Top Essential App Development Tools for Android [2020]

Top Essential App Development Tools for Android [2020]

Apps are a great opportunity to present various products and services in a dynamic and accessible way, their use became popular to the extent that it is almost mandatory for all companies or brands to have their downloadable mobile version.

Mobile devices are setting the global trend and Android is the technology that is a leader in the mobile app development industry. Even it is considered that Android owns most of the mobile applications, remembering that the majority of the apps that are downloaded are for these devices.

As of the first quarter of 2020, Android users were able to choose between 2.56 million apps, making Google Play the app store with the biggest number of available apps.

There are more and more companies and developers who want to work only with Android devices. But it should be considered that not all the developers know and make use of the Java tool, taking into account that it is used to create apps for this type of device.

Count of available Apps In Google Play Store (Dec 2009-June 2020)

source

Need not worry programmers, as there are plenty of effective tools available to create applications without working with Java. For programmers having deep knowledge and interest in Android, fortunately, there are many powerful Android Development Tools available that ease the work of developers and provide them an edge in inventing extraordinary Android mobile apps. 

It has become increasingly accessible and easy for companies to develop their technology, leveraging the power of development tools..

[Prefer Reading: “Top 10 Trends that Define the Future of Mobile Applications in 2020 & Beyond.”]

The Best Android App Development Tools Crafted for Developers Convenience

1 Android SDK

Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is a tool that contains all the necessary libraries for developing a vast number of Android applications which also has an IDE, possessing multiple features to write, optimize and test codebases.

The Android SDK offers different API libraries and developer tools that are the requisites to build, test, and debug the Android applications and undoubtedly is one of the popular and opted SDK for Android.

ADB Shell is one of the important Android developer tools which is a small command-line debug-bridge used to monitor a device or a virtual device while running apps. 

Android Developers intriguing to apply their skills can download the ADT (Android Developer Tools) bundle to quickly start developing which combines the essential Android SDK components and version of the Eclipse IDE to streamline the app development.

ADT Bundle includes the following crucial components:

  • Android platform-tools
  • Android SDK tools
  • Eclipse +ADT plugin
  • The current version of the Android platform
  • The current version of the Android system image for the emulator

The Android development kit provides multitudinal tools to build any type of application and guarantees smooth workflow and procedures to app developers. SK is an obligatory tool to run any Android gadget regardless of the platform you choose (C#, Java, Kotlin) to create any application. 

2 Android Studio

Developers when deciding to develop an Android-supported application can never have a miss on the option that is on the top of the table, that is, Android Studio which is an official IDE for Android development.

What makes it the preferred option is its robustness and the latest in-built tools and plug-ins it offers for developing as complex applications as possible. Since its inception, it claims to derive the attention of all developers as it enables them with significant features of code altering, troubleshooting, and testing devices simply to benefit the intuitive interface.

Once downloaded, everything is installed in an easy-going process and it doesn’t even require downloading additional files. It is supported by Google and drawn up by efficient Android programmers. 

[Detailed Information on Android Studio can be obtained from here.]

3 Eclipse 

Before Android Studio made its advent, Eclipse was the officially preferred IDE for Android app development for a long time. The open-source software is free to use and holds a large community having plenty of configurations and plugins.

Eclipse is known to blend with many types of languages as it works very well with different programming languages and this is what makes it a favorite of many developers to create Android and other cross-platform apps.

Eclipse IDE, released under Eclipse Public License, is highly customizable and offers a separate codebase environment for app development projects. Earlier it was known for writing applications majorly in Java (using library plug-ins) but now has been upgraded and leveraged to write codes in Python, C#, Ruby, Scala, C++, and many others.

Eclipse is open-source and free to use and in the view of its present worth, it has extended-term significance for the Eclipse projects with far-reaching use for various types of designers.

[Eclipse IDE 2020-06 is now made available and can be seamlessly downloaded from here.]

4 AVD Manager

AVD (Android Virtual Device) is the next in line that simulates mobile devices on your computer for making it easy for you to test your application on different devices. 

AVD Manager is an emulator that runs Android apps and provides almost all the capabilities of a real Android device and allows programmers to work with all types of Android devices to test and verify resolution, screen sizes, responsiveness, performance, etc.

One can get improved executions using AVD as it leverages the running of the emulator on your development machines and tools. Furthermore, the AVD manager provides trouble-free quick boot that allows its operator to continue the Android emulator meeting in less than 6 seconds.

Some Alternative Android Development Tools 

“Android App Development Tools allow you to implement new things in an unusual way.”

#Titanium Appcelerator

With it you can develop enormous applications with JavaScript programming, this service has a large number of applications developed globally. This tool is easy to use and is considered a multi-platform tool since it’s available for Android and other systems.

#App Inventor

This is considered as one of the easiest tools to create applications for Android devices. For this reason, if you are new to this field of technology, this tool will be useful to you where you only need to have the Internet and the Android device. App Inventor is a free, cloud-based service that can be accessed using a web browser.

At the time of coding, it works in conjunction with the Cloud, thus, each of the steps you develop will be automatically saved.

#Ionic

If a person has sound knowledge of how to handle web development he/she can work with this tool. It occupies a large number of components such as plugins and works well with TypeScript language. All the changes can be directly made from the web browser.

#Xamarin + Visual Studio

Xamarin does nearly everything Android Studio does and builds intuitive and authentic native apps and all that is done with the help of Microsoft’s Visual Studio. Nor does it extend itself to develop Android apps but is also well formulated to create cross-platform apps for iOS and even Windows software.

[You May be Interested In: “Top Cross-Platform Mobile Frameworks’ Comparison: React Native vs Xamarin vs Flutter.”]

#Unity 3D

To build high definition games in Android, Unity 3D is the best pick to develop 2D and 3D game apps and expands its potential even in developing robust non-game apps. Unity has a heavy usage on Google Play Store by the game developers.

Some other game-maker tools are Unreal, Game-Salad, GameMaker: Studio, etc.

There are more tools available for you to create Android applications, among which we mention: NativeScript , Basic 4 Android (B4A), React Native, iBuild App, PhoneGap, LiveCode, among others. 

These tools also allow you to build customized applications for unique platforms and maintain transparency in employee-customer interaction. In case of being a company you can communicate with each other with employees and customers. All this is possible, since devices have become a fundamental and integral part of people’s lives today. 

At the same time you must understand that there are various programming languages which are readily available in order to develop mobile applications, like Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, XML among others. 

Hire Dedicated Developers from leading enterprises to build extensive and scalable software and applications, customized to your business needs, that are bolstered by cutting-edge technologies and power-packed programming languages to fulfill your business motive.

[Peep In: “Why Python is a Leading Choice in Mobile App Development?”]

Afterwords

Applications are created to innovate, these new technologies and latest development tools have come to position themselves globally and are changing the way things can be done, mainly for companies. So it is important that you understand the vitality of each of these tools.

In short, they allow us to improve the communication that exists in business, since these applications are designed to innovate business ideas and transform the lives of each person who wishes to develop these applications.

Finally, we hope that this article has helped you. However, we would like to know your opinion. Do you know other tools to develop mobile applications for Android? Let us know your answer in the comments.