How to optimize application development

This article contains best practices for optimizing applications for emerging markets that we use. Consider this a guide on the basics. These nuances are important if you want to order android app development services.

Companies are interested in bringing their product to a new audience. For example, in India, only a third of the population is connected to the Internet, and in Nigeria – half. That potential is gone! Therefore, developers of large companies are focused on optimizing applications for emerging markets.

Main problems:

• devices with low RAM
• devices with small screens or low resolution
• expensive internet
• unstable internet connection
• old versions of operating systems

Minimizing Application Size

In markets with expensive Internet and low-power devices, the struggle is literally for megabytes. Whether your application is downloaded or not depends on the size. Opera developers are very proud that their application is only 8 MB. There are several viable solutions to minimizing app space:

• Minimize the number of libraries. At first, unnecessary libraries should be removed, and third-party libraries could be abandoned altogether. They simplify the work of developers, but for the sake of a couple of convenient functions, it is unreasonable to include an entire library. Therefore, the logic should be carried out independently for the needs of each project. Of course, this takes more time, and more code, but it significantly reduces the size of the application.
• Do not keep libraries with similar functionality as dependencies. When using libraries is unavoidable – creating ads, for example – see what libraries they contain inside. Perhaps you should abandon your beloved in favor of the one that already lies in the other.
• Use light images. The resources of the application module – pictures and so on – often take up the most space. Reduce them. It’s easier than figuring out where to shrink from now on.

To do this, you can use vector images – they consist of simple geometric shapes, therefore they are outwardly understandable and take up little space. Instead of a standard pack of five pictures for different display formats, you add one vector. It changes size without losing quality. On the other hand, the image should be simple. You can draw a complex picture in a vector, but this is not the best option, because it will still weigh a lot and take a long time to load.

If the picture is complex, use WebP. This is a Google compression format that allows you to reduce the weight of the image by almost 10 times.

Tip: Work with a designer. Initially, create a simple product so that it does not have to be adopted by technical refinement.

• Obfuscate the code.
• In addition to making the code more readable, it detects and removes unused resources, thereby optimizing it.
• Use the resources of the platform. For example, Android has an internal drawable objects class that allows you to draw simple images internally without adding anything to the resources. Set the logic for creating the element, and it will be drawn on its own when the graphical interface is loaded.
• Reuse resources. For example, duplicate pictures in different colors can be stored not as two copies, but as one plus a color filter. You will spend time looking for such optimization options, but it’s worth it for the sake of keeping the application size to a minimum.
• Use the App Bundle – an application build type, when elements for each user are collected individually not by the developer, but in PlayMarket. This optimizes the size because the platform knows the user’s device type and packs one suitable version of the image. PlayMarket claims that this helps reduce app size by 30%. Suitable for those who do not want to bother with the previous options.
• Optimize the interface display speed – this is relevant for users with weak hardware. Often, the user interface is laid out in an XML file – this is convenient and fast in comparison with the layout in the code.

These are the main ways to help users save bandwidth and space on their devices. Try not to add services running in the background to the application, but this step works in addition to the previous advice listed above. If you want to know more, then follow the link: https://fireart.studio/product-development-services/