So, you’ve decided to dive headfirst into the world of mobile app development? As an app developer, you have a massive opportunity to make your impact felt in the world. The year-on-year increase in new apps gracing the Google Play Store and Apple App Store is nearly 20% and is expected to increase.
But creating an app and publishing it doesn’t automatically translate into a runaway success. It might take you several failed attempts before ever getting it right. And even when you do build successfully, your app might not get traction and it might fade away into oblivion on the various app stores.
In this quick read, we’re about to dive into app architecture and why you must understand it fully to create a perfect app that ticks all the markers.
Understanding App Architecture
If you’ve come across this subject as an essay question, an essay writing service might do you much justice, besides this article. App architecture simply refers to the various components that make up an app and how they relate to each other. In other words, this is the high-level organization of software components that defines how they interact with each other to create the desired functionality. You can think of the architecture as the blueprint that guides how the final app will work and function.
The app architecture will determine the codebase, user experience, and overall performance. Keep in mind that most apps aren’t standalone, and often interact with other apps and systems outside of its ecosystem. Thus, the app architecture needs to define the various entry points where the app interacts with users or other apps.
Core Components of App Architecture
Mobile apps are of different types and are created in different environments with different tools. However, generally, there are several key components of most mobile apps that interact with each other:
UI Layer
The UI layer is also known as the presentation layer. It is responsible for handling user interactions and the final look and feel of the app. Key considerations when creating this layer are the data format and the data validation methods that will be used.
Key components of the presentation layer include views, view controllers (iOS), fragments (Android), and layout files. You should get familiar with frameworks such as SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose that provide programming paradigms for iOS and Android respectively.
Business Logic Layer
This is composed essentially of the rules and algorithms that control how data flows within the application. That means how the data will be generated, logged, manipulated, stored, cached, and validated within the app.
Frameworks such as RxJava/RxSwift and Kotlin Coroutines are used to execute asynchronous operations in applications.
Data Access Layer
While the business layer manages how the application interacts with data, the data access layer is responsible for these data transactions. Its key components are databases, APIs, network requests, and data models.
Android uses Room or SQLite for local storage and Retrofit/OkHttp for network operations. iOS commonly utilizes CoreData for local storage and URLSession for network requests.
Types of App Architecture in iOS vs. Android Development
Let’s dive into the types of app architecture and their influence on app development for both iOS and Android.
Model View Controller (MVC)
In this blueprint, the app’s core data (Model) interacts with the visual elements (View) through logic that handles the interaction (Controller). This structure is simple and familiar but can lead to massive view controllers and tight coupling of components.
In iOS development, MVC is a commonly used architectural pattern. VC represents the data and business logic, typically implemented using classes or structs. Views are responsible for displaying UI elements. They are often created using Interface Builder or programmatically.
Controllers act as intermediaries between Model and View. They are usually UIViewController subclasses, handling user interactions and updating the View or Model accordingly.
In Android development, MVC can be adapted due to differences in UI frameworks. Activities or Fragments serve as controllers, managing UI components and handling user interactions. Layout XML files define the View components, and these represent the UI. The Model layer consists of data classes, databases, or network-related components that manage data and business logic.
MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)
This is an evolution of MVC and introduces the ViewModel as a bridge between the Model and View. This middleman streamlines data flow, enhances maintainability, and simplifies testing.
In iOS development, MVVM is gaining popularity with the introduction of SwiftUI and Combine frameworks. ViewModels encapsulate the presentation logic and expose data bindings for the View to observe. Views, defined using SwiftUI or UIKit, bind directly to ViewModel properties. these update automatically when the state changes. The model remains responsible for data management and business logic, similar to MVC implementations.
In Android development, Android Jetpack’s ViewModel and LiveData are commonly used to implement MVVM architecture in Android apps. The ViewModel holds UI-related data and survives configuration changes. LiveData provides observable data streams to the View.
Fragments or Activities serve as Views, observing ViewModel data and updating the UI accordingly. Model components still handle data access, storage, and business logic.
Overall, MVM improves UI testability and maintains a clear separation between UI and business logic.
MVP (Model-View-Presenter)
This is a fairly complex subject, especially if you are working on it as an academic assignment. You can choose to buy assignments and sample papers from professional writers to improve your theory on the subject.
Anyway, the MVP emphasizes a passive view, receiving updates from the presenter based on model changes. It is more common in Android development, especially with Activities and Fragments, where the presenter handles UI and business logic.
In iOS architecture, ViewControllers act as Views, responsible for displaying UI elements and responding to user interactions. Presenters handle user input, update the View, and interact with the Model to fetch or update data.
The model is more popular in Android architecture where it provides a clear separation of concerns. Views (Activities or Fragments) display UI elements and delegate user interactions to Presenters. Presenters contain UI logic, orchestrate communication between View and Model, and handle business logic.
Model components handle data operations, such as database queries or network requests. This ensures separation from the presentation layer.
MVP facilitates easier unit testing and promotes modularity and maintainability in Android apps. However, it may be harder to implement in iOS apps because of the tightly-knit nature of the accepted app structure.
Wrapping Up
Choosing the right app architecture depends on what type of features you envision and what you are comfortable with. A basic MVC structure might suffice for a straightforward to-do list app as the user interactions are uncomplicated. For a social media type of app, a more robust MVVM or MVP structure might be ideal to ably handle complex user profiles, updates, microservices, and data security. All that sums up our expectations – app architecture is dynamic and depends on the exact project you are taking on. With this light background, you will be in a position to choose the best type of architecture for your project. Best of luck!