account the particular needs of your project when selecting a mobile app architecture. You can partner up with an adept software development company that specializes in mobile app development to get custom, feature-rich mobile apps.
